In the Stros romp over the Phillies last night, Craig Biggio and Lance Berkman hit back-to-back home runs twice, once in the first inning and then again in the third. By the way, in case you hadn’t noticed, the Stros are 52-47, in 2nd place in the NL Central 10 1/2 games back of St. Louis, only 3 games behind in the Wild Card race, and have won 8 out of their last 10 games.
Bidg and Berkman are — along with injured teammate, Jeff Bagwell — among a small group of Stros players who are legitimate candidates for Baseball’s Hall of Fame. The rare feat of homering back-to-back twice in one game gives me an opportunity to pass along the following career and recent season statistics for both Bidg and Berkman:
| Berkman | ||||||||||||
YEAR | AGE | RCAA | OBA | SLG | OPS | AVG | HR | RBI | SB | G | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 27 | 40 | .412 | .515 | .927 | .288 | 25 | 93 | 5 | 153 | ||
| 2004 | 28 | 69 | .450 | .566 | 1.016 | .316 | 30 | 106 | 9 | 160 | ||
| 2005 | 29 | 22 | .418 | .528 | .945 | .313 | 11 | 43 | 1 | 70 | ||
| CAR | 276 | .416 | .560 | .977 | .304 | 167 | 578 | 41 | 845 | |||
| LG AVG | 0 | .342 | .435 | .776 | .269 | 92 | 372 | 48 | ||||
| POS AVG | 67 | .358 | .472 | .830 | .276 | 117 | 421 | 56 | ||||
| Biggio | ||||||||||||
YEAR | AGE | RCAA | OBA | SLG | OPS | AVG | HR | RBI | SB | G | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 37 | 1 | .350 | .412 | .763 | .264 | 15 | 62 | 8 | 153 | ||
| 2004 | 38 | 8 | .337 | .469 | .806 | .281 | 24 | 63 | 7 | 156 | ||
| 2005 | 39 | 12 | .344 | .487 | .832 | .280 | 15 | 44 | 10 | 96 | ||
| CAR | 358 | .372 | .437 | .808 | .286 | 249 | 1038 | 406 | 2505 | |||
| LG AVG | 0 | .338 | .419 | .756 | .268 | 271 | 1199 | 203 | ||||
| POS AVG | -101 | .333 | .392 | .726 | .265 | 196 | 1011 | 227 | ||||
League average and position average figures are included in the tables above to give you an idea of how far above Bidg and Berkman’s performance has been over average National League players and position players during their respective careers.
Throughout his almost 18 MLB seasons, Bidg has created 20 more runs per season than an average National League player and 26 more runs per season than the average National League position player (mostly second basemen). Throughout his six year career, Berkman has generated an impressive 46 more runs per season than an average National League hitter and an equally impressive 35 more runs per season than the average National League position player (mostly leftfielders).
There are many Hall of Famers who have no where near as impressive statistics as either Bidg or Berkman. Bidg should be a shoo-in for the Hall and, if Berkman keeps up his production for another 7-8 seasons or so, he would be one, too.
In my opinion, Biggio is a lock because he dominated at his position for a prolonged period of time. Add to his resume 7 All-Star appearances, 4 Gold Gloves and 5 Silver Slugger awards (4 at 2B and 1 at C), and it seems ridiculous to think that he’s not a HOF. Biggio could finish with 250 HR, 600 doubles, 400 SB and 3000 hits. That is incredible.
Berkman, to me, has much further to go because he is much more of a one-dimensional player than Biggio. He will not have the Gold Gloves, Silver Sluggers, etc., the positional dominance or the stolen base numbers. I think he will have to come close on a few MVP awards and win a ring or two to put him in HOF territory. Just my two cents, though.