It’s always a fun debate whether the great player makes the great team or vice versa, but there’s clearly a wealth of truly great players who toiled most, and occasionally all, of their careers for poor teams. I’ve tried to compile a lineup here of what I consider the greatest players who played for the worst teams. Some below have a World Series ring, some never went to the postseason. To determine the worst teams I’ve used two metrics: run and win/loss differentials. The former is the teams’ runs scored less their runs allowed, the latter is the number of games below .500. Everyone here put up amazing individual numbers – indeed, everyone is in the Hall of Fame – while their teams, over the course of their career, put up negative numbers in the two key categories. So without further adieu, the hardest luck team of all time.
C Rick Ferrell -1164 runs, -246 W/L
The best team season Ferrell ever saw was his penultimate one in the majors: the 1945 Washington Senators finished second in the American League at 87-67, a game and a half back from the Detroit Tigers as World War II wound to a close. The Senators would never win as many games again, eventually folding up shop and moving to Minnesota. Most abysmal year: 1933 St. Louis Browns, finishing at 55-96- however, Ferrell only played 22 games for the Browns that year before being dealt to the Red Sox. Fun fact: held the American League record for games caught at 1,806 before Carlton Fisk broke it in 1988.
Backup: Ernie Lombardi (-669 / -166)
1B Ernie Banks -1071 runs, -262 W/L
Ole Mr. Cub knew him some futility: his gonfalons didn’t finish above .500 until 1963, his tenth year in the bigs. Their best year was 1969, in which they compiled a 92-70 record but finished second to the Amazin’s in the newly created NL East. By that time Banks was 38 years old and by any measure past his illustrious prime: he’d hang on for another year and a half, never to see the postseason. Most wretched year: tie between 1962 and 1966, during which the northsiders put up a 59-103 record.
Backup: George Sisler (-1088 / -207)
2B Rogers Hornsby -562 runs, -130 W/L
Our first entrant to actually see the postseason and indeed earn himself a ring, Hornsby’s the centerpiece of this whole lineup. One of the best of the best players ever and the only player to hit 40 home runs in a season while batting .400, Rogers didn’t see .500 ball until his sixth full year in the majors when his Cardinals went 87-66 in 1921. He had a good run from 1925 through 1932 with St. Louis, Boston (Braves), New York (Giants), and the Cubs, only going under .500 in 1928 with the Braves. From 1932 through 1937 Hornsby was more manager than player, averaging only 19 games in the field,
Backup: Ryne Sandberg (-383 / -79)
3B George Kell -37 runs, -67 W/L
Kell is the least qualified to be on this list as his teams’ records are not particularly terrible: 9 of 19 seasons in the bigs above .500 – however, still not a single postseason plate appearance, the closest miss coming in 1950 as the Tigers finished three games behind the pennant-winning Yankees. Kell is probably most remembered for preventing Ted Williams from winning his third Triple Crown: on the final day in 1949, Kell went 2-3 and Williams 0-2, putting the former at .3429 and the latter at .3427. Also, that year George only struck out thirteen times, the lowest total for a batting champion.
Backup: Rabbit Maranville -478 runs, -86 W/L (caveat: yes, Maranville was primarily a shortstop, but having played four games at the hot corner, and given the fact that no other “qualifying” third basemen posted a negative career run differential, we’re sticking Rabbit out there and seeing how it works out)
SS Luke Appling -1619 runs, -298 W/L
Old Aches and Pains toiled for some absolutely miserable White Sox clubs, posting the second-lowest winning percentage on this list of 40.2% and, yes, never seeing postseason play. He had better luck managing in the minors, winning pennants with the Memphis Chickasaws and Indianapolis Indians. He even managed my hometown Richmond Virginians in 1954 and ’55. However, all of this hoopla pales next to Appling’s greatest feat: hitting a monster 250-foot home run at the age of 75 off then-61 year old Warren Spahn at an old-timers’ game at RFK Stadium. No word on whether he was juicing.
Backup: Bobby Wallace (-697 / -224)
OF Chuck Klein -2493 runs, -552 W/L
Klein only experienced four years of winning baseball in a 19 year career, the highlight coming in 1935 as his Chicago Cubs squad won 100 games and took the NL pennant by four games, only to lose to the Tigers in six. However, Chuck himself only started in two of those Series games as his performance had dropped markedly from his Philly days, leading some to claim a Coors Fieldian element to Philadelphia’s Baker Bowl. Klein starred for many Phillies teams throughout the 1930s that fell down on the job vis-à-vis winning ballgames, despite featuring a loaded offense: the 1930 squad hit .315, the third highest team batting average in National League history, but still managed to drop 102 games thanks to a pitching staff that put up a 6.71 ERA.
OF Ralph Kiner -1307 runs, -265 W/L
Kiner played only ten years, and of those saw only two winning seasons: his Pirates went 83-71 in 1948 and Indians 93-61 in 1955, neither getting Ralph to the postseason. In fact, upon being traded by Branch Rickey to the Cubs in 1953, Kiner was told “We finished last with you, we can finish last without you.” Ouch. With his 294 total home runs from 1946 through 1952 enough to lead the NL every year during that span, I’m proud to have Kiner on this list.
OF Richie Ashburn -744 runs, -160 W/L
As if to remind us all of the arbitrary cruelty of the universe, Ashburn finished his stellar individual career with the losingest team of all time, the 1962 Metropolitans. That dark year alone counts for 80 runs of negative differential and provided impetus enough for the man to quit the game and take up broadcasting. How can you blame him? He is also notable for appearing in the 1950 World Series against the Yankees, which is the last all-white World Series – neither team had integrated – and the last time old Ashburn would see the postseason.
Have to include this Ashburn story, maybe one of the better tales of the game. From Wikipedia:
During an August 17, 1957 game, Ashburn hit a foul ball into the stands that struck spectator Alice Roth, wife of Philadelphia Bulletin sports editor Earl Roth, breaking her nose. When play resumed, Ashburn fouled off another ball that struck Roth while she was being carried off in a stretcher. Ashburn and Roth would maintain a friendship for many years and her son later served as a Phillies batboy.
I don’t know about that- fool me once, shame on you; hit me with a foul ball twice in a row- well…
OF Dave Winfield -573 runs, -35 W/L
Winfield’s really a tale of two careers, at least with regard’s to his teams’ performances: a San Diego club that eked out only one winning season, going 84-78 in 1978, but otherwise posted a 474-659 record followed by a Yankee club that went 744-657 in nine years and managed to see the postseason three times, though if I may: Winfield’s career average dips from .289 to .269 and his slugging percentage loses 63 points from the month of July to August, a fact which no doubt prompted a certain unpleasant moniker from a certain unpleasant baseball figure. Dave also won a World Series ring with the 1992 Blue Jays, so we’re not feeling too much sorrow for his career, but man, those Padres teams! Ten bucks says Winfield’s wearing a Yankee hat in the Hall if the whole “Mr. May” thing didn’t happen.
P Ted Lyons -1273 runs, -256 W/L
Lyons worked for the same terrible White Sox teams that featured our second baseman, Luke Appling. He won 20 games or more three times in his career, including 21 in 1925 for a fifth place team. He no-hit the Red Sox on August 21, 1926 and did so in an hour and seven minutes. Being a big fan of efficient pitching, Lyons gets the nod here as my #1 starter.
P Robin Roberts -737 runs, -150 W/L
From 1948 through 1961 (when he was traded to the Orioles), Roberts posted a winning percentage of .54, whereas without him, the Phils posted .456. That’s pretty incredible. He, along with our man Richie Ashburn, saw the World Series in 1950 and then never again tasted postseason play.
P Pud Galvin -661 runs, -75 W/L
Our oldest school member here, Galvin was the first Major League pitcher to win 300 games while throwing over – ready for it? – 6,000 innings and totaling 646 complete games. Modern-day hurlers might need a bucket of ice just reading that sentence. Ah, when men were men! He also lost over 300 games, with notable years coming in 1892 for the St. Louis Browns as they went 56-94, and in 1891 for a Pittsburgh team that finished 55-80. Galvin still played for more winning teams than not: 9 of 17 years above the line.
P Red Faber -510 runs, -99 W/L
Yet another of the luckless White Sox, Faber at least was a member of the club early enough to take part in their 1917 World Series victory, during which he pitched in games two, four, five, and six, earning decisions in all of them to become the only pitcher in history with at least four decisions in a World Series. Alas, Faber would stick around beyond the dismantling of the team prior to the 1921 season: he’d only experience two more winning seasons out of his remaining 13 years in the league.
P Bruce Sutter -679 runs, -111 W/L
Ah, we’ve got to have a reliever on the team, right? Sutter’s also the only Cy Young winner on the list, winning it with 37 saves in 1979. (Really? 37 saves nets you a Cy Young? During the same year JR Richard won 18 games, struck out 9.6 per 9 innings totaling 313 – ah well, I digress) He also owns a ring from the 1982 season with the Cardinals, but a 98-loss season in 1980 and 106 in 1988 are two notables during his teams’ eight losing seasons.
The oldest man to ever manage a professional game of baseball has died. Bobby Bragan passed away at age 92 in Fort Worth, Texas. In August of 2005, Bragan un-retired for an evening to manage the Forth Worth Cats of the independent league for one game, making him at 87 one week older than the previous record holder, a guy by the name of Connie Mack. Unfortunately Mr. Bragan did not last the entire game as he was ejected in the third inning after agreeing with recently ejected Cats shortstop David Keesee that home plate umpire Brandon Misun was calling a bad game.