Craig Biggio: Astros leader a true family man: while some major leaguers become stars and lose their sense of direction, it's refreshing to know there are role models like Houston's 15-year veteran

Baseball Digest, May, 2003 by Jesus Ortiz

DARKNESS ENVELOPED Craig Biggio's home as he dragged himself out of bed at 6:50 am on a typical winter day. He brushed his teeth, put on some shorts and a T-shirt and headed to wake up his boys.

Most of the year, Patty Biggio Wakes up early and gets the children ready for school. But in the offseason, she catches a break by letting her husband of nearly 13 years get the two boys ready as their 3-year-old daughter sleeps in.

One light went on and then another as Biggio woke up his two biggest reasons for wanting to play out his career in Houston. By 7 am, 10-year-old Conor and 7-year-old Cavan have received their wake-up calls from their famous father.

Craig then released the family's two dogs into the back yard. And as the boys got ready for school, he was getting breakfast ready. Some days Biggio gives the boys cereal, toast and orange juice. On other days he makes waffles or pancakes.

"They like waffles," Craig says.

On this morning, Craig took the easy route and fed all the kids cereal before he and the boys left the house at 7:35. The goal is always to leave between 7:30 and 7:45. Making sure the boys are set, Craig dropped to one knee and helped Cavan tie his shoelaces.

For much of the baseball season, Craig sleeps in like the rest of his major league brethren. From mid-February until October, he spends half the time on the road. He misses most of the boys' Little League games, but he takes advantage of the offseason to attend school functions and the boys' basketball games.

Once the boys were in school, Biggio drove to Starbucks for his daily cup of coffee. By 8:15, he is parked outside Rice Stadium. Neighbor Jim McElhaney, who helped Biggio stretch out his arm in preparation for the move from second base to center field, joined him.

As soon as Patty arrives, the trio set off on a three-mile run around Rice University. Patty, who has already conquered the New York Marathon, set the pace and led from start to finish, as usual.

Patty went home after the run while Craig and McElhaney continued on the football field to work on throws. Biggio's children have always known their father as a second baseman. They never saw him as a catcher, where he was a National League All-Star in 1991 before earning an All-Star bid as a second baseman in 1992.

Biggio has played the outfield a few times during his children's lifetime, but this is the first year he went into spring training destined for center field.

For that reason, McElhaney played long toss with Biggio, who made his first throw from the one-yard line at Rice Stadium. McElhaney set up at the 30-yard-line. After five minutes, McElhaney moved to the 40-yard line.

Biggio's throws looped over perfectly to McElhaney, who caught the balls at the 40 and sent them back on one hop. By the time McElhaney moved to the 50, his throws came back on two or three hops.

McElhaney's throws weren't important, however. Fans are interested in Biggio's throws, and he was stretching his arm well heading into camp. Nobody said the move from second to center would be easy, but Biggio vowed to be ready at center while slugger Jeff Kent takes over at second.

"It's just going to be about putting in the time and the work," says Biggio, who is among the franchise career leaders in almost every offensive category, including a club-record 2,295 hits. "I know I can get a lot of work in on balls off the bat during batting practice."

Biggio is in his franchise-record 16th season with the Astros this year, and spring training promised to be the second-most challenging of his career. Nobody expects Biggio's move to the outfield to be more difficult than the shift he made from catcher to second in 1992.

"The transition from catcher to second is a lot more difficult," says Mets third base coach Matt Galante, the former Astros coach who helped Biggio move to second. "I don't think he'll have a problem. He always has that determination, and he's going to try to be the best.

"He wanted to win a Gold Glove as a second baseman, and he won four. We spent probably close to two to three hours a day with him and Andujar Cedeno. There was a turf field way in the back. When the practice was over we'd go out there and work for at least a couple of hours each day."

The Astros could not have been more pleased with Biggio's move to second. He owned the Gold Glove Award at second from 1994 to 1997. Offensively, he ranks third among major leaguers in hits during the past 10 seasons (1,671).

Among active players, he ranks fifth in runs (1,401), eighth in games (2,100, also an Astros franchise record), ninth in stolen bases (381) and eighth in hits (2,295). Teammates kidded Biggio about his decreased range at second base in 2001, but many scouts acknowledge that Kent's defensive range is not better than Biggio's.

Kent's signing was more about helping the Astros' sagging offense than improving the defense. Biggio could benefit because there should be more scoring opportunities for him with Jeff Bagwell, Kent and Lance Berkman batting behind him.