by Michael Lochel

Created on: March 29, 2010   Last Updated: March 31, 2010

There are plenty of baseball players in the major leagues that have hit below a .170 average. Among these players are those hopeful young talents brought up mid-season to help a ballclub fill a position due to injury, only to be sent back down again before the season ends or immediately following the conclusion of the season. There are hundreds of these players that did not fair so well in MLB, so to consider those to be the worst players in MLB history I find it fair to only include those players that have had, at the very least, 500 at-bats in the majors.

With this criteria, John Gochnaur, who played 3 games with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1901 and 2 seasons with the Cleveland Indians in 1902 & 1903, had played in 264 games, hit for an average of .184 with 0 homeruns, and 146 errors at Shortstop. What makes John Gochnaur the worst baseball player in history is not just the fact that he was a very bad hitter but also the fact that he was not a very good fielder. Honestly, with those statistics, I would say, by far, that he was much worse in the field than he was at hitting. Yes, he had a .184 average in 908 career at-bats, but in 1903 he had 48 RBI, which is not terrible. However, John Gochnaur had 168 errors in 264 career games. You do the math, but I think it’s safe to say that Mr. Gochnaur is the worst baseball player in history. If your fielding makes a .184 career batting average look as though there still may be some potential yet, then you must be the worst.

Bill Bergen who played in the same era as Gochnaur had a worse career batting average, in that of .170 with over 3,000 at bats, but Bergen was much better in the field. Just as many consider all aspects of the game in the criteria for the best baseball player in MLB history, so too must you consider all aspects of the game in determining who the worst player in history is. Many consider Willie Mays to be the best player in history because he could run, hit, catch and throw. Bergen couldn’t hit, but he could catch and throw. Gochnaur could not hit, catch or throw. Considering those three aspects of the game did not work out too well for Gochnaur, it’s safe to assume he could not run too well either.

If we are to dissect Major League Baseball in our time and the players we watch today, it is very tough to find the worst player, especially if you try to compare their statistics to that of a John Gochnaur or a Bill Bergen. Today’s game is drastically different. The talent and professionalism expected is superior in all phases of the game. There is no possible way to compare players of today to players of 100 years ago. In our time of a “what have you done for me lately” mentality, no player with a sub .200 average would ever reach 500 at-bats in the major leagues.

Sources:

Mike Attiyeh baseballguru.com

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