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However, it is somewhat relevant, in the sense that having too much praise heaped on a player removes them from contention. Paul Goldschmidt will never win this award, even though he's perhaps the most quiet, unassuming player on the Diamondbacks team, and this probably the award he'd prefer to win, if forced at gunpoint to want to win one [likely the only way]. But everyone, even ESPN (but particularly Tim Lincecum), are very aware of his talents, feats and potential. If you're the Face of the Franchise (and to my horror, my Twitter timeline indicates that monstrosity appears to be gearing up again), you're not going to win unsung hero too.
Currently active previous winners are also likely ineligible: Josh Collmenter and Brad Ziegler. Not that, in looking back at the history, I see that this stopped Ryan Roberts from winning it twice, in 2009 and 2011. I guess he went from being sung to unsung and back again, so I guess Ziegler would be technically eligible, though he wasn't quite as much of a hero this time round. Collmenter, though? Let's just say, you cannot be an unsung hero, when you get turned into a bobblehead and handed out at Chase Field. Mind you, since this year's selection otherwise largely consisted of ex-Dbacks (Parra, Prado) or ones who missed the entire season (Corbin), that seems unlikely.
I think it's a wide-open race, with no obvious front-runners that I can see. Of course, that's partly a general shortage of heroics on our way to the second-worst record in franchise history. Frankly, part of me wants to award this one to us long-suffering fans, for sitting through 162 games which were occasionally gritty, but more often something that rhymes with that. Or, hell, even Bob Brenly and Steve Brennaman: at least we could turn off, walk away or not bother to tune in. They had not only to stick around, but also were unable to embrace fully little joys like Tankapalooza. If I had to watch the team every night, I'd have gone home and sobbed into my pillow, long before September.
But no, for this is about the players. I've got my own thoughts as to who should be considered for the spots, but I don't want to prejudice the discussion, and this is about the "I'd forgotten about him" players, after all. So this will be an absolutely open call for entries: I've even deliberately chosen a bland, non-suggestive image for the article, with about as many players as possible crammed in. The five suggestions receiving the most recs will move on to the final ballot [subject to editorial veto, natch]. If there aren't five, then... Well, maybe Brenly and Brennaman it is! You have been warned...