so in the talk on the hall of fame, steve lounello laments that two players were left off:
" Breaks my heart - every year, same thing.............no Horace Clark...........no Johnnie LeMaster! "
initially, i felt a distant twinge of sympathy, then, i thought, johnnie who?
thank heavens for the internet: from that, here's a player who'd completely escaped me when i only glanced at baseball from '70 to '85 (i.e. when the mets were out of it.) so for some winter reading, thought you might like to learn about johnnie, too:
lemaster was a much-criticized shortstop from 1975 till 1987, playing mostly for the giants, when they were mostly losing, too.
*recently, a blogger by the name of lincoln mitchell (who also teaches international politics at columbia university) named lemaster "the worst baseball player of all time."
*on September 2, 1975 lemaster, the giants top draft choice in 1973, set a major league record, hitting an inside-the-park home run in his first at bat, during the team's 7-3 win over the Dodgers. it was downhill from there: over 12 seasons, lemaster put up a .222 career batting average with 22 home runs and 229 runs batted in in 1039 games.
*Johnnie Disaster (as one blogger said he "and his friends lovingly referred to him) averaged 22 errors per year at shortstop from 1979-84, and was booed so often by fans at candlestick that he decided to come to the plate during one game wearing his number 10 jersey and the name BOO stitched on the back,'' apparently giving back to the fans the first word he usually heard from them.
*another blogger wrote that after leaving baseball, lemaster returned home to Paintsville, Ky., where he sat "on the city council for eight years. (There) he convinced the town to close up all its liquor stores and bars and even ran for mayor a couple of times, but got beat by a substantial margin by his opponent. (Some things never change, right Johnnie?) I found this nice little nugget on the Paintsvilles local online newspapers message board:' Did you ever wonder why they call [Johnnie] Peanut? Its in reference to his brain. Ask anyone that went to school with him. This guy thinks that everyone that drinks a beer and/or doesnt attend the First Church of God is going to hell. If you think Im making this up, just ask him. John is far too anal to be the mayor of anything."
*During the 1985 season, he played for three different teams: the San Francisco Giants, the Cleveland Indians, and the Pittsburgh Pirates; all three teams ended up in last place in their respective divisions.
*"At 6-foot-2 and 167 pounds, LeMaster was built like a folding chair, all straight lines and awkward angles," said Peter Hartlaub, a San Francisco newspaper columnist.
but once the S.F. Giants won a World Series in 2010, Hartlaub wrote it's "time to ease his pain. Give us Johnnie LeMaster Night in 2011. This time, well cheer for him." It's not clear if the night ever happened.
*back to lincoln mitchell: "LeMaster was a unique combination of mediocre fielding, atrocious hitting, a strong link to bad teams and bad periods in team history and, best of all, a sense of humor and awareness. of course, being the worst non-pitcher to ever have a big league career is an extraordinary accomplishment, accordingly lemaster is remembered fondly by most giants fans, (there's even a "sons of jonnie lemaster" website) but few players ever played the game so badly for so long."
the amazing thing is how in the world lemaster was able to hang on for 3,191 big-league at-bats? the answer isn't clear, but one big league manager (forget who; could have been john j. mcgraw or leo durocher) apparently kept one player way past his prime because the guy excelled at the manager's other favorite game: bridge.
-mike
-- Edited by mhart on Saturday 12th of January 2013 03:09:47 AM
amen, steve. how many of us would take lemaster's baseball fate, 3,191 big-league at-bats and a .222 average, in exchange for some political science prof and blogger writing in obscurity (and others, like me, perpetuating that, also pretty much in obscurity) that we were the "worst ever?"
besides, let's not forget chihuahua's mario mendoza, another shortstop, of the famed "mendoza line" (i.e. hitting below .200) who played for three teams (pittsburgh, texas, seattle) in the lemaster period (mendoza's was '74-'82) and batted NOT .200 for his career, but .215. that average included 1,337 at-bats and four homers. (the "mendoza line" actually started as a joke in kansas city, during one season when mendoza was hitting .198. george brett mentioned it to chris berman on espn and a phrase was born. let's hope mario got some employment out of it.) and to echo and twist steve's comment: "the worst mario mendoza is the best everywhere else."
actually, there is a terrific website listing the top 100 worst major league players of all time. (just google "top 100 worst players"). poor mario is listed as no. 1. you may be surprised to read that bob uecker is no. 2 (he actually hit .200 on the nose over 6 seasons.) also in the top 7, tommy lasorda and michael jordan. but i loved what they had to say about no. 4 marvelous marve throneberry, below:
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. Like Uecker, Throneberry turned his ineptitude into glory, with the help of Miller Lite commercials. "If I do for Lite what I did for baseball," he said. "I'm afraid their sales will go down." Jimmy Breslin agreed. He once wrote that "Having Marv Throneberry play for your team is like having Willie Sutton work for your bank."
lastly, read shepherd, you're right. when you described, nicely, how fred mcgriff turned on baseballs and created a unique sound, the fact is, major league players are different from the rest of us, even the mendozas, uecker sand throneberry's of the world, are different.
take a gander at the website. it's a hoot. it's also a celebration.
amen, steve. how many of us would take lemaster's baseball fate, 3,191 big-league at-bats and a .222 average, in exchange for some political science prof and blogger writing in obscurity (and others, like me, perpetuating that, also pretty much in obscurity) that we were the "worst ever?"
besides, let's not forget chihuahua's mario mendoza, another shortstop, of the famed "mendoza line" (i.e. hitting below .200) who played for three teams (pittsburgh, texas, seattle) in the lemaster period (mendoza's was '74-'82) and batted NOT .200 for his career, but .215. that average included 1,337 at-bats and four homers. (the "mendoza line" actually started as a joke in kansas city, during one season when mendoza was hitting .198. george brett mentioned it to chris berman on espn and a phrase was born. let's hope mario got some employment out of it.) and to echo and twist steve's comment: "the worst mario mendoza is the best everywhere else."
actually, there is a terrific website listing the top 100 worst major league players of all time. (just google "top 100 worst players"). poor mario is listed as no. 1. you may be surprised to read that bob uecker is no. 2 (he actually hit .200 on the nose over 6 seasons.) also in the top 7, tommy lasorda and michael jordan. but i loved what they had to say about no. 4 marvelous marve throneberry, below:
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. Like Uecker, Throneberry turned his ineptitude into glory, with the help of Miller Lite commercials. "If I do for Lite what I did for baseball," he said. "I'm afraid their sales will go down." Jimmy Breslin agreed. He once wrote that "Having Marv Throneberry play for your team is like having Willie Sutton work for your bank."
lastly, read shepherd, you're right. when you described, nicely, how fred mcgriff turned on baseballs and created a unique sound, the fact is, major league players are different from the rest of us, even the mendozas, ueckers and throneberrys of the world, are different.
take a gander at the website. it's a hoot. it's also a celebration.
