Tigers#1
06-08-2005, 03:30 PM
Worst lineup of all time
Kevin Hench / FOXSports.com
Every fan thinks the guy on his team is in the worst slump in Major League history.
Yankee fans swear that Jason Giambi is the weakest hitter of all time. Red Sox fans point to Kevin Millar's power outage. Philly fans counter that no slugger's pop has ever dropped off like Jim Thome's.
But take heart, baseball fans of America. Your favorite player is not having the worst season of all time. Not even close. I went in search of the worst full seasons by everyday players at each position and the findings were remarkable — remarkably bad anyway.
Perusing Total Baseball, I was looking for position regulars who had seasons in which their on-base percentages and slugging percentages were both below .300 for some truly ghastly OPS numbers. I wasn't sure if I'd find that weak a stick at each position, who got enough plate appearances to be considered an everyday player. Well, much to my surprise, there were more than enough staggeringly bad seasons to fill out a lineup. Now, don't get me wrong, this team would be able to throw some leather, but they sure wouldn't score many runs.
So here it is, the worst lineup in Major League history:
1. Gary Pettis, 1988, Detroit Tigers — CF
Although speedy, Gary Pettis often had a hard time getting on base initially. (Mike Powell / Getty Images)
By virtue of his blazing speed, Pettis bats leadoff in this nightmare lineup. Though his 1987 season for the Angels was every bit as bad from an OPS standpoint (.561), he didn't dip under .300 in both OBP and slugging until 1988, his first season with the Tigers.
In 512 plate appearances, Pettis hit .210, reached base less than 29 percent of the time (.285) and had 127 total bases for a .277 slugging percentage.
Though he rarely reached first base, when he did, Pettis swiped 44 bases in 54 attempts.
Honorable mention: Boots Day, 1972. If you're wondering why the 1972 Montreal Expos finished 26.5 games out of first (and who isn't?), look no further than regular centerfielder Day who hit .233 with a .288 OBP and a .272 slugging percentage. Day was also caught six times in nine steal attempts.
2. Wee Willie Keeler, 1907, New York Highlanders — RF
In the last season of his career in which he played more than 100 games, Wee Willie apparently hit 'em where they were.
In 467 plate appearances for the Yankees, Keeler hit .234, drew 15 walks for a .265 on-base percentage and pounded out a robust .255 slugging percentage, thanks to five doubles, two triples and zero home runs.
But because of his legendary bat control, Keeler will bat second for our Hitless Wonders.
3. Ed Kranepool, 1968, New York Mets — 1B
Though there were several first baseman from the Dead Ball Era who qualified for this team with more than 500 plate appearances and sub-.300 on-base and slugging percentages — including Candy LaChance, Kitty Bransfield and Doc Johnston — Kranepool gets the nod for his woeful 1968 season.
While many National League hitters had the worst seasons of their career in that anomalous 1968, Kranepool's contributions to the Season of the Pitcher were mighty.
Despite playing a power position, he hit only three home runs in 405 plate appearances and finished the season, hitting .231 with a .272 OBP and a .295 slugging percentage for a puny .567 OPS.
Compared to Kranepool in '68, Giambi (.712 OPS) has been Babe Ruth.
Honorable mention: Ivy Griffin, 1920. Someone forgot to tell Griffin that the Dead Ball Era was ending. In his only full season in the Majors, Griffin went homerless in 508 plate appearances, hitting .238 with a .281 OBP and a .274 slugging percentage.
4. Brooks Robinson, 1975, Baltimore Orioles — 3B
With 268 career home runs, Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson will bat cleanup in this lineup, though he hit only six dingers in 1975, his last season as an everyday player.
In 539 plate appearances, Brooksie barely cleared the Mendoza line, hitting .201. His .267 OBP and .274 slugging percentage produced an anemic .541 OPS.
Incredibly, he was walked intentionally 10 times in 1975.
5. Bob Boone, 1984, California Angels — C
When Aaron Boone calls his dad to commiserate about his early-season slump, the old man can relate.
Four years after hitting .412 in the 1980 World Series and two years before hitting .455 in the 1986 ALCS, Bob Boone suffered through the most miserable season of his career. He came to the plate 486 times and hit .202 with a .242 OBP (sub-.250 is a pretty exclusive club for a regular in this category) and a .262 slugging percentage. Still, his .504 OPS is good enough to land him fifth in this lineup.
It's a testament to his glovework that he remained the Angels' regular catcher for four more seasons after this abomination.
6. George Barclay, 1904, Cardinals/Braves — LF
When George Barclay came to the plate, it was the Really Dead Ball Era.
In 503 plate appearances for the Cardinals and Boston Braves, the man they called "Deerfoot" displayed little patience (14 walks, .241 OBP) and less power (one homer, .254 slugging).
Even in 1904, a .495 OPS for a leftfielder was unacceptable. Though only 28, he was out of baseball the next year.
7. Enzo Hernandez, 1971, San Diego Padres — SS
There are a handful of regular shortstops who have had worse years than Enzo's rookie season (Mark Belanger and Mario Mendoza come to mind), but Hernandez did something so inconceivable that he gets the nod to start at short on this team.
Enzo came to the plate 618 times and drove in 12 runs. Twelve. That's right, in 618 plate appearances, Hernandez drove in as many runs as Jim Bottomley and Mark Whiten knocked in a single game.
Hernandez met my other criteria as well with a .222 average, .295 OBP and .250 slugging percentage. With good speed and a decent eye (54 walks to 34 strikeouts as a rookie) it's remarkable that he couldn't become a serviceable offensive player.
8. Hal Lanier, 1968, San Francisco Giants — 2B
According to all accounts, Hal Lanier was an incredible defensive second baseman. How else could a guy who had nine straight seasons of sub-.300 OBPs and sub-.300 slugging stay in the league?
Given that he was punchless his entire career, I wanted to pick a season other than 1968 — when no one could hit — but even compared to his other terrible numbers, 1968 was spectacularly bad.
In 518 plate appearances, Lanier hit .206 with no home runs. His OBP (.222) and slugging (.239) give him the worst OPS (.464) in our lineup, other than our pitcher.
Honorable mention: Danny Ainge. Though Ainge never had a season of 400 plate appearances, in a three-year career that spanned 721 trips to the plate, he hit .220 with a .265 OBP and a .269 slugging percentage. Yes, he made the right career choice.
9. Al Leiter, 2003, New York Mets — P
Sandy Koufax and Wilbur Wood were legendarily poor hitters, but neither of them ever turned in a season quite like Leiter's 2003.
It may be a while before a Big Leaguer does worse than Leiter's 1-for-53 (.019) effort that season.
He did draw two walks for a .055 OBP. (Seriously, what's the fine for walking an .019 hitter?) His hit was a single, and his slugging percentage was also .019, giving him an .074 OPS.
Kevin Hench is supervising producer of The Sports List on Fox Sports Net.
Kevin Hench / FOXSports.com
Every fan thinks the guy on his team is in the worst slump in Major League history.
Yankee fans swear that Jason Giambi is the weakest hitter of all time. Red Sox fans point to Kevin Millar's power outage. Philly fans counter that no slugger's pop has ever dropped off like Jim Thome's.
But take heart, baseball fans of America. Your favorite player is not having the worst season of all time. Not even close. I went in search of the worst full seasons by everyday players at each position and the findings were remarkable — remarkably bad anyway.
Perusing Total Baseball, I was looking for position regulars who had seasons in which their on-base percentages and slugging percentages were both below .300 for some truly ghastly OPS numbers. I wasn't sure if I'd find that weak a stick at each position, who got enough plate appearances to be considered an everyday player. Well, much to my surprise, there were more than enough staggeringly bad seasons to fill out a lineup. Now, don't get me wrong, this team would be able to throw some leather, but they sure wouldn't score many runs.
So here it is, the worst lineup in Major League history:
1. Gary Pettis, 1988, Detroit Tigers — CF
Although speedy, Gary Pettis often had a hard time getting on base initially. (Mike Powell / Getty Images)
By virtue of his blazing speed, Pettis bats leadoff in this nightmare lineup. Though his 1987 season for the Angels was every bit as bad from an OPS standpoint (.561), he didn't dip under .300 in both OBP and slugging until 1988, his first season with the Tigers.
In 512 plate appearances, Pettis hit .210, reached base less than 29 percent of the time (.285) and had 127 total bases for a .277 slugging percentage.
Though he rarely reached first base, when he did, Pettis swiped 44 bases in 54 attempts.
Honorable mention: Boots Day, 1972. If you're wondering why the 1972 Montreal Expos finished 26.5 games out of first (and who isn't?), look no further than regular centerfielder Day who hit .233 with a .288 OBP and a .272 slugging percentage. Day was also caught six times in nine steal attempts.
2. Wee Willie Keeler, 1907, New York Highlanders — RF
In the last season of his career in which he played more than 100 games, Wee Willie apparently hit 'em where they were.
In 467 plate appearances for the Yankees, Keeler hit .234, drew 15 walks for a .265 on-base percentage and pounded out a robust .255 slugging percentage, thanks to five doubles, two triples and zero home runs.
But because of his legendary bat control, Keeler will bat second for our Hitless Wonders.
3. Ed Kranepool, 1968, New York Mets — 1B
Though there were several first baseman from the Dead Ball Era who qualified for this team with more than 500 plate appearances and sub-.300 on-base and slugging percentages — including Candy LaChance, Kitty Bransfield and Doc Johnston — Kranepool gets the nod for his woeful 1968 season.
While many National League hitters had the worst seasons of their career in that anomalous 1968, Kranepool's contributions to the Season of the Pitcher were mighty.
Despite playing a power position, he hit only three home runs in 405 plate appearances and finished the season, hitting .231 with a .272 OBP and a .295 slugging percentage for a puny .567 OPS.
Compared to Kranepool in '68, Giambi (.712 OPS) has been Babe Ruth.
Honorable mention: Ivy Griffin, 1920. Someone forgot to tell Griffin that the Dead Ball Era was ending. In his only full season in the Majors, Griffin went homerless in 508 plate appearances, hitting .238 with a .281 OBP and a .274 slugging percentage.
4. Brooks Robinson, 1975, Baltimore Orioles — 3B
With 268 career home runs, Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson will bat cleanup in this lineup, though he hit only six dingers in 1975, his last season as an everyday player.
In 539 plate appearances, Brooksie barely cleared the Mendoza line, hitting .201. His .267 OBP and .274 slugging percentage produced an anemic .541 OPS.
Incredibly, he was walked intentionally 10 times in 1975.
5. Bob Boone, 1984, California Angels — C
When Aaron Boone calls his dad to commiserate about his early-season slump, the old man can relate.
Four years after hitting .412 in the 1980 World Series and two years before hitting .455 in the 1986 ALCS, Bob Boone suffered through the most miserable season of his career. He came to the plate 486 times and hit .202 with a .242 OBP (sub-.250 is a pretty exclusive club for a regular in this category) and a .262 slugging percentage. Still, his .504 OPS is good enough to land him fifth in this lineup.
It's a testament to his glovework that he remained the Angels' regular catcher for four more seasons after this abomination.
6. George Barclay, 1904, Cardinals/Braves — LF
When George Barclay came to the plate, it was the Really Dead Ball Era.
In 503 plate appearances for the Cardinals and Boston Braves, the man they called "Deerfoot" displayed little patience (14 walks, .241 OBP) and less power (one homer, .254 slugging).
Even in 1904, a .495 OPS for a leftfielder was unacceptable. Though only 28, he was out of baseball the next year.
7. Enzo Hernandez, 1971, San Diego Padres — SS
There are a handful of regular shortstops who have had worse years than Enzo's rookie season (Mark Belanger and Mario Mendoza come to mind), but Hernandez did something so inconceivable that he gets the nod to start at short on this team.
Enzo came to the plate 618 times and drove in 12 runs. Twelve. That's right, in 618 plate appearances, Hernandez drove in as many runs as Jim Bottomley and Mark Whiten knocked in a single game.
Hernandez met my other criteria as well with a .222 average, .295 OBP and .250 slugging percentage. With good speed and a decent eye (54 walks to 34 strikeouts as a rookie) it's remarkable that he couldn't become a serviceable offensive player.
8. Hal Lanier, 1968, San Francisco Giants — 2B
According to all accounts, Hal Lanier was an incredible defensive second baseman. How else could a guy who had nine straight seasons of sub-.300 OBPs and sub-.300 slugging stay in the league?
Given that he was punchless his entire career, I wanted to pick a season other than 1968 — when no one could hit — but even compared to his other terrible numbers, 1968 was spectacularly bad.
In 518 plate appearances, Lanier hit .206 with no home runs. His OBP (.222) and slugging (.239) give him the worst OPS (.464) in our lineup, other than our pitcher.
Honorable mention: Danny Ainge. Though Ainge never had a season of 400 plate appearances, in a three-year career that spanned 721 trips to the plate, he hit .220 with a .265 OBP and a .269 slugging percentage. Yes, he made the right career choice.
9. Al Leiter, 2003, New York Mets — P
Sandy Koufax and Wilbur Wood were legendarily poor hitters, but neither of them ever turned in a season quite like Leiter's 2003.
It may be a while before a Big Leaguer does worse than Leiter's 1-for-53 (.019) effort that season.
He did draw two walks for a .055 OBP. (Seriously, what's the fine for walking an .019 hitter?) His hit was a single, and his slugging percentage was also .019, giving him an .074 OPS.
Kevin Hench is supervising producer of The Sports List on Fox Sports Net.