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“15 Worst Hitters In Major League History” Photo Gallery
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Time For a Quiz!
Who Was the Worst Hitter In Major League History?
We need to lighten up the mood a bit!
The highlight of our year, Opening Day, has come and gone. Will we even have a season? With things being a bit grim these days for all of us baseball fans, we need to have a little fun. And as I’ve said in some of my recent posts, “We’re here for you!”
Yesterday I happened to learn the identity of the worst hitter in major league history. You heard me right…not just a bad hitter, but THE WORST. And, boy, was he ever bad…
Just wait until you see some of his stats. I’m not a big sabermetrics guy, but I do like the OPS+, which is the on-base plus slugging adjusted for parks and era factors. The average for major leaguers is 100, so if your OPS+ is above 100, you’re an above average player among your contemporaries. If it’s below 100, you’re below average among your contemporaries. Below average marginal players usually come in around 75-90. In years of looking at this stat, I don’t think I’ve ever seen an OPS+ below 70.
But are you ready for this: This player comes in at -38! I didn’t think it was possible to have a negative OPS+ for your entire career, but he did it!
So it’s time to put on your thinking caps and see if you can figure out who it is. And no cheating! I have ways of finding these things out, you know! Haha!
But just to show what a nice guy I am, I’m going to give you a couple hints:
- To qualify for the dubious honor, the candidate had to have at least 300 at-bats (this eliminates guys who came up for a “cup of coffee” and went 0-4.
- Pitchers are eligible (like I said, we’re looking for the worst!).
- This player was in the major leagues for 16 seasons.
- He was an American League player his entire career, except for his last three seasons.
- His pic is above, without any team identification (I’m sure some of you will recognize him right away).
Be sure to check out the photo gallery to see pics of the 15 worst hitters of all time compiled by The Sportster a couple years ago. These are exclusively position players, no pitchers allowed on this list.
Come back at 6:00 PM CT and I’ll identify the player who holds the distinction of being The Worst Hitter of All-Time, along with some interesting information about his career.
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Gary Livacari
Photo Credits: All from Google search
Information: Excerpts from The Sportster
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Jon Lester broke the 300 times at bat plateau this past season and had a .107 career average.
He started off going 0 for 60 something, but has shown some improvement with the stick the last few years, even hitting a few HR’s.
Even worse than Lester!
As a kid I remember Bob Buehl, pitcher from the Braves, Cubs & Phillies, as a guy who never could hit.
This guy is even worse than Buhl…although it’s close! .089 (Buhl) to .085 (this guy).
Just looked it up. Buehl had over 800 at bats in his career and hit .089
Lester looks like Giancarlo Stanton compared to Buehl.😁
OK,
Found one with a worse lifetime batting average (.069) with a 44 hits on 662 at bats.
He struck out 420 of the 662 times at the plate.
He’s not the pictured player, though.
Who? The inimitable Dean Chance.
You’re right, Paul…my source was wrong!
Hi Gary,
Pikers, one and all! We’re staring lovingly at the sorry pan of one (1) Hank Aguirre, who was about 80 times the pitcher that he was the hitter. Oof!
BTW, a very blessed and happy 96th to The Great Gil. Let’s get him into The Hall (without a ticket) before he hits 100.
Always a pleasure to read your material! Very entertaining and informative.
Best regards,
Michael
Thanks Michael…great to hear from you!
After he retired from baseball, Aguirre had a very successful Mexican food manufacturing/distributing business in the Detroit area and supplied hundreds of jobs for minorities. A great man. I saw him pitch against the Yankees twice in the 1961 season for the Tigers.
Great info Jim…thanks!