Craig Biggio’s Houston-area high school players believe their coach was ‘robbed’ of Hall of Fame
Houston Astros legend Craig Biggio missed the Baseball Hall of Fame by two votes on Wednesday, and his charges for the past five seasons on the Houston (Texas) Saint Thomas High baseball team aren't too happy about it.
Two years after retiring from Major League Baseball, Biggio began coaching sons Conor and Cavan on the Eagles, and the trio helped capture back-to-back Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools Class 5A state championships in 2010 and 2011.
Now, his players are returning the favor, making Biggio's Cooperstown case for him.
"I feel like he was robbed," Saint Thomas senior pitcher Michael Rodgers told KHOU-TV.
"I consider him robbed," senior outfielder Ben Condara told the station.
"I honestly thought it was a travesty," added Brian Schwarzbach, a University of Pennsylvania pitcher who played alongside Biggio's sons at Saint Thomas. "I feel like maybe a lot writers have let a lot of ego get in the way of their voting when they want to just try to punish people being associated with an era even though they were never named and completely clean from any allegations."
You can't blame the Eagles for getting emotional about the subject. It's not every day a seven-time All-Star and member of the 3,000-hit club offers his services to a high school baseball team. And delivers.
"Most of the guys go off into sunset and don’t do anything else but rest on the laurels of their careers," Saint Thomas assistant baseball coach Mike Netzel told KHOU-TV. "He never did that. He was out here, cutting the grass, dragging the infield, doing the work."
Conor Biggio is currently a junior outfield at Notre Dame, where brother Cavan will join him as a freshman this spring. The youngest Biggio batted .407 with seven homers and 33 RBI as a Saint Thomas senior this past spring, when he helped dad lead the Eagles to another state semifinals appearance.
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