Craig Biggio stands for everything that is right with baseball and sports.

Maybe 3,000 hits isn't quite the same accomplishment as playing in 2,131 consecutive games, but watching Craig Biggio tonight brought back many of the same feelings I had when watching Cal Ripken, Jr. 12 years ago.

Biggio has played his entire career with the Houston Astros. 20 straight years. TWENTY. That alone is reason enough to hold the man in high regard. Biggio played catcher for 4 years. Second base for 11 years. Center field for a few years, and then back to second for end of his career. Who does that?

Tonight, Craig Biggio became to 27th man to reach 3,000 hits. Care to guess how many guys have played this game and fell short? Not to mention he's 6th all time in Doubles, 7-time All Star, 15th all time in Runs, and as you know has been hit by more pitches than anyone in the game today. That's not even listing all Craig has brought to the game on the field. From my point of view, he's handles himself as all major leaguers should. Stand up family man. Helps out in the community, you name it.

This ages me a bit (or a great deal), but in the last year I played organized baseball (8th grade) my coach asked if I knew who Craig Biggio was because he reminded him of me. Pretty much all he saw was that I was the shortest guy on the field, played second base and tried hard. Other than that, my coach was a nimrod. Anyways, from that day on I paid a little closer attention to Biggio and always thought that's how I'd have tried to do thing if I was that talented. I think at the core we all love sports, because we find a few guys we can relate to in the most abstract ways. Craig Biggio is one of those guys for me, and I've always thought the world of him.

Craig Biggio is a Hall of Famer.

More on BGO:
... 3,000 For The Little Squirt (Futon Report)
Biggio gets hit 3,002 (Astros Dugout)
BGO Hits 3,000 (Ladies ...)
ESPN is physically incapable of NOT related events to the Yankees (OMDG)
Craig Biggio Statistics (Baseball-Reference)
(AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)