| Bill Bergen | ||
|---|---|---|
| Catcher | ||
| Born: June 13, 1878 | ||
| Died: December 19, 1943 (aged 65) | ||
| Batted: Right | Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | ||
| May 6, 1901 for the Cincinnati Reds |
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| Final game | ||
| September 20, 1911 for the Brooklyn Dodgers |
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| Career statistics | ||
| Batting average | . Catcher is also a general term for a fielder who catches the ball in Cricket. Events 1525 - Martin Luther marries Katharina von Bora, against the Celibacy rule decreed by the Roman Catholic Church for Year 1878 ( MDCCCLXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 324 - Licinius abdicates his position as Roman Emperor. Year 1943 ( MCMXLIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1527 - Spanish and German troops sack Rome; some consider this the end of the Renaissance. Year 1901 ( MCMI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati Ohio, USA Events 451 - The Battle of Chalons takes place in North Eastern France. Year 1911 ( MCMXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year The Los Angeles Dodgers are a Major League Baseball team based in Los Angeles California, USA Batting average is a Statistic in both Cricket and Baseball measuring the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters, respectively 170 | |
| Home runs | 2 | |
| Runs batted in | 193 | |
| Teams | ||
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| Career highlights and awards | ||
William Aloysius "Bill" Bergen (1878-1943) was a Major League Baseball catcher in the early 20th century. The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati Ohio, USA The Los Angeles Dodgers are a Major League Baseball team based in Los Angeles California, USA Catcher is also a general term for a fielder who catches the ball in Cricket. Bill Bergen was born in North Brookfield, Massachusetts on June 13, 1878. North Brookfield is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. He played eleven seasons in the National League, three with the Cincinnati Reds and eight with the Brooklyn Dodgers. The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the National League ( NL) is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati Ohio, USA The Los Angeles Dodgers are a Major League Baseball team based in Los Angeles California, USA
Bergen's claim to fame is his complete inability to hit. The question of who was the worst hitter of all time is obviously a subjective one, but what is known is that no one played as long as Bill Bergen and hit so poorly. Bergen had 3,028 at-bats in his career, and in that time he compiled a batting average of . 170, the all-time record low for players who compiled more than 2,500 at-bats. Davy Force is second-to-last with a career average of . David W "Davy" Force ( July 27 1849 - June 21 1918) was a Shortstop in Major League Baseball. 211. [1] Bergen's career on-base percentage was . In Baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP (sometimes referred to as on-base average ', as the statistic is rarely presented as a true Percentage) 194 -- he is the only player with at least 500 at-bats with an OBP under . 200. He had only two home runs. In 1909, Bergen hit . 139, the lowest average ever for a player who qualified for the batting title. That season, he set another record for futility by going 46 at-bats in a row without a base hit, the longest streak ever by a position player (pitcher Bob Buhl went 88 at-bats without a hit). Robert Ray Buhl ( August 12 1928 - February 16 2001) was an American right-handed Starting pitcher in Major League [2] From 1904 to 1911, Dodger pitchers as a group outhit Bergen, . 169 to . 162. [3]
Bergen was able to play for so long despite being such a terrible hitter by playing in an age where pitching dominated and by being a first-rate defensive catcher. Bergen ranks ninth on the all-time list for assists by a catcher with 1,444, despite never being a full-time player. In 1908, The Sporting News called him one of the best catchers in the game. Sporting News (previously The Sporting News, and known colloquially as TSN) is an American -based Sports His . 989 fielding percentage in 1909 was a record (since broken) for a catcher. In Baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly [4] On August 23, 1909, he threw out six St. Louis Cardinals on the basepaths, a record that still stands. [5] Charles Faber, in his book Baseball Ratings, called Bergen the third-best defensive catcher ever, behind Gabby Hartnett and Pop Snyder and ahead of Johnny Edwards and Roy Campanella. Charles Leo "Gabby" Hartnett ( December 20, 1900 - December 20, 1972) was an National Major League Baseball Charles N "Pop" Snyder ( October 6 1854 - October 29 1924) was an American Catcher and manager in John Edwards (b 1953 is an American politician who was a candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination Roy Campanella ( November 19, 1921 – June 26, 1993) nicknamed " Campy " was an American Baseball Total Baseball ranks Bergen the fifth-best defensive catcher of all-time. [6]
Another explanation was that most of the teams he played for weren't very good anyway: the Dodgers had a losing record every year Bergen was on the team, bottoming out with a 48-104 record in 1905.
After his terrible hitting finally cost him a job in the big leagues, Bergen played minor-league ball until 1914. He coached and managed in minor league ball until 1920 before retiring. [7] He died on December 19, 1943 of heart disease.
His brother was Marty Bergen, who played for the Boston Beaneaters as a catcher, and became infamous for killing his family and then himself.
See also
References and external links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
- Pepper, Al. The dead-ball era is a Baseball term used to describe the period between 1900 (though some date it to the beginning of baseball) and the emergence of Babe Ruth Batting average is a Statistic in both Cricket and Baseball measuring the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters, respectively In Baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP (sometimes referred to as on-base average ', as the statistic is rarely presented as a true Percentage) The following is a list of players both past and current who appeared at least in one game for the Los Angeles Dodgers The Mendoza Line is an informal term used in Baseball for when a position player's Batting average falls below the boundary between extremely poor and merely below-average Mendoza's Heroes: Fifty Batters Below . 200.
- SABR biography
- Webpage dedicated to Bergen
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