Yet the numbers beckon, if anyone is willing to listen.

Since 2000, when Burrell broke in with the Phillies, there are only 23 players who have hit at least 200 homers and driven in at least 750 runs. He is one of them. Alex Rodriguez, Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, Albert Pujols, Pat Burrell - all on the same chart.

Surprised, right?

That he is one of the top two-dozen power hitters of this era is unquestioned. History surely will view Burrell that way. The reply will come back that more was expected of the first pick of the 1998 draft - and, well, fine.

But if you look at the players who made their major league debut in 2000, Burrell is so clearly the premier slugger of that class that it isn't even arguable. His 236 homers are 70 more than the guy behind him on the table, Aubrey Huff. His 788 RBI are 193 more than Huff. Again, it is not close.

Yet the feeling you get is that of a person shouting into a brisk wind, the words swallowed up, gone.

"You have to look at it this way," Burrell was saying yesterday, sitting in a little runway next to the Phillies' dugout at Citizens Bank Park.

"Here in Philadelphia, we're pretty fortunate," he said. "There are guys like Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard and Chase Utley on this team - not just stars but superstars. So, for me, I'm just trying to go out there and do everything I can to help us win.

"When you look at the big picture, when a guy like Howard hits 50 home runs a year, year after year, it's tough to look at a guy who hits 30 and say, 'He's doing a great job.' That's just realistic with the kind of team this is."

Burrell is all about matter-of-fact. He always has been. He cultivates neither media people nor attention. If you can find him, he will answer the questions - but you do have to find him first. That is unlikely to change.

But sitting there yesterday, holding a piece of paper containing that list of sluggers since 2000, the list on which he figures significantly, it was clear that Burrell himself was at least a little bit surprised about part of it, too.

"There's a lot of guys I admire," he said, scanning the list, his eyes running up and down. Then, he stopped.

"I mean, Chipper Jones," Burrell said. "He's having an incredible year. He's had what I consider to be a great career. And he's got 12 more homers and 30-something more RBIs ... I wouldn't have thought that. I wouldn't have thought I was that close.

"I mean, all of these guys are great players. 'Thomes,' I had a chance to play with. [Jason] Giambi, A-Rod, these guys' numbers are incredible."

For years, it seems, Burrell has been tied to twin anvils as far as the people of this town are concerned: his huge contract for one, and his disastrous 2003 season for another. That one season, especially - when Burrell hit only .209 - seems unshakeable in the public consciousness. Even as he has built from that, and really taken off in the last 12 calendar months, the past remains predominant somehow.

"That's got something to do with it,'' Burrell said, evenly. "People who play the game for a long time, they do have bad years - some worse than others. Mine was terrible. I think I hit 21 homers that year and I don't remember any of them. I couldn't tell you one of them because it was that difficult of a year ...

"But it made me a better player. To look back and see where I have come from there, it's a world of difference.''

A lot of the change has been physical - for example, Burrell's struggle with a bum foot has been underplayed through the years. But it is more than that. He always has been an early-to-the-ballpark guy, but he says his conditioning is the best it has ever been.

"I'm in better shape now than since I was probably 22," said Burrell, who is 31. "I think I'm playing better now than I ever have, just my understanding of the game, my approach to hitting, when and what and situations. I don't know how long I'm going to play but I really do feel like, at this time, I'm playing my best.