Milk Carton All-Star of the Week: Eric Karros

With baseball season opening up a week from today, we figured it would be fitting to have the Milk Carton All-Star of the Week(which has sat in the bullpen the last week or two waiting for the right time to pounce) be a pivotal member of what used to be America's Pastime.

Unfortunately, we couldn't find someone like that, so we gave you this guy:

Eric Karros may be the epitome of the word "underrated". Eight of his first 12 seasons(all with the L.A. Dodgers) saw Karros hit at least 20 home runs, and he hit 30 homers in four of those eight. Granted, this was the Steroid Era, so who knows how legit those stats actually are but it's still pretty impressive for a guy who never made an All-Star Game or finished higher than fifth in the MVP voting(1995).



Karros won the 1992 National League Rookie of the Year, beating out some heavy hitters in Moises Alou and then-Pirate Tim Wakefield. From there, Karros went on to a steady career manning first for the Dodgers. His best season came in 1999 when he blasted 34 homers, drove in 112 runs(one of five seasons in his career with over 100 RBI), hit .304 and even stole 8 bases. However, during a period where there was more notable first basemen like Jeff Bagwell, Fred McGriff, Andres Galaragga and Mark McGwire, Karros flew under the radar. After the 2002 season, with his numbers declining, the Dodgers shipped Karros to the Cubs along with Mark Grudzielanek(a man whom Chris Berman once dubbed "Triple World Score"....one of Berman's few good quips) in exchange for a package involving catcher Todd Hundley. Karros hit 12 homers with 40 RBI in playing in 114 games(his lowest total since '94) in his lone season in Chicago. Not satisfied with being terrible in the National League, Karros went west and signed with the Oakland A's for his first taste of American League baseball. While in Oakland, he played in 40 games, hit a putrid .194 and finished with 2 homers and 11 RBI.



Those still clamoring for some Karros love are in luck this year though. Sony tabbed Karros to be the third man in the booth for this year's version of the award winning MLB: The Show series. Karros replaces Rex Hudler in filling the role of spouting off obvious statements and tossing in the occasional tepid joke. In other words, he's baseball's Jon Gruden. Lucky for people like myself, the option to mute Karros and stick with a two-man booth is readily available.



So, let's give it up for a jack of all trades and master of none, Eric Karros, everybody!