Greatest fluke seasons

[z28jd]

Maris hitting 61 or Hack Wilson setting the RBI record would have to be the greatest fluke seasons. Wilson at least showed that potential in another season, but 191 RBI's is a fluke, especially when you walk 104 times!

[kmac32]

The 2011 Cardinals winning the World Series.

[bbcard1]

Let me throw this at you....Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak. Had it not been stopped by two great plays Kenny Keltner would have stretched to more than seventy games...but despite a career that puts him in the upper pantheon of the greatest players of all-time, he never again hit in more than 23 consecutive games.

[Scott T]

Davey Johnson hitting 43 HRs for the 1973 Braves after coming over from the Orioles, where he hit 5 in 1972 (I know it was the "Launching Pad", but...)

[howard38]

.

[frankbmd]

1959 Elroy Leon Face , Pittsburgh Pirates

18-1 from the bull pen in 57 games and 93 innings. (104-95 career record)

Unlike current practice, Murtaugh liked to use his bull pen ace in losing games.

At least for one year, it worked.

[Blunder19]

Arods 2009 playoff performance... vs every other playoff performance he's ever had.. that guy cant swing the bat in the playoffs.

[travrosty]

i dont think an entire season can be a fluke, give me the biggest fluke decade for any player. flukes are one day, one week maybe, something like that, a hot streak for a little while, not an entire season. you dont hit 191 rbi's in a season and its a fluke.

[RCMcKenzie]

Originally Posted by travrosty

i dont think an entire season can be a fluke, give me the biggest fluke decade for any player. flukes are one day, one week maybe, something like that, a hot streak for a little while, not an entire season. you dont hit 191 rbi's in a season and its a fluke.

I agree with this statement, with the exception being the 1986 Mets.

..............

By the way, Bob Welch has a great career winning percentage and had many 17 + W seasons.

[z28jd]

John Cassidy hit .378 in 1877, never hit higher than .277 in any of his other ten seasons, .246 career hitter

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by travrosty

i dont think an entire season can be a fluke, give me the biggest fluke decade for any player. flukes are one day, one week maybe, something like that, a hot streak for a little while, not an entire season. you dont hit 191 rbi's in a season and its a fluke.

OK, by this criteria, how about Shane Spencer at the end of 1998 for the Yanks.

Late call-up, career minor leaguer. No major league experience and finished the season 27 games, 10 HR's, 27 RBI's, .373 BA, 1.321 OPS, Beat up on the Rangers in his first playoff series.

Middling career after that. Probably only stayed in the major leagues the following six years, based on his reputation from that late season call-up.

[deebro041]

Phil Plantier 1993 SD, 34 hrs, 100 rbi's.

[MMarvelli]

Bob 'Hurricane' Hazle is remembered for his 1957 performance. He was called up from Wichita and did not play until the Braves' 100th game.
In less than three weeks he batted .473 with 5 home runs and 19 RBI in 14 games. That earned him the nickname "Hurricane." The original hurricane Hazel had struck the coast of Hazle's home state, South Carolina, in 1954.
The first-place Braves swept the second-place Cardinals on August 9–11, which went a long way towards sealing the National League pennant for Milwaukee; the first two games of the series were blowouts, and Hazle had seven hits and five RBI. He batted a torrid .556 in his first dozen games. For the season, Hazle batted .403 in only 41 games, with 7 home runs and 27 RBI. On the next-to-last day of the season, Hazle broke up a no-hit bid by Cincinnati's Johnny Klippstein with a two-out, eighth inning single.
The following year he played only 63 games (112 at-bats) for the Braves and Tigers and was finished.

[pepis]

Kevin Mass was a huge fluke for the yankees and an equal fluke to collectors
after becoming the 1st $20 rookie card in his current year of issue.

[novakjr]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

OK, by this criteria, how about Shane Spencer at the end of 1998 for the Yanks.

Late call-up, career minor leaguer. No major league experience and finished the season 27 games, 10 HR's, 27 RBI's, .373 BA, 1.321 OPS, Beat up on the Rangers in his first playoff series.

Middling career after that. Probably only stayed in the major leagues the following six years, based on his reputation from that late season call-up.

For short spurt flukes.

Chris Shelton's start to 2006.. The guy had 9 HR's through the first 13 games.. At that point he was batting .471/.500/1.216. Yet managed to find himself back in the minors by the end of July.

Another full season one.

Fausto Carmona's(Roberto Hernandez Heredia) 2007 seems to stand out as well.. 19-8 3.06 era. In '06 he was 1-10 with a 5.42. In '08 he was 8-7 with a 5.44...To make things worse he followed that up with 5-12 with a 6.32 in '09..

On the bad luck side of the fence, I'd have to say Kevin Millwood's losing record in '05. He led the AL with a 2.86 era, yet only had a 9-11 record..And it's not like he was on a bad team, as the Indians were 93-69 that year.

[mybuddyinc]

........... one of my heroes ............

fid.jpg

[pclpads]

Originally Posted by travrosty

i dont think an entire season can be a fluke, give me the biggest fluke decade for any player. flukes are one day, one week maybe, something like that, a hot streak for a little while, not an entire season. you dont hit 191 rbi's in a season and its a fluke.

Johnny Vander Meer - journeyman pitcher, not close to being a HOFer, 119-121 record. But, back-to-back no-hitters in '38. Vander Meer! Not Hubbel. Not Grove. Not Gomez. Not Feller. And, hasn't been done since!

[itjclarke]

Originally Posted by pclpads

Johnny Vander Meer - journeyman pitcher, not close to being a HOFer, 119-121 record. But, back-to-back no-hitters in '38. Vander Meer! Not Hubbel. Not Grove. Not Gomez. Not Feller. And, hasn't been done since!

Can't imagine that one ever being repeated

[Griffins]

Originally Posted by travrosty

i dont think an entire season can be a fluke, give me the biggest fluke decade for any player. flukes are one day, one week maybe, something like that, a hot streak for a little while, not an entire season. you dont hit 191 rbi's in a season and its a fluke.

Ok, how about Fernando Tatis with 2 grand slams in an inning?
That was a one hour fluke.

[novakjr]

Originally Posted by Griffins

Ok, how about Fernando Tatis with 2 grand slams in an inning?
That was a one hour fluke.

Carlos Baerga's switch hit HR's in the same inning..

In 2003 Corey Patterson had 7 RBI's in MARCH.
Posada had 6 in March in '06.

Mark Whitten had 12 RBI in one game in '93, only 87 in the other games that season..

Ed Delehanty's 4 HR game in 1896, only had 9 in the other games.
Joe Adcock's 4 HR game in '54, only hit 19 in the other games..

Bob Horner had a 4 HR game in '86, his next ML season of '88 he hit a grand total of 3(in 60 games)

[tschock]

Originally Posted by Griffins

Ok, how about Fernando Tatis with 2 grand slams in an inning?
That was a one hour fluke.

Similar to Harry Hooper with a lead off home run in both games of a double header. Considering how few DHs are played these days, it might never happen again.

[AustinMike]

Originally Posted by travrosty

i dont think an entire season can be a fluke, give me the biggest fluke decade for any player. flukes are one day, one week maybe, something like that, a hot streak for a little while, not an entire season. you dont hit 191 rbi's in a season and its a fluke.

How about this line in the box score for a pitcher:

AB R H BI
Tony Cloninger P 5 2 3 9

which includes two grand slams.
(July 3, 1966 Braves beat the Giants 17-3)

[Sean]

If you want to talk about just one game: Rick Wise pitched a no-hitter and hit two home runs in the same game ( I think it was 1971).

[r2678]

Tito Francona lifetime .272 hitter batting .363 in 1959 in 399 at bats.

[WillowGrove]

LOVE that Francona year. Absolutely - what a fluke. The 1961 season had a few anomalies that are typically attributed to expansion but Tito's 1963 season is flukey.

Who else? hmmmmm. Giants pitcher Ron Bryant in 1973 won I believe 22 games and I can swear he didn't do anything before or since.

[Sean]

Originally Posted by WillowGrove

LOVE that Francona year. Absolutely - what a fluke. The 1961 season had a few anomalies that are typically attributed to expansion but Tito's 1963 season is flukey.

Who else? hmmmmm. Giants pitcher Ron Bryant in 1973 won I believe 22 games and I can swear he didn't do anything before or since.

I'm pretty sure Bryant won 24 games (it was in 1973). He fractured his hip in spring the next year when he fell off a water slide, and was never the same after that.

[itjclarke]

Originally Posted by bbcard1

Let me throw this at you....Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak. Had it not been stopped by two great plays Kenny Keltner would have stretched to more than seventy games...but despite a career that puts him in the upper pantheon of the greatest players of all-time, he never again hit in more than 23 consecutive games.

Can't forget the 61 gamer he had with the Seals though.

Jim Gentile's 46 HR season always stands out to me, though many like Brady Anderson's 50 beat it. How about 57 HRs from Luis Gonzalez! I wonder how much his chewed gum is worth now?? Seem to remember someone thought it was worth over $50K in 2001.