Hello and Goodbye

Yesterday afternoon Jake was able to say hello to the Astros for the first time as the team said goodbye to Craig Biggio. In the last game of the season, the Astros honored Biggio as he put on the Houston uniform for the last time and retired. It was a great tribute to one of the best baseball players Houston will ever see. In this day and age and especially in sports it is rare to see someone who excels in his field, gives back to the community, and more importantly is a great father/husband but Biggio is the complete package. Biggio finished number 20 on MLB's all time hit list and is one of only 27 players in the history of MLB to have 3000 hits. It was fitting that Biggio had one of his trademark Minute Maid Park doubles as his only hit in the game and left the field with dirt (as was the case most of the time) and a tear on his pants from diving for a ground ball. After the final out, the record crowd of 43,823 people in Minute Maid Park were as quiet as I have ever heard 43,000+ people. You could almost hear a pin drop while waiting for the Biggio video tribute because no one could believe the moment for goodbye had finally come. I remember watching games back in 1988 when I first moved to Houston enduring many of those who were speculating if this tough little guy from NY could keep it up. He proved many wrong and will be remembered by all when he's inducted to Cooperstown in 2012.

Jake loved the game and thought the fans were tamer and alot less noiser than the Yankee fans he came across the other night. He smiled at everyone around us and even took a little nap during the seventh inning stretch. Amy singing "Deep in the Heart of Texas" during the 7th inning stretch didn't even wake him up.