The 2014 Chicago Cubs: Worst Hitting Team in History?

Post date: May 28, 2014 8:37:00 PM

THE 2014 CHICAGO CUBS:

WORST HITTING TEAM IN HISTORY?

Who would have thought that with franchise hopefuls Starlin Castro and Anthony Rizzo actually showing some signs of life at the plate that Theo Epstein’s 2014 edition of the Little Boys in Blue would be in the running with the most hapless offensive teams in major league history? Unfortunately with the 2014 baseball season one month old, the 2014 Chicago Cubs are making a strong bid to be in this unfortunate team picture. Let’s take a look the current Cub squad stacks up against the least successful offenses since 1900.

The “Slumping Six”

We’ll compare the beloved Cubbies to the six worst hitting teams over the last 113 years, a sorry septet indeed, except for one notable exception:

1. 1909 Boston Doves 4. 1942 Philadelphia Phillies

2. 1909 Washington Senators 5. 1954 Philadelphia Athletics

3. 1906 Chicago White Sox 6. 1904 Washington Senators

Boston's National League team, commonly known as the Braves, called themselves the Boston Doves from 1907 to 1910, changing their name to the Braves in 1912.The Philadelphia Athletics became the Kansas City Athletics in 1955, and the two Washington Senators squads are ancestors of the Minnesota Twins, not the Texas Rangers.

After putting the 2014 Cubs in this group – and renaming it the “Slumping Seven” – I will compare the teams in five different categories:

1. Team Batting Average 3. On Base Percentage

2. Team Average minus Best Hitter 4. Runs Scored

5. Won – Loss Record

Team Batting Average

The ’09 Doves/Braves and ’09 Senators shared the worst team batting average recorded between 1900 and 2013 as they both finished at a .223 clip. In 1904 the Senators hit .227, three points less than the ‘06 “Hitless Wonders,” the Chicago White Sox, who finished at .230. The’42 Phillies hit .232, and the ’54 Athletics, .236. On April 30, 2014 the Cubs were hitting .230, bad enough to be tied with the ’06 Sox for fourth worst.

1. ’09 Doves/Braves .223 4. ‘06 Sox .230

2. ’09 Senators .223 5. 2014 Cubs .230

3. ’04 Senators .227 6. ’42 Phils .232

7. ’54 Athletics .236

Team Average Without The Best Hitter

Some teams that are uniquely poor in one statistic often have one player that skews the true picture with a standout performance. The Philadelphia Phillies’ pitching staff during Steve Carleton’s heyday and the Chicago Cubs hitting during Ernie Banks’ MVP years immediately come to mind. The ranking below reflects the team batting averages of the Slumping Seven without the performance of their best hitter.

Outfielder Emilio Bonifacio ended April hitting .338 for the 2014 Cubs, and without his stick the Cubs team average is a woeful .211. Right fielder Jack Lelivelt finished 1909 with a lusty .292 average. If the ’09 Senators did not have Lelivelt in the lineup they would have finished the season at .218. Center fielder George Beaumont hit .263 for the Boston Doves. The Doves’ team average for the 1909 season without Mr. Beaumont is .219. Taking first baseman Jake Stahl’s .262 out of the 1904 Senators’ .227 lowers their team batting average to .223. The 1906 White Sox drop from .230 to .223 without Frank Isbell’s .279, and the 1942 Phillies lose six points – going from .232 to .226 – without outfielder Danny Litwhiler’s .271. The 1954 Philadelphia Athletics are virtually as bad collectively without their best hitter as they are with him. Second baseman Spook Jacobs (think Connie Mack regretted trading Nellie Fox?) led the squad with a .253 average, and without him the A’s only drop three points, from .236 to 233.

1. 2014 Cubs .211 4. ‘04 Senators .223

2. ‘09 Senators .218 5. ’06 Sox .223

3. ’09 Doves .219 6. ’42 Phillies .226

7. ’54 Athletics .233

Team On Base Percentage

Perhaps the most boring experience in baseball is suffering through inning after inning when your heroes cannot even get on base. Even the best of the Slumping Seven, the 1954 Athletics, had the unique distinction of not even getting one out of every three batters ---whether by error, walk, hit by pitch, catcher’s interference, or base hit – on base.

1. ’04 Senators .275 4. ’42 Phillies .289

2. ’09 Senators .276 5. ‘2014 Cubs .293

3. ’09 Doves .285 6. ’06 Sox .301

7. ’54 Athletics .305

Total Runs Scored

It’s difficult to score runs if you don’t get runners on base, and more than half of these teams do not average even three runs –462 runs over 154 contests -- a game, and none of them came close to averaging four.

1. ’09 Senators 382 4. ’04 Senators 437

2. ‘42 Phillies 394 5. 2014 Cubs 492 (projected)

3. ’04 Senators 437 6. ’54 Athletics 542

7. ’06 White Sox 570

Overall Record

With all due respect to the old baseball adage that pitching is 70% of the game, it’s very difficult to win if you don’t score runs, hard to score runs if nobody’s on base, and men on base are few and far between if base hits are scarce. These poorest hitting teams’ records are equally sordid, except for one notable exception. The 1906 Chicago White Sox won 93 games, took the American League pennant, and embarrassed the cross-town Cubs to win the World Series—thanks to great fielding, stealing over 200 bases, having a pitching staff put up a 2.13 ERA, and holding their opponents to 110 fewer runs (460) than they scored themselves.

1.’04 Senators 38-113 .252 4. ’42 Phillies 42-109 .278

2. 2014 Cubs 41-113 .267* 5. ’09 Doves 45-108 .294

3. ’09 Senators 42-110 .276 6. ’54 Athletics 51-103 .331

7. ’06 White Sox 93-58 .616

Ranking The Worst Offensive Teams Since 1900

The grid below indicates which of the Slumping Seven is worst at what, with the numerals reflecting their ranking, one through seven, in each category.

TEAM B.A B.A. – B.H. ON BASE % RUNS TOTAL

’09 SENATORS 2 2 2 1 7

’09 DOVES/BRAVES 1 3 3 3 10

2014 CUBS 3 1 5 5 14

’04 SENATORS 7 4 1 4 16

’42 PHILLIES 5 6 4 2 17

’06 WHITE SOX 4 5 6 7 22

’54 ATHLETICS 6 7 7 6 26

The 1909 Senators, second worst of the seven in three categories and worst in runs scored, appear to the worst offensive team in the modern era. The ’09 Boston Doves, sporting the worst team batting average and finishing third worst in the other categories, were not much better. If the 2014 Cubs continue at their present pace, they’d fall right behind the Doves and the ’09 Senators. The ’04 Senators, ’42 Phillies, ’06 World Champion White Sox, and the ’54 Athletics finish the list..

Won-Loss Record

In large part the worst offenses in history closely parallel the same ordinal rank for the worst won-loss records in history. The worst-hitting ’09 Senators had the third worst record, and the ’09 Doves managed 45 wins in spite of their woeful offense.

1. ’04 Senators 38-113 .252 4. ’42 Phillies 42-109 .278

2. 2014 Cubs 41-113 .267 5. ’09 Braves 45-108 .294

3. ’09 Senators 42-110 .276 6. ’54 Athletics 51-103 .331

7. ’06 White Sox 93-58 .616

What Now, Cubs Fans?

This is the 100^th anniversary of Wrigley Field, and the Cubs’ organization is nostalgically commemorating each decade throughout the season to honor the occasion. Perhaps if the weak hitting continues it will help Cub followers nostalgically appreciate the poor hitters the Cubs sent to the plate in the bygone eras. How better for Chicagoans to reminisce about Cuno Berrigan, Bruce Edwards, Cal Nieman, Bob Speake, and Casey Wise than see these “Rickettsy” Cubbies duplicate their failures at the plate?