Craig Biggio vividly recalls the way his 2000 season ended.
In the seventh inning of an Aug. 1 game in Florida, Marlins outfielder Preston Wilson slid hard into second base to try to break up a double play. Wilson’s legs caught Biggio, then Houston’s starting second baseman, with his left leg planted as he attempted a throw to first, tearing the ligaments in his left knee.
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Biggio had never been on the disabled list in his 13-year career entering that game. One play later he was out with a torn ACL and MCL.
“It’s just part of the business sometimes,” Biggio told Sporting News in a phone interview. “(Wilson) came in hard. He got me good at the time.”
Biggio wasn’t the first infielder to suffer a serious injury on a takeout slide at second base, nor would he be the last. Just last week Pirates shortstop Jung Ho Kang suffered a broken left leg and torn MCL after Cubs outfielder Chris Coghlan clipped him with a hard takeout slide. The play was gruesome by nature, as Coghlan’s wide slide caused Kang’s knee to buckle and left the shortstop on the ground for several minutes.
It was a disturbing scene and a blatant takeout attempt on Coghlan’s part, but a legal play nonetheless as his hand remained within reach of the bag. Kang acknowledged that reality in a statement in which he said Coghlan played “heads up baseball” and was “playing the game the way it should be played.”
Biggio, a Hall of Famer who played 15 of his 20 big league seasons at second base, watched the play and echoed Kang’s sentiment.
“The baserunner slid into the base cleanly — he was able to reach the base, touch the base with his hand,” he said. “He was just playing the game hard. In my eyes I didn’t see anything wrong with what he did with the slide.”
Kang’s injury has sparked discussions throughout baseball and media about the takeout slide, and whether or not modifications need to be made to the rules for the sake of player safety. Although Coghlan’s slide was legal, the way he angled himself away from the base and wrapped his right leg around Kang’s shin, causing the injury, raised those concerns.
It wouldn’t be the first time Major League Baseball instituted a new rule in response to a major injury on the bases. The sport adopted Rule 7.13, which banned collisions at home plate, before the 2014 season at least partially in response to Giants catcher Buster Posey’s broken leg suffered in 2011 following a collision with the Marlins’ Scott Cousins.
The rule received significant pushback from players, including catchers, at first, but has since become an accepted part of the game.
Will baseball do the same thing with takeout slides following Kang’s injury? History tells us it’s possible. One thing that’s certain is players both current and former — as was the case with the home-plate collision rule — probably won’t like it.
Buddy Biancalana, a 1985 World Series champion maybe best known for his legendary appearance on “Late Night with David Letterman,” spent the bulk of his six-year career as a shortstop for the Royals. In that time he played with aggressive sliders Hal McRae, whose tactics led to the current slide rule, and George Brett.
Biancalana said he embraced the athletic challenge of avoiding an incoming baserunner, and that it’s the responsibility of the fielder to do what’s necessary to prevent getting hurt.
“If I’m making that play there I don’t make that throw to first base,” Biancalana said in reference to the Kang play. “I jump up and avoid the runner.”
Biancalana said the last thing he wants to see is a change based on one incident.
“I’d hate to see that myself,” he said. “It’s playing aggressive baseball, and I like it. I don’t want injuries by any means, but as a middle infielder you have to know that guys are coming at you trying to break up a double play.”
Biggio was not only a takeout slide victim himself, he was also at one point at catcher who faced collisions at the plate. He wasn’t in favor of the rule change at home, and he said he wouldn’t approve of this one as well.
“I sure hope they don’t change the rule,” he said. “You never want to see anyone get hurt, but these things are going to happen. To change the rule now, I’m not a fan of it. It’s just part of the game.
“Unfortunately, a young man got hurt. I got hurt. We change the rules because guys get hurt. Sometimes it wins games for teams, breaking up a double-play ball. That’s been going on throughout the history of the game. I think the slides now are better than when I first got in the big leagues in the late '80s. The slides were crazy back then.”
Baseball for decades accepted the existence of the “neighborhood play,” which allows a fielder to touch the base and remove his foot off the bag a split second before receiving the ball in order to avoid contact. Although it’s good for player safety, that play has caused some controversy with the institution of instant replay because it can’t be reviewed.
The most logical solution for baseball would be to adopt a rule similar to that in college. Rule 8, Section 4 of the NCAA baseball rulebook states that on any force play, the runner “must slide on the ground before the base and in a direct line between the two bases. It is permissible for the slider’s momentum to carry him through the base in the baseline extended.” The runner must have his entire body in a straight line between the bases, with the only exception being if he slides away from the fielder to avoid contact or interference.
Biggio said the sliding rule for force plays in college is good because it’s a rule for amateur players who may not know how to slide properly. But he doesn’t think it belongs in the big leagues.
“When you’re professionals you understand how you’re supposed to slide and it’s a business,” he said. “It’s a totally different situation from having amateurs coming into you as opposed to professionals coming into you. There’s a certain integrity and way you’re supposed to slide.”
Baseball has experienced much change in recent years, between meaningful All-Star games, expanded playoffs, collision rules and, most recently, methods to speed up games. Banishing takeout slides would just add to the list.
Although both Biancalana and Biggio wouldn’t approve of change, it wouldn’t surprise them to see it happen.
“It tends to be the direction we seem to be trending in at times,” Biggio said.
Baseball players have proven to be averse to such change. This situation wouldn’t be any different.