Craig Biggio, who reached baseball immortality earlier this year when he reached 3,000 career hits, will announce in a press conference this afternoon at Minute Maid Park that he will retire following the 2007 season.
Biggio, 41, has played his entire 20-year career with the Astros and last month became the 27th player in the history of baseball to reach 3,000 hits. He's in sixth place on the all-time doubles list with 661 and has hit more doubles than any righthanded player in history.
Biggio had his playing time reduced at the All-Star break, but will continue to start most of the team's games at home. Unless the Astros make the playoffs, his final game will be Sept. 30 against the Atlanta Braves at Minute Maid Park.
Biggio broke into the majors in 1988 as a catcher and would become a fixture in the Astros' lineup for two decades, switching to second base to the outfield and eventually returning to second base. He finished in the top five on the Most Valuable Player voting in 1997 and 1998 and established himself as one of the game's top second baseman. He's a career .282 hitter with 286 homers, 3,014 hits and 1,826 runs.
Biggio made the All-Star team seven times in the 1990s, including both at catcher and second base, won four Gold Gloves at second base and holds baseball's modern-day record for being hit by a pitch. He and longtime teammate Jeff Bagwell, who retired last year, are considered the greatest players to wear an Astros uniform, and they helped take the struggling franchise to new heights culminating in a World Series berth in 2005.
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