Virtual Painter: Jerry Kindall 1959 Topps Baseball Card
The follow-up to Virtual Painter: Jerry Kindall 1958 Topps Baseball Card. From Wikipedia:
No one since 1920 with at least 2000 at-bats has a lower career batting average than Kindall's .213, but he did have above average power for a second baseman.
Another instance of The Roger Craig Paradox, no doubt. More from Cool of the Evening:
His fine college career earned him a reported $50,000 bonus, which under the rules of the game in 1956 forced the Chicago Cubs to keep him on the major-league roster for two seasons. After that came two minor league years in Fort Worth before he returned to Chicago. In 1961, he gained the distinction of replacing Hall of Famer Ernie Banks at shortstop.
The Cubs had lost 18 of 21 games as June of '61 approached. It was before Banks' days as a daily first baseman, and the Cubs moved the future Hall of Famer from shortstop to left field and replaced him with Kindall.
Kindall came into the '61 season as a .201 lifetime hitter, but his first five hits after the move were three home runs, a triple and a double. Although a light-hitter, Kindall did have remarkable power when he connected and was capable of 400-foot home runs. "He always could hit the ball a far piece," coach Harry Craft said.
The problem was that Kindall just failed to connect very often, collecting only 439 hits in a nine-year career.
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