Craig Biggio

Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
Home List of Articles

Craig Biggio

Hall-of-Famers as Seen Through Player Won-Lost Records: Craig Biggio

Craig Biggio was elected to the Hall of Fame in his third year of eligibility, 2015, with 82.7% of the vote.

Five highlights of Craig Biggio's career:

Craig Biggio was named to seven All-Star teams in his career, including four times as the starting second baseman for the National League (1995 – 1998). Craig Biggio was the first player in major-league history selected as an All-Star as both a catcher (1991) and second baseman (1992, 1994-98). He won four Gold Gloves, all at second base (1994 – 1997), and five Silver Sluggers, one as a catcher (1989) and four at second base (1994-95, 1997-98).

Craig hit 40 or more doubles seven times. He led the National League in doubles three times. His 668 career doubles are fifth in major-league history. He is one of only two players in major-league history with 50 doubles and 50 stolen bases in the same season (1998). (Tris Speaker did so in 1912.)

Biggio scored 100 or more runs eight times. He led the National League in runs scored twice. His 1,844 career runs scored are the 15th most in major-league history.

Biggio led the National League in hit-by-pitch five times. His career total of 285 is the second-most in major-league history and the most of any player since 1900.

Craig Biggio got his 3,000th career hit on June 28, 2007. Biggio went 5-for-6 in this game, becoming the first player to get 5 hits in the game in which he got his 3,000th hit. He was thrown out trying to stretch his 3,000th hit into a double, making him the first player to make an out on his 3,000th hit. Biggio’s fifth hit of the game came with two out, the bases empty, and the Astros trailing the Colorado Rockies 5-4, in the bottom of the eleventh inning. Biggio eventually scored the tying run as Carlos Lee hit a walk-off grand slam in an 8-5 Astros win.

The first two tables below present Craig Biggio's career as measured by Player won-lost records, in and out of context.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWORL	pWOPA

Basic Player Won-Lost Records
						Value Decomposition
1988	HOU	22	50	2.8	3.3	-0.2	-0.4
1989	HOU	23	134	13.7	12.1	3.3	2.1
1990	HOU	24	150	16.6	16.7	1.5	-0.0
1991	HOU	25	149	14.3	14.2	2.1	0.7
1992	HOU	26	162	21.4	20.5	3.0	1.0
1993	HOU	27	155	21.3	19.0	4.4	2.5
1994	HOU	28	114	17.0	12.8	5.8	4.3
1995	HOU	29	141	22.4	17.0	7.5	5.6
1996	HOU	30	162	22.4	19.6	5.2	3.2
1997	HOU	31	162	23.9	18.6	7.7	5.6
1998	HOU	32	160	25.1	18.0	9.4	7.2
1999	HOU	33	160	22.8	20.7	4.4	2.3
2000	HOU	34	101	11.3	11.8	0.8	-0.3
2001	HOU	35	155	21.0	16.6	6.4	4.5
2002	HOU	36	145	17.1	17.4	1.7	-0.0
2003	HOU	37	153	18.3	17.9	1.6	-0.2
2004	HOU	38	156	17.8	19.2	-0.6	-2.4
2005	HOU	39	155	20.3	17.5	4.7	2.9
2006	HOU	40	145	15.4	16.8	0.3	-1.2
2007	HOU	41	141	12.8	16.1	-1.9	-3.3
			------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			2,850	357.7	325.7	67.3	34.0
			------	------	------	------	------
PostSeason (career)			40	3.7	5.1	-1.0	-1.4
			------	------	------	------	------
COMBINED			2,890	361.4	330.7	66.3	32.6

Season	Team	Age	Games	eWins	eLosses	eWORL	eWOPA

Expected Player Won-Lost Records
						Value Decomposition
1988	HOU	22	50	2.9	3.1	0.2	-0.1
1989	HOU	23	134	13.8	12.1	3.4	2.2
1990	HOU	24	150	16.7	16.6	1.7	0.2
1991	HOU	25	149	14.9	13.6	3.1	1.8
1992	HOU	26	162	21.6	20.3	3.3	1.3
1993	HOU	27	155	21.7	18.6	5.1	3.1
1994	HOU	28	114	16.4	13.4	4.5	3.0
1995	HOU	29	141	21.5	17.8	5.9	3.9
1996	HOU	30	162	22.0	20.0	4.6	2.5
1997	HOU	31	162	24.5	18.0	8.7	6.6
1998	HOU	32	160	23.6	19.5	6.4	4.3
1999	HOU	33	160	22.7	20.8	4.3	2.1
2000	HOU	34	101	12.0	11.0	2.4	1.2
2001	HOU	35	155	19.6	18.0	3.6	1.7
2002	HOU	36	145	17.4	17.1	2.2	0.5
2003	HOU	37	153	18.5	17.7	2.0	0.2
2004	HOU	38	156	18.6	18.5	0.7	-1.2
2005	HOU	39	155	19.6	18.2	3.2	1.4
2006	HOU	40	145	15.4	16.7	0.5	-1.1
2007	HOU	41	141	12.9	15.9	-1.5	-2.9
			------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			2,850	356.3	327.1	64.2	30.9
			------	------	------	------	------
PostSeason (career)			40	4.0	4.7	-0.3	-0.8
			------	------	------	------	------
COMBINED			2,890	360.3	331.8	63.9	30.2

Houston Astros Icon

Craig Biggio played his entire career with one franchise, the Houston Astros. The next table shows the top 50 players in pWins over replacement level earned by a player for a single team^*, since MLB integration (i.e., since 1947).
^*Teams that move are considered different teams: i.e., this list treats the Milwaukee Braves and Atlanta Braves as different teams.

		pWins over Positional Average Top 50 Players, single franchise (since 1947)
	Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
1	Mickey Mantle	NYA	354.1	227.5	112.2	141.9
2	Barry Bonds	SFN	317.1	197.9	106.7	132.1
3	Willie Mays	SFN	330.0	231.0	86.1	114.2
4	Mike Schmidt	PHI	338.5	257.6	71.0	99.7
5	Chipper Jones	ATL	336.2	257.6	69.6	98.6
6	Derek Jeter	NYA	367.7	323.1	61.2	94.8
7	Eddie Mathews	MLN	273.8	196.7	70.0	94.0
8	Al Kaline	DET	380.5	299.2	58.6	93.2
9	Jim Palmer	BAL	241.5	186.1	61.9	88.7
10	Yogi Berra	NYA	245.4	181.6	65.9	88.2
11	Stan Musial	SLN	324.9	247.7	57.9	87.5
12	Bob Gibson	SLN	262.4	218.4	58.7	87.4
13	Albert Pujols	SLN	242.8	160.3	67.3	86.8
14	Carl Yastrzemski	BOS	430.9	360.2	45.5	85.7
15	Cal Ripken	BAL	382.3	351.6	49.2	84.5
16	Ted Williams	BOS	242.8	168.1	62.0	83.2
17	Hank Aaron	MLN	286.9	212.9	57.4	82.7
18	Juan Marichal	SFN	227.0	184.7	56.2	80.7
19	Mariano Rivera	NYA	125.9	61.1	61.4	79.0
20	John Smoltz	ATL	233.9	195.2	51.0	78.9
21	Greg Maddux	ATL	171.9	122.8	60.4	78.8
22	Willie McCovey	SFN	267.7	191.9	55.7	78.7
23	David Ortiz	BOS	215.2	153.6	54.1	78.7
24	Lou Whitaker	DET	303.8	262.6	51.2	78.5
25	Whitey Ford	NYA	209.4	164.7	54.9	78.0
26	Barry Larkin	CIN	291.5	249.5	51.6	77.9
27	George Brett	KCA	327.7	275.9	44.4	74.9
28	Dwight Evans	BOS	321.3	263.0	46.0	74.9
29	Jeff Bagwell	HOU	276.5	202.4	50.8	74.3
30	Johnny Bench	CIN	247.2	196.8	51.5	73.3
31	Steve Carlton	PHI	239.9	207.8	47.0	72.9
32	Warren Spahn	MLN	213.3	175.2	49.1	72.7
33	Roger Clemens	BOS	174.9	124.8	52.4	72.4
34	Joe L. Morgan	CIN	177.6	122.5	57.7	72.3
35	Willie Stargell	PIT	295.7	230.0	45.7	71.8
36	Tom Seaver	NYN	200.4	162.2	50.2	71.3
37	Pee Wee Reese	BRO	216.9	171.2	51.0	71.2
38	Roberto Clemente	PIT	357.0	295.1	37.8	70.5
39	Duke Snider	BRO	201.7	140.7	52.5	70.4
40	Clayton Kershaw	LAN	155.9	114.3	52.8	69.8
41	Jackie Robinson	BRO	195.9	141.4	51.5	69.0
42	Frank E. Thomas	CHA	219.6	161.8	46.4	68.2
43	Mike Trout	ANA	177.9	122.5	53.3	68.1
44	Harmon Killebrew	MIN	251.2	190.0	45.5	67.7
45	Rickey Henderson	OAK	255.1	201.0	45.4	67.6
46	Craig Biggio	HOU	357.7	325.7	34.0	67.3
47	Alan Trammell	DET	281.6	257.9	41.2	67.2
48	Tom Glavine	ATL	217.4	189.3	41.8	67.0
49	Robin Yount	MIL	366.7	345.7	31.9	66.5
50	Brooks Robinson	BAL	352.3	310.6	32.0	64.9

Jack of All Trades

Craig Biggio broke into the major leagues as a catcher. He spent three years as the Astros' starting catcher, earning his first All-Star appearance at the position in 1991. In 2003, at the age of 37, Craig Biggio played 150 games in center field (after having last played there 12 years earlier, and having previously played a total of 39 games there in his entire major-league career). In between, Craig Biggio played 11 seasons as the Astros' everyday second baseman, where he made six All-Star teams and won four Gold Gloves.

The next table decomposes Biggio's (context-neutral, teammate-adjusted) Player won-lost records based on the position at which they were earned.

		Craig Biggio's Career Record by Position
Position	eWins	eLosses	eWinPct	eWOPA
Catcher	40.4	38.3	0.514	3.6
Second Base	266.3	242.8	0.523	25.9
Left Field	12.2	12.5	0.493	-1.2
Center Field	31.9	30.5	0.511	0.4
Right Field	0.0	0.0	0.480	-0.0
Designated Hitter	1.8	2.0	0.471	-0.3
Pinch Hitter	2.0	2.6	0.428	-0.4
Pinch Runner	0.0	0.0	0.573	0.0

In his career, then, Craig Biggio earned as least 30 eWins and was above positional average at three positions: catcher, second base, and center field.

Setting aside left and right field, which are at least fairly interchangeable, and first base, which often serves as a final position for players as their defensive skills erode, the next table lists every player who has earned at least 30 eWins and was above average at three or more other fielding positions - C, 2B, 3B, SS, or CF.

Gil McDougald

Craig Biggio

That's it. Craig Biggio and Gil McDougald.

All-Time Best Second Basemen

In some ways, Biggio's impressive positional flexibility somewhat hides a more impressive fact: that Craig Biggio was, in fact, one of the best second basemen in major-league history.

The final table in this article presents the top 15 players in career eWins over positional average as a second baseman, for whom I have calculated Player won-lost records (mostly since 1916).

		Top 15 Career Second Basemen (ranked by eWins over Positional Average)
		eWins	eLosses	eWinPct	eWOPA
1	Joe L. Morgan	357.9	294.7	0.548	70.1
2	Rogers Hornsby	212.2	156.4	0.576	56.2
3	Charlie Gehringer	297.1	254.2	0.539	46.1
4	Lou Whitaker	290.6	261.6	0.526	38.7
5	Bobby Grich	220.7	191.8	0.535	36.6
6	Ryne Sandberg	270.5	237.7	0.532	35.2
7	Chase Utley	226.2	196.1	0.536	30.6
8	Joe Gordon	205.7	177.9	0.536	30.5
9	Bobby Doerr	253.3	226.8	0.528	30.1
10	Roberto Alomar	305.0	282.9	0.519	29.3
11	Jeff Kent	269.7	242.9	0.526	29.2
12	Robinson Cano	269.6	248.5	0.520	26.8
13	Jackie Robinson	109.8	85.0	0.564	26.1
14	Craig Biggio	266.3	242.8	0.523	25.9
15	Willie Randolph	266.0	249.9	0.516	25.0

Article last updated: October 24, 2019

All articles are written so that they pull data directly from the most recent version of the Player won-lost database. Hence, any numbers cited within these articles should automatically incorporate the most recent update to Player won-lost records. In some cases, however, the accompanying text may have been written based on previous versions of Player won-lost records. I apologize if this results in non-sensical text in any cases.

Home List of Articles