The Unsung Heroes: How Baseball’s Role Players Quietly Shape Championship Destiny

Specialized roles in baseball aren’t just quirks — they’re game-changers, often overlooked but undeniably crucial. Over the years, the Dodgers have showcased some fascinating examples of players carving out niche contributions that quietly shifted the flow of contests. Take Andre Jackson, for instance, who appeared in 14 games across three seasons and notched a handful of long saves that even caught him by surprise. Or Justin Dean, whose glove work in those late-inning center-field stints during the 2025 postseason quietly fortified the Dodgers’ defense, even as he never stepped up to the plate.

And then there’s Terrance Gore — a name that echoes with the rarest kind of baseball utility. Gore, who recently passed away at just 34, epitomized the essence of a specialist. In a career spanning eight major league seasons and playing for five different playoff-bound teams, his role was singular yet unmistakably impactful: pinch running, stealing bases, and injecting life into championship pursuits. Though he rarely swung the bat, his legs wrote a compelling story, highlighted by an outstanding base-stealing success rate that few can match.

These players, typified by precise skill sets and adaptability, remind us that baseball isn’t always about the star power on the stat sheet; sometimes, it’s about those unsung roles that keep the gears turning behind the scenes. As someone who’s chronicled seasons for every soul on the 40-man roster, I find it profoundly meaningful to honor their contributions — keeping their stories alive in the collective memory of the game.

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I do love a specialized role, as it can highlight the many ways to impact a baseball game. The Dodgers have had a few examples over the years.

Andre Jackson pitched in 14 games over three seasons with Los Angeles, and in four of them recorded a save of three innings or longer. “I didn’t even know a three-inning save was a thing until I got the first one,” he said in 2023, after the third of his saves. “I didn’t know the rules behind that.”

Justin Dean never batted in the 2025 postseason, but played 13 of the Dodgers’ 17 games as the security blanket on defense in center field late in games.

“The game is still the game. So I go through my defense work. That’s always gonna be a part of my game, part of my routine, my defense. I look at pitches and try to see what I can pick up on, as far as base stealing, if I’m going to be running or whatnot,” Dean said last October. “So that might be a little bit more hyper focused, yeah, as far as my routine, but I’m still getting my hitting in and my working in the cage and stuff like that. So it’s still going through a normal day.”

No baseball player in recent memory had a more specialized role than Terrance Gore, the speedy outfielder who died at age 34 this weekend.

Gore between the regular season and postseason played 123 total games over eight major league seasons for five teams — the Royals, Cubs, Dodgers, Braves, and Mets. He reached the playoffs with all five teams, and won championship rings with the Royals, Dodgers, and Braves. In those 123 career games, Gore batted a total of 87 times, but stole 48 bases in 58 tries, a stellar 82.8-percent success rate.

With the Dodgers in the shortened 2020 season, Gore played in two games and totaled on defensive inning in center field in the regular season, but after getting designated for assignment spent two months at the club’s alternate training site getting ready for the postseason. Gore was active for the wild card round and National League Division Series, but did not play in any of those five games. He did not steal a base for Los Angeles.

That’s the thing with players with specific skills. You don’t always know if or when you might need them, but it feels nice to have the luxury of having them around, just in case.

Andy McCullough covered the Royals when Gore played for Kansas City, and wrote a fitting tribute for the outfielder on Saturday at The Athletic:

From the day he arrived in professional baseball, Gore understood his utility as a player might be limited. He decided to make the most of it. He embraced his role as a part-time performer, a player called into action for postseason teams solely so he could pinch run. He crackled with life, first as the kid brother of those Royals teams, and later as a journeyman bouncing from contender to contender in search of a base to steal.

Players like Gore are why I enjoy writing season reviews for every single player who spent at least part of the year on the 40-man roster, no matter the scope of their performance. It’s fun to remember that they were around, and in some small way keeps their memory alive.