Who's the worst BB player who has his own card???

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Posted By: base2base

Well... this question came to me after reading the thread about Joe Tinker and how he's one of the worst HOF's (in stats anyways), this was quite shock after looking up his recored.

So I ask you "who's the worst BB player who has his own card". I want it just so I could say "I got it", and yes I'm in the market for a Joe Tinker.



"always looking for 1923 V117 Maple Crispette cards"

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Posted By: bigfish

SAM HORN

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Posted By: cmoking

a .220 hitter in Double AA, but has an heck of an expensive 1986 rookie card

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Posted By: Dan Lundrigan

Stan Papi gets my vote! When the Red Sox banished Bill Lee to the Expos for Stan Papi someone summed up the trade quite nicely by spraypainting WHO THE F*CK IS STAN PAPI? on a wall outside of Fenway Park! Bill Lee went 16-10 for the Expos while Stan hit 188 in 50 games and 117 at bats

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Posted By: barrysloate

I may be wrong but I think there is a Topps card for Twins pitcher Terry Felton who had a career record of 0-14. Even I could do that.

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Posted By: J Levine

This question recalls an interview I saw with Mickey Hatcher one year when he was with the Dodgers...asked about his performance for the season (which was sub-par). He flatly said that he would much rather be known as the worst player in the major leauges than never play in the majors at all. He said that getting to the majors is not easy and that only the top 1% of the top 1% of baseball players in the country get a major leauge contract. Granted, Mickey Hatcher was not good but he was better than most of the rest of the country who ever picked up baseball and bat.

Joshua

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Posted By: jamie

uecker, mario mendoza and lenn sakata were all god-awful

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Posted By: Bruce Babcock

Harry Chiti was traded to another team for a player to be named later. He later became the player named, i.e., he was traded for himself.

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Posted By: Bruce Babcock

One could make a case for Tommy Lasorda. 0-4 lifetime record.

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Posted By: Kevin Cummings

If not at the top, certainly near it is the aforementioned Mario Mendoza, after whom the infamous "Mendoza Line" was named. (http://members.tripod.com/~alpepper/mendozaline.html)

It's easy to say a guy who played one year and had an 0 - 4 record or a poor batting average is the worst, but Mario Mendoza was consistently awful over the course of nine straight years.

And it's not like he was just a crummy batter; he was no great shakes with the glove either!

http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/mendoma01.shtml

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Posted By: pete

none of these guys would even make it out of the minors today...the level of play is so high that there are guys in AA ball that surpass these guys and wont get a second look because they arent hitting .350 with 40 homeruns in the minors...

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Slow down on the Mickey Hatcher bashing. A .280 lifetime hitter, he carried the Dodgers to one of the biggest upsets in World Series history in 1988 when his team (after getting just one at bat from league MVP Kirk Gibson) beat the heavily favored A's, 4 games to 1. Hatcher hit 2 home runs, drove in 5 and batted .368 in that Series. He was also a great clubhouse guy and rarely struck out.

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Posted By: Glenn

John Gochnaur has an E107. And he was offensively bad.

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Posted By: Paul

There are several sets out there from the very low minor leagues -- like Class D. The Fargo-Moorehead set that includes Roger Maris comes to mind, along with some of the Globe issues. I'd venture to guess that some of these guys sucked.

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Posted By: Glenn

Well, if you count those, my father-in-law has a card. Actually I own the only copy, but according to the Josh Gibson postcard thread it may not really be a baseball card after all.

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Posted By: J Levine

I love Mickey...one very smart player and a great clutch guy. It just reminded me of one of his quotes...

Lore has it that as Mickey was rounding third on a basehit he saw he was going to be thrown out by about 40 feet. He starts yelling "Cut! Cut!" The ball is cutoff by the shortstop thinking a play is on at second...Hatcher is safe.

Joshua

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Posted By: Anonymous

A lot of ways to approach "worst" :

Guy you least want on your team kind of "worst" :

maybe Hal Chase.... although the worst player banned was probably Fred McMullen (paid to throw the series even though he couldn't have made a difference either way)

Baseball players on cards who really weren't "baseball players" therefore maybe they are the worst:

Eric Lindros, Michael Jordan, John Elway, any US president although only GHW Bush (who played college ball at Yale) actually appears on cards as a baseball player and maybe even Jim Thorpe (although I bet he was tough on the bases)

Famous for being the worst:

Mendoza (of the "Mendoza line" fame); Bob Uecker (really they were both in majors to be THAT bad)

"Worst" in thew sense of worst human being:

Poor John Rocker put himself in this category with his mouth although he probably wasn't/isn't that bad a guy; again Hal Chase may warrant a mention here even if he was among the greatest glove-men to ever play 1st base and yes Ty Cobb and Cap Anson according to many people -- I might go with the early 20th century player whose name escapes me who had mental problems and committed some rather grisly murders. As I recall Asa Brainard from the 1860's and 1870s wound up being quite awful (there is a book called something like "the worst Pitcher's ever" that is quite enthralling and details Brainard's career -- he started off great; I think he appears on some prized cabinets with the Wright Bros.)... Carl Mays warrants a (dis)honorable mention although the guy in CUbs organization who threw at the player in the on-deck circle (nearly blinding him)when he was in college gets my vote over Mays who probably didn't mean to do much more than ROger Clemens, Pedro Martinez or Nolan Ryan when he killed Ray Chapman (another facinating book is called "The Pitch that Killed" about Chapman and Mays)

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Posted By: Glenn

What's Ugi Urbina up to these days?

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Posted By: john/z28jd

Jeff Jackson and Billy Bene who were draft picks in the 1989 set i believe were both absolutely horrendous.Jackson didnt make it out of single-A and Bene had absolutely no control but threw real hard and then had to use mannequins while he threw simulated games because no one wanted to stand in there when he threw

Worst player nominee for me is Tom Reilly from the t204 set who hit .180 over parts of 3 seasons and was pretty bad at SS to boot,well below league average.Anyone else have 5 of his cards or is it just me

John Roach and Emil Geiss from the old judge set both had a 1 game trial pitching in which they were both horrible and both have numerous OJ poses including a portrait version for Geiss. Just good timing on their part to get a card.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

Tommy Lasorda's MLB career was putrid (0-4 w/l and 6.48 ERA as a pitcher, 0.71 batting average) and he has a card as a player.

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Posted By: Hoytdunk

Even though he had a decent glove, Ray Oyler was bad enough offensively that it is humorous. Over 1,200 AB's and batted .175

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Posted By: Tim Newcomb

"I might go with the early 20th century player whose name escapes me who had mental problems and committed some rather grisly murders."
-- You're referring to Marty Bergen, who killed his family and himself in January 1900. He has a "card" in a sense: a W600. (About two-thirds of one was auctioned on ebay a few weeks ago.)

Interestingly, his brother Bill (a more well-adjusted guy, no doubt) was probably the worst HITTER (for a non-pitcher) ever to be on a major league BB card (T206, perhaps a few other sets). Bill played for ten years (1901-1911) and had a lifetime average of .170 in over 3000 at-bats. His lifetime slugging average barely broke the Mendoza line (.201).

How is this possible? By all contemporary accounts, he was a genuinely awesome defensive catcher

Tim

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Posted By: jay behrens

Tim beat me to Bill Bergen. No contest when it comes to extended period of truely bad hitting. Not sure he is the worst overall player, as Mendoza was also a terrible fielder. Bergen has been noted as being great behind the plate and he must have been to stick around that long hitting like he did.

Jay

I've just reached Upper Lower Class. I am now officially a babe magnet for poor chicks.

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Posted By: identify7

John McGraw.

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Posted By: Misunderestimated

Larry Fritch put together a couple of series of "One Year WInners" cards consisting, I believe, of short timers without any other cards.
I would thing that Eddie Gaedel would probably have been as bad a player as anyone.... Although the SABR/Bill James argument would be that his OBA (On-base average) was pretty awesome...

I think Garth Brooks is on some cards too (unless he was using his alter ego on them)...

Brien Taylor should be mentioned too -- the Yankees bonus baby with the high90's fastball that never made the majors...Maybe Crash Davis could have kept him out trouble...Taylor's rookie draft pick card was pretty hot when it was issued in the 1990's..

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Posted By: Darren Duet

Eddie Gaedel, even though his card is but a tribute.

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Posted By: Chris

Bill Bergen once threw out 7 would be base stealers in a game. He has the lowest carrer BA of anyone with over 2500 AB's. The next closest is 42 points higher!

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Posted By: Jay Miller

One of the rarest, most desireable cards in the Old Judge set is that of Leighton "Whitey" Gibson. However, unfortunately for Whitey, he had less hits than cards known. His line for his complete major league career for Philadelphia AA in 1888 was 1 game, 3 AB, no hits.

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Posted By: identify7

There are many players who have appeared on baseball cards, but did not get a chance to play in the big league. So, this neutral performance is not sufficient to qualify as the "worst" player. If total harm done to the team is the criteria, Barry's selection of Terry Felton is difficult to beat.

I just checked baseball reference, and they indicate that he lost 16 games without a win, and although he had no at bats, he did achieve two errors in 14 opportunities as a fielder.

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Posted By: T206Collector

Ever since his 1987 Topps card, in which Topps airbrushed Cardinals colors over his Tigers uniform -- a flaming pink jersey -- I have always believed that Mike Laga is the worst baseball card to own. I can't believe someone's actually trying to sell this card on ebay!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8731102551&category=60517

And his career stats support my beliefs...

http://www.baseball-reference.com/l/lagami01.shtml

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Posted By: Jim Clarke

Here is a follow up to Tim's post on Bergen..

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Posted By: Shannon

How about Drew Henson. All that money and only 1 hit and 9abs in the majors. A major flop.

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Posted By: zach

I saw Henson in many minor league games for the clippers. He was ok, but he flopped in the majors. Not only that though, but a complete jerk to even the smallest group of fans. He would walk out of the dugout and pull his hat over his face and never look back as his teammates were out signing autographs and talking to fans.

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Posted By: Shannon

Hes actually from the town I grew up and still live. In highschool he was a man among boys. Im kinda surprised he was like that. I never heard anything bad about him. Money does change people though. One more thing, after he finished highschool he had broke the natinal highschool records for homeruns and rbis in a career. You can also add Brien Taylor to the list. Brien Taylor
From BR Bullpen
Brien Taylor

Bats Left, Throws Left
Height 6' 4", Weight 195 to 215 lb.
Born December 26, 1971
1st overall selection - 1991 Amateur Draft












[edit]Click on edit above to add more biographical information
Pitcher Brien Taylor was selected by the New York Yankees with the first overall pick in the 1991 amateur draft. He signed with the Yankees for an unprecedented $1.55 million. He is one of two top picks to never reach the major leagues (Steve Chilcott is the other). In high school he had fanned 476 batters in 239 innings, going 29-6 with a 1.25 ERA.

It took quite a bit of time for Taylor and the Yankees to come to terms on a contract, costing the southpaw his '91 season. In 1992 he made his debut in high class A with the Ft. Lauderdale Yankees, going 6-8 with a 2.57 ERA, 187 Ks and just 121 hits allowed in 161 innings. Florida State League managers voted him the #2 prospect in the league behind Carlos Delgado and he led the circuit in strikeouts (and balks, with 10). He made the league's All-Star team too.

In 1993 he was promoted to AA, with the Albany-Colonie Yankees and went 13-7 with a 3.48 ERA. He allowed 127 hits in 163 innings; his strikeouts fell to 150 though and his walks rose to 102. He failed to lead the Eastern League in Ks, though he was first in walks. He also was fourth in ERA and tied for second in wins, though. Eastern League managers voted him the fourth best prospect (behind Cliff Floyd, Manny Ramirez and Rondell White) and the top pitching prospect.

Things went south after the '93 season. Taylor got involved in a bar fight with his brother and a former friend and hurt his left shoulder. He needed surgery and never reattained his velocity. He missed the '94 season, was 2-5 while playing rookie-league ball in the 1995 Gulf Coast League (2-5, 6.08, 29 H in 40 IP, 38 K, 54 BB).

Taylor returned to A ball in 1996 with the Greensboro Bats. He was toasted even worse - 43 walks in 16 innings, 21 hits allowed, 11 Ks and an 0-5 record with an 18.73 ERA in 9 starts. In '97, he returned to the Bats and was 1-4 with a 14.33 ERA, walking 52 in 27 innings, allowing 31 hits and 20 strikeouts.

The Yankees released Taylor. He signed with the Seattle Mariners but was released after spring training. He wound up with the Cleveland Indians but surrendered 8 runs in 2 and 2/3 innings, worse than even his two prior South Atlantic League stints. He would not pitch professionally again.

A brilliant promise had been washed away due to off-the-field misconduct.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

1962 Topps. Played parts of 3 seasons in the majors racking up a .202 average and a .975 fielding %. Subject of the most withering line in The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book: "Who the hell is Cuno Barragan?" When I was a kid I had to get that card just because of that line...