Fewest AB's with a card for a Vintage major leaguer

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Posted By: Max Weder

Despite Elliot's admonitions, I stumble into card purchases now and again. I bought a Willards Chocolates V174 last night of Samuel [noted by seller to be:]"W" Wilson. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5236849576

I haven't seen this card before, but I assume it is actually Samuel M (as it looks like in the scan) Wilson, or per http://www.baseballreference.com, Mike Wilson



What is (somewhat) interesting about Mike is that he only had four ab's in the majors http://baseballreference.com/w/wilsomi01.shtml

Aside from pitchers, does anyone know of other vintage cards for players with fewer major league lifetime AB's? (And if the card isn't of Mike Wilson, please let me know)

Max

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Posted By: Tim Newcomb

...would probably be the most notorious. He never had a single at-bat in the major leagues. No one knows why he was included in the set, but this might have something to do with the card's scarcity.

I expect there are several other vintage cards of players with zero at-bats. It's an interesting thread.

Tim

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Posted By: Jeff Obermeyer

Ok, it's not quite vintage... but Herb Washington has a card in the 1975 Topps set. What's so interesting about him? He appeared in 105 regular season games with the A's in 1974 and 1975... all as a pinch runner! That's right, no ABs, and he never played even a half an inning in the field defensively. He was Charley Finley's great experiement - take a world class track star and make him a full time pinch runner. Imagine keeping someone on the roster just for that reason.

Jeff

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Posted By: identify7

Great thread! I collect cards of players who made it to MLB, but did not get a chance to pitch, hit nor field.

Of course there is the Moonlight Graham schlorship foundation card which fits this criteria.

There are several OJs, such as one pose of Alcott; and other pre-war cards.

A recent thread pointed out that Bill Sharman (of basketball fame) also fits this description.

And don't forget Eddie Gaedel. Fritsch has made a card showing him at bat.

There are lots of others with no MLB at bats.

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Posted By: jay behrens

Max, so you are the dirty rat that outbid me on that card. It is his only card appearance, thus I needed it for my player. If you ever decide to sell, please let me know.

The t207 set has a number of players that never actually made it to the bigs. Rassmussen is the only other I can think of off hand, but I think there are 4 or 5 total in the set. Then there are all the players in the minor league sets that never got a major league AB

Jay

My place is full of valuable, worthless junk.

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Posted By: Judge Dred (Fred)

Look at the stats for John Roach. He pitched 1 game:

8 innings, 18 hits, 17 runs, 10 earned
4 at bats, 1 hit

Yet he has 6 different poses in the N172 offering.

Now lets compare that to a pitcher that won 163 games in his first five seasons yet only has 2 different poses in the N172 series.

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Posted By: Ryan Christoff

2 career ABs in 1913:




-Ryan

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Posted By: Kevin Cummings

I know this is stretching it a bit (he's got lots of cards, although neither vintage nor as a player), but famous Dodger manager Walter Alston had one at bat for the Saint Louis Cardinals in 1936. He struck out.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/a/alstowa01.shtml

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Posted By: identify7

Can anyone help me identify who Johnny Griffith from the w519 set is? I haven't been able to get even a scan of this card, so I do not know the team nor position of this "player".

All I am going by is a price guide listing.

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Posted By: jay behrens

one thing you have to careful about with the strip sets is that for some reason, a number of players have been misidentified. I discovered this doing my research to create the player database. Easiest way to find out a players and how double checked the names was go to baseball-reference.com that will tell you everything you want to know about a player, if the name on the card or checklist is correct.

Jay

My place is full of valuable, worthless junk.