Unknown Heroes Pt. 9: Dante Bichette

Dante Bichette was part of the exciting quartet of sluggers in the early days of the Colorado Rockies. Of course, like the others, his numbers were inflated somewhat by his home park. Bichette was a promising young player when he went over to Colorado.

Bichette was near the end of his career when the Red Sox acquired him from the Cincinnati Reds during the 2000 season. He still had something left though and hit seven home runs for the Red Sox during the stretch drive and had a slash line of .289/.336/.518/.854 in 30 games.

Bichette returned to the Red Sox the next season and was meant to be the principal designated hitter, but also spent time in the outfield. He was not a terrible fielder, and looked a lot worse than he actually was. 2001 was his last season in the Majors and Bichette hit only 12 home runs with a slash line of .286/.325/.460/.786. He was 37 that year, so not much was expected of him, but with Carl Everett also slumping, Boston was not able to make the playoffs.

Boxscore: May 20, 2001 Red Sox 10 Royals 3

This one ranks as my personal favorite Red Sox game I attended. A couple of friends and I decided after our sophomore years of college were over to do a road trip down to Kansas City to see the Royals take on the Red Sox on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. My friends were huge Royals fan so there was some good-natured banter going on during the drive down there.

Well, the Red Sox absolutely beat the Royals into submission that day. The final score was 10-3, and the Red Sox hit five home runs.

Jason Varitek was the star of the day, hitting three home runs himself and driving in seven of the Red Sox runs. He also had a run-scoring single to go 4-4 with three runs scored. He came into the game with only two home runs on the year. Varitek looked to be a breakout star that year, but he broke his elbow making a sliding catch before the All Star game and was out the rest of the year. This though, was one of his best games.

The game also featured home runs from Carl Everett and Manny Ramirez, in addition to doubles by Ramirez, Dante Bichette, and Brian Daubach. Trot Nixon drove in the other Red Sox run. Shea Hillenbrand also had two hits in the game and scored three times. Jose Offerman also had a hit and Mike Lansing, Darren Lewis, and Scott Hatteberg all appeared in the game. Offerman had a terrible day on defense committing two errors, and Bichette also had one in the outfield.

Frank Castillo started the game and had a great performance, pitching six innings and giving up one unearned run. He struck out three. Rich Garces and former Royal Hipolito Pichardo also appeared in the game, each surrendering a run.