The Worst Team in Baseball History

Major league baseball, America's favorite pastime, has created it's shared of memorable moments for those who love the game. Good or bad, these memories stay with us and become the focus of our conversations with fellow fans. One topic that fans enjoy to discuss is who has been the worst team in baseball. There have been numerous teams to reach the century mark in the loss column, but it takes more than that to top the list.

When discussing the worst teams in baseball, fans and the media will have their personal favorites. Some will say it is the 2003 Detroit Tigers who finished the season with a 53-109 record and no one on the pitching staff won more than 7 games. There are others who would elect the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, who closed out the season with a record of 20-134 and a .150 winning percentage. The team had such a horrendous season the team was never given the chance to redeem themselves as it was folded by Major League Baseball after the season.

Despite the teams having horrid seasons, the one team that holds claim on the worst team in baseball is the 1962 New York Mets. In the team's first season, legendary manager Casey Stengel was charged with managing faded stars from the Dodgers, Giants, and Yankees. The Mets started the season winning one game out of the first 13 games. By the time the season was completed, the Mets compiled a 40-120 record as they set numerous records in futility.

The Mets offense sputtered through the season as they scored only 631 runs and managed to record a result of the paltry .240 team batting average that was last in the National league. Their base running was even more unbearable as they stole 59 bases while being caught 48 times. The Mets did have some power on the team as they knocked in more homerun than four other National League teams. Frank Thomas was the best hitter for the '62 Mets, finished the season with a .266 average, 34 homeruns, and 94 RBI's. This was a feat for Thomas who had little support around him. 1962 was the last productive year Thomas would have in major league baseball.

The pitching staff features five pitchers who lost 17 or more games, while no one won more than 10 games during the 1962 campaign. The ace of the staff was Roger Craig is the one who collected 10 wins to go along with the 24 losses he suffered. The 24 losses ranked second highest in the history of major league baseball. Craig proved in '63 that his career was still on the decline when he finished with a 5-22 record. Filling out the rest of the starting rotation that compiled a 27-75 record was Al Jackson, who lost 22 games, and Jay Hook, who somehow managed only to lose 19 games. The team finished the season ERA of 5.04 as the Mets gave up 192 home runs and 831 earned runs to their opponents. Perhaps the pitching staff failed to meet expectations because of the team collected 210 errors in the field. Two of those players who represented the incompetence in the field were first baseman Marv Thorneberry and catcher Choo Choo Coleman.

Perhaps the one moment that best epitomizes how much of a mess the Mets were centered on catcher Harry Chiti. The Mets traded with Cleveland, sending a player to be named later for Chiti. The trade was completed when Chiti was the player to be named later. In essence, Chiti was traded for himself.

What made this even stranger was New York embraced the "Amazing Mess' and continue to fill the ball park to watch their lovable losers.