Well, we thought he was going to be good

[Cowtipper]

Can you name the batters since 1901 who posted an OPS+ of 150 or greater in their first season (minimum 100 plate appearances) to play less than 500 career games and/or play five years or less in the big leagues? If I did my research correctly, five players fit that description. This is not including active players.

1) Kevin Maas
2) Bret Barberie
3) Dale Alexander
4) Bill Salkeld
5) Chris Dickerson

No cheating

[Macker]

Bob Hazle?

Does your list count guys who died before playing 5 years?

[GiambiJuice]

Being a Yankee fan, the first guy who comes to mind is Kevin Maas.

[filihok]

Can you name the batters since 1901 who posted an OPS+ of 150 or greater in their first season (minimum 100 plate appearances)

Well, OPS doesn't become reliable until 500 PA's

Without further delay, here are the results of his article as far as when certain statistics stabilize for individual hitters:

...
500 PA: OBP, SLG, OPS, 1B Rate, Popup Rate

So, people shouldn't be making judgements based on OPS and 100 PA's anyway

Continue with your thread....

I have no idea. Kevin Maas does sound like a good guess

[GiambiJuice]

Chill, it's a trivia question.

[pheasant]

Off the top of my head, I will guess Walt Dropo, Wally Berger, and Tony Conigliero

[toomanyhatz]

Hurricane Hazle is the first one I thought of.

How about the beloved Buzz Arlett? That's another that occurred to me.

And there was a Rookie of the Year that had a great rookie season in the 70s or 80s then collapsed. Can't think of his name.

Ron Blomberg is another- in fact I think I'm getting whoever I'm thinking of mixed up with Blomberg.

[Jackaroo Dave]

Hurricane Hazle is the first one I thought of.

How about the beloved Buzz Arlett? That's another that occurred to me.

And there was a Rookie of the Year that had a great rookie season in the 70s or 80s then collapsed. Can't think of his name.

Ron Blomberg is another- in fact I think I'm getting whoever I'm thinking of mixed up with Blomberg.

Are you thinking of Joe Charboneau?

How about somebody Cox who played 3rd briefly for the Red Sox in the 70s? I don't know if he got the at bats.

[toomanyhatz]

Are you thinking of Joe Charboneau?

Yep, he's the one.

[Cowtipper]

Kevin Maas is correct.

[Braves Fan]

How about former Brave's catcher Earl Williams? He started well, but I don't think he held on for very long...

[Cowtipper]

Earl Williams is incorrect. Here's a hint for one of them. He's a 90s guy so he is pretty fresh in our memories.

He burst onto the scene with the Expos by hitting over .350 in his first season. He would hit over .300 once more in his career, while with the Marlins, but in his final season his OPS+ was an abominable -16.

[ian2813]

Earl Williams is incorrect. Here's a hint for one of them. He's a 90s guy so he is pretty fresh in our memories.

He burst onto the scene with the Expos by hitting over .350 in his first season. He would hit over .300 once more in his career, while with the Marlins, but in his final season his OPS+ was an abominable -16.

Bret Barberie?

[Cowtipper]

That's correct. Did you guess off the top of your head or did you have to do a little research? If you just guessed, I'm impressed.

Let's move back in time for this one.

Unlike Bret Barberie, this guy was a stellar player during his career, leading the league in batting average once and hits once. Despite playing alongside Charlie Gehringer and Harry Heilmann, he never saw the playoffs as his teams normally struggled overall.

[ian2813]

That's correct. Did you guess off the top of your head or did you have to do a little research? If you just guessed, I'm impressed.

I came up with Barberie's name on my own, though I didn't know him to be such a good hitter, so I checked BB-Ref to see if it could possibly be him before I posted my guess. Half credit?

Let's move back in time for this one.

Unlike Bret Barberie, this guy was a stellar player during his career, leading the league in batting average once and hits once. Despite playing alongside Charlie Gehringer and Harry Heilmann, he never saw the playoffs as his teams normally struggled overall.

Ah, I think I know this one too. Is it Dale Alexander? His entry in the Baseball Encyclopedia always stood out to me, because he had such a short career yet won a batting title.