Two of baseball’s most consistent players over the past 20 years entered baseball’s two most storied clubs yesterday as Frank Thomas hit his 500th homerun and Craig Biggio collected his 3,000th hit. It was crazy that they did it on the same day, but perhaps crazier was that Thomas later got ejected in his special game – and it was the same team he hit his 1st homerun against. Meanwhile Biggio’s game was won in extra innings by a walk-off grand-slam (by Carlos Lee) after Biggio singled to get one base with the team down 5-4 in the 11th – Biggio also had five hits in the game, tied for the most of his career.

Frank Thomas you’d have to think is definitely a hall-of-famer. People are quick to forget, but we was almost without question the best offensive player in baseball for a few years in the 1990s, often being compared with Ted Williams for his control and power. He’s a career .300 hitter despite now being known as a power guy (and not having topped .300 in any season since 2000), and has a career .423 on-base percentage.

He won’t get to 3,000 hits, but only because he walked so many times (over 1,500). It shouldn’t be overlooked either that during the strike-shortened year 1994, he was on pace to have the best year of his career. He hit 38 homeruns in only 113 games played that year and was hitting .353 with 141 hits and still 109 walks to only 61 strikeouts. His OPS (production) was an astronomical 1.217 – it may have been one of the best offensive years by any player ever had it not been cut short by the strike.

Perhaps more importantly for him, Thomas’ name has never been brought up with regards to the steroids era – he was huge when he entered the league, huge as he exits it. He was a 5-time all-star and two-time MVP, coming in 2nd once and 3rd place twice as well.

Craig Biggio is a more interesting debate for the Hall of Fame. He was never quite the superstar that Frank Thomas was, but was a consistently great player in his 20 years. He also is one of only a handful of players to get all of his 3,000 hits on the same team (the Astros).

Also in Biggio’s favor is that he was a great defensive player at a hard position (2B) for most of his career. He won 4 gold gloves and was an all-star 7 times. He was also very durable, only playing under 140 games once after 1989 (not counting the 1994 strike year).

Biggio’s loyalty to the one team and defense to go along with his 3,000+ hits could see him get into the Hall of Fame eventually, he’s had a great career.

Two great players passing two of the biggest milestones in baseball on the same day. Crazy.