Yesterday, I posted a 1987 catcher for Terrible Tuesday. Today, how about another one from the same year for Weird Wednesday? This time, it’s Ron Karkovice, who played all twelve seasons of his career with the Chicago White Sox.
In 1987, Karko actually batted lower than yesterday’s Joel Skinner with a paltry .071 batting average. Somehow, he did just the right things and got the right numbers to make weird.
First, Karkovice hit two homers in 95 plate appearances. Second, he actually stole three bases. Finally he was hit by two pitches.
| Split | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 Totals | 39 | 95 | 85 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 40 | .071 | .160 | .141 |
Make no mistake, this card is pretty bad. Karkovice has a total of four total hit numbers on his card. One of them is a 66-1 though. After that there is a steep decline. He goes from that 66-1 to a 11-8 to a 33-9. That’s it for hit numbers.
But wait! He also has a 15-11. That’s a rarity among catchers in any set. There weren’t any catchers with a first column 11 in the latest 2014 set, for example. In fact, there were only five medium baserunners with an 11, this past year. Karkovice from 1987 is both.
Karko’s 1987 also gets a 55-42 due to his two HBPs. So despite his .071 batting average, he has a grand total of six chances to get on base against an A pitcher (the 1, 11, three 14s plus the 42).
Like many catchers out there, Ron Karkovice’s legacy seems to have lasted. He batted .264 in part time duty in 1989 season. Aside from that, he never hit above .250 nor did he hit 15 homers. Most importantly, he never accumulated more than 403 at-bats in any of his 12 years with the Sox. Yet I still remember him quite distinctly from the 80s White Sox. I’m calling it the Bruce Benedict syndrome. Benedict probably had better stats (different era, I know) but not by much. Yet to me, I remember him as a staple of the Braves lineup.
