MLB: Not Your Everyday Players - Current Household Names in Baseball
Jon Durr-USA TODAY Sports
If someone is a baseball fan, they’ll more than likely know a majority of professional baseball players. However, they are only a few MLB players that are popular and talented enough to be household names.
What does it really take to be a household name in MLB? A lot of talent, plenty of recognition and a bit of marketing as well. Sometimes stats aren’t enough to gain popularity. Championships, record-breaking achievements and awards can earn attention.
A household name is typically a player that will be remembered from generation to generation. These players are the type that your grandparents tell you about. Names such as Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Ken Griffey Jr., etc.
Household names are key for MLB because they bring in a lot of revenue for a sport that has a smaller following than the likes of football. Many people don’t have to even understand baseball to enjoy or respect a household player.
With the recent retirements of David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez, other players gain more household respect. What current players have earned the household name honor? Let’s find out.
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Albert Pujols
Sure, Albert Pujols hasn’t been as successful in an Angels uniform as he was in a Cardinals one, but that doesn’t take away from his impressive 16-year career. A person off the street should recognize the name with ease.
Let’s run through Pujols’ statistics. A power-hitter who has a career .309 batting average, he’s just 175 hits away from joining the 3,000 club (of only 30 members), he needs 183 RBI to become just the fourth player with 2,000 RBI and he’s a mere nine home runs away from becoming the ninth player in MLB history to hit 600 home runs. He’s also 15th all-time in doubles with 602.
With statistics alone, he’ll be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. That’s without mentioning his Rookie of the Year award, three MVP awards, six Silver Sluggers, two Gold Gloves and 10 All-Star appearances. He also won two World Series with the Cardinals, in 2006 and 2011.
Pujols has contributed immensely to the recognition of baseball throughout the 2000s. His strong ties to his native Dominican Republic also play along in building his household name.
He’s definitely nearing the end of his career, but people will recognize him as a household name for many years into the future.
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Mike Trout
Pujols’ teammate Mike Trout may only be entering his age-25 season, but nonetheless, he’s already a household name. Even more impressively, Trout has played so well in his first six seasons that being on a less-than-stellar Angels team hasn’t hurt his popularity.
Trout does it all on the diamond. If he’s not hitting doubles, he’s stealing bases, or hitting home runs or even robbing them, too. He’s the definition of a five-tool player and is the greatest in today’s game.
Growing up in Millville, New Jersey built up his reputation and respect on the East Coast and playing in Anaheim has created his buzz in the West. The only thing preventing Trout’s name from growing even more is his lack of playoff appearances, but that’s no fault of his. Trout has carried the Angels for the past five seasons.
In five full seasons, Trout has finished top-two each season in the MVP voting. In both 2014 and 2016 he won the award. To go along with the MVPs, he also has a Rookie of the Year award, five Silver Sluggers, five All-Star selections and two All-Star Game MVP awards.
The Angels center fielder has a career bWAR of 48.5. He also has 168 home runs, a .306 average, 497 RBI and 143 stolen bases. All remarkable numbers for just the age of 25.
It’s not just his play that earns the household recognition, but also his endorsements. Trout is a big representative of Nike and BodyArmor SuperDrink. If people aren’t seeing him on the field, they’re seeing him on well-known sports products.
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Ichiro Suzuki
Fans love home runs. That’s one of the main reasons why the “steroid era” made baseball ratings soar. But one of the players on this household name list is no home run hitter, but instead a base hit machine.
The latest member of the 3,000 hit club, Ichiro Suzuki, took the league by storm in 2001 as a 27-year-old rookie. His success was no surprise, after his domination in his previous years in Japan. Not only did he win Rookie of the Year in 2001, but he also won MVP. He joined Fred Lynn as the only two players to achieve this feat.
He’s 35th on the all-time steals list. He also has a career batting average of .313, won 10 straight Gold Gloves and made 10 straight All-Star Games, along with earning three Silver Sluggers.
Ichiro brought a huge fan base from Japan along with him, and that allowed MLB to gain a lot of viewership outside of North America. He also was one of the first MLB players to bridge the gap from Japan to the States. This has created many opportunities for other star Japanese baseball players.
Although he hasn’t produced as much in recent seasons, he continues to play well off the bench. His early-career success allowed him to become a household name in the big leagues.
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Buster Posey
Buster Posey‘s trophy case is already full of numerous awards. In his rookie season in 2010, he won his first World Series and also took home Rookie of the Year honors. Little did Posey know, within the next four years he’d have two more World Series rings.
Posey played a huge role in all three of the Giants’ recent championships. His biggest contribution came in 2012 when he won MVP for the NL.
In his eight-year career, Posey has won three Silver Sluggers, a Gold Glove and he made the NL All-Star team four times. His stats are impressive for his home ballpark being AT&T Park, a tough park for hitters. Posey has hit 116 home runs, knocked in 527 runs and currently sports a .307 career average.
In a horrific home plate collision in 2011, Posey suffered a broken left leg and torn ligaments in his left ankle. The injury has limited his play at catcher. Within the next few years, Posey will more than likely transition to a full-time first baseman.
The stats don’t necessarily put Posey on the household level, but his trophy case does. Championships create a legacy. And the Giants still have a talented roster, so Posey might walk away with more rings on his hand.
Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports
Madison Bumgarner
Just like Posey, Madison Bumgarner was part of all three of the Giants’ World Series victories. And although Bumgarner contributed mightily to each of them, his most memorable performances were in 2014.
For eight seasons Bumgarner has toed the rubber as one of the most intimidating pitchers in today’s game. Sporting a career ERA of 2.99 with 1,381 strikeouts and exactly 100 wins, Bumgarner is a top-10 pitcher in baseball.
He really comes alive in the postseason. In 102.1 innings pitched in the postseason, Bumgarner has a 2.11 ERA and 87 strikeouts. One could argue that without Bumgarner the Giants might not have won any of their recent World Series.
As mentioned above, his 2014 postseason dominance went into the history books. He finished with a 1.03 ERA in 52.2 innings pitched. Bumgarner threw two complete game shutouts and pitched in three games in the World Series. He gave up just one earned run in those three games. One of those games included him earning the save, as he came back from two days’ rest and pitched the final five innings of the World Series.
It’s the postseason that has allowed Madison Bumgarner’s name to grow in households all over. And if that didn’t do it, those Ford commercials probably did.
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Clayton Kershaw
Of course Clayton Kershaw makes this list. He’s the best pitcher in baseball right now without question. Just let his three Cy Young awards do the talking. And he might have earned a fourth last season if it weren’t for injuries.
In 2014, Kershaw won both the Cy Young and MVP award, a feat that hadn’t occurred in the NL since Bob Gibson did so in 1968. Nine years in the league and Kershaw has six All-Star Game appearances and one Gold Glove.
Kershaw sports an impressive bWAR of 52.7. He has 126 career wins, 1,918 strikeouts and a 2.37 ERA. He seems to get better with age, too. In the past three seasons, he won 49 games and lost only 14.
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The lanky left-handed pitcher is a real treat to watch on the mound. He’s one of those rare players that when he takes the field, one simply has to watch. Already a household name, the only thing left to see is how much of a legacy he can build over the rest of his career.
