The Banality of a Name- or not

We enjoy looking at baseball stats for the sake of looking at baseball stats. There is absolute truth in those numbers, and for a fleeting moment, life, the universe and everything make sense.

This morning, while taking a quick break from this blog, we went to Baseball-Reference which has a window of random baseball players on the landing page. One never knows what one is going to get. Today we found career relief pitcher Joe Smith.

Our first thought was, 'Couldn't your parents have thought of a more interesting first name to accompany the most boring last name in the English language?'

But then we realized the sheer normalcy of the man's name gives it personality, no? Joe Smith, yes, Joe Smith.

Joe Smith sounds like a solid individual, the kind of man who can get things done. Joe Smith sounds like a fine candidate for California's 7th Congressional District.

Actually, if one looks at his stats, Joe Smith is one of the best middle-relievers of his generation.

Imagine the scene: One out, one on in the bottom of the seventh, with the visitors clinging to a one run lead. The pitcher has a 2-0 count on the batter, with the home team's best hitter coming up.

Pitching Coach: He's gonna lose this guy.

Manager: Get Joe Smith warming up in the Bullpen.