The only stat I'm aware of from my baseball play was that I faced exactly one batter as a pitcher and gave up a homerun.

Players like me don't reach the majors. I got to continue playing longer than my talents merited because every now and then a ball would run into my bat and would go a mile. (always swing hard, you might connect. I'd never heard of Woodie Held, but it was my hitting style)

Bert Campaneris. No power (though unlike Bert, I never had my 1970), good bunter and a glove that could (and did) play every position on the field (well, I only caught in practice).

suggestions?

Roy Thomas, if we're assuming center field.

Could run fast but was not good enough with the bat or glove to make much of it. Short and infielder-y. Donnie Sadler comes to mind.

Unbelieveably bad fielding first baseman, struck out a lot, but hit the ball hard when I did make contact...Dick Stuart.

Screw you guys. I'm Mickey Mantle.

Mickey Mantle, circa 2012.

You're dead to me.

So who was a SS who had good opposite field power, doubles power mostly, high average hitter with decent walks, but too good a bad ball hitter and had too much fun swinging the bat to pull a ton of walks...?

Solid defensive catcher but all OBP, no SLG at the plate and rarely fanned which has me thinking Jason Kendall.

Nice! Same here. Leadoff hitting C with great defensive skills. Not really good HR power, but decent line drive power to the gaps, for doubles and triples. Good speed and GREAT OBP. Rarely ever K'd, made solid contact regularly. Nicknamed "Sparkplug" for years.

I love that so many of us remember ourselves as high OBP hitters.

In my first JV game I took 3 walks and hit a single. After the game I asked my coach, "Do you mind if I keep doing that, just let them walk me?" My batting line ended up being something like .180/.460/.220. I didn't even have a good eye. I was a pure guess hitter, but most of the time I decided not to swing long before the pitcher even went into his windup.

Outfielder... low average Three True Outcomes hitter... strong arm but otherwise something of a klutz on defense...
Strong and fast but uncoordinated...

Rob Deer?

I'm claiming Al Hrabosky and nobody else can have him, dammit.

Al Travers

/pedantry

I love that so many of us remember ourselves as high OBP hitters.

My last year of organized ball, I started the season, after four games with an obp of 1.000 and a ba of .000.... after the fifth game my average went up to .500 and obp dropped down to .928(?).... I never had a problem with walks, just couldn't hit the ball over the outfielder head. Since then I've played softball for years and am somewhat the opposite, my average is around .700(along with my slugging...nothing but singles) but I don't think I've ever taken a pitch in softball(slow pitch of course)

There's no honor in taking pitches in slow pitch, unless it's co-ed and they're intentionally trying to get to a lesser hitter behind you. Then you take the double and give her 1B.

Players like me don't reach the majors. I got to continue playing longer than my talents merited because every now and then a ball would run into my bat and would go a mile. (always swing hard, you might connect. I'd never heard of Woodie Held, but it was my hitting style)

I beg to differ, sir.

I love that so many of us remember ourselves as high OBP hitters.

It's kinda cool, isn't it? Makes sense, too, in that people who wind up posting here became OBP-sensitive at some point, and even little league's not too early.

I remember with football, when we used to play catch on the local elementary school fields, my dad had a rule: "If you can touch it, you can catch it". That was wise on several grounds: it short-circuited my seven year-old tendency to whine that he hadn't thrown it "right"; it taught me to take responsibility for what came within my orbit as a player, and it gave me one more way to interpret and understand the pro game as a spectator/analyst. I can't quite remember what he had to say about baseball as football and basketball were more his games, but I think he would have been a "Wait for your pitch" man.

So who was a SS who had good opposite field power, doubles power mostly, high average hitter with decent walks, but too good a bad ball hitter and had too much fun swinging the bat to pull a ton of walks...?

Derek Jeter

Not Keefe, and #### you, not Eddie Gaedel.

In some leagues, I was Boggs, good fielding 3b w/high OBP, w/1 HR a year.

In some leagues, I was whichever guy hit for very high average, singles and doubles mostly.

In FP leagues, I was the guy who batted .200m w/an OPS of .400.

Pete Rose.
Hustle, play every position well enough to wrestle it to a draw, some walks, short compact swing, lots and lots of singles punched over the infield.
Also, when I play on turf, I like to bounce the ball off it the way Rose used to. It's fun!
I rarely slide head-first, but I have a very good hook slide to either side. A couple of years ago I was taking third on a bad throw home, and the catcher's throw beat me but I hooked around the tag. Team waiting to play (in bleachers behind the 3b line) all went "Oooooooh" at the same time. That kind of moment doesn't happen near often enough in everyday life.

I guess I'm Roy Thomas, yes.

"I love that so many of us remember ourselves as high OBP hitters."

In Senior League (age 12 or so), I went 8 for 16 with 15 walks in 10 games. 7 singles, one bloop double. Played RF that year (some coaches would only play lefties at 1B or RF; no CF option).

So who was a SS who had good opposite field power, doubles power mostly, high average hitter with decent walks, but too good a bad ball hitter and had too much fun swinging the bat to pull a ton of walks...?

Groat?

EDIT: Or not. His power was less than I remember, tho he did hit a bunch of doubles.

Lance Blankenship. I played everywhere on the field adequately but couldn't hit to save my life, so I just stood there at the plate and waited to either walk or strike out looking. One season as a ~12 year old, I hit .067 and on-based .470.

I remember my coach being impressed with my bunting skills. I guess I was just a natural at making outs.

Charles "Victory" Faust.

I was a good glove CF, with a low-to-average OBP, no power but good baserunning. Early-career Steve Finley?

My last year of organized fast pitch softball (age 14) I slugged over 1.000, walked quite a bit and played a horrible 3B, so I'm thinking Pedro Guerrero. The quality of our league wasn't great.

I was a solid center fielder, with an exceptional arm (I pitched occasionally). I had a high batting average, but I never walked and couldn't hit for power. And, even though I was pretty fast (in the field), I never stole many bases.

When you add in the fact that I quit playing in my senior year after repeated run-ins with my coach, I think the comparison is obvious: I am Curt Flood.

Likely Russell Branyan I guess

You tell me who this is.

Position player: Low average, gap power, high bb+hbp+k guy (another person trying not to make outs, versus trying to get hits - also a pure guess hitter) - let's say .220/.420/.320. Slow, but aggressive baserunner - stole a fair number of bases. Low range, error prone utilityman - horrible in the outfield (depth perception an issue) - best at third and behind the plate - played everywhere but first*. (Also throws lefty, but that kills any comp right there.)

Pitcher: Lefty junkballer throwing variations on a single pitch (my straight ball!) from multiple arm angles (primarily sidearm and high 3/4), while changing speeds. Generally strong control, but had mechanical/physical issues such that when I'd miss, I'd miss by a foot. Or three. So... low walk, mid-to-high K, high HBP+WP, high HRA guy.


* Naturally, when I now play slow pitch I always end up at first, where I am an honest-to-goodness horror show. At least I've finally found an environment where I'm a good hitter - either batting .900 on dumped singles to the pull field or (if I'm at this one park with a short RF fence) being a .500/1.500 guy who alternates between pop-ups and moon shots.

Der_K: Howard Johnson? Jose Hernandez?

Switch hitter, decent power from the left side, corner OF, fast but with a reputation for laziness, prone to embarassing defensive lapses. I guess I'm an impoverished man's Ruben Sierra?

I love that so many of us remember ourselves as high OBP hitters.

Not to rain on any parades, but having watched my fair share of low level amateur play, I'm thinking these high-OBP histories are less the byproduct of Boggsian plate discipline rather than leagues filled with pitchers with Bobby Witt-level command of the zone.

I love that so many of us remember ourselves as high OBP hitters.

How many of us read "The Science of Hitting" or something similar before we turned 13? I wouldn't be surprised if people here were a bit more willing to take a walk than most kids we played against.

I became an expert at taking the first pitch of an at bat. I knew that meant I was disciplined and being smart. The problem was that the likely I would swing at the 2nd pitch about 99.99999% of the time. It bounced? I was hacking. Over my head off the backstop? I was hacking. If after that it was 1-1 then I had a decent chance to draw a walk.

Specs Toporcer. After the eye problems.

I was a switch-hitting second baseman, not a bad fielder, but a weak arm, and I could not hit at all, not for power or average or to save my life. I usually made up my team's lineup card according to my 10-year-old pre-sabermetric theories. A look at B-Ref tells me that I'm Jerry Manuel.

HoJo without power is not bad! Nice job!
Not a great comp statwise, but Clay Rapada is who I came up with as a pitcher. Minus the insane platoon split.

Not to rain on any parades, but having watched my fair share of low level amateur play, I'm thinking these high-OBP histories are less the byproduct of Boggsian plate discipline rather than leagues filled with pitchers with Bobby Witt-level command of the zone.

Parade rainer!
I, for one, was explicitly looking for walks - down to experimenting with different crouches to shrink my strike zone. Because I knew I sucked.
Having said that, the last LL game I saw (my 8-yr old nephew's) featured walks in a majority of the plate appearances - it was easily the most boring baseball I've ever seen in my life.

Having said that, the last LL game I saw (my 8-yr old nephew's) featured walks in a majority of the plate appearances - it was easily the most boring baseball I've ever seen in my life.

I think we were still playing T-ball until age 11.

WHAT? Are you serious Crispix?

I was a good glove CF, with a low-to-average OBP, no power but good baserunning. Early-career Steve Finley?

Or Joe Orsulak. That's my top comp. When I played in an actual baseball league, one guy told me I reminded him of Joe Orsulak. He was the best hitter on the team, and one of two who had been in a big league camp, so I took it as a compliment.

Now I'm 41 and only play softball, mostly with people at least a decade younger than me. But I'm the best defensive infielder on the team and play shortstop. So I've become Omar Vizquel.

WHAT? Are you serious Crispix?

That's what I was wondering. My kid will be 10 in July. He's been pitching for three years.