Duane Kuiper

An outstanding fielder who twice led AL second basemen in fielding percentage, Kuiper’s disciplined hitting style made him a fine spoiler: three times (against Andy HasslerNolan Ryan, and Ron Guidry), he was the only man to get a hit. On August 29, 1977 after 1,381 ML at-bats without a home run, he finally popped one, off Steve Stone. In his remaining 1,997 plate appearances, the lean infielder managed (intentionally, he contends) to not hit another one. The clowning Kuiper took a warped pride in his accomplishment, saying: “One is better than none, but any more than that and people start expecting them.”