The Worst Offense of All Time

Over at the Pit, someone poised the question of what team had the worst offense of all time. The 1962 Mets? The 2003 Tigers? Actually, the worst offense of all time, to my knowledge, comes from a team that receives very little attention in the discussion of all time bad teams.

The 1969 San Diego Padres entered the National League as one of two expansion teams, the other being the Montreal Expos. The Padres finished the season with a dismal 52-110 record. Their offense scored 468 runs, more than 100 runs less than the next worse offense. The team scored 2.89 runs a game, compared to a league average of 4.05.

The 1969 Padres featured two good hitters. The Padres selected Nate Colbert in the 18th round of the expansion draft. At the age of 23 Colbert enjoyed a breakout season, hitting .255 with 24 home runs and a .482 slugging percentage. Colbert enjoyed five years as a star first baseman before falling off the cliff after the 1973 season. Colbert is remembered best for sharing the record for home runs in a doubleheader with five (Stan Musial is the other to accomplish this feat).

Al Ferrera enjoyed three productive seasons in his career. After missing most of 1968, Ferrera arrived in San Diego via the expansion draft and picked up hitting where he left off in 1967, posting a .260/.349/.440 line (In 1969, that was good for a 124 OPS+). However, Ferrera just about disintegrated after his turned 30.

OF Ollie Brown and 3B Ed Spiezio posted largely average seasons. Brown was notable for his minor league power hitting and strong throwing arm. Spiezio is known to modern fans as Scott Spiezio's father, but he was a fine player in his own right. Despite a .234 average, Spiezio drew enough walks and hit enough home runs to make himself a worthwhile player. The next year Spiezio enjoyed a fine season before fading out of the Majors.

That is four good to decent hitters. Unfortunately, you need nine hitters to form a lineup. The other four regulars on the Padres were truly putrid. Catcher Chris Cannizzaro hit just .220, with acceptable plate discipline but little power. Second baseman Jose Arcia was good enough to play in the majors only while a member of the Padres. Arcia hit .215, drew 14 walks in 321 plate appearances, and hit 14 extra base hits, including zero home runs. Outfielder Cito Gaston hit .230 with 20 extra base hits in 419 plate appearances, and 117 strikeouts. Luckily for the Padres, Gaston would enjoy an All-Star year the next season, but then that turned out to be a fluke season. Shortstop Tommy Dean posted a gaudy .176 batting average, along with 13 extra base hits in 308 plate appearances.

The bench provided little help. Only Ivan Murrell produced anything resembling production, posting a .381 slugging percentage in 247 at bats. Utility man Roberto Pena hit .250/.286/.322 in 472 at bats. John Sipin hit .223 in 229 at bats with just eight walks. Van Kelly hit .244 in 209 at bats, and Tony Gonzalez hit .225 in 182 at bats. The Padres had drafted Gonzalez from the Phillies in the expansion draft. After half a season, the Padres traded Gonzalez to the Braves, where Gonzalez learned to hit again. The entire team posted a .225 batting average and .281 On Base Percentage. Besides those two statistics, the team finished last in runs, hits, doubles, walks, and slugging percentage.

The Padres continued as baseball's most pathetic franchise in the early 1970s. The team stumbled for five years, and nearly moved to Washington for the 1974 season before Ray Kroc stepped in and bought the team. Kroc publicly berated his team over the PA system after a bad loss. While Kroc's attempts to boost the team's performance amused fans, the team failed to improve. The Padres eventually won the National League pennant in 1984, in large part due to the emergence of OF Tony Gwynn.