Worst at 1B with the Glove

[Crash Course]

some of the recent comments in the Piazza to 1B thread got me thinking.......esp. those that said it was easy to play 1B.........

..........who was the worst at 1B, in recent years, with the glove?

[Makofan]

some of the recent comments in the Piazza to 1B thread got me thinking.......esp. those that said it was easy to play 1B.........

..........who was the worst at 1B, in recent years, with the glove?

Gotta be Dick Allen

[Crash Course]

Gotta be Dick Allenhttp://www.baseball-reference.com/a/allendi01.shtml

wasn't he about average?

[Makofan]

http://www.baseball-reference.com/a/allendi01.shtml

wasn't he about average?

D'oh! Well his last 5 years were awful ...

[wijamie]

Post-WWII, Dick Stuart

http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/stuardi01.shtml

In my lifetime: Mo Vaughn

http://www.baseball-reference.com/v/vaughmo01.shtml

[pwdennis]

No contest

The hands down winner is Dick Stuart aka "Dr Strangeglove" aka "Stonefingers" aka "The Potted Plant"

Stuart was about the worst fielder at any position I can recall. I have no range, can't throw and mediocre reflexes (and am over 50) and even today I am better defensively than he was in his prime

[KCBOOMER]

Has to be Dr. StoneGlove, a name he earned on merit.

[Crash Course]

The amazing thing with Stuart is that they ran him out there for 1000 games at 1B. Kevin Maas was a bad 1B. But, they didn't run him out there for 1,000 games. Some may say that you had to make room. pre-DH, for a bat like Stuart. But, he really wasn't THAT good a hitter - to put up with his terrible glove.

1958-1969

OWP OWP
1 Mickey Mantle .788
2 Hank Aaron .746
3 Willie Mays .742
4 Willie McCovey .738
5 Frank Robinson .737
6 Harmon Killebrew .700
7 Norm Cash .683
8 Al Kaline .679
9 Eddie Mathews .674
10 Roberto Clemente .661
11 Carl Yastrzemski .652
12 Orlando Cepeda .650
13 Frank Howard .648
14 Roger Maris .643
15 Boog Powell .641
16 Rocky Colavito .630
17 Billy Williams .630
18 Ron Santo .620
19 Pete Rose .614
20 Joe Torre .613
21 Bob Allison .608
22 Norm Siebern .604
23 Leon Wagner .597
24 Johnny Callison .593
25 Felipe Alou .591
26 Tony Gonzalez .585
27 Lou Brock .584
28 Bill White .582
29 Ken Boyer .578
30 Jim Fregosi .578
31 Ron Fairly .578
32 Vada Pinson .578
33 Dick McAuliffe .573
34 Tom Tresh .571
35 Tito Francona .564
36 Donn Clendenon .564
37 Harvey Kuenn .560
38 Ernie Banks .552
39 Lee Maye .550
40 Elston Howard .546
41 Tommy Davis .543
42 Dick Stuart .535

[JamesI]

Based only on players I've seen play, the Big Hurt.

[wijamie]

Willie McCovey was also pretty bad.

[Crash Course]

Willie McCovey was also pretty bad. Yeah, I was surprised when I saw his stats. With his nickname, I assumed he was good. Not so much, statistically.

[Ytown Tribe fan]

Willie Aikens deserves some mention here, but I would say that Thomas and Stuart were both really bad.

Of the guys with a lot of defensive innings, George Sisler was the worst, but he wasn't much better than Hurt or Strangeglove

[LeGrandOrange]

Of those, it's gotta be Dick Stuart, but I have to believe that somewhere in baseball history, there is someone worse than him. I still love the guy anyway. (Funny that he's the only 1B with 3 assists in an inning in MLB history despite his iron glove)

BTW, he was not that bad of a hitter, OWP is just flawed. :)

[pwdennis]

Of those, it's gotta be Dick Stuart, but I have to believe that somewhere in baseball history, there is someone worse than him. I still love the guy anyway. (Funny that he's the only 1B with 3 assists in an inning in MLB history despite his iron glove)

BTW, he was not that bad of a hitter, OWP is just flawed. :)

While OWP may be somewhat flawed, I think that flaws in OWP is an oversimplification. Stuart had a fairly short career but he had some good offensive seasons. For the first seven seasons of his career he hit .271 with a .510 slugging percentage, which is more than respectable for the time. Over the last three years (1965,1966 & 1969 - he spent 1967 & 1968 in Japan) it was .230/.402 and he was completely washed up by age 36. Why the fast fadeout, I'm not sure.

IMHO Stuart belong up in the bigs (as an offensive player) at least a season and a half before he actually got there (defensively he never was MLB quality)

[manny tortolero]

Really you can not measure a 1B only by his F% and range because you can not separate those PO from throws from PO made by himself (that are the less).
The best measure about how good was or not a 1B is A/9 innings, that gives you the reference if as infielder he was an statue or not.
If you see Stuart's A/9 (758/1024= .74), that is good average. Yes his glove was really bad but he attacked a lot of groundballs, and that is act as an infielder. How manny errors he made trying to fielding? I don't know but at least he try.
Steve Garvey who was famous due his secure glove picking throws, usually only attacked those groundballs that, once caught, he can run to the base and made by himself the out. How manny grounballs he left and passed to the OF? I don't know but his A/9% is very poor, 49% (1026 A in 2059 games) and his great range had a lot to do with to the fact of the generous foul zone in Dodger Stadium (to catch fly foulballs) and some years with an extreme groundballer staff by LA leading by guys as Tommy John for example.
Keith Hernandez, probably the best defensive 1B allround (glove and A/9) had .83% A/9 (1682/2014), playing 1B more as a 2B in his mind. That means possitioned not so near of the base, diving and then throws the ball to the pitcher and that is why the number of A/9 in the so high. He was the Ozzie Smith of 1B history.
Very poor infielders playing 1B (poor A/9 and poor F%), almost statues standing there only to receive throws were Killebrew, McCovey, Gerigh, Jim Bottomley, Frank Thomas, Lee May, Joe Adcock, Kluz. Stuart, yes his glove had a hole but he was not an statue there.

[sweaver]

None worse than Dr. Strangeglove. He could hit, but his career was shortened by that horrible glove. Would have lasted much longer with the DH rule.

He was a low-average, few walks, slugger. One reason his OWP is low.

[Golden Bear]

It's hard to think of anyone worse than Strangeglove, that's for sure.