Though guys like Albert Pujols, Ken Griffey, Jr., and Derek Jeter make it look easy, hitting a baseball is just about the most challenging task in the world of professional sports. While not requiring the brute strength of football or the athletic endurance of basketball, laying a bat on a 95 mph pitch on the outside corner is something that takes an enormous about of focus, concentration, and practice.

But for every great player, there are several awful ones. Many of them become so bad that they live on as legends, etched forever in the the memory of the sport. So here, for your perusal, are a few of the worst hitters ever to step onto a major league field.

Mario Mendoza (1974-1982)
A right handed batting infielder from Mexico, Mario managed to smack only 287 hits over 1,456 career plate appearances. That works out to a lifetime average of .215, which though not the worst in history is still pretty terrible. He’s best known as the model for the express of “the Mendoza line”, which refers to the .200 level of batting average. If a player hits less than .200, he is said to be “below the Mendoza line.”

Bill Bergen (1901-1911)
Bergen’s supremacy is absolute in the world of hapless hitting catchers. Over his 3,228 at bats, the right handed batter collected only 516 hits. His lifetime average is .170, which ranks as the worst all-time behind only Cy Young (who, thanks to his legendary pitching prowess, is absent from this list). Bergen is regarded by many as the poorest professional hitter who ever lived. After playing three years in Cinncinati to begin his career, he was shipped off to Brooklyn, where he horrified fans of the Superbas/Dodgers for the remainder of his playing days.

Bob Uecker (1962-1967)
Certainly one of the funniest men in baseball, this former catcher has made a comedic career out of his ineptitude at the plate. Behind it, however, he was very good. With a lifetime average of .200 even, no one can say how truly terrible he would have been given a few more years of active duty (though his does have a World Series Championship with the ‘64 Cardinals). A native of Wisconsin, Uecker has been a fixture in the Brewers’ broadcast booth since the 1971.

- The Wanna-be Sports Guy

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Tags | Albert Pujols, bad baseball hitters, bad hitters, Baseball, Bill Bergen, Bob Uecker, Derek Jeter, Jr., Ken Griffey, Mario Mendoza, MLB, worst baseball hitters