They get most of the RBIs, but few of the all-star votes.
While the team superstar collects the monstrous salary and the huge endorsements, the second-best player is more likely to be delivering clutch hits that will bring a postseason bonus share.
Even people who think watching baseball offers all the intrigue of watching paint dry nevertheless have heard of baseball’s biggest names – Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Sammy Sosa.
But people who refer to baseball as a living – front-office executives, managers, players, fantasy-league nerds – realize that if a team is going to play in October, it’s players such as Moises Alou, Jeff Kent, Garret Anderson and David Ortiz who help you get there.
These are the best of baseball’s “other” guys, stars obscured by their position on teams with bigger, brighter stars. Second-best players usually have two common characteristics: a tendency to lead their team in RBIs and, regardless of how many teams they play for, they usually find a way to be playing in the postseason.
“It’s a situation that’s been OK with me, but at the same time it’s been bad because I’ve moved around so much,” Alou said. “I don’t mind not being the man, but maybe sometimes I feel underappreciated.”
For more than a decade, Alou has been a quintessential “other” guy. He was the second-best player to Larry Walker in the strike-shortened 1994 season, when the Montreal Expos had the best record in baseball. He was second to Gary Sheffield with the world champion Florida Marlins in 1997. He hit in the shadows of Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio from 1998-2001 with Houston and next to Sosa with the Cubs from 2002-04.
Despite playing the role of Abbott to all those Costellos, Alou led the 1994 Expos with a .339 average and 22 homers, the Marlins in homers and RBIs in 1997, the Astros in homers and RBIs during their playoff season of 1998, and he had more RBIs (197) than Sosa (183) his last two years in Chicago.
This year, he signed on to be an afterthought in San Francisco next to Bonds. That role has yet to materialize because Bonds, the numero uno of baseball’s No. 1s, has yet to play because of multiple knee surgeries.
“Any team you’re on with Barry you know you’re going to be second fiddle, and that’s fine with me,” Alou said.
When general managers build rosters, those who are serious about contending don’t begin by saying they need an impact superstar player here and a traditional, second-best player there. It doesn’t work that way. Instead, GMs fill their needs by position or batting order slot.
However the method, teams that pick up a player such as Alou, Kent or Steve Finley usually find themselves playing in the postseason. Kent, now with the Dodgers, became so proficient playing the role of second banana to Bonds in San Francisco he was named the National League MVP in 2000.
“In your search to give yourself the strongest lineup possible, you’re always looking for that player who maybe isn’t considered a superstar but can also make a difference,” Giants GM Brian Sabean said. “Sometimes when that guy ends up being in such a good place in the order on the right team, he has a chance to take off. You don’t ever plan it that way.”
It wasn’t until Ortiz moved from Minnesota to Boston and settled in behind Manny Ramirez, that he became the “Papi” of clutch hitters and the Red Sox snapped their 86-year-old curse.
As No. 2 players go, Kent may be the Lou Gehrig of the modern era. In 1927, Babe Ruth hit 60 homers, but it was Gehrig who led the Murderer’s Row with 175 RBIs. During Kent’s six years in San Francisco, Bonds belted 104 more homers than Kent but had 30 fewer RBIs.
“The good No. 2s are really No. 1s,” Rockies GM Dan O’Dowd said. “Jeff Kent is really a No. 1 who ended up becoming second-best because of Bonds. I think Jeff Kent is a Hall of Famer, one of the best players of our era. The clubs he’s played on, he’s given them such a competitive advantage because of how much his production was compared to everybody else’s second basemen.”
On many teams, it’s easier to define the star than the second-best player. The exception is the Yankees, who are paying no less than five position players – Rodriguez, Sheffield, Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi and Bernie Williams – superstar salaries.
Then there are teams such as the Los Angeles Angels who didn’t have a Vladimir Guerrero-like star when they won the 2002 World Series thanks to an abundance of No. 2-type players such as Anderson, Troy Glaus, Tim Salmon and Darin Erstad. From that group, Anderson has been the most productive, yet he is not exactly a household name around baseball. Polite, unassuming and hardly glib, Anderson entered the season with more hits the previous 10 years (1,761) than any other player. He was an All-Star Game MVP and averaged 111 RBIs a season the past five years.
Yet his $9.6 million salary, while substantial, makes him the third-highest paid player on his own team.
“They’re paying me on production,” Anderson said. “They’re not paying me to be a popular player. … They’re paying me because that’s what I earned.”
Most second bananas come around to understanding their lot. They can see that in recent years the limelight has been harsh on the likes of stars such as Bonds, Sosa and Giambi.
Playing out a career as an “other” guy does have its benefits.
“I wouldn’t mind being the man,” Alou said. “I think if you look I was No. 1 on a lot of the teams. I was No. 1 last year. I was No. 1 in Houston, numbers-wise. Florida. Montreal. But the good thing about being second fiddle is it’s more relaxing. I’m thankful for every day of my career.”
Staff writer Mike Klis can be reached at 303-820-5440 or mklis@denverpost.com.
