Which athlete had the worst last game of his/her career?

[dalej42]

One of my baseball groups was discussing Babe Ruth’s last game of his career. His career came to an awful end May 40 1935 going 0/1 and being replaced in the third inning. Ouch, what an end to awful season in 1935 with an average of .181

That’s pretty bad for such a legend and one of the greatest baseball players in history.

I’m sure I’ve scrubbed my memory of them but I know a lot of boxers have come back for one last fight and completely embarrassed themselves.

Any other examples?

Babe Ruth ended his Major League career as a mind-blowing statistical outlier

[running_coach]

Ray Chapman

Chapman was hit in the head by a pitch thrown by Yankees pitcher Carl Mays and died 12 hours later. He is the only Major League Baseball player to die from an injury received during an MLB game

[dalej42]

@running_coach

Ray Chapman

Obviously that’s a tragedy, but it isn’t really an example of an athlete who was in the absolute decline of a good career making an embarrassment out of himself

[madsircool]

The last series played by Bobby Grich, the 1986 playoff series against Boston.

Bobby Grich’s Retirement After the 1986 ALCS vs. Boston

Instead, when he looked back, when he reviewed his own personal playoff diary, he could remember the dramatic winning hit in Game 4 and the tip-in home run off the glove of Dave Henderson the next fateful day.

In between, though, there were the other memories. In Game 2, he misplayed Dwight Evans’ popup to give Boston the winning run and was cut down trying to score from second base when third-base coach Moose Stubing failed to give him a sign.

In Game 4, he struck out three times and committed an error. In Game 5, there were two more strikeouts.

Forced to play first base again in place of the ailing Wally Joyner, Bobby took a cutoff throw in Game 6, whirled and fired to catch the runner rounding the bag too far at first. It was a good throw. It just so happened no one was there to field it.

The error broke open the game, turning a 4-2 game to 6-2.

And, finally, in Game 7, he went 0 for 2, finishing the ALCS with a .208 average and eight strikeouts in 24 at-bats.

[Bullitt]

Brett Favre getting knocked out cold by the Chicago Bears.

Brett Favre describes play that ended his career

After the hit, Favre seemed to realize his career was over, “As I was getting to the sidelines, I thought ‘Now if there was ever a time where the writing is on the wall, this is it,’” Favre said. “Went in, took a shower, got some hot cocoa, got a hot dog and said, ‘That’s it. I’m going to watch the next two or three [games].’”

[polar_bear]

Zinedine Zidane should be a contender.

World cup final, red card because of headbutting an oposing player…after which your country loses the Final (on penalties, but still).

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[Fiendish_Astronaut]

@polar_bear

Zinedine Zidane should be a contender.

World cup final, red card because of headbutting an oposing player…after which your country loses the Final (on penalties, but still).

I came here to say this. The best footballer in the world ending his career at the world’s biggest one-off sports event by getting sent off for headbutting an opponent with your county losing the game by the smallest possible margin.

715m people watched that live.

[Robot_Arm]

Nolan Ryan could be a contender. From here:

On the heels of his seven shutout innings against the Angels, Ryan appeared as though he had a bit left in the tank. Instead, it turned out that he emptied his reserves in that outing, as the Seattle Mariners took care of business against the legend. He faced six batters, walking four, and allowing two hits. He actually left in the midst of his fourth walk, as his elbow let go in the middle of Dave Magadan‘s plate appearance.

I was at that game.

[zamboniracer]

Willie Mays finished his illustrious career as a bench warmer for the 1973 NY Mets. The Mets finished the season losing the World Series to Oakland, 4 games to 3, and the Mets didn’t play Mays the final 4 games of the Series. One of Mays’ last base hits was a seeing-eye 12-hopper through the infield, which was hardly the way for a legend to go out.

[notfrommensa]

For Golf, it might be Billy Casper

Hall of Fame Golfer, with 51 PGA Tour wins (7th all time) & 3 Major Championships.

His last PGATour event was the 2005 Masters. at age 73, he shot 106 and then WD. Basically double bogey golf.

For some perspective, Arnold Palmer last round at the Masters was age 74, and shot 84-82, not great but much much better than
Casper. Gary Player shot 78-83 in his last Masters at age 73.

[Jeff_Lichtman]

Boxers are particularly prone to being humiliated in their last matches (and yes, I know, a boxing match isn’t a “game.”) Rocky Marciano knocked out Joe Louis in his last match. Trevor Berbick punched Muhammad Ali all over the place. Hector Camacho made Sugar Ray Leonard look terrible. Mike Tyson destroyed Michael Spinks in the first round.

[Gray_Ghost]

@notfrommensa

For Golf, it might be Billy Casper

Hall of Fame Golfer, with 51 PGA Tour wins (7th all time) & 3 Major Championships.

His last PGATour event was the 2005 Masters. at age 73, he shot 106 and then WD. Basically double bogey golf.

For some perspective, Arnold Palmer last round at the Masters was age 74, and shot 84-82, not great but much much better than
Casper. Gary Player shot 78-83 in his last Masters at age 73.

Nowhere near the career of Billy Casper, but on the other hand a hell of a lot younger when he collapsed, former 1991 Open Champion Ian Baker-Finch probably deserves mentioning here. Ian Baker-Finch - Wikipedia From the wiki:

After shooting a 92 in the first round of the 1997 Open at Royal Troon, an extraordinarily bad score by tournament professional standards, Baker-Finch admitted that he cried in the locker room that afternoon. He withdrew from the championship after one round and retired from tournament golf.

He was 37 when that happened.

[journeyman_southpaw]

Mark McGwire, Game 5 of the 2001 NLDS. He went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts and was pulled in the 9th inning for Kerry Robinson to come in and lay down a sacrifice bunt.

[kenobi_65]

Johnny Unitas played his final season (1973) with the San Diego Chargers, and was clearly no longer in his prime. He started the first four games of the season for the Chargers, and in his final start, against Pittsburgh, he went 2 out of 9, for 19 yards, with two interceptions, and was benched at halftime for rookie Dan Fouts.

That said, it wasn’t Unitas’s last game, per se; he played briefly in a November game against the Chiefs, and completed one pass for 7 yards.

[dalej42]

I think it’s fair enough to exempt 70 year old golfers. No one expects anything but nostalgia.

I do think of David Duval, guy at the top of the sport and then just lost it.

[keeganst94]

According to SB Nation, it was Dan Marino: Dan Marino's last professional game was the worst final game of all time | The Worst - YouTube

In the divisional round of the playoffs he was 11 for 25, with 2 interceptions and one fumble that was returned for a TD. He was pulled early in the third quarter, but the game was basically over in the first, with Jacksonville up 24-0. Miami lost 62-7, the largest margin of victory ever in an NFL playoff game.

[Saint_Cad]

@Robot_Arm

Nolan Ryan could be a contender. From here:I was at that game.

So was I. I hope you weren’t one of the guys behind me saying they took him out so they could rest him and return him for the ninth inning*.
And the last hit he gave up was a home run to Dann Howitt.

*For people unfamiliar with the rules of baseball, once you are taken out of the game you cannot return.

[Jeff_Lichtman]

@keeganst94

Miami lost 62-7, the largest margin of victory ever in an NFL playoff game.

The Bears beat the Redskins 73 - 0 in the 1940 NFL championship game.

[keeganst94]

Whoops. The video said modern era playoff game, and I guess I misheard it.

[gdave]

@Jeff_Lichtman

The Bears beat the Redskins 73 - 0 in the 1940 NFL championship game.

I was going to point that out (Da Bears!). To be fair, though, at the time, there weren’t playoffs, per se. From 1933-1966 there was a single post-season game, the NFL Championship between the regular season Eastern and Western Division (later Conference) leaders. “Playoff” games only happened if two teams tied for the regular season lead in a single Division, and none of those had a margin of defeat as great as Marino’s final game.

At the very least, it’s the worst post-season defeat of the Super Bowl era.