25 Responses to “Most BB Post-1900 Careers Of 1,500 AB Or Less”

1. Steve Says:
   August 31st, 2011 at 10:19 am

   I thought Jon Cangelosi would be on this list but he had too many AB's.Guy could have been a very good leadoff man if someone had let him play 150 games a season.

2. Charles Says:
   August 31st, 2011 at 10:59 am

   What I noticed right away from this list is that there is only one 0.300 hitter and 2 with 0.400 OBP and none with a 0.500 SLP (not surprising based on the fact that these were short careers, alhough quite a few played for at least 3 teams). 11 were catchers, 3 at DH, no SS (as the most games played), and 19 were OF, probably the 4th outfielder.

   If you sort the list by HR, 16 of the top 17 had more SO than BB vs 10 of the bottom 30.

3. Jimbo Says:
   August 31st, 2011 at 11:04 am

   Hey I was just talking about Kevin Maas!

4. Jacob Says:
   August 31st, 2011 at 11:30 am

   Even Bill Simmons was talking about Kevin Maas. After we did it in the Saturday recap / Desmond Jennings thread.

5. John Autin Says:
   August 31st, 2011 at 12:24 pm

   A lot of these guys have really high BB rates. A few have just moderately high rates, but happen to have just under 1,500 PAs. (A. McCutchen, Carl Sawatski, Biff Pocoroba.)

6. Steve Says:
   August 31st, 2011 at 12:36 pm

   Biff Pocoroba
   One of the great ballplayer names of all time.His real name too,not a nickname.

7. John Autin Says:
   August 31st, 2011 at 12:55 pm

   @1, Steve -- Good point about Cangelosi.

8. Larry R. Says:
   August 31st, 2011 at 1:52 pm

   Mr. Giambi sure taught his boys to wait for strikes to swing at.

9. Cheese Says:
   August 31st, 2011 at 3:29 pm

   @6:

   I'm partial to Crazy Schmit, although I'm pretty sure that is a nickname!

10. Cheese Says:
    August 31st, 2011 at 3:29 pm

    Urban Shocker aint bad either.

11. Tmckelv Says:
    August 31st, 2011 at 4:29 pm

    Giambi = Moneyball.

    There is that Larry Rosenthal again. I guess it makes sense if he had a lot of 3+ TOB games early in his career (see other post), he would have a lot of walks.

12. Kahuna Tuna Says:
    August 31st, 2011 at 4:33 pm

    Jack Hiatt: Dick Dietz lite.

13. Andy Patton Says:
    August 31st, 2011 at 5:23 pm

    Lots of Moneyball on this list, Giambi Dan Johnson and Daric Barton.

    as for great baseball names oyster Burns and Granny Hamner have to be mentioned as well

14. Steve Says:
    August 31st, 2011 at 5:40 pm

    Randy Milligan had too many AB's to make the list but he's the guy I think should have succeeded Hernandez at 1b for the Mets.More power and better speed than Magadan,good walk totals offset Dave's higher average.

15. TheGoof Says:
    August 31st, 2011 at 7:31 pm

    My brother and I have used Biff Pocoroba's name like a Batman TV-show sound for years....

16. Kingturtle Says:
    August 31st, 2011 at 9:51 pm

    champ summers only had 1371 at bats? wow.

17. steven Says:
    August 31st, 2011 at 10:52 pm

    Grabarkewitz, Jacklitsch and Menechino, right in the middle of the order. Perfect fodder for Harry Caray.

18. brett kiser Says:
    August 31st, 2011 at 11:55 pm

    Glenn Gulliver was one walk-drawing dude but he only played one year with Baltimore if my memory serves me correctly, maybe two. Tommy Glaviano was another guy with a short career who drew a ton of walks but he was only a regular in one season I believe. I like playing with those guys in Stratomatic leagues. Then there's Eddie Shokes, who missed action to WWII--he was a walk-drawer but his career BA was a hair above .100 in his short ML stint.

    Bless the guy who remembers Cango! Little Cangelosi was one of my favorites!

19. groundball Says:
    September 1st, 2011 at 4:51 am

    I liked Cangelosi too.

    I do remember him charging the mound on John Smoltz one time after getting plunked afterwards it was mentioned at the time after getting that plunk that he was 0 for 1 with 3 HBPs in his career against Smoltz. No wonder he charged the mound.

    Anyhow for names one of my favorite was Bris Lord's nickname "The Human Eyeball", though I've never been able to find out why he got that nickname. He doesnt seem to have wierd eyes in his pictures (at least to me). And he didnt exactly draw BBs (by the way that nickname would be perfect for some of the names on this list) Anybody know?

20. Lawrence Azrin Says:
    September 1st, 2011 at 10:13 am

    @10/ Cheese says: "Urban Shocker aint bad either."

    Cheese, that was his actual name {Urban James Shocker}. He died very young at 37 of a heart condition, otherwise he might've been a serious HOF candidate.

21. Patrick Says:
    September 1st, 2011 at 1:44 pm

    I'm guessing some of these guys batted 8th a lot and were walked to get to the pitcher. I'm looking at you, Hodges, Sawatski, and Pocoroba, LLP.

22. Doug Says:
    September 1st, 2011 at 6:52 pm

    Dave Nicholson, the original free-swinging strikeout king, was also a walk king! You might think that would take some doing, but actually it seems not to be the case.

    Since 1919, there are only 10 guys in 1500+ PA careers to strikeout in at least one-third of their ABs. Here they are:
    - Adam Dunn
    - Rob Deer
    - Jack Cust
    - Russell Branyan
    - Mark Bellhorn
    - Mark Reynolds
    - Dave Nicholson
    - Bo Jackson
    - Tom Seaver
    - Lefty Grove

    Of the above 10, all but the the last three on the list (two of them pitchers) had walk totals of at least one-third of their strikeouts. Dunn and Cust have walks totalling more than 50% of their strikeouts.

    Could it be that the so-called free swingers aren't really free swingers? Rather, they wait for their pitch but just don't connect too much because they're always swinging so hard?

23. Steve Says:
    September 1st, 2011 at 7:51 pm

    22 Yeah,guys who strikeout AND walk alot often take a lot of pitches too.Hence more called third strikes.

24. groundball Says:
    September 2nd, 2011 at 12:39 am

    #22, Personally I've only considered free-swingers to be high-K, low-BB guys. Actually, I consider low-BB, Low-K to be free-swingers rather than the reverse.

    But, probably just me.

25. Steve Says:
    September 2nd, 2011 at 9:33 am

    24 Well,yeah,free swingers who make contact.Greg Jefferies is a good example off the top of my head.