Orioles Biggest One Hit Wonder of all time...

[Legend_Of_Joey]

Tom Patton.

[brooksiefan]

Steve Stone. 

[now]

Rick Dempsey (claim to fame being a few doubles and a dinger, one October)

[DrungoHazewood]

12 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

ESPN did this for the NL today, they'll have one for the AL later this week.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28941967/the-biggest-one-hit-wonders-every-national-league-team

Figure it might be fun to try and predict who they'll pick.

 

So the article says/implies the definition is one great season out of nowhere.  I originally was going to go with Tito Landrum, but he had one game, basically. 

Pearce might get the nod.  Through age 30 he had 847 PAs of a .694 and was worth less than a win.  At 31 he had a .930 and was worth 5.8 wins.  Only caveat is that he went on to have other good seasons, just not nearly that good.

Ballard has about as good a case.  His only season with an ERA+ over 100 he ends up with 18 wins on an all-time Cinderella team.

Newhan was DiMaggio for a month or so.  But on a forgettable team.

Wayne Garland got 20 wins and a big contract from the Indians out of a year where he only started 25 games.

Mike Young got ROY votes the year before his best season, and he was supposed to be good.  Sheets did his damage the year of the juiced ball.

Oldtimer category:

Heinie Reitz had 65 career triples, 31 in 1894, second highest total of all time.  Never had more than 13 in any other season.

Joe Corbett, brother of heavyweight champ Gentleman Jim, went 24-8 in 1897.  Never pitched in more than 14 games or won more than five in any other season.

 

[DrungoHazewood]

4 hours ago, now said:

Rick Dempsey (claim to fame being a few doubles and a dinger, one October)

I thought his claim to fame was being one of the better defensive catchers in baseball for 20 years?  And sliding around the tarp during rain delays.  And the WS thing.  And for saying goofy homerisms on MASN.  Oh, and getting knocked into the next county by Bo Jackson.

[Moose Milligan]

2 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I thought his claim to fame was being one of the better defensive catchers in baseball for 20 years?  And sliding around the tarp during rain delays.  And the WS thing.  And for saying goofy homerisms on MASN.  Oh, and getting knocked into the next county by Bo Jackson.

Also fighting with Lenny Dykstra.

I'd have loved to hear the words between these two before this went down.

[Moose Milligan]

Jerry Walker, 1959.  Youngest ever to start an All-Star game, had no idea about that.

Billy Gardner lead the league in doubles in 1957.  Also at bats and plate appearances.

Also thinking John Orsino, 1963.  

Jim Gentile had some good seasons but never came close to his 1961.

Ron Hansen, 1960.  Rookie of the year and never did much else.

I'm not sure about you guys but for me, the Orioles start in 1966. I was born in '81 but it seems like there's a whole history of the Orioles that's pre 1966 that gets overlooked, unless you were there.  I don't know much about these teams/players.  I know Gentile had a monster '61 season, I knew of Ron Hansen.  I'd heard the name John Orsino.  I'd never heard of Jerry Walker until the other day. 

 

[murph]

30 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Also fighting with Lenny Dykstra.

I'd have loved to hear the words between these two before this went down.

How did I never know about this?  Then looked it up and saw it was when he was with the Dodgers.  Some funny comments in this short article about the fight:  https://www.pennlive.com/philadelphiasports/2007/03/lenny_dykstra_vs_rick_dempsey.html

 

[DrungoHazewood]

3 minutes ago, murph said:

How did I never know about this?  Then looked it up and saw it was when he was with the Dodgers.  Some funny comments in this short article about the fight:  https://www.pennlive.com/philadelphiasports/2007/03/lenny_dykstra_vs_rick_dempsey.html

 

I never knew about it, either.  Or I forgot.

[DrungoHazewood]

23 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Jerry Walker, 1959.  Youngest ever to start an All-Star game, had no idea about that.

Billy Gardner lead the league in doubles in 1957.  Also at bats and plate appearances.

Also thinking John Orsino, 1963.  

Jim Gentile had some good seasons but never came close to his 1961.

Ron Hansen, 1960.  Rookie of the year and never did much else.

I'm not sure about you guys but for me, the Orioles start in 1966. I was born in '81 but it seems like there's a whole history of the Orioles that's pre 1966 that gets overlooked, unless you were there.  I don't know much about these teams/players.  I know Gentile had a monster '61 season, I knew of Ron Hansen.  I'd heard the name John Orsino.  I'd never heard of Jerry Walker until the other day. 

 

Billy Gardner often comes up in searches for the worst-hitting regulars, he had several Richie Martin seasons as a regular.  So I'd never have thought he led the league in any positive offensive category.  Even the year he led in doubles he was the O's leadoff batter all but two games all year and he scored 79 runs. That has to be close to some kind of record, like fewest runs scored in 140+ games leading off.

(Actually it's not... Horace Clarke of the '73 Yanks led off in 141 games and scored 59 runs all year.  You have to try pretty hard to do that.  Ralph Houk shoulda known better.  When your everyday leadoff hitter is 5th or 6th in the team in runs you're doing something wrong.)

[DrungoHazewood]

59 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I'm not sure about you guys but for me, the Orioles start in 1866. I was born in '81 but it seems like there's a whole history of the Orioles that's pre 1966 that gets overlooked, unless you were there.  I don't know much about these teams/players.  I know Gentile had a monster '61 season, I knew of Ron Hansen.  I'd heard the name John Orsino.  I'd never heard of Jerry Walker until the other day.

Same for me, just substituting 1866.  It's a little embarrassing, but I'm not sure I'd heard of Everett Mills until just this morning.

[DrungoHazewood]

Following up on Billy Gardner... Luis Aparicio's first year in Baltimore he led off in 650 plate appearances and scored 73 runs.  Among players on that team with 150+ PAs he was 11th in OBP.  But he was really fast!  Aparicio's batting line was like Adam Jones or Jonathan Schoop, if they'd hit 18 doubles and four homers a year.

The 60s and 70s were a weird time in baseball history, where the league got collectively stupid and decided that 40 steals were the equivalent of 100 points of OBP. (Hint: it's not even close)

[beervendor]

Not sure if Brady Anderson meets the criteria, but his peak year was craaaaazy.

Edited March 31, 2020 by beervendor
typo

[interloper]

Oscar Salazar.

[now]

2 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

Jerry Walker, 1959.  Youngest ever to start an All-Star game, had no idea about that.

I'd never heard of Jerry Walker until the other day. 

 

Wow! I must be old. Walker and those "Baby Birds"!... Among my first Orioles memories, turning 9.