The Worst Fielder in Baseball History: The Story of Dick Stuart
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- Опубликовано: 24 мар 2024
- Throwback to the infamous Dr. Strangeglove aka Dick Stuart, whose reputation on the field was anything but stellar. Even after 7 consecutive years leading the league in errors, he still managed to keep his sense of humor.
Danny Murtaugh once said about Stuart that "he was very happy when he caught a fly on the first bounce". Good vid
Hahaha
DOCTOR STRANGEGLOVE!! Such great memories.
Forever
During a pre game practice he had left his 1st baseman mitt unattended beside the bag when somebody hit a grounder that found its way directly into the pocket of the mitt, which led to the conclusion that it worked better without Stuart's hand in it. 😂⚾
L3900 you had me falling off the couch with your post thanks needed that laugh. As a Met fan since 1967 I remember Stuart as a Met but do not remember him being so bad a fielder, perhaps because he was preceded by Marvelous Marv Throneberry.
@@johnschaefer2238 Hi John, happy to know that the miraculous unmanned mitt story made you laugh 🤣😂 !!! Certainly, Marvelous Marv could upstage even Dr Strangeglove, talk about a couple of characters !!! Blessings from San Juan PR 🇵🇷.
Gracias Luis y Rodas con Los puneous!
Omg HILARIOUS
From a baseball purist since age 8 (that’s 67 yrs), that’s one of the funniest comments I have ever heard! I also did not know that Dick Stuart was such a terrible fielder, but he could really put a charge into the ball at the plate. He hit 66 homers in one of Pittsburgh‘s minor league teams plus he led the National League in RBIs in 1963. Dude was 6 foot four and over 200 pounds, could really hit, but could not field a lick, also known as “iron glove“! 😅
My grandfather worked for the Pittsburgh Pirates for over 45 years. Had lots of stories and good thing to say about all the players that he met. He never had anything nice to say about Dick Stuart though, always said that he was full of himself.
The license plate story is golden!
He also hit 66 home runs in one season in the minors. And as much as I despise the Designated Hitter, it would have been perfect for him.
true.. Western League in 1956.. He had 158 RBIs that season..
Everything you said is completely true. Dick Stuart's baseball card is mentioned in The Great American Baseball Card Flipping Trading and Bubble Gum Book. After Stuart caught the hot dog wrapper the crowd cheered because they realized it was the first thing he had caught all day and it would likely be the only thing he would catch all day.
Talk about Stonefingers, the Mets also had guy for which no fielders or first baseman's gloves could be made big enough for the error prone Marvelous Marv Thornberry another member of the team in the goddawful breech birth of what in a few short years became the 'Miracle Mets" The guy who was their manager after the greatest run of success of any manager in baseball, Casey Stengal. Who as a Met Manager got more acclaim for his book about his years as manager called"Can Anyone Here Play This Game? , than he did managing the team.
There are a number of incidents about Marv in the book but the best one was the Mets tradition of buying a cake for any player having a birthday during the season. After the game Marv walked into the clubhouse and there was no cake waiting for him. "Hey guys where's my cake, I told you my birthday was today several weeks ago." To which Casey said "We were afraid you'd drop it."
Throneberry was an average fielder, statistically.
@@dennissvitak5475 Tell that to Casey Stengel.
I remember seeing one of his errors. My father and I were directly behind 1st base in Fenway. An easy throw from an infielder sailed past him into the Red Sox dugout.
Dick Stuart was a terrible fielder but for a few seasons with the Red Sox he was an excellent and feared power hitter. In my hometown of Stamford CT there was a ballpark at JM Wright Tech that had a huge outfield. Centerfield was deeper than any major league park. I don’t remember why he was in town but he hit a huge homer out of the park that was legendary.
Ahhh...Dr. Strangeglove. When you shook his hand, you were supposed to say "give me some steel!"
Dr. Strangeglove....I believe I received his autograph as during the all-star break the Sox were hosted to a meal at Lobster in the Rough out on the Cape..This guy hit some homers ...
I recall seeing one of his errors in Boston. I was 9 yo with my father. We had seats above the Red Sox dugout on 1st base side. A throw from 2nd sailed right past his glove into the dugout.
Red Sox shortstop Don Buddin who played in the same era as Stuart was right up there in fielding futility.
Another nickname he had was The Ancient Mariner, from a line in the poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" that went "It is an ancient Mariner, and he stoppeth one of three".
I think that line was about the 1962 Mets' infield!
A line that has been said about inept goalies in every sport that uses a goal.
Your forgetting Rudy York who was described as being "half-Irish, half-Indian and half-first baseman.,"
He had a manager in the minors who called him “the worst outfielder I’ve ever seen.” Jim Bouton tells a funny story about Stuarts fielding in Ball Four. It had me in stitches. But he could hit home runs, and that’s why they had to put up with his poor fielding. He was also quite a character in the club house.
Home Run Derby, Episode 16, Frank Robinson vs. Dick Stuart
@aristotlewasnotafanofplato3661 All of the great sluggers were on that show Mantle, Snider, Colavito, Mays, Musial, Aaron, Mathews, Frank Robinson, Kaline, Berra, Maris, etc. It was a great show.
The Adam Dunn of the 1960's⚾️
Played well in spite of all odds. Needed mentoring from Ted Williams. Glad he hit that ball! 😊😊
Dr. Strangeglove is what I call Trea Turner.
Too bad you didn't show any footage.
probably isn't any.
@@prisonersforprofitThere definitely is footage
The poor guy was issued an iron glove. You gotta love him anyway.
Dr. Strange Glove.
Beat me to it.
My mother use to tell me how bad a fielder Stuart was, but in the same sentence, she also said she was glad he was hitting, in the Pirates lineup!!!
"His fielding does not matter"
In 1961 I saw him hit a gigantic HR over the Longines scoreboard in Forbes Field. Bucs used him at First Base which in itself is kinda funny, but he could rake.
What’s funny about the Bucs using him at first base?
Old Stone Fingers strikes again!!!!
He once said, "I know I'm the world's worst fielder, but there's no fielder making the amount of money I make for hitting home runs."
Just check the records of his teams.
NOT a coincidence.
George Carlin said it best. "Somewhere in the world is the worlds worst doctor. And somebody has an appointment with him."
A sportswriter once said his license plate number should be E3.
I think Dick Radatz said that. Great relief pitcher with Red Sox when Stuart played for them in 63, 64.
He did it though we're talking about him he's got a video
That was back in the days when the red sox could take a game almost all the way, then blow it! (and they still play that way today)
What's funny about this is OOTP rates him on his actual stats and he's not much below average. He must have looked a lot worse than he was.
I hate all these new stats. What is OOTP?
@@Rick_King
Not liking news stats, I understand. It's so much easier just to count the errors rather than consider range. Although I do think WAR is guesswork when comparing players who don't play the same position.
OOTP is a baseball simulation.
@@Rick_King
If you want to see a really bad fielder check out Joe Torre at 3B. He is an average of -12 runs per season over his career. Stuart is -8 runs for his career at 1B.
@@bradkay I still don't know what OOTP is!
I was looking at my Dodgers the other day. Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani had similar batting lines, same number of hits, runs scored, and RBIs. Ohtani had more homers and a higher batting average, yet Betts had a 3.2 WAR, and Ohtani 2.6. It doesn't make much sense to me.
@@Rick_King
OOTP is a baseball simulation. You tube doesn't like links. You'll have to google it. Out Of The Park Baseball if OOTP doesn't work.
I already stated my non belief in the validity of WAR when comparing players not playing the same position.
Stuart was to fielding what Mendoza was at the plate, then?
Don Buddin was even worse at fielding for the red Sox. His license plate should read E6
Don was a terrible ss and was a solid .200 hitter. So much for him being a bonus baby. Whoever scouted and signed him should have been fired .
Maybe Marv Throneberry gave him a run for worst fielder
Dude fielding is like David Ortiz at shortstop
What about Ron Swoboda?
Yeah, but one great catch. You knew that was coming, didn't you?
Yeah, but that one great catch. You knew somebody would bring that up, I just know.
At least he worked on his fielding. He wore out Met coach Eddie Yost from all the fungoes Yost hit to him.
He holds the minor league home run record 66
I think that record might be 66, in the Western League I think. When he arrived in the majors he had "66" sewn onto his suitcase with stars around it.
@@bigego503 And he would sign autographs as, Dick "66" Stuart.
Marvelous Marv throneberry actually caught a few balls thrown at him
Yeah he caught 'em but then he dropped 'em.
wasn't he on the 1960s pirates?
i remember seeing dick stewart in a home run contest (filmed after the 1959 season) wondering who he was, they had some of the greats in it, mantle, aaron, killebrew, frank robinson (reds), ernie banks, al kaline, eddie mathews, willie mays... dick stewart... "wait... who"?
they were 1 on 1 contests and stewart won 2 of 3 with 21 home runs, he beat wally post and gus triandos, a couple more guys i was unfamiliar with.
Home Run Derby on Saturdays. It ran 12 months of the year, so as a kid you got your baseball fix even in the off season.
@@billd8324 I was 12. The homerun contests were EXCITING!!!
Of the guys you mentioned, I had autographs of Robinson, Aaron, Banks, Kaline, and Post. Mantle was my favorite player, but the only time that I saw the Yankees play, he broke his foot in Baltimore days before the game I saw.
@@user-tm7me1ef9l i saw mantle, frank robinson, and al kaline play, not banks or aaron, back when the a.l. and n.l. didn't play.
I was 11 in 1962, and baseball was my favorite sport. After the Little league season was over, I went to stay with my aunt in Houston for a week, or so. It was the first season for Houston's MLB team. They were called the Colt 45s, and they played in a former minor league field. They didn't have much of a fan base yet. My aunt would take me to the game, buy my ticket, escort me to my seat, then come back after the game to get me. I sat right by the 1st base dugout every night. After the game, I waited to get autographs. I had Aaron, Banks, Mathews, Spahn, Gibson, Robinson, and Stan Musial from those few games. That's four 500 HR hitters, and the winningest left-hander of all-time, plus Stan the Man. I saw Kaline the next year, and he was the only one I saw hit a homer, a 3-run off of Jim Bouton. Those were the days, huh?
Doctor Strange glove!!!
He could hit, though.
Hopeless on ground balls, but not bad on infield throws.
That's a ton of errors at 1B,how about Choo-Choo Freeman at catcher. Dee Gordon was terrible at short but did well at 2B.Steve Garvey was terrible at 3B but probably didn't commit as many errors at first his whole career as Stuart did in one season!
Would that be Choo Choo Coleman?
Garvey had a terrible arm, and a golden glove.
Garvey had those Popeye forearms
Bill Buckner has to get a mention for letting the WS slip through his legs in the 1986 game 6😂😂😂
He was actually a terrific player, all around. Please let it go.
@@Dominos-el7qr it's a shame that's what he's remembered for the ball took a weird hop like it hit a rock or something
Quit making fun of players from the MLB. How many homers did you hit?
If you watch the entire video, at the end I talk about how good of a hitter he was.
It's certainly no surprise that he played for the pirates
Here's a surprise for you. He played on the Pirates 1960 World Championship team.
@@bradkay Started every game in the 1960 ws as I recall and didn't make any errors.
Stuart hit a Home run to the deepest part of Forbes Field, between the Honus Wagner Monument, the flag pole and over the batting cage. Went like 525 feet. No other player ever hit one over that part of the wall.
@@janhill7383
The corner just to the left of center was 457 feet away, so far they thought it was a good place to store the batting cage during games.
Never have seen Stuart play, but he can't be as horrible as Prince Fielder. He was a Stage IV Carcinoma in Detroit. Thank goodness Dombroski got rid of him and got a solid player in Ian Kinsler.