Why do some people consider Biggio as being a better 2nd baseman than Alomar?
Question:Alomar was superior in essentially every aspect of the game, and he dominated the game to a much greater degree than Biggio in several more seasons. Do people have short term memorys or just selective perception causing them to focus on non-baseball related issues like ethnicity and Alomar's spitting incident?
Alomar revolutionized the way a second baseman plays the game. Biggio was merely a solid secondbaseman who played consistently for a long period of time.
My faith in the accuracy of the history of baseball will diminish greatly if Biggio turns out to be perceived as the better of the two, ten or twenty years from now. Alomar being refused entry to the HOF with Biggio being admitted would be the greatest injustice ever in the history of the game. It seems sometimes baseball opinion tends to be based on factors unrelated to baseball which essentially undermines the game as a sport.
Answers:
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1 Biggio has stuck around longer2 Biggio has therefore collected more hits (3,000 is just around the corner)
3 They live in National League cities
4 Yes, the spitting incident comes into play, and big time. Alomar apologied to everyone EXCEPT the fans. Alomar had been the absolute fan favourite here in Toronto. He won over this city in an exhibition game in Toronto in the middle of March, 1991, when he laid down a bunt, something that had rarely been seen is this neck of the woods. And that appreciation just kept growing and growing and growing. Even his own nieces and nephews prefered to wear his jersey to that of their own father.
But the spitting incident happened after he went to Baltimore, but IN TORONTO. Now, it's extremely rare that a former Blue Jay gets booed coming back to this city. Roy Lee Jackson, perhaps, but not any of the players from the "glory years". From the spitting incident onwards, Alomar was booed every time he set foot on the field here. And there were people throughout baseball who never forgave him. That apology would have gone a long way to helping that, but that apology never came.
As we all know, the HOF electors are veteran reporters, reports who saw all of this, including the spitting incident and the reactions to it. Alomar lost a whole lot of respect in the eyes of the fans and of the reporters with that one.
I absolutely agree with you about Alomar's accomplishments on the field, at the plate and running the bases. He outplayed every other second sacker of his time, and even though he rarely played it, just about every shortstop of his time as well. Catching that pop up off Dyktra's bat in the WS, the one falling in just a few feet behind Olerud, that wasn't even one of his best plays, even though it's probably the one most remembered. He covered his defensive territory, and then some, the same way as did Devon White in CF. During that period, I would watch other balls games as well, and I'd fully expect ground balls to the right side to be fielded and easily. They weren't fielded easily, and too many times they weren't fielded as well. That includes by Ryne Sandberg. I expected them to be picked and the play to be made because I had been spoiled by the quality of play I'd been seeing at second base. And how many second basemen have you seen who backed up the first baseman, the shortstop AND the third baseman? Alomar did.
While he more than deserves to be in the HOF, he may well have to wait, but because of that one show of temper. It won't because of anything else in his career; just that one incident and his lack of apology to the fans. He'll get there, eventually, but that one incident will cost him what was almost certainly that first ballot selection. Biggio's 3000 hits will guarantee his first ballot selection.
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Alomar was a better all around player than Biggio but people say Biggio is better because he is more devoted to his career than Alomar was.Who is the best outfielder in the mlb?
When you say who is a better 2nd baseman, you aren't saying better hitter. Statistically Biggio has a .918 fielding %, while Robbie Alomar had a .98704 fielding percentage. That is very good. Biggio has been a catcher outfielder and 2nd baseman. So he really is not a 2nd baseman. From my observations Alomar was better. So I believe Alomar is better. Biggio is better hitter though in my opinion. Biggio=Hall of Famer. Alomar=could have been, but no.Would you trade Vlad (power) for Ichiro (speed)?
Look at the stats, I'm looking at them as I'm typing. As a 2nd baseman their fielding % and the rest of their defensive stats, are virtually the same. But Biggio's career has lasted a couple years longer. Alomar's last 2 years he was a nonfactor on the team for Chicago and Arizona, while Biggio is still a leader and impact player for the Astros. Biggio is going to have 3000 hits, which is just about an automatic entry into the Hall of Fame. If Alomar was still playing at the level he played at in the mid 90's he'd be a for sure Hall of Famer, also. Really, looking at the numbers I wouldn't say either one was better than the other.Biggio broke into the big leagues as a Catcher, then went to Second Base, then to Center Field, then back to Second. Alomar isn't a HOF'er and Biggio is.period
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