Trot, Trot to Boston

Psychology plays a big role in how we view players. Endowment bias allows us to 'love' OUR players, not just date them. And so we celebrate Trot Nixon's return to Boston...Trot, an original dirt dog, with his disgusting hat and tarred helmet.

• His bases clearing double against Jason Marquis in Game 4 of the 2004 series stands immortalized...a part of the Championship Season
• The ninth inning homer off Clemens in the Sunday Night Baseball game in the Bronx.
• Flipping the ball into the right field stands with two outs, allowing the runner on second to score (gawd forbid Manny ever did that)

I heard a story on the radio one day about rookie Trot hitting a triple in a meaningless late season game at Baltimore, after he fouled out to Ripken earlier on a tough play. Trot supposedly says to Ripken, "Ah'm so nervous, and mah families here watching me." To which Ripken replies, "you should've told me earlier, I could have dropped the popup."

Who's better?

Player A... .278 .366 .475 .841 AB 3420 HR 135 RBI 543

Player B... .303 .368 .463 .831 AB 4623 HR 130 RBI 726

Trot always had a great reputation as an effort guy, and Sox fans have a really warm place in their hearts for him. Player B always struck me as a 'me first' guy, who lived off his reputation. Are their stats 'revealing'? Player B is Mike Greenwell.

Baseball Reference has a wonderful feature called "Similarity scores" where you can see other players who have similar statistical careers. You can therefore see where your player fits, or maybe your client fits if you're an agent.Obviously, we detect a certain irony when J.D. Drew is on the list...as well as studs like Vernon Wells or duds like Marty Cordova.

If you're at America's Most Beloved Ballpark tonight, give Trot a shout out, and then let's root for laundry.