Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Power Outage

The big home run hitters get all the glory--how's about the guys LEAST likely to hit one out? Starting with the highest at bats for a career and working our way down:
Hall-of-Famer Rabbit Maranville managed 28 HR in 10,078 AB (1 for every 359.9 AB) from 1912-35--the last 2/3rds of his career, then, was after Ruth showed how it COULD be done.
Ozzie Smith had the same number (and made the same Hall) in a few fewer AB's (28 in 9396, 1/335.6) from 1978-96. The rarity of the feat for the Wizard of Oz might explain why Jack Buck was so stunned when Ozzie did it in the 1985 NLCS that he could only say, "Go crazy, folks; go crazy!"
Larry Bowa outdid both of these, hitting 15 in 8418 (1/561.2), less than one a year from 1970-85.
Don Kessinger did only slightly better, with 14 in 7651 (546.5) from 1964-79. All four so far were middle infielders.
Then we have somebody named Donie Bush, who managed 9 HR in 7210 AB (801.1) in the dead-ball days of 1908-23 (including 1 in his last 3288).
Eddie Foster managed 6 in 5652 (942), including none in his last 2702, in the same era as Bush.
The next notable recent (my lifetime) guy is Otis Nixon, with 11 HR in 5115 AB (465).
The guy with the most ABs to rank fewer than 1 HR per 1000 AB is Jimmy Slagle, who incredibly had only 2 in 4996 AB, one every 2498! He played from 1899-1908. Muddly Ruel also ranked "over" 1000, with 4 in 4514 (1128.5), and his career (1915-34) extended into the early power days. Al Bridwell hit 2 in 4169 (2084.5) from 1905-15, and Tommy Thevenow had 2 in 4164 (2082) in the power-packed years of 1924-38. (MLB lists Davy Force with 1 in 4251, but that included the pre-major years of 1871-75. Same with Bob Ferguson, 1 in 3468, 1871-84)
Some more recent players of note: Bud Harrelson, 7 in 4744 (677.7), 1965-80;
Jerry Remy, 7 in 4455 (636.4), 1975-84;
Roger Metzger, 5 in 4201 (840.2), 1970-80.
Frank Taveras outdid all his contemporaries of 4000+ AB. He hit 2 HR in 4043 (2021.5) from 1971-82. He and Nixon could steal a base, but didn't quite have the "power/speed" combo thing down.
A lot of people's choice as worst HR hitter all-time is Duane Kuiper. He hit one solitary homer in 3379 AB from 1974-85.
Emil Verban had 1 in 2911 from 1944-50. (Dave Eggler and Mike McGeary had 0 in over 2400 AB each, but that includes 1871-75 again) Bill Holbert had 0 in 2393 from 1876-88. Not only that, he had a .208 career average and .232 slugging pct., yet stuck around for the 1st 13 years of the NL!
In our day, again: Enzo Hernandez had 2 in 2327 (1163.5) from 1971-78, a .224 avg. and .266 slugging pct.
Rafael Belliard had 2 in 2301 (1150.1), 1982-98. Despite a .221 career average and .259 slugging, Rafael only changed teams once in 17 years!
Woody Woodward had exactly 1 HR in 2187 AB, 1963-71.
And the modern-day (post 1900) non-pitching player with the most AB without ever hitting a homer? Tom Oliver, with the ultimate power outage in 1931 AB in power-crazy 1930-33. Unlike many other guys on this list, Oliver was a decent hitter: 101 doubles, a .277 avg. and half-way decent .340 slugging pct.

Am I living up to the promise of providing totally fascinating, useless information, or what?!

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