Here's To You, Mr. Brown

There lives a man, deep in the shadows of the heartland of this great country. He simply does his job, at least when his manager lets him.

This is the life of Emil Brown.

The former Pirate, Padre and Oakland Athletic lives his life in quizzical Royalistic hell.

Drafted in 1994, Emil Quincy Brown didn't see the friendly confines of Three Rivers Stadium until 1997. It wasn't until 2001 that this 6th round pick, at one point considered the proverbial "5-tool-player" (whatever that means nowadays), got to see regular time. Long story short, he didn't exactly capitalize. Stuck in a logjam behind a starting outfield of Gary Matthews Jr., Brian Giles (back when he could hit the ball out of a Major League ballpark), and John Vander Wal. He did play over 60 games, but 3 homers and a batting average barely over the interstate wasn't enough to warrant extended playing time.

For three years after, he bounced around baseball, though not on any particular diamonds. Tampa Bay, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Houston. These franchises all passed on Emil's services. The longest tenure he had with a team was 15 months-with Houston, and he didn't play a second.

Finally though, a team with a recent track record nearly as distinguished as Emil's recent past decided to take a chance on him. Yes, I speak of only one team-the Kansas City Royals. They had lost 100 or more games two of the past three seasons. Really, what did they have to lose?

Emil inherited the spot occupied by Abraham Nunez, Aaron Guiel, and Matt Stairs. Not exactly a garden variety crew of All-Stars, to say the least.

In his first season, Brown was second on the team in games played, ABs, hits, homeruns, and walks. He lead the team in RBIs, steals, and runs. Overall, there wasn't much debating the idea that he was the best offensive player for the Royals throughout the season.

Fast-forward to the next season, 2006. Brown almost equals his previous season's stats and is either in the lead or top 3 for every single offensive category. And how did the Royals reward the man that had led the team in RBIs two years in a row? Well, apparently not with a guaranteed roster spot.

Opening day against Boston? Not quite. Thus far, he's only played in 64 of the team's 88 games. Yet, with all this said, Brown still is second on the team in RBIs.

Confused? You should be.

Brown doesn't say much, and, quite frankly, he doesn't hit much either, at least this year. Going into the All-Star break, he's hitting a paltry .227. But, the team is only hitting a combined .259, which ranks 10th in the AL. Not good.

Well, I'm sure you're wondering who has taken Brown's spot in left field. Primarily, the former D-Ray speedster, Joey Gathright. Not the worst choice, he is hitting over .300, but still bats in the bottom third of the order when he does play. Brown? He bats cleanup. So, you're cleanup hitter isn't an everyday player? And you wonder why you're in last place in your division?

The issue is simply this: Brown is a good story. Here's a guy no one has heard of, who was out of baseball for three straight seasons, and then, when given a chance to play all season, puts together two very solid seasons. For the two seasons, an average of 16 HRs, 84 RBIs and a .286 BA. Not bad at all.

And now, what is he? An occasional player, a frequent cleanup hitter, benchwarmer to Joey Gathright. That's what it has boiled down to. Really, it's too bad. But hey, that's what happens in Royal-ville. When winning games is a top priority, the good story is sometimes sacrificed for the better player.

"And so it goes, and so it goes."