There is no other player that means more to the Houston Astros' franchise that Craig Biggio.
He put together a legendary career with the Astros and went down as one of the best MLB hitters of all-time. Even today, his presence is highly valued by the franchise and the fans.
Throughout his 20-season MLB career, he racked up incredible numbers. Biggio ended up with 3,060 hits, 1,175 RBI, 291 home runs, 414 stolen bases, and the honor of being inducted into the Hall of Fame.
While he ended up playing his entire career with Houston, Biggio recently made a shocking revelation. He almost left the team in free agency.
During a recent episode of "The Road to Cooperstown," Biggio revealed that he almost left the Astros to sign with the Colorado Rockies.
“I think it was ‘97 or ‘98 that I was a free agent. It was kind of like look, I didn’t want to go anywhere, but the organization took a stance and they weren’t moving. So I’m like okay so we don’t really have a choice here. If they don’t want me to stay anymore, I don’t want to leave, I want to kind of finish what we started, which was to get us to a World Series because it’s never been done here in Texas, or Houston, so I wanted to finish that job. Then it was like okay, it’s not going to happen. So you had San Diego and St. Louis, Colorado, the big three teams. Then I was probably minutes away from being a Rockie, honestly.”
Despite the scare, Houston ended up retaining their superstar.
Biggio opened up more about almost joining the Rockies, revealing why they were a team he wanted to join.
“That’s when you had Walker, Bichette, Galaraga, I mean they were missing one dude. They had the Blake Street Bombers back in the day. It was kind of like one phone call hung up, the other one rang, my agent said okay I guess we're staying, and that’s how close it came.”
It's wild to think how close Biggio's career came to being so much different. The legacy that he ended up with by staying with the Astros throughout his entire career would not have happened.
While this is an amazing story for Houston, Colorado fans are now depressed. Biggio could have been one of the biggest free agency acquisitions of all-time.
All of that being said, these situations happen quite often without fans knowing it. Many different stars in professional sports have almost left teams and joined others. Biggio is far from being the only one with this kind of story, but it's wild to hear about it years later.
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