Last week, the Weekly Rotation marveled over David Ortiz and five other sluggers who left baseball with a bang. The vast majority of hitters can’t leave the sport on their own terms after excelling at the plate during their final season, however. Even Hall of Famers often stumble to the finish line of their careers.
Take Alex Rodriguez, for example. Though his Hall of Fame status is very much in doubt due to his performance-enhancing drug use, A-Rod undoubtedly possesses Cooperstown-caliber career numbers. But Rodriguez has been unproductive enough in 2016 to spark speculation that this could be his final year in pinstripes, $21 million paycheck for next season be damned.
If New York releases the soon-to-be 41-year-old and he goes unsigned in 2017 – unlikely as it might seem, not an implausible scenario – Rodriguez’s 2016 campaign would go down as one of the worst final seasons by a legendary figure in MLB history. If A-Rod’s -0.5 WAR is extrapolated to the remainder of the season, it’d rank among the five worst seasons by a Hall of Fame hitter since World War II, according to Baseball Reference research.
As it stands, here are the five worst offensive seasons since 1945 by hitters who were eventually inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame. Not before they were served a slice of humble pie during the final seasons, however. PointAfter visualizations are used to illustrate their performances.
***
5. Ken Griffey Jr. (2010), Seattle Mariners
Stats: -0.8 WAR, .184/.250/.204 slash line, 0 HR, 7 RBI, 9 BB, 17 K in 33 games
After ill-fated tenures in Cincinnati and Chicago, Ken Griffey Jr. returned to the franchise where he was once a prized, homegrown No. 1 pick to bookend his storied career. Unfortunately, this was no fairy-tale ending for Junior.
Even in his immediately prior injury-plagued seasons, Griffey had blasted at least 18 home runs every year between 2004-2009. But after his first 33 games and 98 at-bats of 2010 passed without a single round-tripper and yielded just two extra-base hits (both doubles), Griffey abruptly retired in June.
Griffey was granted one last shining moment by the baseball gods — his final hit in Safeco Field was a walk-off single. It was the least the forces that be could do, given all Junior did for the game in the 1990s.
Other than that heartwarming game-winner, though, the lasting memory from Griffey’s goodbye season was a clubhouse nap. By then, it was obvious The Kid was too old to last in the majors.
***
4. Dave Winfield (1995), Cleveland Indians
Stats: -1.0 WAR, .191/.285/.287 slash line, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 14 BB, 26 K in 46 games
It’s hard to blame Dave Winfield for his substandard play during his 22nd season in MLB. At age 43, he was the oldest player in the league, and is the oldest guy mentioned in this article by a couple years. He had already missed an entire season due to a back injury in 1989, and a torn rotator cuff kept him on the disabled list for most of his “victory lap.”
And his last few seasons basically were victory laps. He had maintained stellar production through 1992, when he finished fifth in MVP voting at age 40 and won his only World Series title with the Blue Jays.
Father Time eventually caught up to Winfield, however. He was literally traded for a dinner during the 1994 players’ strike, and by the time play resumed in 1995, Winfield’s power and ability to hit for contact had abandoned him.
***
3. Eddie Murray (1997), Anaheim Angels/Los Angeles Dodgers
Stats: -1.0 WAR, .222/.281/.317 slash line, 3 HR, 18 RBI, 15 BB, 26 K in 55 games
Eddie Murray played on the same 1995 Indians squad as Winfield, tallying 21 homers and batting .323 for the American League champions. That would be Murray’s final season playing above replacement level.
Though his .260/.327/.417 slash line in 1996 would be acceptable in today’s game, it stuck out like a sore thumb amidst Cleveland’s loaded lineup of the homer-happy 1990s. Murray was traded to the Orioles in July and wasn’t retained thereafter by the club he played his first 12 seasons with.
Instead, Murray spent his final MLB season in sunny Southern California. His bat cooled down in the heat, as he batted just .219 with three homers in 46 games for the Anaheim Angels. The first baseman was then released and concluded his career with nine pinch-hit plate appearances for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
***
2. Ron Santo (1974), Chicago White Sox
Stats: -1.6 WAR, .221/.293/.299 slash line, 5 HR, 41 RBI, 37 BB, 72 K in 117 games
Before the 1974 campaign, the Cubs were looking to deal nine-time All-Star Ron Santo ahead of his age-34 season. Since Santo possessed 10-and-5 rights, he exercised his ability to narrow Chicago’s potential trade partners down to the crosstown rival White Sox, so he wouldn’t have to uproot his family. Santo signed a two-year contract with the Sox after the trade was consummated, but he’d only complete one disastrous season on the South Side before walking away from the game.
With star Bill Melton entrenched in Santo’s customary position at third base, Santo was relegated to designated hitter duty to begin the season. Santo, a five-time Gold Glover, took this as a slight, and his mood hardly improved when he earned time at second base – not to mention his rapidly deteriorating play. After an 11-year period saw Santo average 6.2 WAR per season, his decline in every facet of the game was stunning.
The beloved former Cub also clashed throughout the season with White Sox star first baseman Dick Allen, who was the highest-paid player in MLB at the time. The in-fighting eventually caused Allen, the league leader in home runs and slugging percentage, to leave the team two weeks before the season ended. Allen was sold to Atlanta in the offseason, and Santo elected not to return to the Sox, either.
It was an unceremonious conclusion to a career that eventually got the late Santo elected to Cooperstown by the Veterans Committee in 2012.
***
1. Craig Biggio (2007), Houston Astros
Stats: -2.1 WAR, .251/.285/.381 slash line, 10 HR, 50 RBI, 23 BB, 112 K in 117 games
A 20-year veteran of the Astros, Craig Biggio helped the franchise reach its pinnacle at age 39 by smashing a career-best 26 home runs for the 2005 NL championship squad. Within two years, he was a sub-replacement player whom pitchers weren’t afraid to challenge one bit.
Once recognized as a vaunted member of Houston’s trio of Killer B’s, Biggio apparently lost the ability to draw BBs near the end, yet couldn’t stop racking up Ks. His strikeout and walk rates in 2007 were both the worst marks of his career during a full season.
Even stranger? Biggio, baseball’s modern record holder for hit by pitches (285), was plunked only three times in 555 plate appearances. It was Biggio’s lowest HBP rate since 1991, his third full season in the Majors.
Biggio did become the first Astro to enter the 3,000 hit club during his final season – almost exactly nine years ago, on June 28, 2007. But you can’t say Houston, which went 73-89 and fired manager Phil Garner midway through Biggio’s closing campaign, required Biggio’s services during the two “fortysomething” seasons he spent there.
***
Alex Rodriguez (2016), New York Yankees
Stats: -0.5 WAR, .223/.264/.398 slash line, 8 HR, 26 RBI, 9 BB, 53 K in 44 games
Though Rodriguez previously pinpointed 2017 as his farewell tour (and almost immediately backed off those plans), is it possible we’re witnessing A-Rod’s swan song?
With two surgically replaced hips rendering him unplayable in the field, and a meager .584 OPS against right-handers this year relegating him to platoon duty at the Yankees’ designated hitter spot, A-Rod only has so much value at this point.
Common sense says some team will grant A-Rod a bench role next year and welcome the added press that will come with Rodriguez’s home run chase. Heck, maybe he’ll even rebound and be a net-positive presence.
As it stands, however, Father Time has A-Rod in a headlock.
Follow PointAfter on Twitter: @pntaftr
