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Historically Light-Hitters
BuckHunter68
Posts: 403 ✭✭✭
This may be more "sports-talk"? Not sure. I'm compiling a list of some historically light hitting guys and putting some artwork together. Duane Kuiper and Mario Mendoza are definitely in the works. Name some guys that have played since 1950 that you could count on to pop up to first or roll over a mediocre fastball...
"You've gotta be a man to play this game...but you'd better have a lot of little boy in you, too"--Roy Campanella
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I remember Luis Rivera seemingly always being good for a ground out to the second baseman for the red sox in the early 90's
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
eddie gaedel? 😂
It's the singer not the song - Peter Townshend (1972)
Johnnie LeMaster
Bob Uecker
great call actually.
love his quote of getting paid by sporting good companies NOT to use their equipment.
Larry Bowa
8418 at bats, 2191 hits - just 15 home runs and only 377 extra-base hits.
Rabbit Marranville
10,078 at bats, 2605 hits - 28 home runs
Nellie Fox
9232 at bats, 2663 hits - 35 home runs
Richie Ashburn
8365 at bats, 2574 hits - 29 home runs.
Don Kessinger
7651 at bats, 1931 hits - 14 home runs
Maury Wills
7588 at bats, 2134 hits - 20 home runs
Moe Berg-spoke 5 languages and could not hit in any of them.
Mark Belanger- great glove
Doug Griffin and Steve Dillard.
Buddy Biancalana
Website
Ebay Store
Enzo Hernandez
Steve
Cody Bellinger-2021😂
Well below the Mendoza line
George Brett
Historical" light" hitters? Lol Raphael Bellaird
BTW is is light hitting in terms of Average? HR's? Run production? or some combination of those?
It's the singer not the song - Peter Townshend (1972)
Alex Cora is a great manager. But he only hit 6 HRs in 4 seasons playing for the Sox and I don’t recall any of them.
(Insert joke about not banging cans loudly enough here).
Frank Duffy
Bud Harrelson was much better offensive player than those guys. He also was an excellent base runner.
Mike Benjamin might have been an elite defensive shortstop (like Belanger elite) but his hitting was so bad that he only played 375 games at short over 13 years. OPS+ was 61.
Greg Gross for the win.
But not as good as Kuiper. As an aside, is Kelleher's 9 OPS+ a record low for a season playing 100 games? I mean Jon Lester has hit better since he went to the NL.
Tom Veryzer.
Rafael Belliard is probably the worst hitter in MLB history to last 17 years. (He may even be the worst to last 5)
Light hitting meaning low average, no pop, not known for their bat.
Anybody around .200-.230 with an OPS under .650 is pretty brutal.
"You've gotta be a man to play this game...but you'd better have a lot of little boy in you, too"--Roy Campanella
Bud Harrelson had an excellent command of the strike zone. His ability to hit balls IN IT...not so much.
"You've gotta be a man to play this game...but you'd better have a lot of little boy in you, too"--Roy Campanella
Greg Gross hit .287 over with a .372 OBP over a 17 year MLB career...At one point I believe he held the MLB record for most career pinch hits (I know he doesn't anymore).
IMF
Light hitter = zero power. 17 years and 7 HR’s impossible 🤣
Lol I know. Poor little guy. But dang .. sometimes he'd bloop one 😂
Jim Mason - although he's best known for a WS HR
Apparently his 1975 stats were so anemic to Topps that they did not issue a 1976 card for him. Despite playing in 94 games with 223 AB's
Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB Pos
1975 24 NYY AL 94 251 223 17 34 3 2 2 16 0 2 22 49 .152 .228 .211 .438 26 47 10 0 5 1 0 6/4H
1976 25 NYY AL 93 236 217 17 39 7 1 1 14 0 0 9 37 .180 .210 .235 .445 31 51 4 0 7 3 0 6
SSPC's 1976 card back description was especially brutal, but at least they did issue a card for him.
On the positive side Mason possess' the Highest career slugging percentage in World Series play, no minimum at-bats; Mason, 4.000.
1 WS Plate appearance with 1 HR
It's the singer not the song - Peter Townshend (1972)
Dal Maxvill
It's the singer not the song - Peter Townshend (1972)
I'm surprised no has brought up Ozzie Smith - 9,396 at bats and only 28 homeruns. The interesting part is that the biggest play of his career was a homerun.
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Dave Roberts (but he could steal a base when he needed to!)
A .351 slugging percentage and a 103 OPS+ would seem to keep Gross from this list, but keep in mind that most of the others here were, or were considered to be strong defensive middle infielders. Gross was an indifferent corner outfielder, which makes him lasing 17 years puzzling.
Smith is actually in the HoF due to his bat. He was an elite defensive shortstop for a while and then a very good one, but the way he stayed in the lineup was due to his bat. An 87 OPS+ is actually good for a player, let alone a middle infielder. If his OPS+ was 67, say, he wouldn't have stayed in the lineup into the '90s and would never had a chance at the HoF.
Pokey Reese, Mark Lemke, Rey Sanchez, Adam Everett, and Hal Lanier all fit the prototype nicely. How the heck did Belliard draw 26 intentional walks (Lanier 25)? Mick Kelleher's 1980 season might go down as the worst of all time. A .394 OPS and a 9 OPS+ might be survivable, but not when you realize Kelleher played over 100 games!
Ray Oyler belongs on this list.
“ 1968 World Series: Mayo Smith's shortstop gamble”
“When Oyler, always a light hitter, famously went "0 for August", manager Mayo Smith moved outfielder Mickey Stanley to the shortstop position for the last nine games of the regular season and for all seven games of the 1968 World Series. Oyler's batting average had dropped to .135, and Smith had four quality outfielders in Willie Horton, Jim Northrup, Al Kaline, and Mickey Stanley that he wanted in the lineup for every World Series game. Stanley had not played the shortstop position before the 1968 season, but was a talented athlete with a good glove.
Oyler did not have an official at bat in the 1968 World Series, but he did appear in all four Detroit victories as a defensive replacement and had a sacrifice bunt.
In its "The End of the Century" series, ESPN rated Smith's decision to move Stanley to shortstop for the World Series as one of the 10 greatest coaching decisions of the century.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Oyler
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/o/oylerra01.shtml
Quite literally!
As a life long Cubs fan, Mick Kelleher comes to mind. Classic utility infielder, good glove, no bat. 11 years in the majors, .213 average, 0 home runs.