Before Craig Biggio became a Hall of Fame baseball player, before he was drafted by the Astros or starred at Seton Hall, he was a two-sport star at Kings Park High School on Long Island.
And though he opened a lot of eyes on the baseball field, his real passion was football. So much so that he nearly chose football over baseball.
"I wanted to play football in college," Biggio said Tuesday, shortly after learning he was heading to Cooperstown. "Baseball was really gonna be the backup plan. The reality is it didn't happen. The right thing happened, obviously. It took me a long time to get it out of my system."
Instead of going to Boston College, where head coach Jack Bicknell told the Kings Park football staff the 5-foot-10 (maybe) Biggio could be the "next Doug Flutie," Biggio opted to head to Seton Hall, where he developed into a first-round MLB pick.
"When Jack Bicknell told us he was like Flutie, we moved Craig from tailback to quarterback," said John Bogenschutz, who was an assistant on both the football and baseball coaching staffs at Kings Park. "We lost three straight games, but not because of Craig."
And when the Dodgers and Tigers talked to Biggio about drafting him out of high school, Bogenschutz said he thought it was too good an opportunity to pass up.
"But Craig and his mom decided it was best for him to play baseball in college," Bogenschutz said. "I'm so glad he didn't listen to me."
Biggio ended up being the 22nd overall selection in 1987 and eventually an All-Star both as a catcher and second baseman, before moving to the outfield.
Craig Biggio, who played his entire career with the Astros, had 3,060 career hits.Photo: AP
"We used to move him all over the field," Bogenschutz said. "Depending on what team called to say they were scouting him and what position they wanted to see him."
Biggio ended up spending three years at Seton Hall before two decades with the Astros, collecting 3,060 hits.
"I wasn't mature enough coming out of high school," Biggio said. "I think if I would have signed out of high school, I wouldn't have lasted very long."
His accomplishments in Houston helped get him within two votes of enshrinement a year ago before getting the required 75 percent (actually, 82.7) this time around, joining Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz and former teammate Randy Johnson in the Class of 2015.
"I still can't believe he missed by two votes last year," said Mike Sheppard Sr., who coached Biggio at Seton Hall. "I think I took it harder than he did."
That's probably true.
"Last year I was totally fine," Biggio said. "This morning I woke up at 4:30, then at 7 and was just keeping myself busy all morning. You're trending in the right direction [in previous years], but you never know which way you're gonna go. I didn't take it for granted."
Biggio compared his intensity on the field to that of Pete Rose, who clearly won't be joining Biggio in Cooperstown anytime soon.
"The way I approached the game was I tried to play the game hard, play the game right every single day," Biggio said. "I remember where I came from. I played every game like it was gonna be my last game. … I just loved playing the game of baseball. Every minute of it, every inning of it."
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