The one-hit wonder is something that is known across industries. It’s most popular in music, with songs like the Macarena and Ice Ice Baby still getting play to this day. While we still hear “Who Let the Dogs Out” at baseball stadiums to this day, we don’t hear much of “You All Dat.”
The Baha Men aren’t the only one-hit wonders we see at baseball stadiums. We see quite a few players who can be considered one-hit wonders. There are legitimately hundreds of players who have made only one All-Star Game in the history of the sport, and there are some who made the All-Star Game despite not being very good.
We tried to find players who had high-leverage moments in their one-hit wonders. These are the players who caused multiple teams to chase that greatness again. Some might have had long careers, but that had one season (or maybe a little more) of true superstardom.
10. Esteban Loaiza
Esteban Loaiza has technically had two All-Star appearances, but the second season fell apart after a trade. But before we get there, let’s talk about how Loaiza got here. He was a true journeyman, starting his career with Pittsburgh in 1995 before moving from Texas to Toronto (in a trade that included seven-time All-Star Michael Young) and eventually signing with the Chicago White Sox.
Loaiza was an immediate stud. He struck out 200 players in his first year on the South Side, and he finished second in Cy Young voting with a 21-9 record. His 2.90 ERA is almost a full run lower than his second-best season (3.77 ERA in 2005 with the Washington Nationals). It looked like the White Sox had a surprise ace on their hands.
Then, he fell off the face of this Earth. Even in the second season with the White Sox, his record was stellar, but his ERA dropped almost two full runs. He was averaging close to five-runs per nine innings. Then, he was traded to the New York Yankees for Jose Contreras (the third mid-season trade of his career). With the Yankees, he finished with an ERA over 8.00, was taken out of the starting rotation entirely, but he was decent in the playoffs. He never found that same impact, but he kept his career alive for four seasons after the Yankees disaster.
9. Joe Charboneau
Going back to the 1970s, when Joe Charboneau had one of the most insane runs if we’re looking for a story to tell. On his run-up to the major leagues, Charboneau got stabbed in Mexico after playing an exhibition game, would fight in bare-knuckle brawls for money, and even quit baseball to go be a store clerk after fights with the Phillies’ minor league management.
He eventually returned to baseball and became one of the better prospects heading into the 1980 season. He was supposed to get a promotion to AAA, but then Cleveland slugger Andre Thornton suffered a knee injury. That gave Charboneau his shot, putting him in the starting lineup.
He hit .287 with 23 home runs and 87 RBIs in his rookie season. For his efforts, he won Rookie of the Year. Then, a back injury in 1981 Spring Training changed his career. He tried to play through it, but he hit just .208 at the time of the player’s strike that season. When they returned, Charboneau was sent to AAA. He was the first Rookie of the Year to be sent to the minors less than a year later. He played just 70 games after winning Rookie of the Year, but he did turn his career into a part as an extra in The Natural.
8. Justin Smoak
Baseball is unique in that players' average debut age is much higher than in other sports. The average debut age, according to Baseball America, is roughly 25 years old. Meanwhile, football, basketball, and hockey have their prospects make their debut right after college, so they are between 19 and 22 years old. That’s why Justin Smoak taking until he was 23 years old to make his debut is actually impressive.
Smoak went to the Seattle Mariners in the trade that sent Cliff Lee to the Texas Rangers. He was quickly considered one of the best prospects in baseball. He was an MLB regular by the next season. Very quickly, Smoak was jumping into what was supposed to be a long and healthy career. He did play for a while, but the numbers many expected from him didn’t come until much later.
Smoak was average or worse with the Mariners for five seasons. He had a negative WAR in multiple seasons, and his career high at that point was just 1.1. He was placed on waivers after hitting .202 in 2014 and claimed by the Toronto Blue Jays. After two below-average seasons, he exploded in 2017, eight years after his debut. He made the All-Star team and finished the season with a 3.1 WAR. He also hit 38 home runs with a .270 batting average. Smoak never came close to those numbers again, and he was out of the league by the end of 2020.
7. Steve Pearce
You know you’re a one-hit wonder when you’ve won a World Series MVP for the Boston Red Sox, yet you come up after some random politician on a Google or Wikipedia search. Steve Pearce was incredible in the 2018 postseason, hitting .289 with four home runs and 11 RBIs in just 13 games. What’s most impressive is that this was just his second postseason appearance at 35 years old. Yet, he came to play.
Pearce was a typical journeyman utility player. He had been in the league since 2007, and the Red Sox were his seventh MLB franchise. He had never played more than 100 games in a season, and the end of his career was coming. During the season, Pearce was traded from the Toronto Blue Jays to the Red Sox, becoming one of the most impactful, and most surprising, intra-division trades in MLB history.
An injury in the playoffs to Mitch Moreland gave Pearce his opportunity. He was really good in the Divisional Round and the Championship Series, but he truly shone in the World Series. In Game 4, he hit a home run off of superstar Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen to tie the game, which the Red Sox would eventually win. In Game 5, he took Clayton Kershaw deep to kick off scoring in the first inning. The last player to hit three home runs for the Red Sox in the World Series was Carl Yastremzki in 1967. One year later, Pearce was back to a utility player, and he retired after the 2019 season.
6. Bryan LaHair
There are some one-hit wonders that fans talk about forever. Many of them are on this list, but if you bring up the name Bryan LaHair to some Chicago Cubs fans, they’ll likely have a story to tell. LaHair was a 39th-round draft pick of the Seattle Mariners in the 2002 MLB Amateur Draft. He didn’t make his debut with the Mariners until 2008 when the team cut Richie Sexson in the middle of the season.
Two years after his debut and a stint in the minors for the Cubs, he won the Pacific League MVP in 2011. That showed he was ready to make the next step to Major League Baseball. LaHair was given the first base job in 2012, keeping Anthony Rizzo in the minors. When Rizzo was called up in the middle of the season, LaHair moved to right field. Getting them both in the lineup was important, as they both played well.
LaHair made the All-Star team that season, and then he was gone. No, really. He signed with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Japan’s professional league that offseason. He returned in 2014, but he was never more than a minor league player. He remains one of the strangest All-Stars of this generation, and he actually ended his career with a walk-off hit to finish the Cubs’ 2012 season. What a ride.
5. Shane Spencer
Shane Spencer hit 59 home runs in his career. Ten of them came in September of 1998. His call-up for the superstar New York Yankees forced Joe Torre to make some hard decisions in the playoffs. All of a sudden, this 26-year-old forced his way into one of the best lineups of that era. Spencer’s 10 home runs were a record for a rookie at the time. He even hit two home runs in the Divisional Series against the Rangers on the way to a World Series title.
In 1999, Spencer was sent back to the minor leagues. It was insane, but the Yankees weren’t ready to commit to him fully, and he was sent down to get regular playing time. During the season, doctors found an irregular heartbeat and that forced him to go on the IL. He missed the Yankees’ postseason roster, and he expressed his frustration with his position in the organization.
The Yankees eventually gave him an opportunity in 2000, but he tore his ACL in July. He was the choice to replace Paul O’Neill in right field after he retired, but it didn’t last long, and he was replaced by rookie Juan Rivera before the end of the 2002 season. He bounced around the league after the 2002 season, but that one ridiculous run in 1998 remains his most impactful month in baseball.
4. Ubaldo Jiminez
There have been so many “flash-in-the-pan” pitchers of the 21st century, but there are few who were as good as Ubaldo Jimenez and as bad when it all fell apart. But here’s the thing about starting pitchers who have shown great stuff in the past: they will get chance after chance after chance.
Jimenez was incredible in Colorado. Those words have never been said about a starting pitcher, but Jimenez was a Cy Young candidate at Coors Field, where the elevation and thin air make it a haven for home runs. Most star pitchers avoid the Rockies in order to salvage their stats and future ability to cash in. Jimenez, for some reason, thrived in Colorado. He was good in 2008 and 2009, but he “hit” like nobody’s business in 2010.
Jimenez went 19-8 with 214 strikeouts and a 2.88 ERA in 221 innings. He finished third in Cy Young voting, and many thought this was the start of an incredible career. Unfortunately, he was traded to Cleveland the next season, and it starting going off the rails there. He never broke 3.0 WAR again in his career, which ended when he was just 33 years old. Jimenez had four seasons with a negative WAR.
3. David Freese
David Freese is one of the more famous one-hit wonders, bringing the St. Louis Cardinals their most recent championship (and based on their rebuild status, their last in a while). Obviously, the Cards are one of the greatest franchises in the history of the sport, with 11 World Series titles and 21 individual MVPs. Freese is part of that legacy forever, but it’s about the only thing he’s done.
The Cardinals don’t win the World Series without Freese. In the Divisional Series against the Phillies, he drove in four runs in Game 4 to force a decisive Game 5, which St. Louis won. In the National League Championship Series against Milwaukee, Freese had a .545 batting average, three home runs, drove in nine runs, and scored seven runs. That earned him his first MVP of the postseason. In the World Series, Freese hit one of the most iconic home runs in the history of baseball. Bottom of the ninth; Game 6; the Rangers leading the game 7-5 and leading the series 3-2, they were one out away from ending it. Freese wasn’t ready to say goodbye to his breakout season, and he hit a game-tying triple. Two innings later, he hit a walk-off solo home run.
It’s one of the best one-game performances in baseball. Freese was really good again the next season, making the All-Star Game, but injuries took away his effectiveness. He did bring back his clutch performance in 2018, hitting .417 in the World Series for the Dodgers, but his heroics didn’t lead to another ring.
2. Brady Anderson
Brady Anderson is the guy most people think of when it comes to one-hit wonders. He actually had a long and fruitful career, but we have to admit that one season stands way above the others. He is one of 34 players in league history to hit 50 or more home runs in a season. Going into the 1996 season, Anderson had never hit more than 21, and he never hit more than 25 for the rest of his career.
Anderson actually made three All-Star Games, but it was never for his power. He stole 53 bases in 1992, and his 1997 selection appeared to be thanks to his 1996 popularity. Anderson was patrolling centerfield for the suddenly star-studded Baltimore Orioles. They had Roberto Alomar, Cal Ripken Jr, Rafael Palmiero, and Bobby Bonilla on the roster. Anderson’s 50-home run season rounded out the lineup in a big way.
During that season, Anderson joined the 50 home run-20 steals club, led off four-straight games with a home run (a record at the time), and this propelled him into the Orioles Hall of Fame. Who knows what Anderson’s career would be without this one season, but he’s definitely memorable for everyone who was around in the 1990s.
1. Bucky Dent
Bucky freaking Dent. One could argue that he’s literally a one-”hit” wonder. That one hit is one of the most famous hits in the history of baseball. In the famous one-game playoff ahead of the 1978 World Series, Dent came up during a pitcher’s duel between Ron Guidry and Mike Torrez. There were two men on base in the seventh inning, and Dent had just 22 home runs going into the matchup.
He drilled a pitch into the Boston night sky that flew over the Green Monster. The Yankees would go on to win the game and the World Series. It was magic, and the Red Sox curse continued. Yankees fans rejoiced, and Dent never had to buy dinner in New York again. He's still a fixture at Old Timers' Day because of this home run. This is how a legend is made in the blink of an eye.
Dent went on to win World Series MVP that season, and he even made a few All-Star teams in his career, but this was his moment. He was the Yankees' shortstop for a while before he was moved to the Texas Rangers for Lee Mazzilli. Dent eventually retired and became the Yankees’ manager, but that wonder didn’t even have one hit, as George Steinbrenner fired him after two partial seasons.