This is partially motivated by the stars that faded away thread, but I thought it would be an interesting counterpoint to remember players that were largely mediocre who had, for reasons known or unknown, a single crazily awesome season. And of course, I'll start the thread with Brady Anderson.
By 1995, Anderson was a good player with some wheels (53 sb in 1992) and a little bit of pop. He was also arguably past his prime, having hit 21 HR at age 28 in 1992, but only hitting 13-16 in his 29-31yo seasons. He seemed like a guy destined to put up a handful of more seasons like that as he wound down his career into his mid-to-late 30s.
But instead, for one year only, he became one of the best hitters in the league.
In 1996, Anderson hit 50 hr on his way to a .297/.396/.637 slash line, a 156 OPS+, and 155 wRC+, finishing only 2 homers shy of Marc McQuire (of some limited fame) and 9th in the MVP voting. He generated 6.9 bwar and fwar.
Like I said, one of the best hitters in the league. But then <poof> he wasn't anymore. Anderson continued to have some good seasons from 1997-2000, but only hit 18, 18, 24, and 19 home runs each of those years, effectively returning to his 1992-1995 form before closing out his career. Naturally, everyone assumed (assumes?) that Anderson was roided up on the PEDs at the time, but it was such a flukey season, even to this day.
So who else is part of the Brady Anderson Bunch of flukey, improbable seasons?
By 1995, Anderson was a good player with some wheels (53 sb in 1992) and a little bit of pop. He was also arguably past his prime, having hit 21 HR at age 28 in 1992, but only hitting 13-16 in his 29-31yo seasons. He seemed like a guy destined to put up a handful of more seasons like that as he wound down his career into his mid-to-late 30s.
But instead, for one year only, he became one of the best hitters in the league.
In 1996, Anderson hit 50 hr on his way to a .297/.396/.637 slash line, a 156 OPS+, and 155 wRC+, finishing only 2 homers shy of Marc McQuire (of some limited fame) and 9th in the MVP voting. He generated 6.9 bwar and fwar.
Like I said, one of the best hitters in the league. But then <poof> he wasn't anymore. Anderson continued to have some good seasons from 1997-2000, but only hit 18, 18, 24, and 19 home runs each of those years, effectively returning to his 1992-1995 form before closing out his career. Naturally, everyone assumed (assumes?) that Anderson was roided up on the PEDs at the time, but it was such a flukey season, even to this day.
So who else is part of the Brady Anderson Bunch of flukey, improbable seasons?