Somewhere, in a small town you'll never go, in a place you'll never visit, someone is playing guitar like you've never heard.
Night after night, he plays the lost notes and the forgotten melodies. As his fingers dance across the neck of his instrument, coaxing magic from the wood, it doesn't matter that he is undiscovered and unappreciated.
Such is the sound of Aubrey Huff's theme song.
Nice tune. Shame that nobody hears it.
Here, underneath the cover of fan apathy, buried by last place, playing on a team the pennant race forgot, the silent, sensational season of Huff whispers on. He keeps swinging, the numbers keep growing and the player keeps getting better.
Nice hitter. Shame that nobody sees him.
Talk about your quiet seasons. Huff is having one of the top half-dozen seasons in baseball, and still, he couldn't get his name on SportsCenter if he kidnapped Chris Berman, not that it's a horrible idea. Huff has had the nicest season anyone has seen a Rays player have if, in fact, anyone had seen it.
There is something to be said for hidden excellence. There is something to be said for perfecting your craft in an undiscovered territory. Huff is the invisible hitter performing unseen feats as one hand claps. He is out of the loop, under the radar and lost in the shadows. Also, he's pretty good.
He is hitting .308 (before Thursday's game), and nobody has any idea.
He has 33 home runs, and it's news to you.
He has 104 RBIs, and what did you say his name was again?
He has 46 doubles, and where did he come from?
Even if Huff doesn't get another hit, only eight American League players have ever matched those numbers in all categories. You've heard of them: Lou Gehrig, Hank Greenberg, Don Mattingly, Juan Gonzalez, Cal Ripken, Albert Belle, Carlos Delgado and Alex Rodriguez. Five of those players won the MVP award while accomplishing it.
Only three other American League players (Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez and Vernon Wells) have been better in all three categories than Huff this season. He's third in the American League in doubles, fifth in total bases, ninth in homers, 10th in average and 11th in RBIs.
In other words, if Huff were doing his stuff somewhere else, in New York, maybe in Boston, then Huff is having to deal with a lot of questions about the MVP award right now.
Instead, with three games to go, here's the question Huff gets most often: "Gee, Aubrey. What do you think of Rocco?"
Huff sneaked up on the rest of us. This was the season when Lou Piniella came home, and Rocco Baldelli arrived early, and between the two, they soaked up all of the attention granted toward a team going nowhere.
Huff? He was a good hitter trying to find his way around rightfield, a new position. He was a guy who had never spent a full season in the majors. He wasn't one of those highly drafted prospects who had been promised tomorrow. Also, speaking on behalf of the media, the sun was in our eyes.
Yep, there were a lot of reasons not to notice Huff.
And none of them were good enough.
Say what you wish about the current octane in the baseball, but 30 home runs is always a bunch, and 100 RBIs is still magic, and a .300 average is worth celebrating.
Huff has done better in every category. The guy can do everything but get recognized.
He can hit, okay? If nothing else, that has been established. As the Rays close out their season this weekend at the Trop, Huff has emerged as an essential player for a future in which the Rays are better than somebody other than the Tigers.
Let's hope the front office, currently in a huddle trying to decide how to spend its allowance, has noticed. Huff is arbitration eligible this off-season, which will earn him a tidy hunk of change. It should never get to that, though. The Rays should sign Huff to a long-term deal before Halloween.
Huff is 26, and by all rights, he's going to get better. Piniella sees Huff as a No. 3 hitter, and the feeling is if he can stick a legit cleanup hitter bat behind him, it's going to make Huff even better.
Perhaps that's part of the equation as the Rays prepare to spend literally dozens of dollars in the free-agent market. Piniella caught a few of us by surprise recently when he said he could see chasing hitters, not pitchers. Lou had no idea the vividness of the Hit Show flashbacks that caused for some of us.
Still, you have to trust Piniella. If he thinks the team's money will buy more bat than arm, if he thinks that's a quicker route to respectability, well, maybe this time it will work. Besides, wouldn't you love to see Huff's numbers with, say, Gary Sheffield behind him?
Go on. Let your imagination play. Say 40 home runs, 125 RBIs and a .315 average.
Maybe Huff could get there.
Who knows? Maybe then, he could even make you notice.
