OT- Who had the worst season ever?

[packs]

AJ Burnett had statistically the worst season ever as a Yankee starter last season. Adam Dunn hit .159 and struck out in 36 percent of his at bats.

But who had the worst season in history? Both as a pitcher and as a batter?

Pitcher: My vote goes to John Coleman who pitched for Philadelphia in 1883. He went 12-48 with a 4.87 ERA giving up 772 hits in 538 innings. That year he led the league in hits surrendered, earned runs, losses, and home runs surrendered.

Batter: I would say either Bergen's .139 1 HR 15 RBI performance in 1909 or Rob Deer hitting .179 in 1991 and striking out in almost 40 percent of his at bats. Though he did hit 25 HRs.

[Brian Van Horn]

Burnett's season last year is looking pretty good right now. Bunting practice for the Pirates results in a broken orbital bone and he's out 8-12 weeks.

[packs]

At least he hurt himself and had to get surgery. Pavano just pulled his butt.

[scooter729]

I remember Craig Grebeck being absolutely horrible for the Red Sox about 10 years ago. I just looked up his stats:

2001 - 2-for-41, a .049 average, and if I'm not mistaken, that double came in the last game and was a gift from the scorer (should've been an error).

That's got to be a tough stat line to end an 11-year career!

[ctownboy]

Has to be Dunn.

He was paid $15 million dollars just to DH. The White Sox were supposed to be contenders for the Post Season but because of Dunn (and Alex Rios) tanking on offense they didn't even have a .500 record (it would have been worse for the Pale Hose if Dunn had been "playing" defense).

To keep from setting the record for WORST Batting Average EVER for a player who qualified for the batting title, Ozzie Guillen had to bench Dunn the last few Games of the season.

At least with Bergen, from what I heard last year, he was good defensively and that is what allowed him to play so many games. Also, back then, there were no steroids and it was the Dead Ball Era, so having a poor offensive season wasn't as shocking as it is today with the lively ball and small ball parks...

David

[novakjr]

Gotta agree with ctownboy.. I'd go with Dunn too.

Bergen's 1909 wasn't actually that far off of his career averages. .139 compared to his career .170 average. 1 HR out of his total of 2 in his 11 year career. 15 rbi compared to 5 other seasons with 15 or less. And a .183 OBP compared to a career of .193. For a guy with ZERO power, a walk is as good as a hit. So with OBP I'd say he pretty much one of his average years. All probably hitting in a less than favorable spot in the order. Bergen was what he was, and that's it.

Dunn however, .159 compared to his .243 career average. 11HR compared to a 36HR 162 game average. 42 RBI compared to his 162 game average of 95. And a .292 OBP compared to his career average of .374.(yes, I'm aware that he only played 122 games, but some of that was because he sucked so bad). This production from a middle of the order hitter. OUCH!!!

[iwantitiwinit]

Worst season ever METS 2012.

[Jay Wolt]

Originally Posted by packs

Pitcher: My vote goes to John Coleman who pitched for Philadelphia in 1883. He went 12-48 with a 4.87 ERA giving up 772 hits in 538 innings. That year he led the league in hits surrendered, earned runs, losses, and home runs surrendered.

Here's an 1887 card of Coleman, luckily he didn't pitch at all that year

[dougscats]

But as they say, you have to be good to be a 40 game loser.
Look at that 4.87 era!

Also, I find it hard to believe that AJ Burnett's 2011 season was the worst ever for the Yankees. I haven't read the other posts, yet, but I'll bet others have already verified as much.

Doug

Jim Hughey, 1899 Cleveland Spiders, 4 wins 30 losses, and look at that WHIP 1.73! Now that is bad.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/pl...ugheji01.shtml