Picture this: You’re a sports fan, even a casual one. You’re walking down the street, and someone accidentally bumps into your shoulder. You turn. Holy s—, it’s LeBron James! You’re stunned, speechless, almost breathless. Or it’s Peyton Manning. Maybe it’s Rafael Nadal. It’s an iconic face, someone who’s on top of his sport and instantly recognizable.
Now picture this: the current best player in baseball — a guy who has hit an outlandish 73 home runs since the start of last season, a guy who has already hit 19 home runs in his first 41 games of this 2011 season, which puts him on pace for 71 home runs, at a time when power is down across the game — likewise stumbles into you.
You turn. “Hey, man, watch where you’re going.” You then continue your walk to the grocery store.
Because really, if you bumped into Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays on the street, would you have any clue who he was? .
Well, let me introduce you to him: Bautista, a right fielder, is the best baseball player, and maybe best professional athlete, you’ve never heard of.
Which is sad, because Bautista is putting on quite a show. Bautista’s swing, in particular, is worth watching. He holds his hands high, near his helmet, and exaggerates his leg kick to generate power. He gets his hips out in front of the ball, and turns on it, thanks to his superior bat speed. And now, Bautista can also hit for average: he’s batting .342, second in the American League.
Bautista’s lack of recognition doesn’t bode well for baseball, a sport that is already coping with attendance lags early in the season. How unfamous is baseball’s best player? In March, a marketing firm compiled the Q scores, which are a general measure of likeability that are well respected within the sports industry, for 500 active and retired athletes, coaches and sports-media personalities. Subscribers to the Q-score service, which include player representatives, companies seeking sports endorsers and other industry insiders, ask for specific names to be evaluated. Bautista is so irrelevant to sports marketing that no one even requested him.
