Bill Bergen may not have been the worst hitter in pro baseball history. A cursory look at his stats might tell you a different story.
Bergen played for eleven years in the National League (1901-1911) and had a career batting average of .170. Only once in 1903, he managed to hit above the Mendoza Line when he rapped .227. Those eleven years included 3228 plate appearances with only 516 hits and only 88 walks.
The card you see above represents his rookie season in 1901. He actually hit 9 points above his career mark at .179.
| Year | Tm | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1901 | CIN | 87 | 326 | 308 | 15 | 55 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 17 | 2 | 8 | 40 | .179 | .199 | .234 |
There’s not too much to Bergen’s card… really. Two 0s, three 8s and two 9s and one 14. That’s about it. To add to the damage, there are three 24s.
To give him his due, his 1901 card only has three 13s but to be honest, that is probably on the high side in the deadball era. He just appears to have less because his 13s occur on numbers like 13 and 35 instead of the typical 24 and 26 where we are used to seeing them.
Bill Bergen didn’t play substantial time because of his offensive threat. That’s obvious. From what I can tell, he WAS a decent catcher and most likely it was his defensive talents that kept him in baseball for so long.
thanks to Scott Fennessy for the suggestion of Bill Bergen!
Dead Ball era cards are kinda easy for this feature. How about Paul Casanova for the Senators in 1968, 1969, or 1971? He hit 0.216 with Ted Williams as coach!
True enough, but I would suggest Mendoza himself, and I forget the guy’s name in San Diego in the 70’s some shortstop who hit .221 with only 29 or so RBI inover 500 AB.
I also remember a Gene Tenace XB card from the 80’s who had 3 41’s. I forget the year but he was with the Cardinals if I remember.