Rk	Player	         1B	PA	%
1	Gorman Thomas	558	5486	10.2%
2	Rob Deer	462	4512	10.2%
3	Mark McGwire	785	7660	10.2%
4	Steve Balboni	395	3440	11.5%
5	Greg Vaughn	813	7070	11.5%
6	M Tettleton	661	5745	11.5%
7	Dave Kingman	868	7429	11.7%
8	Todd Hundley	507	4305	11.8%
9	Brad Wilkerson	445	3753	11.9%
10	Barry Bonds	1495	12606	11.9%
11	Gene Tenace	660	5525	11.9%
12	Jose Valentin	756	6317	12.0%
13	Jay Buhner	711	5927	12.0%
14	Mike Schmidt	1219	10062	12.1%
15	H Killebrew	1199	9831	12.2%
16	D Strawberry	772	6326	12.2%
17	Jeromy Burnitz	805	6579	12.2%
18	Ron Kittle	369	3013	12.2%
19	Darren Daulton	532	4336	12.3%
20	Jose Cruz	675	5448	12.4%

43 Responses to “Fewest singles in a career”

1. steven Says:
   February 9th, 2011 at 7:59 am

   A lot of very slow runners in this entry.

2. Chris Castonguay Says:
   February 9th, 2011 at 8:00 am

   Amazing that nearly every player on the list played in the 80's.
   Just curious, why did you not do 1B/AB? That would have eliminated the Bonds/Schmidt type players.

3. barkie Says:
   February 9th, 2011 at 8:18 am

   the mysterious Ron Kittle appears again.

4. Wine Curmudgeon Says:
   February 9th, 2011 at 8:42 am

   Brad Wilkerson.. if he had managed to stay healthy... would have been quite an interesting player. And he ran well.

5. da HOOK Says:
   February 9th, 2011 at 8:50 am

   First, I actually saw McGwire hit a single in 1998. He got doubled off of first, however.

   Second, I was a bit surprised that Kingman appeared as a pitcher, but when I see it was only for two games, that's not so surprising.

6. Eric C Says:
   February 9th, 2011 at 9:00 am

   What about Russell Branyan?

7. Artie Z Says:
   February 9th, 2011 at 9:29 am

   @6 - maybe it's retired players? Once you mentioned Branyan (9.9%) the names Adam Dunn (10.2%) and Jim Thome (12.0%). popped into my head.

   @5 - in this book I read as a kid, something about "Baseball All-Stars of 1987", in the entry for McGwire it mentioned that he was similar to Kingman in that both of them were pitchers (or at least started out that way) at USC but that dreams get derailed when you can hit baseballs over mountains or something like that.

8. topper009 Says:
   February 9th, 2011 at 9:39 am

   This is littered with Brewers: Burnitz, Vaughn, Valentin, Thomas and Deer

9. Andy Says:
   February 9th, 2011 at 9:49 am

   My bad, I forgot to mention that this list is for retired players. Here's why.
   Here are the active players who qualify:

   Rk	Player	Year	1B	PA	From	To	Age	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos	Tm
   1	Russell Branyan	2010	324	3252	1998	2010	22-34	991	2807	394	657	136	8	189	453	385	30	1077	30	4	26	29	14	4	.234	.330	.490	.820	537/D9	CLE-TOT-CIN-MIL-SEA
   2	Pat Burrell	2010	761	6301	2000	2010	23-33	1548	5320	750	1351	290	15	285	955	899	53	1497	29	0	53	117	7	3	.254	.362	.475	.837	*7D/39	PHI-TBR-TOT
   3	Mike Cameron	2010	951	7615	1995	2010	22-37	1877	6602	1037	1652	373	59	269	941	839	19	1842	87	29	58	108	296	83	.250	.340	.447	.787	*89/7D	CHW-CIN-SEA-NYM-SDP-MIL-BOS
   4	Adam Dunn	2010	616	6065	2001	2010	21-30	1448	4975	865	1246	266	10	354	880	990	107	1632	71	2	27	75	59	21	.250	.381	.521	.902	*739/D	CIN-TOT-WSN
   5	Troy Glaus	2010	752	6355	1998	2010	21-33	1537	5410	889	1375	293	10	320	950	854	40	1377	46	0	45	138	56	29	.254	.358	.489	.847	*53/D6	ANA-ARI-TOR-STL-ATL
   6	Jason LaRue	2010	377	3103	1999	2010	25-36	922	2719	307	628	148	7	96	348	237	39	760	107	22	18	74	14	11	.231	.315	.396	.712	*2/3579D	CIN-KCR-STL
   7	David Ortiz	2010	818	6661	1997	2010	21-34	1596	5690	975	1598	416	15	349	1170	877	104	1252	31	2	61	129	10	6	.281	.376	.543	.920	*D3	MIN-BOS
   8	Carlos Pena	2010	450	4295	2001	2010	23-32	1073	3620	559	871	171	20	230	650	582	37	1131	54	4	35	49	23	14	.241	.351	.490	.841	*3/D7	TEX-TOT-DET-BOS-TBD-TBR
   9	Nick Swisher	2010	446	3754	2004	2010	23-29	911	3178	528	802	185	9	162	495	497	30	804	40	10	29	77	8	10	.252	.358	.469	.827	*9387/D1	OAK-CHW-NYY
   10	Jim Thome	2010	1173	9803	1991	2010	20-39	2392	7982	1534	2216	428	26	589	1624	1679	166	2395	68	1	73	153	19	20	.278	.404	.559	.963	3D5	CLE-PHI-CHW-TOT-MIN
   11	Carlos Delgado	2009	1064	8657	1993	2009	21-37	2035	7283	1241	2038	483	18	473	1512	1109	186	1745	172	0	93	152	14	8	.280	.383	.546	.929	*3D/72	TOR-FLA-NYM

   Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
   Generated 2/9/2011.

   Lots and lots. As players get to the end of their careers, they tend to walk less, plus more of their hits end up as singles instead of doubles or homers. So, it's tough to stay on this list. But one or more of these active guys could end up there too. Thome has the best shot, probably, being closest to the end.

10. Andy Says:
    February 9th, 2011 at 9:50 am

    I guess Delago is the best bet since he is unlikely to have any more major-league plate appearances...And I think Jason LaRue retired didn't he?

11. Frank Clingenpeel Says:
    February 9th, 2011 at 10:11 am

    I was particularly surprised by Strawberry. Somehow, I never figured he would make a list dominated by players whose home-to-first running speed has to be timed with a calendar.

12. eorns Says:
    February 9th, 2011 at 10:22 am

    And McGwire is the only one on the list who finished with fewer singles (785) than extra-base hits (841). Dunn and Branyan are the only others in the club, though just barely.

13. Mr. Dave Says:
    February 9th, 2011 at 10:28 am

    I figured that McGwire would be near the top of the list, if not first overall. Never felt McGwire was a Hall of Fame player, even without the steroids, due to his inability to do anything but hit home runs. He always seemed to be an overrated version of Dave Kingman or Darrell Evans, only with the 70 home run year.

14. Gary W Says:
    February 9th, 2011 at 10:44 am

    I knew Harmon Killebrew would be on the list when I saw the title.

15. Baby Got Reulbach Says:
    February 9th, 2011 at 11:14 am

    Fewest singles in a career? I'd guess quite a few people have zero, no?

    In all seriousness, the first I noticed was the same thing Topper did with all the Brewers showing up on the list.

    I'd also imagine some of these guys have the highest 3TO percentages of all time as well.

16. John Autin Says:
    February 9th, 2011 at 11:39 am

    I don't think the first list is dominated by slow runners:
    -- Bonds, Schmidt, Strawberry and Cruz (Jr.) all had seasons of at least 29 SB.
    -- Jose Valentin, Burnitz and Vaughn has seasons of at least 15 SB. (Vaughn went 15-2 in SB at age 33.)
    -- Thomas and Wilkerson played CF.
    -- Dutch Daulton ran well for a catcher.

    The reason most of these guys had low rates of singles is that they fanned a lot and hit a lot of HRs and fly balls.

17. John Autin Says:
    February 9th, 2011 at 11:40 am

    (@15, I'm jealous of your screen name.)

18. Richard Chester Says:
    February 9th, 2011 at 11:46 am

    I couldn't help but notice that Kittle had one triple for every 1000 PA. McGwire's ratio was a little worse. They are both worse than Ernie Lombardi.

19. dukeofflatbush Says:
    February 9th, 2011 at 12:22 pm

    If you look at Bonds' counting #s, 2558 BBs, 1539 SOs, 106 HBP, 762 HRs - that is just shy of 5,000 PA (4965) where the fielders had zero impact on the play. I think if you throw in ground-rule doubles as PAs (and other freak plays) where there is no chance of fielding the play, Bonds goes well above 5,000 PAs where he eliminated the defense.
    40% of his plate appearances, without a glove touching a ball in play. That has to be a record!
    Last year, Mark Reynolds had over 50% of his PAs result in no fielding chances. Actually over 56% of his PAs. Most likely a record I am too lazy to research.

20. Artie Z Says:
    February 9th, 2011 at 12:35 pm

    Andy - while it's probably true that "As players get to the end of their careers, they tend to walk less, plus more of their hits end up as singles instead of doubles or homers." I'm not certain this will cause players to fall off of this list. Looking at the last 3-4 years for each of the following players:

    35-39 - 12.2% - Killebrew
    35-37 - 13.1% - Kingman
    35-37 - 9.5% - G. Vaughn
    35 - 6.4% - G. Thomas (it's 9.4% if you use his 34-35 age seasons)
    34-36 - 10.1% - Tettleton
    Rob Deer had 2 singles in 64 PAs at age 35
    32-36 - 10.9% - Balboni.
    33-36 - 11.0% - Buhner
    34-36 - 13.9% - Burnitz
    35-37 - 12.6% - Valentin
    35-37 - 8.4% - McGwire (includes a 65 HR season - using his last 2 partial years it's 8.0%)
    Strawberry is at 11.4% after age 30 (never realized he had less than 1200 PAs total after age 30 - ouch)
    32-34 - 9.5% - Hundley
    32-34 - 13.4% - Cruz
    34-36 - 9.6% - Tenace
    33-35 - 12.9% - Daulton
    37-39 - 13.7% - Schmidt

    I didn't check everyone in the list (I left off Kittle and Wilkerson because they don't really have an "old age" period and Bonds because ... well, he didn't have anything remotely resembling a normal "old age" period and he's probably not a good predictor for these active players) and it's probably not enough data to justify a strong conclusion but it doesn't appear that these types of players are hitting more singles as a percentage of their PAs as they age.

    Kingman, Cruz, Burnitz, Daulton, Schmidt, and Valentin have a higher single percentage as they got older. Only Swisher, Pena, Glaus, and Dunn are younger than the ages that I started at when looking at "late in career" single percentage.

    I would guess that while your statement is accurate that these types of players (ok, probably all players) have less hits as they get older so that offsets the possibility that more hits go for singles than doubles or homers and keeps their single percentage near what it was earlier in their careers.

    Basically, if you're starting from where Russell Branyan is starting at age 34 I think he is a good bet to make the list.

21. John Autin Says:
    February 9th, 2011 at 1:05 pm

    Duke @19 -- Amazingly, Bonds isn't close to the leader in "non-fielder outcome percentage" -- he's not even among the top 5, probably not in the top 10.

    Picking some players off the top of my head, and measuring the 4 events you listed (HR, BB, SO, HBP) as a percentage of career PAs (making no attempt to account for ground-rule doubles, inside-the-park HRs, Ks that involved a tag or throw by the catcher, etc.):

    -- 48.3%, Jim Thome
    -- 44.1%, Mickey Tettleton
    -- 42.3%, Gorman Thomas
    -- 41.2%, Gene Tenace
    -- 40.6%, Reggie Jackson
    -- 40.3%, Mickey Mantle
    -- 39.9%, Mike Schmidt
    -- 39.4%, Barry Bonds
    -- 39.1%, Babe Ruth
    -- 39.0%, Manny Ramirez

22. dukeofflatbush Says:
    February 9th, 2011 at 1:20 pm

    @JA-21

    Wow, Kinda shocked there, but I figured if he was going to be passed it would be by a similarly high HR/BB guy, but who SO much more. Bonds only had his Rookie season go above 100K. Which is remarkable. In 15 years, Bonds' 1500Ks won't make the top 100. Jeter might even get to 2,000 Ks. And I think Biggio had over 1600.
    But good look. I wonder if Thome is the leader, or if there is another Thome-type we haven't thought of?

23. John Autin Says:
    February 9th, 2011 at 1:42 pm

    Duke @22 -- I just now did 3 searches to gather all the players with HR>5% of PAs, BB>15% of PAs and SO>20% of PAs. That turned up 1 retired player with a higher pct. of (HR+SO+BB+HBP) than Thome -- the paragron of the "three true outcomes," Rob Deer, at 49.8%.

    Among active players with at least 3000 PAs, the leader is Russell Branyan (51.7%) followed by Adam Dunn (50.2%).

24. Baby Got Reulbach Says:
    February 9th, 2011 at 2:02 pm

    Not quite to 3000 PAs yet but Mark Reynolds is sitting at 51.2% so far for his career. Better watch out Branyan!

25. dukeofflatbush Says:
    February 9th, 2011 at 2:42 pm

    I'd imagine Jack Cust would be 50% as well.

26. dukeofflatbush Says:
    February 9th, 2011 at 2:44 pm

    Cust: 53.87%

27. eorns Says:
    February 9th, 2011 at 3:24 pm

    Some more on Thome. For his career he has walked or struck out 41.6% of the time. Still, it's pretty wild to find out that he's whiffed or walked in 91.2% of games that he's played from start to finish (1,777 of 1,949)!

28. topper009 Says:
    February 9th, 2011 at 4:51 pm

    An interesting thing I just noticed about Thome is that last year his total slash line was better than his career line, at age 39.

    Career before 2010: .277/.404/.557
    At age 39 in 340 PA: .283/.412/.627

    This seems pretty impressive/rare for a 39 year old with 300+ PAs.

29. Cheese Says:
    February 9th, 2011 at 4:55 pm

    @Mr. Dave - 13

    If by overrated you mean 141 more HRs, 709 more walks and a .394 OBP vs. .302 OBP in only 231 more PAs, then yes he is an overrated Dave Kingman.

30. DavidJ Says:
    February 9th, 2011 at 5:38 pm

    #13: "Never felt McGwire was a Hall of Fame player, even without the steroids, due to his inability to do anything but hit home runs. He always seemed to be an overrated version of Dave Kingman or Darrell Evans, only with the 70 home run year."

    During his '96-'99 peak, McGwire hit .290 and averaged 128 walks a year. That's doing a lot more than just hitting home runs, and it puts him in a different stratosphere from Dave Kingman. (And It's not fair to lump Evans in with Kingman either. Evans consistently drew a ton of walks to make up for his mediocre batting averages; Kingman drew far fewer walks while hitting for even poorer averages.)

31. DoubleDiamond Says:
    February 9th, 2011 at 7:53 pm

    Someone mentioned that most of the guys in the original list played in the 1980s. Another indicator that the guys on both the original list and the active players list in @9 are recent is that all but one appeared as a DH at least once in his career. The type of player who would hit home runs instead of singles is the type that teams have traditionally looked for to fill the DH spot. I remember when Rod Carew got cut by the Angels in spring training 1986, he tried to find another major league job at either 1B or DH, but he didn't find one because he hardly ever homered (even winning the batting crown in 1972 with zero homers), and teams tended to look for power hitters for those two spots.

    The one who never served as DH is Mike Schmidt, whose whole career, except for his 1972 September call-up, was in the DH era, but he played his whole career in the NL before interleague play started. I'd have to look up if the DH was used in the 1980 or 1983 World Series, but he was still a highly-regarded defensive player in 1980 and possibly also in 1983, so even if it was used in one or both Series, he was likely at third base while someone else DH'd. Maybe he had some plate appearances as the DH in spring training!

    Darren Daulton, another career-long NL'er, just made it into the interleague era, serving as the Phillies' first-ever DH wherever they played their first road game against the AL during his last season, 1997.

32. DavidRF Says:
    February 9th, 2011 at 9:16 pm

    I did a full PA>3000 scan of the lahman database and agree with Autin's fingings.

    RBranyan* - 51.7
    ADunn* - 50.2
    RDeer - 49.8
    JThome* - 48.2
    RHoward* - 47.4
    MMcGwire - 46.6
    CPena* - 46.5
    MTettleton - 44.0
    JBuhner - 43.3
    PBurrell* - 43.0
    GThomas - 42.3
    BWilkerson - 42.3
    JCanseco - 41.8
    DLock - 41.3
    DTartabull - 41.2
    GTenace - 41.1
    JBay* - 41.1
    TGlaus* - 40.9
    ReJackson - 40.6
    CDelgado - 40.4
    MVaughn - 40.4
    PIncaviglia - 40.4
    RSexson - 40.3
    MMantle - 40.3
    BHawpe* - 40.2
    DStrawberry - 40.2

    *-played in 2010

    ... sorry so long, the names kept being interesting. 🙂 I had never heard of Don Lock before today. He just squeezed over the 3000 PA bar.

33. DavidRF Says:
    February 9th, 2011 at 9:36 pm

    Here's a progressive list of all-time leaders "in the clubhouse"... that is among retired players only. Basically a double sort by ratio and "Final Year" just to see how things have progressed historically.

    FinalYear - Player - Ratio
    1996 - Rob Deer - 49.8
    1986 - Gorman Thomas - 42.3
    1969 - Don Lock - 41.3
    1968 - Mickey Mantle - 40.3
    1966 - Jim Gentile - 39.149
    1935 - Babe Ruth - 39.083
    1934 - Hack Wilson - 29.7
    1898 - Bill Joyce - 28.3
    1893 - Charlie Bennett - 25.6

    ... then it gets really obscure (Emmett Seery?) as with shorter seasons it gets harder to accumulate 3000 PA.

34. Dvd Avins Says:
    February 9th, 2011 at 10:26 pm

    Buhner was traded for Ken Phelps, who misses the list because he only had 2287 PA. But his 249 1B and 10.9% are certainly notable.

35. kds Says:
    February 10th, 2011 at 3:43 am

    Topper009 #28; Wasn't Thome pretty much a platoon player last year? it is always dangerous to assume that, "everything else is equal."

36. Frank Says:
    February 10th, 2011 at 12:25 pm

    re: McGwire.

    It's a shame about the PEDs (and the injuries). His rookie year I thought I was seeing someone who would be one of the best power hitters of all time, which he turned out to be - with the taint.

    re: Don Lock

    I had his 1967 baseball card, which I recall showed him as a Senator, although he played for "my" Phillies all year.

37. John Autin Says:
    February 10th, 2011 at 12:51 pm

    Kds @35 -- Actually, Thome's RHP/LHP frequency last year was virtually the same as his career rate. In 2010, lefty pitchers accounted for 27.6% of his PAs; for his career, 28.4%.

    The "skeleton in the closet" of Thome's HOF-worthy career is that he really never has hit lefties well. His BA is 56 points lower vs. LHP (.238 - .294), and his HR rate is also much lower (4.6% of ABs vs. LHP, 8.6% vs. RHP). His career OPS split is .763 vs. LHP, 1.047 vs. RHP.

    Thome's BA and OPS vs. LHP and RHP last year were about the same as his career averages.

38. mccombe35 Says:
    February 11th, 2011 at 1:31 am

    Thome is the greatest "clean" slugger of this generation. And assuming (I know..) Howard, Dunn, & Pujols don't see the AB / HR increase over the rest of the career Thome is the 2nd best "slugger" of all time.

    Rank Player (age) AB per HR Bats
    1. Mark McGwire 10.61 R
    2. Babe Ruth+ 11.76 L
    3. Ryan Howard (30) 12.79 L
    4. Barry Bonds 12.92 L
    5. Jim Thome (39) 13.55 L
    6. Adam Dunn (30) 14.05 L
    Albert Pujols (30) 14.05 R
    8. Ralph Kiner+ 14.11 R
    9. Harmon Killebrew+ 14.22 R
    10. Alex Rodriguez (34) 14.40 R

39. mccombe35 Says:
    February 11th, 2011 at 1:33 am

    And for the Kittle love

    22. Ron Kittle 15.39 R

40. MikeD Says:
    February 11th, 2011 at 3:22 am

    @38, Why do you assume Thome was clean? Not saying he did anything, but just becasue a player hasn't failed a test doesn't mean he was clean.

41. MikeD Says:
    February 11th, 2011 at 3:24 am

    So does Killebrew hold the "record" for fewest singles from a HOF player (non-pitcher class, obviously)?

42. Nash Bruce Says:
    February 11th, 2011 at 4:46 am

    Mike D., you mentioned "non-pitcher class", but, it still amazes me, to think that, for example, Nolan Ryan hit a whopping .110 over 957 plate appearances over a 27 year career (80 singles, equaling 12% of PA's) and yet 11 players on this list, managed to beat him......

43. Nash Bruce Says:
    February 11th, 2011 at 4:58 am

    (not exactly what you were getting at, Mike, but I still had to smile:))