Worst Player?

Horrible question ... usually you can't get to the bigs unless you have a ton of talent.

Injuries may have marred some guys careers and numbers are pretty fickle .....

BUT .... If I had to say, it would be Eddie Gaedel.

Gaedel was 3 feet 7 inches. He appeared in a game for the St. Louis Browns, drawing a walk. That was his only plate appearance, and his contract (Bill Veeck was the one who signed him) was ruled invalid and midgets were subsequently banned from baseball.

Veeck was a master showman and great at marketing. His plan was to use Gaedel in pinch-hit situations when the bases were loaded, rightfully feeling that he'd probably draw a walk, garnering an RBI, but his pro-career lasted only about 3 days and the single at bat.

Gaedel was so slow afoot, that they had to also use a pinch runner.

The American League President at the time, Hartridge, had all of Eddie's records expunged from the record books, so he's a great trivia question/answer for that reason. He had a plate appearance ... but then again, he didn't according to the record books.

You are the one who asked. Baseball is a great game with a fabulous history.

Dan Uggla?

When I saw this topic title, somehow I knew Ugla's name would be mentioned . Poor guy, he must have been beating his head against the dugout wall, hoping to wake up from that nightmare.

Ah, and who was little Eddie's pinchrunner, H3? (Hint: his wife was my Mom's roomie in the hospital when I was born )

all MLB players are great at sometime,but this
pitcher had a rough career
Andy Larkin-Marlins,reds,royals
3 year MLB career
39 games
15 starts
8.86 career ERA

Isnt this like asking who is the ugliest girl at the Miss Universe pagent?..........


What player who is among the top 99.9 % of all males who ever contemplated playing baseball is the least talented??


I only wish all our sons were that lucky

Bob Uecker

Wally "Boom Boom" Beck. You could look it up.

Once got hit so bad, when he was being taken out, he threw the ball all the way to the rightfield wallin furstration. Hack Wilson, RFer( who was talking to fans instead of paying attention) proceeded to pick it up and fire it into second thinking it was another hit.

Gotta agree with piaa-ump. Mine would love to have the opportunity to be called the worst player.

From my perspective, watching Dan Uggla last night is why so many kids quit baseball and many parents are perhaps overly involved with their son and baseball.
Last night, Dan Uggla failed on a baseball field. Fox then kept the camera on him.
But Uggla never changed emotion or expression. You could tell he was hurting, especially as the announcers talked of his Dad and the "dream" of playing in Yankee stadium.
In baseball, when you fail, there isn't any place to hide and the pace of the game can cause the focus of the "failure" to be even more directed your way.
Takes a lot of fortitude to play the game when it goes that direction. Takes a lot of fortitude when you know the camera is on you and your parents are in the stands and a "dream" is the "risk."
Too many can't accept what happened to Dan Uggla last night. Players quit because you cannot hide.
Parents often times do too much to protect and shield from what happened to Dan Uggla.
Last night Dan Uggla was a baseball player. As opposed to the worst player, my impression was that he is a terrific player having the worst day a player could, which happens in baseball.

Orlando, I have no idea who ran for little Eddie .... sorry, ya got me on that one.

I used to have a dog-eared copy of Thurber's "You Could Look It Up" which inspired Veeck, but I can't find it, so I'll use the excuse "the dog ate it" ...

... if any of you non-old timers have a chance, stop by a library and grab this short story by James Thurber ... it will be the best 30 minutes you've ever spent sitting in a library. Outstanding humor.

Good point, infielddad. If it were an easy game, everyone would do it. My 2B told me he had a rough day last week at the BCS Finals. I wasn't there but he told me "I couldn't field...I couldn't throw..." Of course I told him all players have those days and I was sure he would bounce back. The great thing about baseball is that there is always another game. This week he's at East Cobb. Again, I'm stuck here at work, making the money to get him there. But I got three calls from parents last night telling me that he made a "great play." So when I talked to him later, I asked him to tell me about his "great play." He said, "which one?" Of course it's routine plays that win games, but it's still nice to get those comments. Mental toughness is so key to success. Uggla will be fine, and his return to his usual level of play will be a good example for all the young players watching.

My vote goes to Ueker. I think he proves that a sense of humor comes in handy, too.

infielddad,



It takes a strong individual to "risk" failure which at its core is the essence of baseball. Why else would we imagine if there will be another .400 hitter and all-star teams filled with .300 hitters?

I can picture Dan Uggla (and many others) many years from now not having any regrets about following their dream irregardless of how it turned out.

Can't think of a better way to live life.

I was very surprised that the commentators really never made much mention of the fact that Dan Uggla had not played a game on the field in the past 2-3 weeks following a pretty nasty sprained ankle.

I have been watching him for the past couple years and he normally makes those plays and hits 30+ homers. I'll take a couple errors for that type of production. Sure did feel bad for the guy though.

quote:

Originally posted by infielddad:
From my perspective, watching Dan Uggla last night is why so many kids quit baseball and many parents are perhaps overly involved with their son and baseball.
Last night, Dan Uggla failed on a baseball field. Fox then kept the camera on him.
But Uggla never changed emotion or expression. You could tell he was hurting, especially as the announcers talked of his Dad and the "dream" of playing in Yankee stadium.
In baseball, when you fail, there isn't any place to hide and the pace of the game can cause the focus of the "failure" to be even more directed your way.
Takes a lot of fortitude to play the game when it goes that direction. Takes a lot of fortitude when you know the camera is on you and your parents are in the stands and a "dream" is the "risk."
Too many can't accept what happened to Dan Uggla last night. Players quit because you cannot hide.
Parents often times do too much to protect and shield from what happened to Dan Uggla.
Last night Dan Uggla was a baseball player. As opposed to the worst player, my impression was that he is a terrific player having the worst day a player could, which happens in baseball.

A classic post. A lot of the game is learning how to manage failure.

1) I would give my left...arm...to be considered the worst MLB player ever.

2) IFDad, I TOTALLY agree and have been saying a dumbed down version of that for years. Very well said!

3) The Medoza Line was named after light hitting SS Mario Mendoza. If I remember the story correctly, George Brett was being interviewed early in the season while he was struggling. When they asked about his BA, he said he knew he was in trouble when he realized he was below the Mendoza Line.

I suspect we would all feel that way until we actually became the worst player in MLB. Our perspectives might change at that point.

Here's a legit worst player, Herb Washington. He was a track star in baseball cleats. He wasn't even a good baserunner.

I'm with you Red, I'd give my left arm to be a MLB hamburger!

quote:

Originally posted by Holden Caulfield:
I suspect we would all feel that way until we actually became the worst player in MLB. Our perspectives might change at that point.

That depends...does the worst player in MLB history know he is the worst player?

Just because Mendoza couldn't hit, doesn't mean he was bad. He had a very solid glove. Mark Bellanger couldn't hit sand if he fell off a camel but he could pick it better than 99% of the people alive.

If you ask any of the perceived "worst" players in MLB history, I would bet my left...arm...they wouldn't trade their time in the Bigs for anything.

Well, if you guys would give up your right arm, you could be Pete Gray. One year with the Browns at the age of 30; and, for the Brownies, not so bad....gotta love Veeck!

Jim Delsing, H3. Pretty good hitting OFer, for the time. Oddly enough, my parents' other friend in the Bigs, Clint Hartung, is also a trivia question answer, as he pinch ran when Mueller broke his ankle sliding into third and was then the first one to score when Bobby Thompson hit the Shot Heard Round The World.

Sometimes discussed at length at AAABA Tournament in Johnstown PA in years gone past:

The candidates for the worst of the worst:
Frank Emmer
Steve Kiefer
Fred Buelow
Bill Bergen
Jack Nabors
Aloysius Trvers
John Gochnaur

Conclusion
Goch is the worst major league performer ever.

Few have been worse with the bat,
fewer worse in the field,
but none combined the two-way futility quite the way Goch did.

An 11-at-bat cup of coffee with Brooklyn in 1901.
In 1902 with Indians,
-batted .185 over 459 at-bats
-with 48 errors.

In 1903, hit .185 (438 at-bats)
- dubious A.L. record of 98 errors
- porous fielding percentage of .869,
worst major league season ever.

One bright moment, if you can say this, Goch was "sadly consistent."

Ending a two-plus-year major league career with
- .187 batting average,
- .258 on-base percentage
- .240 slugging mark in 908 at-bats.
- 264 major league games at SS
- committed 146 errors,
- one official miscue every 1.8 games.
- career fielding percentage of .901 (league avg .921).

- averaged 5.05 chances per nine innings, well below the league average of 5.44.

Goch was five-foot-nine, 160-pound
+ arm yet very wild.

-Suffered a broken finger during a August 5, 1902 game, vying to snare a line drive

- A month later, on September 10, Gochnaur made five errors in a DH
- a dubious AL record.

After compiling the league's worst range factor (total chances divided by games played) among regular shortstops in 1902, Gochnaur's awful 1903 performance dipped to a low no other major leaguer has ever sunk to.

In 1904, Goch returned to Altoona to play in the Tri-Sate League before PCL

After his playing days, Goch umpired in
- Middle Atlantic League,
- NY Pennsylvania League,
- International League,
- Central, Three I, and Kitty circuits.

A popular man and a friend to many.
Asisting hundreds of Altoona players.

Held jobs as
- a bartender,
- city police officer
- Penn railroad policeman.

Gochnaur died of pneumonia at young age 53
in 1929 at Altoona Hospital.

A life-long baseball bachelor leaving
- six siblings,
- nephews and nieces,
- appreciative baseball players and citizens
- and a woeful major league ledger.

Yet after all is said and done, Goch was and remains a big leaguer. Something no one can take away.



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It will be hard to beat that one!

Maybe it's just me then, but I would never want to be mentioned in the context of a discussion like this one.

quote:

Originally posted by Holden Caulfield:
It will be hard to beat that one!

Maybe it's just me then, but I would never want to be mentioned in the context of a discussion like this one.

Not exactly the same, but I liken it to Tennyson who said it best.

'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all

Teddy Roosevelt might have said it even better:

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

Now that I've completely repudiated myself, I'll leave this one to the rest of you.

Not exactly an answer to my original question, but has anyone had a worse track record in big games lately than Brad Lidge?

quote:

Originally posted by Holden Caulfield:
Teddy Roosevelt might have said it even better:

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

Now that I've completely repudiated myself, I'll leave this one to the rest of you.

You're right. That is better.