MLB is not that easy - For some players it’s all downhill

[frankbmd]

What the hell am I looking for?

There have to be a number of players whose first year in the “bigs” was their best. Obviously all players who only played in one season would qualify, as would a number of obscure players whose ML career was limited to two or three years. However if you scan the lists of ROYs, it is hard to find a candidate. I haven’t.

For purposes of this exercise, players with a year in which they were brought up for a cup of coffee before their true rookie year are disqualified. All years count regardless of rookie status.

Let’s find the player with the best first year, who never had another year that was better. The longer their career the better.

I guessing a prewar player may be the winner as I haven't identified a reasonable post war candidate yet.

And just to legitimize this thread on a baseball card forum, if your nominee has a baseball card show it.

To get the ball rolling I will break this last rule and nominate

MARK FIDRYCH. 5 years

[doug.goodman]

I was going to say Freddie Lynn, but then looked at his 1979 stats.

Oh well,
Doug

[tedzan]

Hey Frank

Do you remember Kevin Maas' rookie year starting off the 1990 season with 10 HR's in just 72 AB's (a new record).

Furthermore, Kevin continued to hit 15 HR's in 133 AB's, which broke Wally Berger's old record.

Kevin hit 21 HR's in 79 games that season and batted .252

His MLB career ended in 1995.


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[bocca001]

What about 1980 ROY Joe Charboneau. Hit .289 with 23 home runs, and nothing really after that. 3 years

[Jason19th]

Position Player - Kevin Seitzer- if he played 8 seasons at his rookie level he would have been a HOFER. He wasn’t a bad player thereafter and he played almost 15 years but he was very average after year one

Pitcher- Cal Eldred - went 11-2 with a 1.79 era and .98 whip over 14 starts. Had a long career as a starter and reliever but was always an average or slightly above average guy for the rest of his career

Pre war- Wally Moses - doesn’t quite fit but one of the odder stat lines you will see

[rats60]

Russ Ford went 26-6 1.65 ERA .881 WHIP 209 Ks 11.4 WAR as a rookie in 1910. He even has a t205 to commemorate the season.

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by rats60

Russ Ford went 26-6 1.65 ERA .881 WHIP 209 Ks 11.4 WAR as a rookie in 1910. He even has a t205 to commemorate the season.

I thought this was the prewar player I was trying to find, but..........


He pitched 3 innings in 1909. My decision to exclude players with insignificant first years was based on not having to determine where to draw the line.

[egri]

I nominate Joe Black, Harry Byrd and Angel Berroa, who all won Rookie of the Year and then never came close to matching their performance again.

[frankbmd]

Good ones so far.

Perhaps other credentials should be added to support your nominee.

FIDRYCH was in his rookie All-Star game.
He was second in Cy Young voting as well.
He also led the league in Complete Games with 24

[todeen]

1999 ROY Scott Williamson. Appeared in 62 games, 12-7 record, 2.51 ERA, Helped the 1999 Reds to a 90+ win season, but didn't go to the playoffs. They lost to the Mets in a one game playoff. He wasn't the same afterward, but he still had a 9 year career. I believe he won a world series with Boston in 2004.

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by egri

I nominate Joe Black, Harry Byrd and Angel Berroa, who all won Rookie of the Year and then never came close to matching their performance again.

Byrd and Berroa are both disqualified by OP's criteria since they both played before their rookie years.

But Black is a terrific pick.

[orioles70]

Coco Laboy should certainly be mentioned. You wont stick around long going downhill and his stats show a giant slalom slope as opposed to a bunny run

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[Peter_Spaeth]

pat Listach. Hideo Nomo if you don't count pre-MLB.

[chalupacollects]

How about Dale Alexander? 1929 rookie season 25HR, 137 RBI, .343 Avg. Never equaled those numbers again. Career lasted until 1933 though. Did hit .367 one year and another at .372 but never equaled the HR and RBI numbers again..

[howard38]

Originally Posted by chalupacollects

How about Dale Alexander? 1929 rookie season 25HR, 137 RBI, .343 Avg. Never equaled those numbers again. Career lasted until 1933 though. Did hit .367 one year and another at .372 but never equaled the HR and RBI numbers again..

.367 & .372 was the same season when he played for two teams. He batted .372 for the Red Sox & .367 overall. His career was derailed when he was burned while being treated by a team trainer.

[AGuinness]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

pat Listach.

This was my answer and I was checking the thread to see if anyone else got it. Good call, Peter!

[frankbmd]

Threads like this can wander a bit. They also garner input from a broad variety of members and are generally well received. I suspect I am not alone in being amazed at what I can actually learn after following baseball for over 66 years.

1. I have never encountered the first name of Vean before.

2. When I noticed that Vean came in 10th in the 1911 MVP voting, I had to look into it. From 1911-1914 the first ever MVP voting was carried out annually for each league. This was sponsored by Chalmers, a new well known automobile company in Detroit and was duly called the Chalmers Award. There were a total of eight winners before the award was discontinued in 1915. Chalmers first filed for bankruptcy in 1917 and ceased all production by 1923. I don't believe I ever knew that Chalmers was responsible for the first MVP Award appropriately won by Cobb in the first year.

3. What stats are today's players going to be evaluated by in 100 years? If you were able to tell Vean that his WAR in 1911 was 8.0, I'm sure his reply would have been a big "HUH".

What was Babe Ruth's predominant Launch Angle and was his Exit Velocity up to snuff?

4. If we casually apply modern WAR to prewar players, other questions come to mind.

Would the Spartans have been more successful in the Peloponnesian Wars, if they had been using drones instead of Hoplites to destroy the olive fields in Attica?

Would the Athenians have been more successful with access to Urgent Care to avoid the devastating effects of the plague that contributed to their early losses?

You'll never know, nor will I.

[brob28]

I believe Ron Kittle would fit your criteria Frank, promising rookie year ('83) and a long slide thereafter.

[todeen]

Originally Posted by orioles70

Coco Laboy should certainly be mentioned. You wont stick around long going downhill and his stats show a giant slalom slope as opposed to a bunny run

LOL nice analogy