Strike out white out
Posted by Andy on December 3, 2009
Here's a simple search....most plate appearances in a season where every single PA resulted in a strikeout.
| Rk | Player | PA | SO | Year | Age | Tm | Lg | G | AB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sandy Koufax | 12 | 12 | 1955 | 19 | BRO | NL | 12 | 12 |
| 2 | Jim Coates | 9 | 9 | 1963 | 30 | TOT | ML | 29 | 9 |
| 3 | Justin Duchschere | 6 | 6 | 2008 | 30 | OAK | AL | 22 | 6 |
| 4 | Alejandro Pena | 6 | 6 | 1981 | 22 | LAD | NL | 14 | 6 |
| 5 | Fred Green | 6 | 6 | 1959 | 25 | PIT | NL | 17 | 6 |
| 6 | Daniel Cabrera | 5 | 5 | 2008 | 27 | BAL | AL | 30 | 5 |
| 7 | Andrew Miller | 5 | 5 | 2007 | 22 | DET | AL | 13 | 5 |
| 8 | Mike Lincoln | 5 | 5 | 2002 | 27 | PIT | NL | 55 | 5 |
| 9 | Kane Davis | 5 | 5 | 2001 | 26 | COL | NL | 57 | 5 |
| 10 | Bartolo Colon | 5 | 5 | 2000 | 27 | CLE | AL | 30 | 5 |
| 11 | Kent Mercker | 5 | 5 | 1992 | 24 | ATL | NL | 53 | 5 |
| 12 | Lee Smith | 5 | 5 | 1986 | 28 | CHC | NL | 66 | 5 |
| 13 | Dennis Lewallyn | 5 | 5 | 1976 | 22 | LAD | NL | 4 | 5 |
| 14 | Fred Wenz | 5 | 5 | 1970 | 28 | PHI | NL | 22 | 5 |
| 15 | Scott Perry | 5 | 5 | 1917 | 26 | CIN | NL | 4 | 5 |
Yeah, Koufax was not a good hitter. Later in his career he did drive in some runs but in the first half he had just about nothing at the plate. Incidentally, I was inspired to do this search by this post at Night Owl Cards looking at the worst offensive seasons at each position for the Dodgers franchise.
Ignoring pitchers, here are the leaders:
| Rk | Player | PA | SO | Year | Age | Tm | Lg | G | AB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gene Ratliff | 4 | 4 | 1965 | 19 | HOU | NL | 4 | 4 |
| 2 | Larry Pratt | 4 | 4 | 1914 | 26 | BOS | AL | 5 | 4 |
| 3 | Mendy Lopez | 3 | 3 | 2002 | 28 | PIT | NL | 3 | 3 |
| 4 | Jed Hansen | 3 | 3 | 1998 | 25 | KCR | AL | 4 | 3 |
| 5 | Jerry Goff | 3 | 3 | 1992 | 28 | MON | NL | 3 | 3 |
| 6 | Doug Lindsey | 3 | 3 | 1991 | 23 | PHI | NL | 1 | 3 |
| 7 | Adrian Garrett | 3 | 3 | 1970 | 27 | CHC | NL | 3 | 3 |
| 8 | Joe Campbell | 3 | 3 | 1967 | 23 | CHC | NL | 1 | 3 |
| 9 | John Easton | 3 | 3 | 1959 | 26 | PHI | NL | 3 | 3 |
| 10 | Gabe Gabler | 3 | 3 | 1958 | 27 | CHC | NL | 3 | 3 |
| 11 | Joe Kuhel | 3 | 3 | 1947 | 41 | CHW | AL | 3 | 3 |
| 12 | Sherry Robertson | 3 | 3 | 1941 | 22 | WSH | AL | 1 | 3 |
| 13 | Josh Billings | 3 | 3 | 1913 | 20 | CLE | AL | 1 | 3 |
| 14 | Gil Whitehouse | 3 | 3 | 1912 | 18 | BSN | NL | 2 | 3 |
| 15 | Bill Dahlen | 3 | 3 | 1911 | 41 | BRO | NL | 1 | 3 |
There's got to be an interesting story behind Gene Ratliff. What you see above is the sum total of his major league career--one season, 4 plate appearances, 4 strikeouts. In all 4 cases he entered the game as a pinch-hitter, struck out, and did not appear again (i.e. he did not go in to play defense.)
This begs the question as to who has the record for most PAs in a career with all strikeouts:
| Rk | Player | PA | SO | To | From | Age | G | AB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gene Ratliff | 4 | 4 | 1965 | 1965 | 19-19 | 4 | 4 |
| 2 | Joe Campbell | 3 | 3 | 1967 | 1967 | 23-23 | 1 | 3 |
| 3 | John Easton | 3 | 3 | 1955 | 1959 | 22-26 | 4 | 3 |
| 4 | Gabe Gabler | 3 | 3 | 1958 | 1958 | 27-27 | 3 | 3 |
| 5 | Clay Timpner | 2 | 2 | 2008 | 2008 | 25-25 | 2 | 2 |
| 6 | Yurendell DeCaste | 2 | 2 | 2006 | 2006 | 26-26 | 3 | 2 |
| 7 | Jim Chamblee | 2 | 2 | 2003 | 2003 | 28-28 | 2 | 2 |
| 8 | Steve Lomasney | 2 | 2 | 1999 | 1999 | 21-21 | 1 | 2 |
| 9 | Billy Queen | 2 | 2 | 1954 | 1954 | 25-25 | 3 | 2 |
| 10 | Toots Coyne | 2 | 2 | 1914 | 1914 | 19-19 | 1 | 2 |
Ratliff has that record. A couple of guys did all their damage in one game, such as Campbell, who got all 3 career PAs in the same game and struck out each time.
Incidentally, doing the same searches for walks (i.e. all plate appearances in a season or career are walks) yields the following. The seasonal record is just 1 and has been done by 31 guys. It's surprising to me that nobody has ever had as many as two plate appearances in a season and walked both times. It logically follows that the career record is also 1, with 10 of those 31 seasons representing a guy's entire career:
| Rk | Player | PA | BB | To | From | Age | G | AB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kevin Melillo | 1 | 1 | 2007 | 2007 | 25-25 | 1 | 0 |
| 2 | Keith Johns | 1 | 1 | 1998 | 1998 | 26-26 | 2 | 0 |
| 3 | Eddie Gaedel | 1 | 1 | 1951 | 1951 | 26-26 | 1 | 0 |
| 4 | Honey Barnes | 1 | 1 | 1926 | 1926 | 26-26 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | Earl Pruess | 1 | 1 | 1920 | 1920 | 25-25 | 1 | 0 |
| 6 | Bert Yeabsley | 1 | 1 | 1919 | 1919 | 25-25 | 3 | 0 |
| 7 | Joe Cobb | 1 | 1 | 1918 | 1918 | 23-23 | 1 | 0 |
| 8 | Bill Batsch | 1 | 1 | 1916 | 1916 | 24-24 | 1 | 0 |
| 9 | Dutch Schirick | 1 | 1 | 1914 | 1914 | 24-24 | 1 | 0 |
| 10 | Ed Hug | 1 | 1 | 1903 | 1903 | 22-22 | 1 | 0 |
Virtually all of these players are completely unknown with the exception of Eddie Gaedel, quite famous for his appearance in a major-league game orchestrated by St. Louis Browns owner Bill Veeck.
Incidentally, all the stats in this post are 1901-present.
December 3rd, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Wow. 12 strikeouts in 12 plate appearances at 19 years old! Koufax must have developed a complex at the plate after that.
December 3rd, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Looking at Ratliff's minor league stats, I see nothing to justify even the 4 PA call-up. He never played above Class A, never played in as many as 40 games in a season, barely hit his weight, couldn't field and, inexplicably, appeared on a 1965 Topps baseball card as a "Rookie Star". I don't get it. Does anyone have any insight? Was he the GM's nephew or what?
December 3rd, 2009 at 6:06 pm
On the pitching side, Fred Norman of the 1967 Cubs seems to have the single-season, post-1901 record for most batters faced where every BF resulted in a strikeout. His record is 3; no one else has 2; a few guys have 1. Norman was in the major leagues for 16 seasons, of which 1967 was the 5th. He first got serious playing time in 1970. Here's the game: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN196704210.shtml Norman came in in the 9th inning and struck out Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, and Donn Clendenon - pretty impressive, no? A few days later, the Cubs traded him to the Dodgers, who sent him down to Spokane. He didn't get back up to the majors until 1970.
If bbref is right, his first name was spelled Fredie.
December 3rd, 2009 at 10:10 pm
I remember that Doug Lindsey game. He had been a catcher in AAA for the Phillies in 1991, apparently not a prospect, with no September call-up expected. The Phillies had three catchers, Darren Daulton, Darrin Fletcher, and Steve Lake, who shared the catching responsibilities that season. Fletcher may have been a September call-up. Daulton got hurt some time in September. Instead of going with two catchers the rest of the way, the Phillies brought up Lindsey. I remember reading that he was out working in the field on his family's farm or ranch in Texas when he got the call.
Lindsey did not get in a game until the last one of the season. Unfortunately, it was a game in which David Cone of the Mets struck out 19 Phillies in a 7-0 win. The Phillies only got three hits, although two of them were doubles.
Lindsey made it back to the Phillies briefly in late April/early May of 1993 as a result of backup catcher Todd Pratt going on the DL. He did get one hit, in a game against the Dodgers. But after appearing with the White Sox later that year, his major league career was over.
I was listening on the radio to the game in which Pratt was hurt. It happened near the end of a game. One of the announcers wondered if Mike Lieberthal would be called up to replace him, but the other one said no, Lieberthal wasn't ready yet, so it was probably going to be Doug Lindsey. I was glad that Lindsey was possibly going to have a chance to have a non-strikeout at-bat.