When I decided to give Rex Hudler this award, I don't think I had any idea how complex a character he actually was. Sure, I knew that any player who could spend 13 seasons in the Majors, while never batting more than 317 times in any one season, had to be special, I had no idea what I would find with just a little research.
First, Rex Hudler's greatness on the baseball field was often imitated, but never duplicated. That's not really true, but I feel like we have to make it look like our standards are high. His best season actually came towards then end of his career - in 1996 for the then-California Angels. His .893 OPS, 16 HRs and 40 RBIs were all career-highs. His career .296 OBP also makes you think long and hard about how such a talented player was relegated to a career of platooning. And his perennial success against such dominant pitchers as Joe Magrane, Chris Nabholtz, Wilson Alvarez makes you wonder how he was overlooked.
But, all these questions aside, the pot-loving platooner is now the color man for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, California, USA. According to Wikipedia, his repetoir of one-liners include the following:
- "Kingfish Salmon went upstream!"
- "Pick up some dirt and throw out some reindeer"
- "Boy did he drop a huge deuce in the stands"
- "I'm still a tool!"
- "America is the only country in the world where you can go into the grocery store, get whatever you want, put it in the cart and go home!"
- "Be a fountain, not a drain"
The bad: Combined 1-50 for his career against Chris Haney, Norm Charlton, Trevor Wilson, Stan Belinda, Juan Agosto and Kevin Appier; nicknamed the bug eater by Tom Pagnozzi, by eating a giant junebug off Pagnozzi's hat, in exchange for $800; had brain anyeurism at age 41.
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