who is more inept?
 

Poor Mario Mendoza or Topps Chewing Gum Inc.?

Looking at that my vote is Topps

Mario made it to the big leagues by beating out thousands of other players, I doubt the qc department at topps was so rigorous in 1979. Warm body, you're hired!

They got his career HR total right up to that point...

People can say what they want about Mendoza at the plate. Despite the moniker given him by fellow players and later Chris Berman, he had a good glove. As for Topps and their card on him.....Error.

Maybe they were concentrating on the Wacky Packages Re-Issue .

Just on a whim, I looked up his stats. He actually batted .245 for Seattle in 1980.

Mickey Hatcher once said that he would be proud to be the worst player in major league baseball rather than the best player that never played major league baseball...good for Mario, bad for Topps is my vote.

Joshua

It must be my 'Mendoza-line' eyes, but I'm not seeing the error. Could someone please point out what is so obvious to others?

Thanks, Mr. MaGoo

The lifetime batting average isn't calculated correctly (far above the Mondoza line).

Makes we wonder how many other random numerical errors may be out there... And how many stat lines I may have memorized incorrectly as a kid:rolleyes:

Oh No! (i.e. Mr. Bill) That Slugging Percentage from 1961 wasn't Orlando Cepeda after all? Time for a re-rack!

As I got older, I thought the Random part or the Access part of my Memory would be the problem, but now you are saying it's the memory itself? Ugh!

Let's come up with something to cover this...shall we call it 'Mendoza-ish'?
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I thought that he was putting a large condom on his bat to prevent "hits".

Instead of the Mendoza line...
 

hitting 200 should really be called the Uecker line because his career average was exactly 200. This would also be a lot more fun because Ueck kicks ass.

That's so true. Anyone hitting even 200 in the majors is a very good hitter.

And anyone with doubts should take a few turns in a batting cage that's set for 90+. I've done it with predictable results. I was very happy with my one bit of audible contact out of 40-60 pitches. And that's with a machine that's somewhat predictable and not actively trying to make you miss. Totally changed my outlook on hitters while I was watching a game from the couch.

Not the same for the folks at Topps. Although I have to admit I've owned lots of those card and never noticed the mistake.

Steve B

Honestly as a kid (after many hours purusing the Total Baseball encyclopedia) my head almost exploded after it was determined Cobb's lifetime average was .366 not .367.. And that Hack Wilson actually drove in 191 as opposed to 190. Those damn revisionists ;)

Totally agree with this and with Hatcher quote, though do feel most people who've played some and still have a pretty good swing can eventually make decent, regular contact at high speeds in a cage. On the field it's totally different though. Different arm angles, different speeds, and location make the cage seem like child's play. Tip of the cap to Mr Mario Mendoza and all the other "commons" who top off the rosters in our great game.

Topps whiffed on this one for sure... Of course in their defense, I presume this is before any sort of spreadsheet that would do the math for you... So with that said, tip of the cap to all those guys who crunched numbers with a calculator:D, and before that did so manually.

The card is badly o/c

Hitting MLB pitching
 

At the H & B Louisville Slugger Bat Museum there is a batting cage exhibit where you can choose to have the pitching machine simulate the fast ball of various present or former pitchers, including Ryan and Clemons. After standing there and watching a simulated fast ball from those two pitchers I can say every MLB hitter of whatever skill level has a lot more courage than I do.

What they used to say about Dalkowski was that 'it's a good thing he's wild vertically, else there'd be dead folks where ever he pitched.'

When I was young and moderately fast (85ish) I would always worry about hitting someone, which I wound up doing only once, but I broke both of his hands. I'm glad no one every asked me to 'head-hunt' or purpose.

Even if you don't have to worry about having your life on the line, most folks who know say that hitting a Major League pitch is the most difficult thing to do in any sport.

I always thought it was being able to concentrate through all of Maria Sharapova's moans. :rolleyes:
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I think we can include Nolan Ryan's grunt... to go along with his high nineties heat, knee buckling curve, and some effective wildness/intimidation factor.:eek:

I remember hearing that grunt on TV, and this is prior to the Fox's of the world mic'ing all the bases, etc.

oh, crap, Raymond. That's like my worst nightmare. http://williamgregory.net/images/laughing.gif

When I was a kid, I had the lifetime AVG, home run and RBI total for most of the Hall of Famers memorized. And I got my stats from Topps baseball cards, for the most part.