Deadspin's 100 worst MLB players in history

[CubColtPacer]

To be honest I thought Koyie Hill would make it. If we were talking single season I would have nominated Aaron Miles as well.

 

Koyie Hill might not be the best candidate of all the backup catcher playing today, let alone all-time. It's hard to tell catcher's defensive ratings very well, but Hill is not particularly close to being the worst offensive catcher in the league.

[UMFan83]

Under the "have you considered another line of work" category

 

5. Ozzie Guillen, 1985-2000 (White Sox/Braves/Rays/Orioles)

Ozzie Guillen, like many managers, was a bad baseball player. His on base percentage in 15 seasons was .286. His slugging percentage was .238. But he won a Gold Glove, you say. And a Rookie of the Year award! He was a three-time All Star! And he stole a lot of bases! Actually, Guillen was caught on almost 40 percent of his attempts. And after his last All Star appearance at age 27 (for a season in which he had a .284 on-base percentage) he hung around for nine more years, doing nothing in particular with his glove and less with with his bat.

 

I had completely forgotten just how bad Guillen was. For some reason I thought he was a decent player.

 

The funny thing is, he was so bad that I actually believed that .286 career SLG number. It's actually .386....still bad but not epically bad.

 

 

According to B-R, it's actually .338, with a career OPS of .626.

 

Yeah sorry I meant they said his SLG was .238, but it was really .338

[Sammy Sofa]

To be honest I thought Koyie Hill would make it. If we were talking single season I would have nominated Aaron Miles as well.

 

Koyie Hill might not be the best candidate of all the backup catcher playing today, let alone all-time. It's hard to tell catcher's defensive ratings very well, but Hill is not particularly close to being the worst offensive catcher in the league.

 

WHUT BUT ONLY THE COBS AND THE FUTILITY AND THE MANGLED HAND AND HENDRY LIKES DONUTS

 

I guarantee you there's at least one person here who honestly believes that Soriano should be on this list. I don't know who that person is...but they're out there.

[Sammy Sofa]

Wow, never seen an ERA like this before:

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kammebo01.shtml

[Sammy Sofa]

Holy [expletive]:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marty_Bergen_%28baseball%29

[TruffleShuffle]

I hope Tony Pena jr made it. He was one of the most incompetent (non pitcher) batters I've ever seen.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Holy [expletive]:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marty_Bergen_%28baseball%29

 

Baseballs answer to the Canadian Crippler.

[Little Slide Rooter]

To be honest I thought Koyie Hill would make it. If we were talking single season I would have nominated Aaron Miles as well.

 

Koyie Hill might not be the best candidate of all the backup catcher playing today, let alone all-time. It's hard to tell catcher's defensive ratings very well, but Hill is not particularly close to being the worst offensive catcher in the league.

 

WHUT BUT ONLY THE COBS AND THE FUTILITY AND THE MANGLED HAND AND HENDRY LIKES DONUTS

 

I guarantee you there's at least one person here who honestly believes that Soriano should be on this list. I don't know who that person is...but they're out there.

I'm surprised Gville hasn't surfaced to nominate Ryan Dempster

[Irrelevant Dude]

I got a kick out of this one:

 

4. Marv Throneberry, 1955-1963 (Athletics/Yankees/Mets/Orioles)

"Marvelous Marv" was the worst player on the worst team of all time. Playing for the 120-loss 1962 Mets, Throneberry set a record for lowest fielding percentage by a first baseman. He once hit a triple, but was called out after missing both first and second base while on his way to third.

I can only imagine the groan coming from Brenly as a player misses not one but two bases on his way to third.

[Derwood]

Alfonso Soriano!!!!!11!

 

/wrigley23

[javy knows my name]

Holy [expletive]:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marty_Bergen_%28baseball%29

 

This is the craziest damn thing I've ever read:

 

On October 9, Bergen had to be removed from a game when he dodged the pitches rather than catching them, because he was preoccupied with avoiding knife thrusts from an invisible assailant. Bergen was aware of his mental state, and actively sought help from both clergy and physicians. However, he refused to take any of the bromides prescribed by his doctor, explaining, "I thought someone in the National League had found out that you were my family physician and had arranged to give me some poison. I did not take it from my wife because I didn't wish hers to be the hand that poisoned me."

[OleMissCub]

They really need to make a Crazy 08 movie or mini-series. Ballplayers back in those days were truly insane.

[shnsajax]

We can un-ban JeffH to get his take on this.

[Little Slide Rooter]

We can un-ban JeffH to get his take on this.

 

Jim Hendry was never a player.

[rocket]

They really need to make a Crazy 08 movie or mini-series. Ballplayers back in those days were truly insane.

 

have you read the biography of old hoss radbourn? it's pretty amazing the weird stuff that happened during games back then. like stopping the action in the middle of a game so a player can be presented with a bouquet of flowers from the fans for a job well done.

[Splendid Splinter]

They really need to make a Crazy 08 movie or mini-series. Ballplayers back in those days were truly insane.

 

have you read the biography of old hoss radbourn? it's pretty amazing the weird stuff that happened during games back then. like stopping the action in the middle of a game so a player can be presented with a bouquet of flowers from the fans for a job well done.

 

Or make a movie of Rube Waddell's life... That would be something to see... Heck you can make a movie of him on just the year 1903.

 

Cooperstown historian Lee Allen encapsulated Waddell's erratic behavior:

"He began that year (1903) sleeping in a firehouse in Camden, New Jersey, and ended it tending bar in a saloon in Wheeling, West Virginia. In between those events he won 22 games for the Philadelphia Athletics, played left end for the Business Men's Rugby Football Club of Grand Rapids, Michigan, toured the nation in a melodrama called The Stain of Guilt, courted, married and became separated from May Wynne Skinner of Lynn, Massachusetts, saved a woman from drowning, accidentally shot a friend through the hand, and was bitten by a lion."

 

That's not counting him chasing firetrucks during games, alligator wrestling in the offseason, etc...

[NCCubFan]

They really need to make a Crazy 08 movie or mini-series. Ballplayers back in those days were truly insane.

I mentioned awhile back that I thought it would make a good ESPN movie or mini-series. I think I mentioned that around the time of Bronx Burning.