Mendoza Line: What is It?

[davemakovec]

I keep hearing this mentioned with Brady Clark's hitting woes lately.

 

What is the Mendoza line? Is he a former player?

[Team Canada]

Yes, he's a former player who hit around .200. That's what the Mendoza Line refers to.

[BillScottCanRake]

LINK: Mendoza Line

 

"The Mendoza line is actually named after Minnie Mendoza, a career minor leaguer, who finally made it with the Minnesota Twins in 1970 At age 36. Mendoza hit .188 in sixteen games with the Twins that year. I remember seeing the term Mendoza Line first mentioned in The Sporting News in either 1970 or 1971. It mentioned that some hitters could not even get their averages above the Mendoza Line. It then stated that the term was named after the Twins light hitting infielder Minnie Mendoza. Mario did not come along until 1974. It burns me every time I hear an announcer Mention Mario instead of Minnie when referring to the Mendoza Line. Long live Minnie!"

[DHonks]

I still would like to have Brewerfan.net officially change the term to the Uecker Line

[SenatorShriv]

I'm not sure what site it is, but I know that there is a data base out there that compairs players to the most statistically similar player from basebally history.

 

Does it work in reverse? If so, I'd like to see which modern players are most statistically similar to Uecker.

[Brian the Automator]

According to:

www.baseball-reference.co...bo01.shtml

 

..these players compare to Uecker:

1. Doug Camilli (980)

2. Orlando Mercado (974)

3. Tom Nieto (974)

4. Tom Egan (972)

5. Bob Davis (970)

6. Ron Tingley (970)

7. Bill Plummer (967)

8. Walt Tragesser (967)

9. Ken Rudolph (966)

10. Dann Bilardello (966)

 

And not surprisingly, I haven't heard of any of them.

[SenatorShriv]

Thanks Brian. I haven't heard of any of them either.

[brewerjamie15]

Ron Tingley rings a bell from Milwaukee's A.L. days. I looked him up, I remember Uecker talking about him in some manner.

[pitchleague]

I've heard of Orlando Mercado (can't remember what team, though)

 

Tom Nieto was a catcher for the Cardinal, I believe, in the late 80s early 90s.

 

I've heard of Ron Tingley, too, but can't remember where he played.

 

Dann Bilardello I was fasinated by when I was a kid, since he had the same first name as me, expect spelled in a really weird way. Played for the Reds, Expos, and maybe Cubs and Giants if I remember right.

 

The other guys I haven't heard of either, though.

[JJ Hardy Har Har]

http://members.tripod.com/bb_catchers/catchers/tingley.jpg

 

When I hear these guys names, I usually receive a vision of an old baseball card. Well, I couldn't believe when I Googled his name and clicked on the Images tab, that the actual card I pictured was there.