Joe DeMaestri endured a rough decade in the 1950s.
The shortstop kicked around with the Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Browns, and Philadelphia/Kansas City Athletics between 1951 and 1955. He always fielded well enough to be employable, but never hit solidly enough to be dangerous.
DeMaestri, in fact, ranked as the worst hitter in the American League during the 1951-1955 span, based on my Five-Year Test.
He stuck around with the A’s through 1959 before ending his career with the New York Yankees. My 1956-1960 ratings show him — yes, again — as the AL’s worst batter for that half-decade.
Recent Friday installments of this newsletter focused on the top hitters during the Modern Era (1961 to the present). A series of 12 stories moved through the era at five-year intervals, beginning in mid-June and ending in early September.
I capped the presentation last Friday by revealing the five-year hitting champions for the National and American Leagues during their earlier periods — the NL since 1876, the AL since 1901.
So why not an encore, looking at the worst hitters during those same spans?
These rankings, just to remind you, are based on my Five-Year Test, which looks at these six stats:
Batting average
Slugging average
Runs scored per 500 plate appearances
Runs batted in per 500 plate appearances
Wins above replacement (WAR) per 500 plate appearances
The rankings for each half-decade included every batter who crossed the minimum threshold of two plate appearances per game. That’s 1,620 appearances in five seasons under the current 162-game slate, fewer for earlier periods when the schedule was shorter.
So why did I pick on Joe DeMaestri at the beginning of this story? He’s the only player to rank more than once as a league’s worst batter over a five-year period.
The lack of repeaters is logical. A bad hitter isn’t likely to stick around very long unless, like DeMaestri, he has other skills that compensate.
One other thing: Keep in mind that the guys listed below really weren’t the absolute worst hitters of their times. They were good enough to stay in the majors for several years, so it would be more accurate — clunky, but accurate — to call them the worst semi-regulars of their periods.
Scroll below to see the lowest-rated batters in both leagues over their entire histories. The number of hitters who qualified for each half-decade’s rankings is shown in parentheses.
Each batter is followed by a breakdown of his statistics for the relevant period: games, hits, home runs, batting average, and bases per out. The first three stats weren’t included in the Five-Year Test, but I show them here as a matter of interest.
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American League bottom batters
1901-1905 (46 batters) — Barry McCormick, G 376, H 304, HR 4, BA .228, BPO .502
1906-1910 (56 batters) — Billy Sullivan, G 509, H 293, HR 2, BA .189, BPO .435
1911-1915 (46 batters) — Oscar Stanage, G 564, H 434, HR 4, BA .236, BPO .504
1916-1920 (53 batters) — Ralph Young, G 660, H 580, HR 3, BA .244, BPO .621
1921-1925 (56 batters) — Everett Scott, G 668, H 610, HR 14, BA .257, BPO .520
1926-1930 (54 batters) — Oscar Melillo, G 547, H 496, HR 11, BA .256, BPO .587
1931-1935 (55 batters) — Jim Levey, G 432, H 366, HR 11, BA .229, BPO .491
1936-1940 (58 batters) — Don Heffner, G 456, H 392, HR 6, BA .247, BPO .572
1941-1945 (43 batters) — Pete Suder, G 398, H 357, HR 11, BA .241, BPO .468
1946-1950 (50 batters) — Sam Dente, G 452, H 416, HR 3, BA .256, BPO .503
1951-1955 (52 batters) — Joe DeMaestri, G 517, H 402, HR 22, BA .240, BPO .485
1956-1960 (56 batters) — Joe DeMaestri, G 574, H 405, HR 27, BA .235, BPO .506
1961-1965 (65 batters) — Ed Brinkman, G 489, H 322, HR 20, BA .208, BPO .472
1966-1970 (67 batters) — Larry Brown, G 615, H 456, HR 20, BA .235, BPO .541
1971-1975 (78 batters) — Gene Michael, G 531, H 364, HR 10, BA .229, BPO .469
1976-1980 (102 batters) — Tom Veryzer, G 610, H 462, HR 6, BA .239, BPO .464
1981-1985 (100 batters) — Alfredo Griffin, G 727, H 610, HR 11, BA .245, BPO .504
1986-1990 (98 batters) — Billy Ripken, G 452, H 372, HR 9, BA .253, BPO .550
1991-1995 (94 batters) — Tony Pena, G 531, H 363, HR 17, BA .234, BPO .517
1996-2000 (92 batters) — Brian Hunter, G 443, H 453, HR 12, BA .253, BPO .644
2001-2005 (93 batters) — Brandon Inge, G 569, H 444, HR 44, BA .238, BPO .615
2006-2010 (101 batters) — Bobby Crosby, G 431, H 346, HR 30, BA .231, BPO .567
2011-2015 (91 batters) — Gordon Beckham, G 631, H 482, HR 46, BA .235, BPO .576
2016-2020 (87 batters) — Alcides Escobar, G 464, H 428, HR 17, BA .249, BPO .532
National League bottom batters
1876-1880 (46 batters) — Will White, G 193, H 106, HR 0, BA .149, BPO .237
1881-1885 (62 batters) — George Weidman, G 267, H 185, HR 2, BA .184, BPO .302
1886-1890 (51 batters) — Jim Donnelly, G 356, H 261, HR 1, BA .200, BPO .481
1891-1895 (86 batters) — Jiggs Parrott, G 320, H 311, HR 6, BA .234, BPO .510
1896-1900 (82 batters) — Tim Donahue, G 396, H 293, HR 0, BA .231, BPO .593
1901-1905 (49 batters) — Bill Bergen, G 409, H 267, HR 1, BA .189, BPO .353
1906-1910 (50 batters) — Billy Maloney, G 408, H 310, HR 3, BA .217, BPO .553
1911-1915 (52 batters) — Mickey Doolin, G 443, H 372, HR 3, BA .238, BPO .545
1916-1920 (50 batters) — Johnny Rawlings, G 413, H 340, HR 6, BA .236, BPO .553
1921-1925 (56 batters) — Mickey O'Neil, G 453, H 336, HR 4, BA .237, BPO .488
1926-1930 (57 batters) — Tommy Thevenow, G 530, H 452, HR 2, BA .249, BPO .509
1931-1935 (60 batters) — Rabbit Maranville, G 460, H 394, HR 0, BA .235, BPO .504
1936-1940 (55 batters) — Rabbit Warstler, G 557, H 427, HR 4, BA .227, BPO .464
1941-1945 (45 batters) — Whitey Wietelmann, G 430, H 341, HR 6, BA .236, BPO .503
1946-1950 (53 batters) — Virgil Stallcup, G 434, H 390, HR 14, BA .244, BPO .476
1951-1955 (53 batters) — Eddie Miksis, G 525, H 481, HR 25, BA .244, BPO .528
1956-1960 (53 batters) — Hal Smith, G 521, H 406, HR 23, BA .259, BPO .537
1961-1965 (60 batters) — Bob Lillis, G 614, H 437, HR 2, BA .229, BPO .420
1966-1970 (75 batters) — Hal Lanier, G 735, H 532, HR 5, BA .221, BPO .389
1971-1975 (79 batters) — Enzo Hernandez, G 590, H 435, HR 1, BA .220, BPO .516
1976-1980 (91 batters) — Doug Flynn, G 660, H 498, HR 5, BA .241, BPO .452
1981-1985 (81 batters) — Johnnie LeMaster, G 541, H 411, HR 13, BA .226, BPO .514
1986-1990 (71 batters) — Andres Thomas, G 562, H 488, HR 42, BA .234, BPO .471
1991-1995 (81 batters) — Kirt Manwaring, G 521, H 418, HR 14, BA .253, BPO .562
1996-2000 (96 batters) — Rey Ordonez, G 623, H 489, HR 4, BA .243, BPO .486
2001-2005 (96 batters) — Mike Matheny, G 628, H 473, HR 36, BA .241, BPO .571
2006-2010 (99 batters) — Brian Schneider, G 469, H 354, HR 26, BA .244, BPO .606
2011-2015 (86 batters) — Casey McGehee, G 516, H 407, HR 27, BA .245, BPO .559
2016-2020 (95 batters) — Orlando Arcia, G 538, H 421, HR 42, BA .244, BPO .587