No At-Bats & A Perfect OBP Club!

[webmaster]

Hello Baseball Fans,

An alert visitor to Baseball Almanac (http://www.baseball-almanac.com) noticed that on Eddie Gaedel's career stats I had his on-base percentage as .000. Gaedel did not have a career at-bat, but he did walk once so his career OBP should have been 1.000. A division by zero loop was in place to prevent problems and inadvertently became the problem! It was immediately modified to fix this critical error.

It did make me wonder though how many players have had no career at-bats, and at least one walk. Without further delay I present the "0 At Bat / 1+ Walk / 1.000 OBP Club"! The list is presented in alphabetical order with those having more than one career walk in bold...

Name Games-At-Bats-Walks

01 Honey Barnes (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=barneho01) 1-0-1
02 Bill Batsch (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=batscbi01) 1-0-1
03 Jim Brady (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=bradyji01) 6-0-1
04 Farmer Burns (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=burnsfa01) 1-0-1
05 Joe Cobb (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=cobbjo01) 1-0-1
06 Tom Davey (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=daveyto01) 48-0-1
07 Mike Duvall (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=duvalmi01) 9-0-1
08 Slim Embrey (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=embresl01) 1-0-1
09 Van Fletcher (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=fletcva01) 9-0-1
10 Eddie Gaedel (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=gaedeed01) 1-0-1
11 Bob Gebhard (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=gebhabo01) 13-0-1
12 Ed Hug (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=huged01) 1-0-1
13 Keith Johns (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=johnske03) 2-0-1
14 Matt Karchner (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=karchma01) 12-0-1
15 Unknown Leonard (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=leona01) 1-0-1
16 Hersch Lyons (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=lyonshe01) 1-0-1
17 Jose Mesa (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=mesajo01) 104-0-1
18 Ernie Ovitz (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=ovitzer01) 1-0-1
19 Jose Parra (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=parrajo01) 69-0-2
20 Charlie Pickett (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=pickech01) 2-0-1
21 Earl Pruess (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=pruesea01) 1-0-1
22 Ernie Rudolph (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=rudoler01) 7-0-2
23 Dutch Schirick (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=schirdu01) 1-0-1
24 Con Starkel (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=starkco01) 1-0-1
25 Will Thompson (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=thompwi01) 1-0-1
26 Huck Wallace (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=wallahu01) 4-0-1
27 Bryan Ward (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=wardbr01) 20-0-1
28 Bob Wells (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=wellsbo01) 13-0-1
29 Bert Yeabsley (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=yeabsbe01) 3-0-1

Hope you enjoyed this unique list!

Sean

[whatup]

Sean, fascinating list! I wonder if any guys with no at-bats ever reached base by any other means besides BBs: HBP, etc. (Gee, how many ways can one reach base with no at-bats besides BBs and HBPs? Catcher interference? Balk after 3 balls?)

I just realized another interesting statistic: most plate appearances, no at-bats? It may be Parra and Rudolph (2 plate appearances each).

[Seattlem'sfan13]

I thought Estaban Yan was part of this club...

[nrm857]

does a walk count as a plate appearance?

[west coast orange and black]

thanx alot, sean.

(note: a balk occurring on a three-ball count is recorded as a bases on balls. otherwise, the "pitch" is recorded as neither a ball nor a strike.)

[Sweet Lou]

does a walk count as a plate appearance?

No, a walk does not count as an at-bat.

[RuthMayBond]

You didn't answer the question. A walk is a plate APPEARANCE

[reddog7712]

What would be cool is no at-bats, but a walk with the bases loaded. An RBI without an at-bat.

[RuthMayBond]

The closest I can get you is Earl Howard

[wrgptfan]

...and Paul Maloy

[mordeci]

There are 34 players with 0 career AB and >0 career R. Most of these have been pinch-runners.

players with 0AB and 4+ Runs:
Herb Washington: 33
Ron Guidry: 4
Eddie Phillips: 4

Players with 0 AB and 1 run, but >0 PA:
Slim Embrey
Charlie Pickett
Bob Wells
Jim Brady
Con Starkel
Earl Pruess
Jose Mesa
Framer Burns

[Cubsfan97]

Adam Greenberg got on base in his only plate appearence by getting hit in the head with the first pitch.

[Bluesteve32]

(note: a balk occurring on a three-ball count is recorded as a bases on balls. otherwise, the "pitch" is recorded as neither a ball nor a strike.)

Not necessarily true. A balk would count as a base on balls if only the play proceeds ans the balk is ignored as per 8.05 Pen. If a runner is on second and the pitcher balks on a 3-0 count, unless the batter hits the ball and he reaches first base and the runner reaches the next base (in that case the balk is also ignored), the runner would advance to third on the balk and the batter remains at the plate with a 3-0 count. A balk is "no pitch" in most circumstances.

However, if the runner is at first on a 3-0 count and the pitcher balks AND the pitch comes though and is a ball, then the batter is awarded first base on the walk and the runner is forced to advance as per 8.05 Pen.

Here it is straight from the book:

8.05
PENALTY: The ball is dead, and each runner shall advance one base without liability to be put out, unless the batter reaches first on a hit, an error, a base on balls, a hit batter, or otherwise, and all other runners advance at least one base, in which case the play proceeds without reference to the balk.

[flash143817]

I noticed on Jose Parra's hitting stats that he has 2 sacrifices to go along with his 2 walks in 4 plate appearances. Wouldn't this make his OBP .500 instead of 1.000?

[Brooklyn]

No. Sacrifice Flies lower your OBP, sacrificies do not count in the formula.


What would be cool is no at-bats, but a walk with the bases loaded. An RBI without an at-bat.

Jesse Baker (http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bakerje02.shtml) is credited with an RBI bu no ABs. His line doesn't show a walk or SF (before SF's were recorded), so there is obviously something missing here.

A few players have had a 1.000 OBP without an official at-bat over the course of a season and are credited with an RBI. the last to do it wat Randy Myers in 1995.

[rugbyfreak]

Here's some more scoring trivia: You've got a hit streak going. You walk (or get HP) each time up, streak still alive. Throw in a sac fly--streak over. Which is entirely consistent with the attitude about sac flies in the OBP rule: We'll give you a break in your BA, but you and I both know that, with a fly ball, you were going for a hit!

[chuckywang]

Adam Greenberg got on base in his only plate appearence by getting hit in the head with the first pitch.

I still remember that. He got called up to the Cubs with Matt Murton and I remember Kasper interviewing him and Murton after they both got called up. And then, in his first plate appearance, on the first pitch, he got hit right in the head and never saw the majors since. Murton, however, has become a pretty good player for the Cubs.