Freshly elected Baseball Hall of Fame member Craig Biggio still cannot contain his love for Opening Day, even after a 20-year career with the Houston Astros.
"To get everybody here tonight and get 40-something thousand people and get this place rocking again, it's exciting," Biggio said. "I'm excited. I watched the Cubs game last night. I watched the Yankees today. I love Opening Day. I love baseball. It's fun to start it all over again because we don't know what we're going to see."
Honoring the franchise's past as well as the future, Biggio threw the ceremonial first pitch to Astros' second baseman Jose Altuve prior to Houston's home opener Monday evening against the Cleveland Indians. Altuve won the American League batting title with a .341 batting average in 2014, becoming the first player in franchise history to achieve the feat.
"I think what Jose did last year, and what he's becoming as a player, I'm happy to be a part of it," Biggio said about throwing the first pitch to Altuve. "Today, you don't really know how many [Opening Days] you have as a player, you try to enjoy every one of them because it's special, because you don't know what the season is going to bring. I'm happy to throw out the first pitch, I'm happy to be a part of it."
Since Biggio's retirement in 2007, he has served as a special assistant to the general manager for the Astros, attending spring training to help mentor the club's younger talent. When asked how this season's spring training differed from years past before being elected to the Hall of Fame, Biggio said things were mostly the same.
"People ask to write HOF on the ball," Biggio joked. "It's the same. I enjoy going to spring training. I enjoy going to the minor-league side and watching the kids play and get to know them a little bit and being around there for them. ... I think [president of business operations Reid Ryan] did a really nice job in trying to incorporate a lot of different guys at different times, because it's important for the history of your franchise to see the past, what it was and what the future is now."
While Biggio is honored to be the first to wear an Astros cap in Cooperstown, he didn't play the game hard just to be honored.
"It's pretty cool," Biggio said about being elected to the Hall of Fame. "I mean, I never played the game to get in the Hall of Fame. I played the game because I loved every minute of it. I loved every Opening Day. I loved putting on a big-league uniform, an Astros uniform, and now obviously at the pinnacle is getting into the Hall of Fame and being able to enjoy that with the fans that we had here with just one team, that's pretty special."
In 2015, the Astros are expected to see more improvement from 2014's 70-win season, predicted by some to reach .500 for the first time in seven years or even contend for a wild-card spot. Biggio won't put a number on how many wins he expects Houston to win this season but is optimistic the club will take a leap forward with its young, top prospects now playing mostly at the major-league level.
"For these young guys, they're not really that young anymore," Biggio said. "Now it's up to them to start going out here and producing and getting some W's.
"They have a couple years of experience now. Now you have to start producing and playing, and hopefully we can get some young guys to continue to get better and get back to winning some pennants to hang up there on the light tower."
Biggio will be inducted to the Hall of Fame on July 26. He finished his career with 3,060 hits, 668 doubles, 291 home runs, 1,175 RBI and a .281 career average over 2,850 games.
Follow Shawn Ramsey on Twitter: @ShawnPRamsey
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