Bob DempseyBob Dempsey, 1B
Hometown: Windsor, Ontario
BBA debut: May 5, 2051
Dempsey is a name in the Brewsterverse usually associated with success.
Mark Dempsey was longtime player in the BBA and now manager in the Crawdads’ minor league system. Steve Dempsey, no relation, played for seventeen years between Madison and Portland, making four All-star teams.
It’s rare to see a Dempsey fail to make it in the big leagues. Except for that one, who we don’t talk about.
Bob Dempsey has gotten used to drawing unfair comparisons to these great players with whom he has nothing in common except a last name. When Bob was lighting up his high school fields in his hometown of Windsor, Ontario, everyone talked about how Mark Dempsey hit home runs like that just up the road in Montreal. When Bob played for the Salt Lake City Alpines in Triple-A, it was just a few years after Steve Dempsey played there, when Portland for some reason demoted him for half a year in his age-35 season.
The Dempseys’ paths have intertwined so closely, it has been a struggle for Bob to get out from under their shadows.
Bob was in Triple-A for the long time, nearly forgotten. With Pepe Madrid entrenched at first base for Boise, it was never a real consideration to give Bob a shot. It was usually inefficient for a team to carry two first basemen on its roster who couldn’t play any other positions, and that’s the situation Boise would be in if they ever promoted Bob.
He was never a top prospect, but he was solid and consistent. He was the perfect player to sit in Triple-A for his entire career, being quietly productive, but never becoming any more than minor-league filler.
But Bob had a terrific 2049 season where he slashed .314/.403/.611 in 69 games. He followed it up the next year with a career-high 23 homers. At that point, the Boise front office realized they had to do something with him. He was forcing the issue.
So Bob got his promotion.
In his first season at the big league level, his contributions have been more or less forgettable. There have been highlights and lowlights. He hit his first home run off Dave Corfield, the reigning Nebraska winner. But he’s also had his fair share of 0-for-4 games. Add it all up, and he has a WAR of exactly zero.
It’ll take more than that for Bob to reach “household name” status, like the Dempseys before him. If he wants to forge his own narrative, he’ll have to start justifying his roster spot. His time may be limited, because as everyone knows, in the BBA you’re never more than a few bad games away from being DFA’d.
Let’s see if Bob can start playing like a Dempsey.
