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Greatest 1-game career in history

Posted by Andy on September 29, 2007

Here's some Saturday frivolity for you. My friend ehanczyc, who is an occasional commenter here, reminded me of the greatest offensive career in history for a player who appeared in just one game.

Most of you old-time baseball fans probably know who it is...can you guess? The answer and analysis is after the jump.

It's John Paciorek, brother of Tom Paciorek, as well as brother of Jim Paciorek. If you check out his main page, linked above, you'll see that he appeared in just 1 major league game, geting 5 plate appearances. And in those PAs, he got 3 singles and 2 walks, good for 3 RBI and 4 runs scored.

You can check out a nice story on John Paciorek here, and meanwhile here are some lists from the PI:

Most runs scored in a career consisting of just one game:

  Cnt Player              **R**    G  From  To   Ages   PA    AB    H   2B  3B  HR  RBI  BB  IBB  SO  HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB   CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions Teams
+----+-----------------+--------+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+----+---+---+---+----+----+---+----+---+---+---+---+----+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+-----------+
    1 John Paciorek          4      1 1963 1963 18-18     5     3    3   0   0   0    3    2   0    0   0   0   0   0    0   0 1.000 1.000 1.000 2.000 /*9       HOU
    2 Ginger Clark           2      1 1902 1902 23-23     4     4    2   0   0   0    0    0   0    0   0   0   0   0    0   0  .500  .500  .500 1.000 /*1       CLE
    3 Russ Hall              2      1 1901 1901 29-29     4     4    2   0   0   0    0    0   0    0   0   0   0   0    0   0  .500  .500  .500 1.000 /*6       CLE

These are the only players with more than 1 run, and the full list shows that 37 other players appeared in 1 game and scored 1 run.

Most RBI in a career consisting of just one game:

  Cnt Player             **RBI**   G  From  To   Ages   PA    AB    R    H   2B  3B  HR  BB  IBB  SO  HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB   CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions Teams
+----+-----------------+--------+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+----+---+----+---+---+---+---+----+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+-----------+
    1 John Paciorek          3      1 1963 1963 18-18     5     3    4    3   0   0   0    2   0    0   0   0   0   0    0   0 1.000 1.000 1.000 2.000 /*9       HOU
    2 Tony Ordenana          3      1 1943 1943 24-24     4     4    0    2   0   0   0    0   0    0   0   0   0   0    0   0  .500  .500  .500 1.000 /*6       PIT
    3 Aubrey Epps            3      1 1935 1935 23-23     4     4    1    3   0   1   0    0   0    0   0   0   0   0    0   0  .750  .750 1.250 2.000 /*2       PIT
    4 Steamboat Struss       2      1 1934 1934 25-25     3     3    0    1   1   0   0    0   0    2   0   0   0   0    0   0  .333  .333  .667 1.000 /*1       PIT
    5 John Kull              2      1 1909 1909 27-27     1     1    0    1   0   0   0    0   0    0   0   0   0   0    0   0 1.000 1.000 1.000 2.000 /*1       PHA
    6 Bill McCarthy          2      1 1906 1906 24-24     1     1    0    0   0   0   0    0   0    0   0   0   0   0    0   0  .000  .000  .000  .000 /*1       BSN
    7 Bill Miller            2      1 1902 1902 23-23     5     5    0    1   0   0   0    0   0    0   0   0   0   0    0   0  .200  .200  .200  .400 /*9       PIT

Wow, I can't believe that Paciorek doesn't hold that record all by himself. Again, the full list shows another 21 guys who had 1 RBI in 1 game.

And for careers consisting of at least 5 PAs (regardless of number of games played,) here are the top career OBP:

  Cnt Player             **OBP**    PA  From  To   Ages   G    AB    R    H   2B  3B  HR  RBI  BB  IBB  SO  HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB   CS   BA   SLG   OPS  Positions Teams
+----+-----------------+---------+-----+----+----+-----+----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+---+----+---+---+---+---+----+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+-----------+
    1 John Paciorek       1.000       5 1963 1963 18-18    1     3    4    3   0   0   0    3    2   0    0   0   0   0   0    0   0 1.000 1.000 2.000 /*9       HOU
    2 Pat Deisel           .833       6 1902 1903 26-27    3     3    0    2   0   0   0    1    2   0    0   1   0   0   0    0   0  .667  .667 1.500 /*2       BRO-CIN
    3 Gowell Claset        .800       5 1933 1933 25-25    8     2    3    1   0   0   0    1    3   0    1   0   0   0   0    0   0  .500  .500 1.300 /*1       PHA
    4 Ray Jansen           .800       5 1910 1910 21-21    1     5    0    4   0   0   0    0    0   0    0   0   0   0   0    0   0  .800  .800 1.600 /*5       SLB
    5 Dan Kerwin           .778       9 1903 1903 28-28    2     6    1    4   1   0   0    1    2   0    0   1   0   0   0    0   0  .667  .833 1.611 /*7       CIN
    6 Cory Bailey          .750       5 1993 2002 22-31  172     2    2    1   0   0   0    0    2   0    0   0   1   0   0    0   0  .500  .500 1.250 *1        BOS-STL-SFG-KCR
    7 Bill Connors         .750       5 1966 1968 24-26   26     2    0    1   0   0   0    0    2   0    0   0   1   0   0    0   0  .500  .500 1.250 /*1       CHC-NYM
    8 Dusty Wathan         .667       6 2002 2002 28-28    3     5    1    3   1   0   0    1    0   0    1   1   0   0   0    0   0  .600  .800 1.467 /*2       KCR
    9 Keith Johnson        .667       7 2000 2000 29-29    6     4    2    2   0   0   0    0    2   0    0   0   1   0   0    0   0  .500  .500 1.167 /*346     ANA
   10 Tom Wiedenbauer      .667       6 1979 1979 20-20    4     6    0    4   1   0   0    2    0   0    2   0   0   0   0    0   0  .667  .833 1.500 /879      HOU
   11 John Burrows         .667       6 1943 1944 29-30   30     4    0    2   0   0   0    0    2   0    2   0   0   0   0    0   0  .500  .500 1.167 /*1       TOT-CHC
   12 Pete McClanahan      .667       6 1931 1931 24-24    7     4    2    2   0   0   0    0    2   0    0   0   0   0   0    0   0  .500  .500 1.167           PIT
   13 Bill Pounds          .667       6 1903 1903 25-25    2     5    1    3   0   0   0    1    0   0    0   1   0   0   0    0   0  .600  .600 1.267 /*1       TOT
   14 John Harrell         .625       8 1969 1969 21-21    2     6    0    3   0   0   0    2    2   0    1   0   0   0   0    0   0  .500  .500 1.125 /*2       SFG
   15 Fred Graf            .625       9 1913 1913 23-23    4     5    1    2   1   0   0    2    3   0    3   0   1   0   0    0   0  .400  .600 1.225 /*5       SLB
   16 Luis Silverio        .615      14 1978 1978 21-21    8    11    7    6   2   1   0    3    2   0    3   0   1   0   0    1   1  .545  .909 1.524 /*79      KCR
   17 Nick Bierbrodt       .600      13 2001 2004 23-26   39     8    3    4   1   0   0    0    2   0    2   0   3   0   0    0   0  .500  .625 1.225 /*1       TOT-TEX
   18 Rich Croushore       .600       8 1998 2000 27-29  111     4    1    2   0   0   0    0    1   0    1   0   3   0   0    0   0  .500  .500 1.100 *1        STL-TOT
   19 Ed White             .600       5 1955 1955 29-29    3     4    0    2   0   0   0    0    1   0    1   0   0   0   0    0   0  .500  .500 1.100 /*9       CHW
   20 Stan Goletz          .600       5 1941 1941 23-23    5     5    0    3   0   0   0    0    0   0    2   0   0   0   0    0   0  .600  .600 1.200           CHW
   21 Tom Cantwell         .600       5 1909 1910 20-21    8     5    1    3   1   0   0    1    0   0    0   0   0   0   0    0   0  .600  .800 1.400 /*1       CIN
   22 Frank Cross          .600       5 1901 1901 28-28    1     5    0    3   0   0   0    0    0   0    0   0   0   0   0    0   0  .600  .600 1.200 /*9       CLE
   23 Joaquin Arias        .583      12 2006 2006 21-21    6    11    4    6   1   0   0    1    1   0    0   0   0   0   0    0   1  .545  .636 1.219 /*65      TEX
   24 Talmadge Nunnari     .583      12 2000 2000 25-25   18     5    2    1   0   0   0    1    6   1    2   0   0   1   0    0   0  .200  .200  .783 /*3       MON
   25 Beltran Perez        .571       7 2006 2006 24-24    9     6    0    3   0   0   0    0    1   0    2   0   0   0   0    0   0  .500  .500 1.071 /*1       WSN

A few more recent players make that list, but our man is still #1. The full list is here.

3 Responses to “Greatest 1-game career in history”

  1. jmvbaseball Says:

    The Yankees only have 3 pitchers with 100+ innings.

    Have any other teams made the post season with such a flimsy rotation ?

  2. Stat of the Day » Reaching The Post Season With Just 3 Horses Says:

    [...] noticed a comment from “jmvbaseball” at another entry to the Stat of the Day blog that asked:  “The Yankees only have 3 pitchers with 100+ [...]

  3. savoyspecial Says:

    That was the (in)famous all-rookie game in which Houston clobbered the Mets, 13-4.