The Charlie Brown heroes of my childhood

Throughout much of baseball life I have adopted a series of thoroughly unimpressive players to cheer for.  I guess I am a sucker for the underdog.  For years it seemed I was the fan of some scrub hanging onto his major league job by his fingernails.  I called them my "Charlie Brown heroes," in reference to the comic strip character's inexplicable love for the mythical team scrub Joe Shlabotnik.

The names of my past heroes reads like a Who's-Unknown of the Cincinnati rosters in the 1980's and 1990's.

I thought I would leave a few postings about my old heroes.  I would like to do each of them justice, so the postings might be longish.  I'll just write about one player today, my first Charlie Brown hero.  You are welcome to stroll down memory's lane with me if you have interest.

Today's hero, Dann Bilardello

Bilardello somehow played in 219 games with the Reds from 1983-1985.  Dan was one of a collection of undeniably horrible catchers the Reds were trying to make due with during this dark era in Cincinnati baseball.  He competed with the likes of Alan Knicely, Brad Gulden, and Dave Van Gorder for the starting backstop job.  How can any player who thinks of himself as worthy of a MLB roster spot compete with a crew like this and not come out ahead?  Bilardello truly was a bad baseball player.

Why did I cheer for Bilardello? I'm not really sure. I know I was fascinated by his year long dance with the Mendoza line. I had pretty well given up on getting anything out of the #8 spot in the lineup during those years, at least it was interesting to wonder if Dann would end the night on the happy or grim side of the .200 line. His ineptitude made every hit memorable, every contribution he made felt like an unexpected bonus, a gift out of the blue.

1984 may have been the worst of the three years.  Gulden "won" the starting job, but his .615 OPS left the door open for Bilardello to squeeze in 24 starts.  Bilardello responded by posting a .567 OPS, allowing the job to slip from his hands and into the waiting clutches of Van Gorder.  Van Gorder, apparently a man unable to find the front door as opportunity banged and begged, finished the year with a .558 OPS.

Billardello's thoroughly unimpressive third year with the club finally sent the Reds to the Phillies doorstep where they paid a steep price to obtain the services of the once impressive but now aging Bo Diaz.

Memories of Dann Bilardello, I cheered for him.
*1983: 109 games, .238/.274/.389, 9 HR, 38 RBI.
*1984: 68 games, .209/.287/.280, 2 HR, 10 RBI.
*1985: 42 games, .167/.206/.196, 1 HR, 9 RBI.

With the acquisition of Diaz Bilardello's reason for existence disappeared and he was packaged along with John Stuper, Andy McGaffigan and Jay Tibbs to obtain Sal Butera and Bill Gullickson from Les Expos in December of 1985.  I notice that Dann hung on for a few more years as a journeyman, briefly punishing the fans of Montreal (1986), Pittsburgh (1989) and San Diego (1991-1992) before hanging up his gear finally in 1993.

When Bilardello was removed from my life, I had to find a new Charlie Brown hero to fill the void.  Fortunately for me, my new hero was already a part of the proud organization.  He had been obtained in the spring of 1985 in a trade I remember being immensely unpopular in Cincinnati.  When the Reds agreed to part with a talent like Skeeter Barnes, the people of Cincinnati apparently expected more in return then they received, my next hero...