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Originally Posted by Chip R
Well, Jeter had more opportunities to hit that good pitching since his teams made the playoffs more often than HOU did.
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Had Biggio hit in October like Jeter his teams might have won a few extra series and he'd have gotten more playoff games as a result. Yet it's not really the counting stats where I'm making my point (though I firmly believe playing stats should count toward career totals). Biggio went .234/.295/.323 in the playoffs. Jeter is .308/.375/.465. Regular season or postseason, Biggio never could hit good pitching. Jeter always could.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chip R
As for the regular season, these things even out. Jeter got to hit against Tampa and Baltimore pitching quite a bit while Biggio got to hit against Reds and Pirates pitching a lot - I'd include the Cubs but they weren't total crap during the mid 90s and early 00s.
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They both saw plenty of bad pitching with their 1996-2007 overlap. I don't have the studies at my fingertips, but Biggio has some of the most lopsided career numbers ever when it comes to how well he hit bad pitching and how poorly he hit good pitching. Meanwhile, Jeter is just about the steadiest guy who ever lived in that regard.
What it boils down to is you could airlift Jeter into any era - deadball, 1960s - and he'd still produce. Biggio feasted on a bad pitching era. He reached his prime exactly when the 1993 expansion hit and probably was able to scuffle his way to 3,000 hits thanks to the 1998 expansion. Biggio was a great player. I'd vote him into the HOF straight away, but he's definitely a product of his era. He was wired to thrash bad pitchers during the regular season of a hitters' era.
Jeter's risen beyond that because he's shown himself to be a truly rare animal. When you look at who the steadiest hitters are and at how the guys are that do the best against good pitching and at the guys who perform the best in the postseason, Jeter is at the top of the list. It's substance, not hype.