Hideki Irabu. Insamely large signing bonus, never saw the majors.
Gregg Jeffries. Not too bad as major leaguer, but I remember being very into minor leage baseball in the late 80’s, and he was touted as the best thing since sliced bread. He won minor league player of the year twice, IIRC. As a major leaguer, he had a few .300 seasons, but his career was nothing to crow about.
You must be thinking of somebody else. Irabu played for several years with the Yankees, then went to the Expos and Rangers. His last season was in 2002, and you’re right that the “fat, pus-y toad” never did amount to much. He won 34 games, lost 35, and had a career ERA of 5.15 in six seasons before going back to Japan.
You may have been thinking of another supreme Yankee disappointment- Brien Taylor. He was a #1 draft pick, got a $1 million-plus contract, and had a 100 MPH fastball. But he hurt his arm in a bar fight in the minors and never played a game in the big leagues.
As a University of Oklahoma alum, I’ve always been curious exactly why Brian Bosworth sucked so badly in the pros. I watched some replays of his college days, and I noticed that he was generally untouched during each play, allowing him free reign to make takles from sideline to sideline. I assumed the defense was set up to screen blockers from him.
My guess was that once he got to the pros, he had the equivalent of a big ol’ bullseye stamped on his jersey.
Ironic that Bosworth and Bo Jackson should both be on this list (although for quite different reasons) – since it was their collision on MNF, where Jackson ran right through Bosworth on his way to the end zone, that was the beginning of the end for Boz.
I’m not sure if the speculation was ever confirmed but I remember people saying he was damaged goods before he got to the pros. He was able to hide the extent of his nagging injuries just long enough to get a good payday but not long enough to stick around for a while or be very effective.
I remember the Boz days…he was chronically nursing a shoulder injury that turned him into a bit of a wounded bear, announcers (and I presume opposing coaches) often made mention that he was a poor tackler on one side as a result. There were frequent “gimme” sacks that he just couldn’t pull down. He was fast, but just wasn’t a finisher on the tackle. My buddies and I called him “Bounceworth” due to his tendency to ricochet off of opposing running backs.
Let’s not forget the ever-disappointing Cincinatti Bengals’ draft picks: KiJana Carter and Akili Smith come to mind…
Jeff George - 1st pick overall 1990, cannon for an arm, dreadful NFL career.
Isaiah Rider - 5th pick overall 1993, All-Rookie Team, won slam dunk contest, racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines on offenses ranging from being tardy to practice to spitting at fans and airport personnel to crimes of assault, marijuana possession, and kidnapping.
He did avg. 16.9 pts/game for his career, but for his talents, that’s a major disappointment.
Derek Sanderson - hockey phenom in the early 70’s who went to the WHA instead of NHL, was a waste case, didn’t stay in shape, and was never heard from again.
George’s career may have not been great, but it was hardly dreadful.
From – Footballreference.com.
games – 133
comp – 2,898
attempts – 3,697
percent cm – 57.9
yards – 27,602
y/a – 7.0
TD – 154
Int - 113
attempts – 36th all time
completins – 36th all time
passing yardsa 40th all time
kevja beat me to it, but Jeff George doesn’t really deserve the beating he takes.
For my money, all NFL busts are measured by Ryan Leaf. the guy never amounted to anything. Even Akili Smith had flashes of potential compared to Leaf. There’s a long list of NFL QBs who flopped, but none came in with the high expectations that Ryan Leaf did. You also cannot argue that he was helped by the early days of limited scouting and low tech evaluation methods. Nor was he hindered by injuries to any large degree.
The Boz sucked in his own way, but that was largely relative to his hype. He was a middling LB, not a total dud. Were he drafted in the middle of the first round he’d be hardly remembered as a turd. Also, tons of experts said he was all hype before he even made it out of college. Not to mention how he redeemed himself in Stone Cold.
Marijuanavitch QBed a playoff team, Ryan Leaf can’t make that claim.
Hey, I went to that site only to find some spammy page. WTF?
While I don’t think one could classify Courtney Brown and LaVar Arrington as complete busts, they definitely haven’t held up to going 1-2 in 2000.
I think Darrell Russell was a number 2 the year before. Yeesh.
Anyone remember Randy White? He came out of Louisiana Tech like his idol Karl Malone did and was touted as the next ‘Mailman’. I believe there was even a big write-up in SI about him and how he trained with Malone for a little bit. Dallas drafted him to supposedly rectify their error of not taking Malone 4 years earlier with their 8th pick. White ended up doing very little in his short lived career.
I’m 99% sure he meant www.pro-football-referecne.com.
First one that came to my mind was Alexander Daigle. First pick of the NHL draft who never found a work ethic, “retired” to become an actor, then returned to play third and fourth line duty with Pittsburgh and Minnesota.
Darko Milicic was mentioned in the other thread. May as well toss him in here as well. Every season he’s tabbed to be the sixth man for the Pistons and every season he fails to work hard enough to be anything but a bench warmer.
LaRue Martin was the first pick in the NBA draft in the early 1970s by the Portland TrailBlazers. Didn’t last very long.
You’re right, Marley, it was Taylor I was thinking of. My mistake.
Gabe Kapler and David McCarty come to mind when one discusses phenoms who were way overhyped. McCarty was supposed to be the next Mark McGwire and has bounced from team to team, never earning a starting job anywhere except when the guy in front of him was hurt. Kapler had his own commercials as a minor leaguer but has only played back-up for Detroit and Boston. Not flops like Brien Taylor class but definite flops.
Tim Couch was quite a disappointment since being drafted #1 (before Donovan McNabb… at least Cincy could say McNabb was picked before they took Akili Smith).
Blair Thomas was drafted #2 by the Jets and never came close to his potential.
It may be too early, but Charles Rogers of the Lions hasn’t done jack yet.
In hockey:
Jason Bonsignore, who was drafted at #4 by the Oilers (two picks ahead of their star, Ryan Smyth) and played all of 79 NHL games with a total of 3 goals and 13 assists. He now plays in Europe.