One-Hit Wonders: MLB Players That Had One Great Season

May 14, 2024

Dan takes a look at some of the best statistical seasons from MLB players who had short careers or who played a long time but at a much lower level.

When I think of "one-hit wonders" I usually think of a band or singer with just one hit song that got played on the radio while the rest of their music failed to get popular.

We see the same thing in professional sports. And whether it is a player who bursts onto the professional scene with an impressive rookie season only to fade into oblivion - or an established player who all the sudden comes out of nowhere with an MVP-caliber season after years of being a replacement level player - one hit wonders come in all varieties.

So who have been some of the biggest one-hit wonders in Major League Baseball history? I've categorized them into the "Disappearing Acts" and "Where Did That Come From" to distinguish between the two types of one-hit wonders.

The Disappearing Acts

Mark Fidrych

There might not be a bigger disappearing act in MLB history than Mark "the Bird" Fidrych who burst into the big leagues in 1976 to win the Rookie of the Year and finish second in the Cy Young voting.

Mark "The Bird" Fidrych threw 24 complete games in his 1976 rookie season with the Detroit Tigers.

Max Scherzer has thrown 12 complete games in his MLB career. pic.twitter.com/OBulYKWAck

— Jim Miloch (@podoffame) August 14, 2023

At just 21 years old, Fidrych was dominant, posting a 19-9 record with a 2.34 ERA and an incredible 24 complete games. He pitched 250 innings and had four complete game shutouts. He was tall and lanky and had some very peculiar mannerisms - earning him the nickname "the Bird."

He pitched well in his second season, making 11 starts but missed more than half the season due to multiple injuries. He would only start 16 more games over the next three years for Detroit and his MLB career was over by 1980 at only age 25.

Wally Bunker

Bunker had as impressive of a start to his career as Fidrych did at an even younger age. At just 19 years old, he won 19 games for the Orioles while logging 214 innings and 12 complete games.

At 19, Wally Bunker became the ace of the #Orioles staff that also featured Milt Pappas and Robin Roberts. Wally finished 19-5 (still most O's rookie single-season wins ), including another one-hitter, with a 2.69 ERA and won The Sporting News AL Rookie pitcher of the Year Award. pic.twitter.com/osYJ1clhN4

— Orioles Magic (@1983Orioles) January 25, 2021

He finished second in the AL Rookie of the Year voting to Tony Oliva and looked to be on the way to a promising MLB career. His fall from grace wasn't nearly as fast as Fidrych's as Wally remained a productive pitcher in the Orioles rotation for two more years, winning ten games in 1965 and 1966. But he went back and forth from the rotation and the bullpen in the next two years before finally having one more good season as a starter in Kansas City in 1969.

Bunker pitched two more seasons in KC and his career was over by 1971 at just 26.

Joe Charboneau

When we talk about hitters bursting onto the scene with massive rookie seasons, "Super Joe" Charboneau has to be near the top of the list. In 1980, he appeared in 131 games for the Cleveland Indians and smacked 23 home runs with 87 RBI. He was a runaway winner of AL Rookie of the Year, garnering a 73% share of the first-place votes.

Our third AL Rookie of the Year was Super Joe Charboneau, in 1980. (Yes, 1980.)

His numbers: .289, 23 HR, 87 RBI. pic.twitter.com/gQXzpGqbTK

— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) November 16, 2015

He was already 25 years old during that epic rookie campaign. Unfortunately, he injured his back the following year and nagging injuries caused him to hit just .210 in 1981 and then played in just 22 games in 1982, hitting .214. By the age of 27, he was out of baseball, playing just three seasons for Cleveland.

Jerome Walton

Walton was another Rookie of the Year award winner who was never able to match the numbers from his 1989 rookie campaign. He hit .293 and stole 24 bases in his 23-year-old season for the Cubs in 116 games.

Jerome Walton has the longest hitting streak in Cubs history. His rookie season in 1989 he hit in 30 straight games.

Who remembers Harry counting down the games after each hit? pic.twitter.com/l345tLkvrV

— Bad Chad (@CubWin) March 14, 2024

He had a 30-game hitting streak and looked like the center fielder of the future for Chicago. However, his playing time diminished over the next three seasons in Chicago as did his productivity. He made a brief return to relevance in 1995 for the Reds as a platoon player, hitting eight home runs and stealing 10 bases. But by 1998, his career was over at just 32 years of age.

Kevin Maas

Just one year after Walton won his ROY, Maas finished second in the American League voting in 1990. He came up as a 25-year-old first baseman and promptly hit 21 home runs in just 300 at-bats for the Yankees. The New York media had already dubbed Maas and Mattingly the "M and M boys" and Yankees fans were excited about having two power-hitting lefties at both corner infield positions.

24 Years Ago Today: The next "Mickey Mantle," Kevin Maas, hits the cover of New York Magazine pic.twitter.com/ZDxONTbzTk

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) June 17, 2015

He got the chance to be the everyday starter for a full season in 1991 but hit only 23 home runs in twice as many at-bats as the year before while his average dropped from .252 to .220. His play continued to decline the next two seasons and he spent all of 1994 in the minor leagues. He tried to catch on with Minnesota in 1995 but didn't hit and was sent to the minors where he played at the Triple-A level until he finally retired in 1997.

Bob Hamelin

As a 26-year-old rookie, Hamelin took home the AL Rookie of the Year in 1994. He hit 24 home runs, 25 doubles, and drove in 65 runs across 101 games and 375 at-bats. Hamelin beat out a guy by the name of Manny Ramirez for the award that season while helping the Royals to a record that was 13 games above .500 but the season ended early that year because of the players' strike.

1994 AL Rookie of the Year

Bob Hamelin pic.twitter.com/RtDldtD0WF

— OldTimeHardball (@OleTimeHardball) December 8, 2021

Hamelin would go on to platoon at first base or designated hitter for KC for two more years but hit just 16 home runs combined in 1995 and 1996. He had a decent year in Detroit in 1997 as he hit 18 big flies with a .270 average, but he played only one more season after that and was out of baseball by 1998 at the age of 30.

Dave Fleming

Fleming took the American League by storm in 1992, compiling a 17-10 record as a rookie and finishing third in the ROY voting. At just age 22, the big lefty started 33 games for Seattle and complied a 3.39 ERA across 228 innings.

He wasn't a power pitcher, striking out just 112 batters in '92, but he was a workhorse who didn't miss a single start. He followed up his rookie campaign with a 12-5 record in 1993 but added a full run to his ERA. In '94, he made only 23 starts and was very ineffective with a 6.46 ERA. In 1995, he was dealt to the Royals where he finished out the year before retiring at only 25 years old. He made a brief comeback attempt in 1998, but never made it out of Triple-A.

The "Where Did That Come From" Group

A reminder that these hitters had longer and more established careers, but came out of nowhere to have one huge season.

Tommy Harper

To be perfectly fair to Harper, he had a very productive 15-year career, stealing over 400 bases and leading the league in steals twice. He did bounce around a lot, playing for seven different teams in his career. He spent the first six years of his career in Cincinnati before heading to the Seattle Pilot (which became the Milwaukee Brewers).

Tommy Harper had a career year for the 1970 Milwaukee Brewers

.296/.377/.522
31 Home Runs
82 RBI
38 Stolen Bases pic.twitter.com/ZyL7IJQlOd

— OldTimeHardball (@OleTimeHardball) April 16, 2021

The first year of the Brewers' existence just happened to be the best year of Harper's career. He hit 31 home runs, drove in 82 runs, and swiped 38 bases - making the All-Star team for the only time in his career. He never hit more than 17 home runs in a season after that, but was still managed to steal bases at a high rate.

Marcus Giles

I grew up watching his big brother Brian smash balls into the Allegheny River. Brian had the better career of the two brothers, hitting 287 home runs over the span of 15 seasons, and playing until he was 38 years old. Marcus was done playing by age 29 after only seven seasons. But he outshined his brother for one year (2003) and was the best Giles in baseball.

Playing second base for the Atlanta Braves, Giles hit 21 home runs, scored 101 runs, had 69 RBI, and stole 14 bases. He finished that season with a .316 batting average and appeared in the All-Star Game. He followed that up with another nice season in 2004 but suffered a bad injury when colliding with a teammate while chasing down a fly ball.

13+ hits in a span of 3 MLB games,
last 100 years:

Joe Cronin, 1933
Walt Dropo, 1952
Tim Salmon, 1994
Mike Benjamin, 1995
Marcus Giles, 2003
Julio Rodríguez, 2023 🔥🔥🔥pic.twitter.com/TdSlVa764I

— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) August 19, 2023

He bounced back in 2005 with the second-best season of his career but dealt with pain in his chest and may have never fully recovered from that injury. His play went downhill in 2006 and he was released by the Braves. He played one season in San Diego (with his brother Brian) after that, but retired at age 29.

Brady Anderson

Most baseball fans age 40 or older remember Brady Anderson and his incredible 1996 season. There may not be a bigger outlier season out there in baseball history. Anderson played 15 seasons in the majors - all but one with Baltimore - and finished his career with 210 home runs and 315 stolen bases. He had never hit more than 21 home runs in a single season before 1996 (when he hit 50) and the most he hit after that season was 24 in 1999.

Brady Anderson played 15 seasons of MLB and hit 24% of his career Home Runs in a single campaign (50 in '96) pic.twitter.com/65Rtrii9Yr

— OldTimeHardball (@OleTimeHardball) August 2, 2023

What's pretty crazy is that he finished just 9th in the AL MVP voting in 1999, despite hitting 50 home runs with 110 RBI. Mark McGwire hit 52 that year to lead all of baseball, but 15 other players hit 40 or more dingers. This was the juiced ball and steroid era of baseball with offensive players putting up massive numbers. So while Anderson was never caught using or admitted to using steroids, many have speculated that he may have since he more than doubled the best home run total of his career at age 32.

Fernando Tatis

The elder Tatis was never the superstar that his son has become, but he had a solid 11-year career as a big-leaguer while playing for five different teams from 1997-2010.

Tatis came up with the Rangers in '97 but was traded to St. Louis in 1998 as part of a package for Todd Stottlemyre and Royce Clayton. It was the following season, 1999, that Tatis exploded onto the scene as an everyday player, smashing 34 home runs and driving in 107 while stealing 21 bases. He hit .298 that season with a .957 OPS.

Fernando Tatis Sr hitting two grand slams in the same inning off of Chan Ho Park(twice) will be a record that will never be broken. pic.twitter.com/IHoP4kmgE8

— BaseballHistoryNut (@nut_history) July 30, 2023

I'll never forget watching the game against the Dodgers where he hit two grand slams in the same inning, it was incredible. To say he peaked in '99 would be putting it mildly as he only hit 18 home runs the following season in 96 games. He dealt with various injuries over the rest of his career and was used mainly as a platoon outfielder in Montreal and New York. But for one season, he was one of the best hitters in baseball.

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