Thunder and rain (Frank Thomas and Craig Biggio)

[PDittie]

Milestone Thursday gave us everything. Biggio joined the 3,000-hit club in grander fashion than any of his 26 predecessors, pumping out five hits and crossing the plate on Carlos Lee's game-winning, extra-inning grand slam. Thomas joined the 500-home run club with a signature blast, his 270-pound body frozen just until he had to lunge, at which point his 39-year-old wrists generated enough bat speed to will the ball over the left-field fence –- all before he got kicked out of the game for flapping his lips, a specialty of his.

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Biggio, the Houston Astro for life, the catcher-turned-second baseman-turned-outfielder-turned-second baseman, the scrapper, the hustler, the fresh face gone crow-eyed, the guy who only once before had a five-hit game, and that was on Opening Day 2001 following knee surgery. He looked Thursday like he had in his first season for the Astros 20 years ago, rounding first base on his third hit of the night, No. 3,000, and digging for the 659th double of his career. Age caught up with him momentarily and so did the throw –- he was out. Later, though, he beat out an infield single with his 41-year-old legs with two outs in the 11th to keep the game alive.

And Thomas, the newly christened Toronto Blue Jay, the born designated hitter, the island of a man, the lumberer – bat and gait –- left for the glue factory by the team he carried for so many years, the Chicago White Sox, only to revive his career last year in Oakland and, perhaps for the last time, live up to the game's most appropriate nickname, The Big Hurt. He looked Thursday like he had in his first season for the White Sox 18 years ago, taking borderline pitches, smacking bad ones, the paragon of patience and a worthy member of the 21-player crew with 500 home runs, unlike some recent enshrinees.

In the coming weeks, when New York Mets left-hander Tom Glavine earns his 300th win and joins baseball's third elite club, baseball's great contribution to water coolers and barstools everywhere -– the unwinnable argument -– will force us to compare the three. Which is the most elite? Which has been bastardized most by steroids? Which takes skill as opposed to longevity? Which merits automatic entry into the Hall of Fame?

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AnZUNvppB0qyS31lyGZSEFIRvLYF?slug=jp-milestones062907&prov=yhoo&type=lgns">Jeff Passan, Yahoo

I think Biggio, Glavine, and Thomas are all first-ballot HOFers.

[GOPisEvil]

1. Glavine is definitely in, and I think Thomas and Biggio will get in, too.

People forget just how good Frank Thomas was for a straight decade. Biggio has done something only 26 other guys have done. At 3 positions. I have a lot of respect for that guy. Thomas, too.

[nickgutierrez]

2. Absolutely right on all three.

Biggio was, at one point, the most underrated player in baseball, because he did absolutely everything so well. He stuck around too long, but he had a couple of .300/.400/.500 seasons in '97 and '98, which are great for a player at any position, let alone the consistently weakest non-battery hitting position with the possible exception of shortstop. Although he was never a great defensive player, he was right around average for a very long time, and his offense from that position, in that park made him one of the top 5 or 10 players of the 1990s, by my reckoning.

Frank Thomas has to be in. .303/.423/.562 is a great season for any major league first basemen. That's his career. One more time - that's his career.

Glavine is also in, if only for his role in the Maddux/Glavine/Smoltz triumverate that dominated the NL East for so long, and he's the most sure "sure thing" of the three.