Worst Player Ever, 10-Plus Year Career

Let's hear it, members and moderators.

Based on concrete indicators (222/277/289 slashline), Johnnie LeMaster is my candidate.
This guy, for those who remember, impossibly sucked.
And the Giants impossibly kept playing him.
They even decided he sucked so badly they'd move him into their leadoff spot.
1970s and 1980s managers using terrible guys in the leadoff spot was like medieval doctors removing five pints of blood from a dying patient.

 

I remember his baseball card. No one immediately comes to mind, but my guess is that catcher would lead the position rankings here.

 

Sorry, it's Jeff Hamilton.

Only 6 years but close enough. I really wanted him to find his groove.

Jeff Hamilton Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com

 

Jeff Hamilton in a nutshell: He's pressing, pressing, pressing at the plate, still trying to hit his first career homer ... finally fucking does ... at Riverfront if memory serves ... but it is washed out because of heavy rains in the 3rd or 4th inning that eventually postponed the game, and all stats up to that point were kaput. Poor guy.

 

Mark Belanger is a guy I always think of because of his sustained anemic offense, but if you win a ton of Gold Gloves you get a pass on any 'worst' lists.

 

Tom Veryzer would like a word with Johnnie LeMaster.

Tommy had a out 400 fewer plate appearances and batted just as well -- .241/.283/.294. Playing for the shitty Tigers/Indians/Mets/Cubs of the 1970s and early 80s helped him stay on the field. His scrappiness kept him in the lineup, as his only appearances on leaderboards were for HBP in a season a couple times and once for sac flies. Oh, and most errors at shortstop.

And look at that! Baseball Reference lists Johnnie LeMaster as the seventh most similar player to Tom Veryzer. Might explain why the Indians brought LeMaster in for a few games in 1985.

 

NBA Division: Steve Blake.

 

I usually ripped up Tom Veryzer cards. Added nothing to the collection.

 

he only played 9 years, but he's also the only guy to have a hitting line named for him: Mario Mendoza

Mario Mendoza Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com

 

Hands down Horace Clarke. The poster boy for the demise of The Yankee
during Mickey Mantle twilight era.

 

Hank Finkel

 

Since he only played nine years he doesn't qualify. But Jesse Jefferson showed up in almost every baseball card pack I bought back in the day. It was like that Talking Tina doll from the old Twilight Zone episode. He just kept showing up. It ensured I would remember his complete awfulness, which is the following:

39-81 career record
4.81 ERA in 237 games
522 strikeouts and 520 walks
1.539 WHIP
8 errors in 1977

Abolutely awful baseball player who haunted baseball card packs for years.