Tony Pena Jr. – You Ain’t No Bill Bergen
Posted by Raphy on November 30, 2008
A few days ago, Steve made mention of Bill Bergen as the only player to ever qualify for a batting title and have an OPS+ less than or equal to 10.
I looked a little further into Steve's list and was surprised to find the following pieces of information.
1) Among players with an OPS+ of 10 or less, Tony Perna Jr. in 2008 had the 4th most PA of any player since 1901.
2) The three season ahead of Pena were all turned in by Bill Bergen in 3 consecutive years.
Here's the top 10:
Cnt Player **PA** OPS+ Year Age Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions +----+-----------------+-------+----+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+ 1 Bill Bergen 372 1 1909 31 BRO NL 112 346 16 48 1 1 1 15 10 0 0 0 16 0 0 4 0 .139 .163 .156 .319 *2 2 Bill Bergen 273 6 1910 32 BRO NL 89 249 11 40 2 1 0 14 6 0 39 0 18 0 0 0 0 .161 .180 .177 .357 *2 3 Bill Bergen 250 -4 1911 33 BRO NL 84 227 8 30 3 1 0 10 14 0 42 0 9 0 0 2 0 .132 .183 .154 .337 *2 4 Tony Pena 235 5 2008 27 KCR AL 95 225 22 38 4 1 1 14 6 2 49 0 2 2 4 3 1 .169 .189 .209 .398 *6/1 5 Frank O'Rourke 216 -11 1912 17 BSN NL 61 196 11 24 3 1 0 16 11 0 50 2 7 0 0 1 0 .122 .177 .148 .325 *6/5 6 Bill Killefer 215 9 1910 22 SLB AL 74 193 14 24 2 2 0 7 12 0 0 2 8 0 0 0 0 .124 .184 .155 .339 *2 7 John Black 201 6 1911 21 SLB AL 54 186 13 28 4 0 0 7 10 0 0 2 3 0 0 4 0 .151 .202 .172 .374 *3 8 Doc Powers 192 3 1906 35 PHA AL 58 185 5 29 1 0 0 7 1 0 0 2 4 0 0 2 0 .157 .170 .162 .332 *2/3 9 Angel Salazar 184 9 1984 22 MON NL 80 174 12 27 4 2 0 12 4 0 38 1 4 1 2 1 1 .155 .178 .201 .379 *6 10 Bob Didier 183 2 1970 21 ATL NL 57 168 9 25 2 1 0 7 12 4 11 1 2 0 3 1 0 .149 .210 .173 .383 *2
December 1st, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Pena's season is even more amazing(?) considering MLB is a much more mature game than it was 100 years ago. The scouting and training are more advanced and thorough, which I would think make it harder to dominate and, by the same token, harder to be so bad that a replacement can't easily be found.
How good would Pena's glove have to be to make him worth starting with that offensive output?
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:16 am
Some of my friends found a clip of him pitching in a game a big ago and think he should become a pitcher, good arm.
December 3rd, 2008 at 11:01 am
in light if this post, should we change the phrase "mendoza line" to "bergen line"? someone ask george brett.
December 8th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Pena's player page says his OPS+ was 7, not 5. ???
He pitched a perfect inning of relief on July 21, 2008.
December 8th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
redsock, My guess is that the value in PI is not park adjusted, while the one on his player page indicates that it is.
December 9th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
That doesn't make any sense -- the purpose of OPS+ is that it _is_ park-adjusted. You should point this out to Sean. Obviously when the PI runs it is overlooking some data in its calculation. Maybe still using the previous year's park factor?
December 11th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Maybe still using the previous year’s park factor?
Yes, this is probably it. I'll look into it.
December 11th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Thanks, I've fixed it. Our correct number is 7 and the P.I. now shows that.
December 12th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
That should add another $25K when KC renews Pena's contract.