New Faces All The Time

Guess Nelson Cruz‘s 15 minutes of fame is up now that the Texas Rangers have moved on from the American League Championship Series to the World Series. Now we seem to be watching the Allen Craig Major League Highlight Reel Show.

A couple of more key hits the way Craig smacked late-inning singles in the first two games of the Series and Craig might even have enough videotape to show recruiters when he tries to get a college scholarship.

You can’t tell me that even the most ardent baseball fans not members of St. Louis Cardinals fan clubs knew the second thing about Craig before he drove in big runs two games in a row. Despite all of his national television exposure most of us still only know the first thing about him, that he has seized the moment when called upon by Cards manager Tony La Russa.

Allen Craig. Where do we begin? He is not Jenny Craig’s skinny brother. Craig turned 27 this summer. He is not a rookie, but made his Major League debut in 2010. He played college ball at the University of California in Berkeley. Craig got into 75 games for the Cardinals this season, playing left or right field, depending on La Russa’s mood.

His stats were pretty good for a part-timer. Craig slammed 11 home runs, drove in 40 runs, and batted .315 in 200 at-bats. No wonder Las Russa feels pretty confident calling upon Craig as a pinch-hitter. He is 6-foot-2 and weighs 210 pounds, a pretty sturdy character who was known for hitting home runs in the minors. However, in both of his Series appearances against the Rangers, both against the Alexi Ogando‘s blinding fastball, he hit dying-quail singles down the right-field line. Out of such simple strokes of the bat are reputations like Mr. Clutch forged because there happens to be nationwide viewership.

Guys like Craig always seem to percolate to the top of the attention meter during the playoffs and World Series. They are members of Unsung Heroes Anonymous and by catching fire at the right time they earn a place in history that sticks. The regular season is the long haul, built to weed out the pretenders from the contenders among teams, but also among players. It is not nearly as difficult to stay hot for a month as it is to stay hot for six months.

Texas’ Mike Napoli has been blistering hot since August. St. Louis’ Albert Pujols has been hot for 11 years.

Short-Series heroes are long remembered, but often for one thing, even if they have good careers. For all we know, for all that he did (6 home runs and 13 RBIs), Cruz’s greatest career accomplishment may have just ended when the Rangers shrugged off the Detroit Tigers. Not that he should be greedy since many players never even have that one special moment in the sun.

We are used to superstars taking charge in the playoffs and World Series, but we also see our share of merely solid Joes rising to the occasion. Relief pitcher Larry Sherry was the MVP of the 1959 Series for the Dodgers. Who was the MVP in the 1969 Miracle Mets Series? Not Tom Seaver. It was Donn Clendenon. The MVP of the 1972 Series was Gene Tenace, not Reggie Jackson. In 1978, the power-hitting Yankees were led by shortstop Bucky Dent. St. Louis catcher Darrell Porter was MVP of the 1986 Series.

It’s too soon to tell, but Allen Craig could be the next Sherry, Clendenon or Dent. Or, since it is only two games into the 2011 Series, he could fade into the woodwork.