During the last five years, he has averaged 30 home runs and 99.4 runs batted in.
Last season he was among the American League leaders in almost all offensive categories with a .296 batting average, 33 homers and 129 RBIs.
He is outstanding defensively, among the best right-fielders in the league, with a strong and accurate arm. What a man. But wait. It hasn’t been all roses.
Believe it or not, he never has been chosen on the AL All-Star team, not even as a backup.
Terry Collins, manager of the Anaheim Angels, calls him baseball’s most underrated player. Then Collins said, “I wonder if it bothers him, that he has been overlooked.”
Can you name this player?
Tim Salmon was in the visitors’ clubhouse at Comiskey Park Tuesday night, preparing for a two-game series with the White Sox. He has a ligament pull that extends from the back of his left heel to the tip of his toes.
It’s similar to the affliction that sidelined slugger Mark McGwire two seasons ago and eventually required surgery.
The other night an inquiring reporter, seeing Salmon limping, asked how he feels.
“Take a nail and tap it into the bottom of your foot. That’s how it feels,” Salmon replied.
He conceded the pain has receded somewhat but, nonetheless, is constantly with him. Because he can’t run at full speed, Collins has been using him as a designated hitter.
Which is worse? The pain in his foot or being ignored at All-Star time.
“The foot,” Salmon replied. “The All-Star thing doesn’t bother me. What’s important is my peers know what I can do.”
Still, he subsequently acknowledged that playing in an All-Star Game would be an exciting adventure.
“What’s been missing,” he explained, “is the big media buildup.”
Some years he wasn’t even on the ballot.
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But he realizes there are many outstanding outfielders in the American League–Ken Griffey Jr. and Jay Buhner of Seattle, Juan Gonzalez of Texas, David Justice and Kenny Lofton with Cleveland and Paul O’Neill of New York.
“I’m just one in a group of strong-hitting outfielders,” Salmon insisted.
But there is more to the story. Salmon never has enjoyed being on center stage and purposely keeps a low profile.
He never has played the hero, not even when he hit home runs in five consecutive games.
“I’m a family man,” he said. “I’d just as soon be with my wife and kids.
“I don’t drink. I don’t party. I try to lead a clean life.”
As a result, he is one of baseball’s genuine role models.
“I know a lot of players say they don’t have to be role models,” he said. “But it’s no effort for me. It’s part of my makeup. I don’t have to make a choice.”
Of all the players Anaheim third-base coach Larry Bowa has seen, he says Salmon reminds him most of former slugger Greg Luzinski, his Philadelphia teammate.
“He and `the Bull’ have the same characteristics,” Bowa said. “They just go out and play.”
White Sox coach Art Kusnyer, a baseball lifer, agreed.
“He’s here to win,” Kusnyer said. “He’s not one of those guys who digs himself, saying, `Look at me.’ “
Ed Farmer, the Sox broadcaster who for many years was a major-league scout, saw Salmon when he played high school ball in Long Beach, Calif.
“He was always something special,” Farmer said Tuesday. “If he’s healthy, I wouldn’t be surprised if he hit 45 to 50 home runs.”
Salmon, 6 feet 3 inches and 230 pounds, is among the baseball’s strongest players.
“He is a man of tremendous strength,” Farmer said. “I’d hate to see him get into a fight.
“But that’s not his style. He’s very quiet and very modest.”
Still, our hero is not without flaws. For some reason, he is a slow starter. Salmon can’t explain it but concedes it usually takes him as many as 100 at-bats to get started.
“It takes me a while to get focused,” he said.
“I’m still working on that.”
Punch him in on your All-Star ballot.