Lowest OPS by a 3B in a Season Since 1920

Same old, same old -- as for all the positions: the explanation of why I chose to look at seasons since 1920 can be found here. The short story is I wanted to avoid the low-power years of the deadball era while compiling lists of poor-hitting position players.

Qualifiers also remain the same: the player must have qualified for the batting title during the season while playing 75% or more of his games at third base.

Name	Year	Team	PA	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Art Scharein	1933	SLB	522	.204	.269	.244	.513
Eddie Mayo	1943	PHA	533	.219	.278	.244	.522
Wally Gilbert	1932	CIN	450	.214	.252	.274	.526
Brooks Robinson	1975	BAL	539	.201	.267	.274	.541
Don Wert	1968	DET	589	.200	.258	.299	.557
Travis Jackson	1936	NYG	496	.230	.260	.297	.557
Lou Chiozza	1937	NYG	468	.232	.266	.294	.560
Aurelio Rodriguez	1974	DET	608	.222	.255	.306	.561
Tommy Thevenow	1935	PIT	425	.238	.261	.304	.565
Bob Kennedy	1942	CHW	442	.231	.270	.299	.569
Milt Stock	1924	BRO	607	.242	.277	.292	.569
Clete Boyer	1964	NYY	554	.218	.269	.304	.573
Scott Brosius	1997	OAK	526	.203	.259	.317	.576
Aurelio Rodriguez	1969	CAL	606	.232	.272	.307	.579
Bob Aspromonte	1963	HOU	514	.214	.276	.306	.582
Terry Pendleton	1986	STL	626	.239	.279	.306	.585
Bubba Phillips	1963	DET	502	.246	.276	.310	.586
Lee Handley	1946	PIT	456	.238	.289	.298	.587
Charlie Deal	1920	CHC	512	.240	.285	.304	.589
Terry Pendleton	1985	STL	602	.240	.285	.306	.591

Some notables appear on this list. The National League MVP in 1991, Terry Pendleton, shows up twice, early in his career. On the other side of the coin, Brooks Robinson shows up high on the list in a season at the end of his career. Aurelio Rodriguez shows up twice in the top twenty and two more times in the top 25. Rodriguez had a career OPS of .626 -- since 1920 only sixty third basemen have finished with seasons below that.

Third basemen have hit better recently: only twelve players have put up seasons with an OPS under .700:

• Vinny Castilla, 2002, .616
• Jeff Cirillo, 2002, .629
• Cal Ripken, 2001, .637
• Mike Lowell, 2005, .658
• Tony Batista, 2003, .663
• Aramis Ramirez, 2002, .666
• David Bell, 2005, .671
• Scott Brosius, 2000, .673
• Aaron Boone, 2005, .677
• Eric Hinske, 2004, .687
• Brandon Inge, 2007, .688
• Joe Randa, 2001, .693

Inge, obviously, had the lowest OPS among third basemen in 2007.