The playoffs just started for Major League Baseball, which got me to thinking about the final playoff series, the World Series, which of course determines the champions of the sport. These series get the most attention, and players' reputations can be made, or hindered by how well they do in them. I've already covered some unlikely World Series heroes in my post on October 30, 2013, so I thought it would be fun and interesting to explore who were the duds. Mainly, which players had the worst World Series, as judged by their ineptitude at the plate. Therefore, I pored over my baseball encyclopedia, and the Baseball Reference website, and determined the answer to this question. Clearly, I had to decide on a minimum number of at bats, since a guy going 0 for 4 in a Series is obviously not as damaging as another guy going 0 for 16. Anyway, I decided on 15 at bats for my cutoff, as this seemed to be a decent amount of action in a best of 7 Series. (I realize a handful of early 1900's Series were actually best of 9 games, but you get what I mean.) Also, I decided to not just look at batting average, but players' OPSs, which stands for on base percentage plus slugging average. In the past few decades, I think even casual, non-statistically oriented fans recognize that getting on base without getting a hit, usually via a walk, is much more valuable than players who don't walk much, and are therefore making more outs at the plate. Anyway, so I determined my list by ranking players who had the worst overall OPSs. I'll also include each player's slash, or batting average/on base percentage/slugging average, as well as their team, the year that particular Series was played, and their position. Ties in OPS will be broken using other stats, such as runs scored, rbis, stolen bases, and/or negative stats like caught stealing or errors committed in the field. Later I'll include some lists of worst overall battings averages in a Series, too, and some contenders for worst Series hitters ever, who played in more than 1. This first list will go from least worst to worst of the worst. The setup will be:
OPS, Slash, at bats, other stats, player name, position played, year, and team.
Worst hitting performances in a single World Series:
22) .125, .063/.063/.063, 16 at bats, 1 run scored, Steve Nicosia, catcher, 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates.
21) .125, .063/.063/.063, 16 at bats, 1 run, 1 caught stealing, Cody Bellinger, outfielder, 2018 Los Angeles Dodgers.
20) .125, .063/.063/.063, 16 at bats, 1 run, 1 stolen base, 1 error, Walt Weiss, shortstop, 1988 Oakland Athletics.
19) .125, .063/.063/.063, 16 at bats, 3 errors (in one inning!), Willie Davis, outfielder, 1966 Los Angeles Dodgers.
18) .120, .000/.120/.000, 22 at bats, 1 run, Dal Maxvill, shortstop, 1968 St. Louis Cardinals.
17) .118, .059/.059/.059, 17 at bats, 1 rbi, Dick Sisler, outfielder, 1950 Philadelphia Phillies.
16) .114, .059/.056/.059, 17 at bats, 2 runs, 1 rbi, Ken Griffey, Sr., outfielder, 1976 Cincinnati Reds.
15) .111, .056/.056/.056, 18 at bats, Everett Scott, shortstop, 1915 Boston Red Sox.
14) .111, .000/.111/.000, 16 at bats, 1 run, 1 error, Flea Clifton, third base, 1935 Detroit Tigers.
13) .105, .000/.105/.000, 17 at bats, Placido Polanco, second base, 2006 Detroit Tigers.
12) .105, .053/.053/.053, 19 at bats, 1 run, Buck Herzog, third base, 1913 New York Giants.
11) .105, .053/.053/.053, 19 at bats, 1 run, 1 stolen base, 2 errors, Mariano Duncan, second base, 1996 New York Yankees.
10) .103, .053/.050/.053, 19 at bats, 2 rbi, Brooks Robinson, third base, 1969 Baltimore Orioles.
9) .100, .050/.050/.050, 20 at bats, 2 rbi, 1 error, Evan Longoria, third base, 2008 Tampa Bay Rays.
8) .100, .050/.050/.050, 20 at bats, 1 error, Mike Schmidt, third base, 1983 Philadelphia Phillies.
7) .087, .000/.087/.000, 21 at bats, 1 stolen base, 1 rbi, Jimmy Sheckard, outfield, 1906 Chicago Cubs.
6) .087, .000/.087/.000, 21 at bats, 3 errors, Red Murray, outfield, 1911 New York Giants.
5) .059, .000/.059/.000, 15 at bats, 1 rbi, Scott Rolen, third base, 2004 St. Louis Cardinals.
4) .056, .000/.056/.000, 17 at bats, Lonny Frey, second base, 1939 Cincinnati Reds.
3) .000, .000/.000/.000, 15 at bats, 1 rbi, Wally Berger, outfield, 1939 Cincinnati Reds.
2) .000, .000/.000/.000, 16 at bats, 1 rbi, 2 errors, Rafael Belliard, shortstop, 1995 Atlanta Braves.
1) .000, .000/.000/.000, 21 at bats, 2 errors, Billy Sullivan, catcher, 1906 Chicago White Sox.
Let's figure this another way. Here's a list of the guys who had over 20 at bats, without a single hit. Most of them were on the previous list. Hodges missed it because despite not getting even one hit, he did walk 5 times.
0 for 22 at bats, Dal Maxvill, shortstop, 1968 St. Louis Cardinals.
(There's a four way ties for second)
0 for 21 at bats, Billy Sullivan, catcher, 1906 Chicago White Sox.
0 for 21 at bats, Jimmy Sheckard, outfield, 1906 Chicago Cubs.
0 for 21 at bats, Red Murray, outfield, 1911 New York Giants.
0 for 21 at bats, Gil Hodges, first base, 1952 Brooklyn Dodgers. (In addition to his 5 walks, Gil did score 1 run, and get 1 rbi, but he also committed an error.)
I didn't figure out who had the worst offensive performances while playing in more than one World Series, since that would have taken a ridiculous amount of time. But these guys surely would be on any list, perhaps even in this order. Again, it's least worst to worst of the worst, with a minimum of 20 at bats, and playing in at least 2 Series.
7) .432, .121/.159/.273, 66 at bats, Cody Bellinger, first base/outfield, 2017, 2018, and 2020 Los Angeles Dodgers. (Bellinger is still active, and his Dodgers could even play in the Series this year, so this could change.)
6) .425, .188/.206/.219, 32 at bats, Rafael Belliard, shortstop, 1991, 1992, 1995 and 1996 Atlanta Braves.
5) .381, .115/.217/.164, 61 at bats, Dal Maxvill, shortstop, 1964, 1967 and 1968 St. Louis Cardinals, 1974 Oakland Athletics.
4) .321, .133/.188/.133, 30 at bats, Dick Tracewski, shortstop/second base/third base, 1963, and 1965 Los Angeles Dodgers, 1968 Detroit Tigers.
3) .309, .037/.235/.074, 27 at bats, Pat Burrell, outfield, 2008 Philadelphia Phillies and 2010 San Francisco Giants.
2) .193, .061/.132/.061, 49 at bats, Marv Owen, third base, 1934 and 1935 Detroit Tigers.
1) .048, .000/.048/.000, 20 at bats, Lonny Frey, second base, 1939 and 1940 Cincinnati Reds, 1947 New York Yankees.
So that's it for now. Enjoy the playoffs, and then the World Series! Maybe someone this year will qualify for these lists. For example, catcher Mike Zunino of the Tampa Bay Rays came awfully close last year to qualifying for the first, single series list, and if he plays in another one this year he might qualify for the second, lifetime one.
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