Bill Bergen

[jingram058]

Perhaps this has been discussed before, but if so, I don't think recently.

Bill Bergen. An outstanding catcher defensively. Maybe even great. Had a tremendous throwing arm.

But...

He had a .160 batting average lifetime. I can't imagine how he hung on for years with that kind of average.

But I ask, if you're a great defensive catcher, but a weak hitter, does that make you the worst player ever? So many links popped up on Google when searching Bill Bergen baseball saying worst player ever. What do you think?

This is a great looking card, IMO.

[Balticfox]

He's clearly not the worst player ever. Cincinnati and Brooklyn would not have kept him on the roster for a total of eleven seasons if he wasn't actually a pretty good player overall.

[brianp-beme]

Here is an E101 of Bill Bergen. With his batting, he must have been a dang fine catcher. In his baseball-reference website listing under his positions played, it shows a 'H' designation in 3 years, which indicates he was used as either a pinch hitter or pinch runner those years. He usually had a few stolen bases each year, not too horrible for a catcher, so I think perhaps he was used as a pinch runner. It is also possible that he was brought in as a pinch hitter just to bunt. It looks like the one thing he did decently as a hitter was the sacrifice hit, averaging just over 10 a year while only playing, on average, less than 60% of his team's games each year.

I also like his T206 card overall, but the large, radioactive buttons on his jersey have always distracted me a little.

Brian (shiny buttons can do that to a fellow)

[tiger8mush]

Worst player ever? Probably not as he was reportedly an amazing catcher. But likely the worst MLB hitter ever. According to SABR ...
"Bergen’s lifetime batting average of .170 stands as the nadir of futility; no other major leaguer with 2,500 at bats finished his career with a batting average lower than .210."

He also wins the award for having the most insane MLB sibling, big bro Marty who brutally killed his wife & kids and then himself.

[packs]

Bobby Witt Sr. was a pretty terrible pitcher who still managed to hang around the same way Bergen did. Witt pitched more than 2400 innings and finished his career with a 4.83 ERA and an ERA+ of 91.

[timn1]

Yes, I looked up Bobby Sr. recently and was amazed to see how bad he was for such a long time. He had one good year (17-10/3.36) in 1990 and managed to parlay that into a 16-year career. He led the league in walks three times, wild pitches twice, and earned runs once. He had a lifetime average of 5.0 walks per 9 innings, and also balked 26 times!

Originally Posted by packs

Bobby Witt Sr. was a pretty terrible pitcher who still managed to hang around the same way Bergen did. Witt pitched more than 2400 innings and finished his career with a 4.83 ERA and an ERA+ of 91.

[packs]

He even managed to hit a major league home run and get a ring.

[GeoPoto]

Pinch McBride has the lowest career batting average (.218) of any player with 5,000 at-bats. Must have been a pretty good shortstop. And his nickname was Pinch, which supported the illusion he could "hit In the clutch".

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