OT- Who had the worst season ever?

[Tabe]

As for hitters, Adam Dunn's 2011 was amazingly bad but what about Ray Oyler's 1968? He played in 111 games, hitting just .135 with a SLG% of just .186. His OPS+? Just 20. Dunn's, by contrast, was 56. Oyler was almost unquestionably the worst hitter in the post-WW2 era, at least among guys who played more than 50 games, with his career .175 BA and career 48 OPS+. But, man, he was a heckuva shortstop!

Tabe

[kkkkandp]

Mark Belanger had a couple of pretty weak hitting seasons (although his 1969 season makes him look like a HOFer) and was consistently bad with the bat over a much longer period than Oyler:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/pl...elanma01.shtml

And lest we forget, they named the Mendoza line after this guy for a reason:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/pl...endoma01.shtml

[z28jd]

What about Enzo Hernandez for the 1971 Padres driving in just 12 runs in his 618 plate appearances while also leading all NL shortstops in errors committed

[alanu]

1979 Mario Mendoza .198, not that that is so low, but he got a "line" named after him

[frankbmd]

I'd vote for Bergen who added extremely low walk totals to his anemic batting average. He has to have the highest OFF BASE PERCENTAGE in history.

In the modern era, Alfredo Griffin walked only 4 times in 442 plate appearances in 1984. Dunston is the modern player who comes closest with 8 in 511 in 1997.

[ctownboy]

I still think it HAS to be Adam Dunn.

A lot of the guys who have been mentioned so far either played in the Dead Ball Era or they played a defensive position where offense was expected to come from. I mean, before the 1970's, the few Catchers that I can think of that were good offensively (off the top of my head) were Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella and Bill Dickey.

As has been mentioned, Bergen's total offensive line wasn't far off from his usual (non) production then, when you take into account the time he palyed and also when you compare him other Catchers of that time period, I imagine his stats don't look as bad.

Short Stop wasn't really thought of as an offensive position until Alan Trammell and Cal Ripken came along.

With Dunn, his defense was HORRIBLE in the NL and he was expected to provide MORE value to his team just by hitting and NOT having to play D. White Sox fans are going to be REALLY upset if Dunn doesn't hit well this year AND plays defense poorly.

David