Steve Jeltz: All-Time Unsung Hero

Any true Philadelphia Phillies fan who is worth his/her weight in gold knows the legend of former shortstop Steve Jeltz.

For those who don't know who he is, you probably missed, well, not a whole lot during his career. Or maybe you did. In fact, I hereby proclaim Steve Jeltz to be the most unsung hero for all things baseball. Take a look at the following points and try and tell me why Steve Jeltz wasn't one of the most unique baseball players of all time and why he doesn't deserve more recognition than he ever got (from whom? I don't know, but just play along!)...

• Name another baseball player other than former teammate Juan Samuel who sported jerri curls and managed to not have his hat or helmet slip off of his head constantly. Didn't think so. (Okay, that was just a fun warm up question. Let's get a little bit more challenging...)
  
• Name another baseball player who was born in France. 0 for 2. (If you said Bruce Bochy, I will personally cook you a French toast breakfast.)
  
• Name another baseball player who hit two home runs from each side of the plate... after his team had given up TEN RUNS in the first inning. You're now 0 for 3.
• Name another baseball player who played 148 games in one year (1988), and hit the "homicide number" batting average (.187) . Keep trying.
• Name another baseball player who hit a lifetime batting average under Mario Mendoza (who is notoriously synonomous for consistently hitting right around .200 year after year; also known as "the Mendoza line"), yet still made over ONE MILLION DOLLARS during his career. Can't think of anybody? I figured as much.
• Since I know you're getting frustrated by this difficult challenge, I'll end it with this one. Name another baseball player whose debut appearance came when he replaced Pete Rose in a game. I kid you not.
  

I don't know about you, but these are some pretteeeee, prettteeeee, pretttteeeeee impressive facts. And I don't know about you, but I still can't believe Steve Jeltz earned over one million bucks for being perhaps the most statistically invisible and insignificant player in team history. Wow.

P.S.-- Much thanks to Baseball-Reference.com for the amazing stats and recordkeeping. I just wish all sites were as detailed this one is, not to mention free to the public. Well done guys!