Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
The Yanks signed Kelly Stinnett, career backup catcher to, well, back up catcher Jorge Posada—what else?
Stinnett is the ultimate backup catcher for Joe Torre, a man who despises backup catchers. He has never played over 92 games in a season in his twelve years in the bigs, and the year he did play 92 games was with expansion Diamondbacks in their inaugural season. He has played an average of slightly over 55 games a year.
What a great excuse for Torre to run Posada into the ground by September '06!
Oh well. But it did make me wonder if his record of utility futility was unique in baseball history. Could someone have played at least a dozen seasons and appeared in fewer games let's see…
As it turns out there are a few whose tuckuses collected even more splinters than Stinnett. Most were career backup catchers. Actually, it's quite an impressive collection of them:
| Player | POS | # Yrs | First | Last | G | AB | Most G in a season | G/Yr |
| Lou Klimchock | 3B | 12 | 1958 | 1970 | 318 | 669 | 90 | 26.50 |
| Mark Parent | C | 13 | 1986 | 1998 | 474 | 1303 | 81 | 36.46 |
| Clyde Manion | C | 13 | 1920 | 1934 | 477 | 1145 | 76 | 36.69 |
| Larry Haney | C | 12 | 1966 | 1978 | 480 | 919 | 88 | 40.00 |
| Fred Jacklitsch | C | 13 | 1900 | 1917 | 490 | 1344 | 122 | 37.69 |
| Tom Prince | C | 17 | 1987 | 2003 | 519 | 1190 | 66 | 30.53 |
| Don Pavletich | C | 12 | 1957 | 1971 | 536 | 1373 | 83 | 44.67 |
| John Boccabella | C | 12 | 1963 | 1974 | 551 | 1462 | 118 | 45.92 |
| Harry Spilman | 1B | 12 | 1978 | 1989 | 563 | 810 | 83 | 46.92 |
| Grover Hartley | C | 14 | 1911 | 1934 | 569 | 1319 | 120 | 40.64 |
| Lenny Webster | C | 12 | 1989 | 2000 | 587 | 1450 | 108 | 48.92 |
| Bill Haselman | C | 13 | 1990 | 2003 | 589 | 1606 | 77 | 45.31 |
| George Wright | SS | 12 | 1871 | 1882 | 591 | 2875 | 85 | 49.25 |
| Todd Pratt | C | 13 | 1992 | 2005 | 600 | 1477 | 80 | 46.15 |
| Jack Ryan | C | 13 | 1889 | 1913 | 616 | 2192 | 93 | 47.38 |
| Bill Holbert | C | 12 | 1876 | 1888 | 623 | 2335 | 73 | 51.92 |
| Turner Ward | OF | 12 | 1990 | 2001 | 626 | 1548 | 123 | 52.17 |
| Con Daily | C | 13 | 1884 | 1896 | 630 | 2222 | 80 | 48.46 |
| Roy Spencer | C | 12 | 1925 | 1938 | 636 | 1814 | 145 | 53.00 |
| Bob Stinson | C | 12 | 1969 | 1980 | 652 | 1634 | 124 | 54.33 |
| Moe Berg | C | 15 | 1923 | 1939 | 663 | 1813 | 107 | 44.20 |
| Ron Hodges | C | 12 | 1973 | 1984 | 666 | 1426 | 110 | 55.50 |
| Kelly Stinnett | C | 12 | 1994 | 2005 | 667 | 1860 | 92 | 55.58 |
And Moe Berg is the icing on the cake.
Parent, Jacklitsch, Prince, Webster, Pratt, Ward & Stinnett
Player #yrs
Deacon McGuire 19
Val Picinich 18
Pop Snyder 18
Jack Burdock 18
Tom Prince 17
Jamie Quirk 17
Bob O'Farrell 17
Rick Dempsey 16
Jack O'Connor 16
Dick Schofield 16
Chief Zimmer 16
Buck Martinez 16
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