Biggio Says Next Season's His Last

He was in the starting lineup of our very first Astros game....in 1987. Still here today, beloved hometown hero Craig Biggio says next season will be his last, reports the Chronicle. He's still looking for his 3,000 hit, and is willing to do so either in another uniform or in hometown colors--but only for one more year.

After that he'll hang up his hat (cap? helmet?), which he's been wearing for nineteern years as a second baseman, outfielder, and even catcher. He is the only player in Major League Baseball's history to have hit at least 600 doubles, 2,800 hits, 250 home runs and have 400 stolen bases, and is also baseball's modern-era leader in getting hit by pitches: 291 of them, at last count. But through it all, he says, the game's stayed fun, despite a falling average this season (.248), the Astros' fading playoff hopes, and some former fans calling for his retirement.

Biggio and his wife, who make their home in West University, have raised millions for children's cancer research through their work with The Sunshine Kids.