Greg Maddux, Michael Martinez, and Steve Jeltz did it 5 times.
Pat Corrales did it 4 times.
Jim Lonborg did it 3 times.
Robert Person once did it 2 times in one game.
Hell, Roy Oswalt even did it 1 time.
But Ben Revere, our lovably short Twittering center fielder, has never done it. To his credit, he did do it 5 times in the minors, but that has translated to a big fat zero over the course of four years in the majors. And now that zero is approaching the record books.
It should be quite obvious by now what the "it" here is - hit a home run. It's no hidden fact that Revere has had 0 home runs in the major leagues. He's done that over 1400 plate appearances. As a result, he has an obscene career .045 ISO (isolated power is slugging minus batting average).
With the help of the Baseball Reference Play Index (the coolest thing on the web? maybe second only to this), I figured out that Revere needs just 9 more plate appearances to have the most without a home run since expansion in 1961. He's currently second to mid-70s slugger Tim Johnson. Here's the top 10 since 1961:
Player | PA | From | To | H | 2B | 3B | SB | CS | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | Tm | |
1 | Tim Johnson | 1408 | 1973 | 1979 | 283 | 27 | 13 | 18 | 9 | 0.223 | 0.274 | 0.265 | 0.539 | MIL-TOT-TOR |
2 | Ben Revere | 1400 | 2010 | 2013 | 371 | 31 | 14 | 96 | 27 | 0.285 | 0.324 | 0.330 | 0.654 | MIN-PHI |
3 | Luis Gomez | 1391 | 1974 | 1981 | 263 | 26 | 5 | 6 | 22 | 0.210 | 0.261 | 0.239 | 0.500 | MIN-TOR-ATL |
4 | Mick Kelleher | 1202 | 1972 | 1982 | 230 | 32 | 6 | 9 | 10 | 0.213 | 0.266 | 0.253 | 0.520 | STL-HOU-CHC-DET-TOT |
5 | Marty Martinez | 1038 | 1962 | 1972 | 230 | 19 | 11 | 7 | 8 | 0.243 | 0.296 | 0.287 | 0.583 | MIN-ATL-HOU-TOT |
6 | Reggie Willits | 1014 | 2006 | 2011 | 218 | 35 | 1 | 40 | 17 | 0.258 | 0.356 | 0.302 | 0.658 | LAA |
7 | Bob Didier | 837 | 1969 | 1974 | 172 | 25 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0.229 | 0.286 | 0.273 | 0.559 | ATL-DET-BOS |
8 | Craig Robinson | 789 | 1972 | 1977 | 157 | 15 | 6 | 12 | 4 | 0.219 | 0.263 | 0.256 | 0.519 | PHI-TOT-ATL |
9 | Larry Lintz | 756 | 1973 | 1978 | 140 | 13 | 1 | 128 | 38 | 0.227 | 0.336 | 0.252 | 0.588 | MON-TOT-OAK-CLE |
10 | Ed Crosby | 750 | 1970 | 1976 | 149 | 22 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 0.220 | 0.282 | 0.264 | 0.547 | STL-TOT-CLE |
Those are some pretty horrendous baseball players. Revere hits for the highest average among this group, but Reggie Willits has the best batting eye, giving him the strongest OBP on the list here. What's particularly remarkable though about both Willits and Revere is that they are the only two on this list who played baseball after 1982. They are truly the two biggest weaklings in baseball over the past three decades.
How does Revere stack up if we expand our scope beyond the expansion era and include all of baseball? Revere has his work cut out for him. Going back to 1871, which is as far as Baseball Reference goes, Revere needs another 1194 plate appearances before he tops the all-time list:
Player | PA | From | To | H | 2B | 3B | SB | CS | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | Tm | |
1 | Dave Eggler | 2593 | 1871 | 1885 | 697 | 85 | 31 | 46 | 22 | 0.274 | 0.288 | 0.332 | 0.619 | NYU-PHI-ATH-CHC-TOT-BUF |
2 | Mike McGeary | 2507 | 1871 | 1882 | 684 | 56 | 13 | 66 | 24 | 0.276 | 0.283 | 0.309 | 0.592 | TRO-ATH-PHI-STL-PRO-TOT-CLV-DTN |
3 | Bill Holbert | 2396 | 1876 | 1888 | 486 | 41 | 7 | 16 | 0.208 | 0.228 | 0.232 | 0.460 | LOU-MLG-TOT-TRO-NYP-BRO | |
4 | Tom Oliver | 2073 | 1930 | 1933 | 534 | 101 | 11 | 12 | 19 | 0.277 | 0.316 | 0.340 | 0.656 | BOS |
5 | Irv Hall | 2052 | 1943 | 1946 | 496 | 58 | 19 | 16 | 23 | 0.261 | 0.302 | 0.311 | 0.613 | PHA |
6 | Roxy Walters | 1602 | 1915 | 1925 | 317 | 41 | 6 | 13 | 5 | 0.222 | 0.281 | 0.259 | 0.541 | NYY-BOS-CLE |
7 | Pat Deasley | 1519 | 1881 | 1888 | 358 | 37 | 9 | 7 | 0.244 | 0.271 | 0.282 | 0.552 | BSN-STL-NYG-WHS | |
8 | Jim Holdsworth | 1492 | 1872 | 1884 | 432 | 38 | 22 | 8 | 7 | 0.291 | 0.295 | 0.346 | 0.641 | TOT-PHI-NYU-HAR-TRO-IND |
9 | Jumbo Latham | 1469 | 1875 | 1884 | 353 | 35 | 17 | 6 | 0 | 0.247 | 0.266 | 0.295 | 0.561 | TOT-PHA-LOU |
10 | Paul Cook | 1452 | 1884 | 1891 | 304 | 27 | 9 | 52 | 0.223 | 0.270 | 0.256 | 0.526 | PHI-LOU-BWW-TOT | |
11 | Tim Johnson | 1408 | 1973 | 1979 | 283 | 27 | 13 | 18 | 9 | 0.223 | 0.274 | 0.265 | 0.539 | MIL-TOT-TOR |
12 | Ben Revere | 1400 | 2010 | 2013 | 371 | 31 | 14 | 96 | 27 | 0.285 | 0.324 | 0.330 | 0.654 | MIN-PHI |
13 | Luis Gomez | 1391 | 1974 | 1981 | 263 | 26 | 5 | 6 | 22 | 0.210 | 0.261 | 0.239 | 0.500 | MIN-TOR-ATL |
14 | Charlie Babb | 1376 | 1903 | 1905 | 287 | 41 | 13 | 66 | 0.243 | 0.339 | 0.300 | 0.639 | NYG-BRO | |
15 | Scott Hastings | 1359 | 1871 | 1877 | 371 | 44 | 8 | 43 | 22 | 0.279 | 0.296 | 0.325 | 0.620 | ROK-TOT-BAL-HAR-CHI-LOU-CIN |
Again, though, look at Revere's company. He's the only one on this list who played after 1981. And he's only one of three players on the list who played after 1946. Revere is playing a different game than his peers, a game that disappeared decades, even a century, ago.
The story here is not complete though, because Revere may eventually, somehow hit a home run. If he does, what he's in the midst of right now will be nothing more than a homerless streak. How does Revere compare in this regard?
Revere has a ways to go on this list as well. Baseball Reference doesn't spit out streaks with plate appearances for some reason, so I had to use the rough estimate of AB+BB to rank these homerless streaks. Revere needs another 315 AB+BB to crack the top 10 longest homerless streaks since 1961:
Rk | Strk Start | End | Games | AB+BB | H | 2B | 3B | Tm | |
1 | Jerry Remy | 8/22/1978 | 5/18/1984 | 583 | 2504 | 669 | 71 | 14 | BOS |
2 | Al Newman | 7/7/1986 | 10/3/1992 | 677 | 2187 | 444 | 65 | 7 | MON-MIN-TEX |
3 | Duane Kuiper | 8/30/1977 | 6/27/1985 | 685 | 2147 | 528 | 52 | 15 | CLE-SFG |
4 | Rafael Belliard | 5/6/1987 | 9/25/1997 | 722 | 1970 | 409 | 50 | 10 | PIT-ATL |
5 | Ozzie Smith | 9/5/1978 | 4/12/1982 | 452 | 1920 | 394 | 48 | 13 | SDP-STL |
6 | Woody Woodward | 9/11/1963 | 7/9/1970 | 593 | 1886 | 420 | 64 | 11 | MLN-ATL-CIN |
7 | Jim Gantner | 6/15/1987 | 9/2/1991 | 494 | 1866 | 482 | 78 | 13 | MIL |
8 | Greg Gross | 9/5/1973 | 7/5/1977 | 471 | 1846 | 483 | 54 | 23 | HOU-CHC |
9 | Roger Metzger | 6/4/1975 | 8/10/1980 | 535 | 1807 | 354 | 44 | 28 | HOU-SFG |
10 | Don Kessinger | 5/15/1966 | 9/3/1968 | 406 | 1715 | 407 | 30 | 15 | CHC |
Greg Gross makes the list here, though in his pre-Phillies days. With another homerless season under his belt, Revere could be in the top 4 or 5 here.
One list Revere is at the top of is the list of active homerless streaks.
Rk | Strk Start | AB+BB | H | 2B | 3B | OPS | Tm | |
1 | Ben Revere | 9/7/2010 | 1377 | 371 | 31 | 14 | 0.654 | MIN-PHI |
2 | Paul Janish | 9/6/2010 | 626 | 120 | 25 | 2 | 0.516 | CIN-ATL |
3 | Willie Bloomquist | 8/11/2011 | 603 | 169 | 28 | 7 | 0.698 | ARI |
4 | Ruben Tejada | 8/2/2012 | 450 | 97 | 23 | 0 | 0.561 | NYM |
5 | Jemile Weeks | 4/14/2012 | 466 | 92 | 14 | 8 | 0.595 | OAK |
6 | Pete Kozma | 4/3/2013 | 437 | 87 | 20 | 0 | 0.538 | STL |
7 | John Baker | 9/5/2009 | 425 | 83 | 11 | 1 | 0.557 | FLA-SDP |
8 | Lou Marson | 7/19/2011 | 373 | 70 | 11 | 2 | 0.598 | CLE |
9 | Felix Pie | 9/1/2010 | 303 | 63 | 14 | 4 | 0.565 | BAL-PIT |
10 | Jamey Carroll | 9/4/2012 | 303 | 67 | 12 | 0 | 0.567 | MIN-KCR |
That's some quality company that Revere is keeping. As he does in this last list for you. This is the list of longest homerless streaks to start a career.
Rk | Strk Start | End | AB+BB | H | 2B | 3B | Tm | |
1 | Tom Oliver | 4/14/1930 | 8/29/1932 | 1681 | 453 | 89 | 10 | BOS |
2 | Larry Bowa | 4/7/1970 | 8/1/1972 | 1656 | 388 | 40 | 18 | PHI |
3 | Irv Hall | 4/20/1943 | 8/18/1945 | 1608 | 391 | 48 | 15 | PHA |
4 | Greg Gross | 9/5/1973 | 8/10/1976 | 1636 | 438 | 48 | 22 | HOU |
5 | Emil Verban | 4/18/1944 | 8/20/1946 | 1492 | 388 | 48 | 15 | STL-PHI |
6 | Zeb Terry | 4/12/1916 | 5/4/1921 | 1521 | 343 | 49 | 21 | CHW-BSN-PIT-CHC |
7 | Duane Kuiper | 9/9/1974 | 8/28/1977 | 1475 | 387 | 39 | 14 | CLE |
8 | Ben Revere | 9/7/2010 | 7/13/2013 | 1377 | 371 | 31 | 14 | MIN-PHI |
9 | Gil Torres | 4/18/1944 | 9/14/1946 | 1322 | 318 | 40 | 11 | WSH |
10 | Alex Cole | 7/27/1990 | 9/1/1993 | 1387 | 344 | 35 | 18 | CLE-PIT-COL |
As we already learned this off-season, with the Phillies, it all comes back to Larry Bowa. With a healthy homerless season in 2014, Ben Revere could easily move to the top of this list, besting Bowa's and Tom Oliver's homerless start to their careers. And even if he becomes Sammy "Big Mac" Bonds afterwards, he can't erase his name from this one.
So here's to homerless Ben - very possibly soon to be king among MLB weaklings!