One-season wonders: MLB players who had one good season

We are not talking about the king of sabermetrics, but instead the man known as "Seattle Bill,"  not to be confused with his contemporary "Big" Bill James. This James spent just four seasons with the Boston Braves. He won 37 games during his tenure, with practically all coming during his stellar 26-7 season of 1914. That year, he struck out 156 batters over 332 and 1/3 innings while posting a 1.90 ERA en route to helping the Braves win the World Series.

Gaston managed the Toronto Blue Jays to back-to-back World Series titles (1992 and '93), but he also had a 12-year playing career. His best season came in 1970 with San Diego, when he clubbed 29 homers and drove in 93 runs while batting .318. However, even with two more double-digit home run seasons, Gaston never came near that kind of success or hit over .300 again.

In just his second season on the big-league level, Grabarkewitz made his only All-Star appearance while with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He hit .289 and posted a .399 on-base percentage while also belting 17 home runs and driving in 84 runs. That promise Grabarkewitz showed in '70 was short-lived. He totaled just 11 home runs and never hit better than .288 while playing five more seasons. 

"The Bird" remains one of the greatest characters in baseball history. From talking to the ball to his colorful mound antics , he was truly one of a kind. And for one season, in 1976, not many pitched better than Fidrych. He went 19-9 with a 2.34 ERA in 31 games — 29 starts — to win the AL Rookie of the Year while with the Detroit Tigers. Injuries, however, kept Fidrych from building on that special season, and he won 10 games while pitching just 27 over the next four seasons before his career came to an end.

When Garland was given a real shot with Baltimore in 1976, he made the most of it. The right-hander went 20-7 with a 2.67 ERA over 38 games and 25 starts. It's still one of the best pitching seasons in major league history and earned Garland a 10-year deal with Cleveland, beginning in '77. Garland, however, was never able to build on that season, losing 19 games in 1977 and suffering significant arm issues that led to relatively poor results. Cleveland fans chided Garland for not living up to his contract that was worth $2.3 million, and he was out of the majors by 1982. 

Though Charboneau's career lasted just three seasons, all with Cleveland, he's still revered by Indians fans to this day. The power-hitting Charboneau clubbed 23 home runs and had 87 RBIs while batting .289 to win AL Rookie of the Year honors in 1980. Sadly for Charboneau, that was essentially it for his career. A back problem had a major role in him playing just 70 games over the next two seasons, and he never saw action in the majors after that. Interesting note: Charboneau was an extra in the Robert Redford classic "The Natural."

Part of the Chicago Cubs daily double with Dwight Smith in 1989, Walton won NL Rookie of the Year honors for the division winners that year. Walton recorded 23 doubles, 46 RBI and batted .293 at the top of the Cubs order. The potential for greatness Walton showed that season never materialized, though, and while he played until 1998, was a middling player at best.

For a spell in the early 1990s, Maas was revered like other Yankee greats for the hot start to his career, and was even considered to be the next Don Mattingly. As a rookie in 1990, Maas hit 21 home runs, had 41 RBI and posted an OPS of .902 in just 79 games. He needed only 72 at-bats to hit 10 homers. There were big things expected from Maas going forward, but though he went deep 23 times over 148 games in 1991, he fanned 128 and batted .220. A year later, Maas could not hold down a full-time job in the majors and played his last big league game on June 20, 1995.

While Fleming pitched in just six major-league seasons, his rookie year of 1992 will not be forgotten by Seattle Mariners fans. The left-hander went 17-10 with a 3.39 ERA and won nine consecutive decisions early in that campaign. Fleming did win 12 games a year later, but increased arm issues had him out of the majors after the 1995 season.

Plantier should be lauded for a solid rookie season for Boston in 1991, when he slammed 11 homers in 53 games and batted .331. However, he struggled the next season and ended up in San Diego, where in 1993, Plantier set career highs with 34 home runs and 100 RBI. Injuries followed, though, and Plantier never came close to that '93 success even though he played until 1997.

Wilkins' stellar 1993 season with the Cubs is still considered one of the best by a catcher in MLB history. With 30 homers and a .303 batting average, Wilkins became the fourth catcher at the time to knock at least 30 home runs and hit .300 or better. Unfortunately for Wilkins, he posted just one more double-digit homer year and never came close to .300 again before his career ended after 2001.

OK, this is more of a one-game wonder, and maybe a half-season at best, since Rhodes was hitting in the .270s by late May and did belt eight of his career 13 home runs in 1994. But many won't forget his three-home run season opener off Dwight Gooden that year. It's perhaps the best opening day performance in major league history.  

Hamelin was 26 years old when he won the AL Rookie of the Year award in 1994 for the Kansas City Royals. Hamelin set what would become career highs of 24 homers, 65 RBI and a .282 average while posting an OPS of .987. Leg issues, however, plagued Hamelin and he was out of Kansas City after the 1996 season. He jacked 18 home runs for Detroit in '97, but his days in the majors ended after the '98 campaign.

Anderson spent 15 years in the majors, made three All-Star teams and is a member of the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame. However, he is best known for a 1996 season when he set career highs with 50 home runs — an Orioles team record — and 110 RBI while batting .297. Since Anderson never hit more than 21 home runs in each his previous eight seasons — and not more than 24 in any of his six that followed —  allegations of performance-enhancing drug use was associated with Anderson's tremendous season and remains an asterisk on his career.

A first-round pick out of high school in 1991, Thompson did not make his big league debut until 1996. The next year he went 15-11 with a 3.02 ERA while striking out 151 batters for the Detroit Tigers, and he earned an All-Star trip. It was a career season for Thompson, who went 11-15 with a 4.05 ERA in 1998. Injuries eventually led to the left-hander spending most of the first half of the 2000s in the minors before calling it a career in May 2006

The College World Series hero from LSU, Morris looked to be in for big things on the major league-level thanks to a strong rookie campaign. In '99, Morris worked his way into the starting lineup and batted .288 with 15 homers, 20 doubles and 73 RBI. However, by 2004, Morris was out the majors after following his rookie season with just 11 RBI the rest of his career. 

Tatis' 1999 season was special, not only because he set career highs with 34 home runs and 107 RBI for the St. Louis Cardinals, but also for hitting two grand slams in one inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 23 of that year. Tatis played 11 seasons in the bigs but never hit more than 18 homers in a year or posted better than 64 RBI before or after 1999. 

Loaiza spent a serviceable 14 seasons in the majors and was a two-time All-Star. By far, his best season came in 2003 with the Chicago White Sox when he went 21-9 with a 2.90 ERA while leading the majors with 207 strikeouts. By that time, the right-hander was on his fourth team and the thought was he would consistently shine for at least a few more years. They were solid but nothing close to what he accomplished in '03.

Crosby played eight seasons in the majors, mostly with the Oakland Athletics. Though he saw action in 11 games in 2003, Crosby won the AL Rookie of the Year award in 2004 for clubbing 22 home runs while recording 130 hits, 34 doubles and 64 RBI. Crosby, however, never hit more than nine home runs in any other season but did have a decent 2008 campaign for the A's. Yet the star Oakland thought it had in 2004 never really panned out. 

While there is a good chance many have forgotten the name Bryan LaHair, even more probably don't remember he made the NL All-Star team in 2012. After totaling five homers and 16 RBI over 65 games in two MLB seasons prior to his breakout, LaHair went deep 16 times and drove home 40 runs while slugging .450 in 130 contests for the Chicago Cubs in '12. That, however, proved to be LaHair's last season in the majors.