Worst MLB Players in History

Major League Baseball has a long and sordid history that includes some pretty terrible people.

Worst MLB Players in History

No one ever said Major League Baseball was only for choir boys. It's the opposite. From the time the league was founded in 1876, MLB has been a place where controversy and scandal exist right alongside the best moments in baseball history. For every hero, there's a villain right alongside him.

Over the past 145-plus years, the worst of the worst have separated themselves from the pack for their heinous deeds. Murderers, rapists, swindlers and other miscreants have cast a shadow over the sport we love.

These are the worst people in MLB history.

25. Byron McLaughlin

Byron McLaughlin, one of the worst MLB players

Born: Sept. 29, 1955 (Van Nuys, California)

Position: Right-handed pitcher

Teams: Seattle Mariners (1977-80), California Angels (1983)

Bottom Line: Byron McLaughlin

The seeds of Byron McLaughlin's criminal empire were first sowed in 1977 when the Seattle Mariners assigned him to a minor league team in Mexico.

In 1984, one year after his MLB career ended, a federal arrest warrant was issued for McLaughlin after authorities discovered he was running one of the largest shoe counterfeiting operations in the world. They made knockoff athletic shoes, and it accounted for half of the counterfeit shoes in Mexico and generated an estimated $750,000 per month.

McLaughlin pled guilty to money laundering charges but fled the country before he could be sentenced. He's been on the run ever since.

24. Ken Clay

Born: April 6, 1954 (Lynchburg, Virginia)

Position: Right-handed pitcher

Teams: New York Yankees (1977-79), Texas Rangers (1980), Seattle Mariners (1981)

Bottom Line: Ken Clay

Ken Clay was on a pair of World Series championship teams with the New York Yankees in 1977 and 1978 and played in the majors until 1981. Five years after his career was over, his life started to come off the rails.

Clay was arrested for felony grand larceny for stealing $30,000 from the company he worked for in 1986 but managed to avoid jail time by accepting a plea deal and probation.

In 1992, Clay was sentenced to a year in jail after stealing a car from a dealership he was working for. Then, he got three years tacked on to his sentence for not disclosing two DUIs he'd been arrested for and the grand larceny.

Upon his release, he still was up to no good. Clay was convicted of grand theft and forgery in 1999 in Florida, then convicted again for grand theft in 2005 and sentenced to five years in prison when the judge cited "previous criminal activity." He was released in 2012.

23. Raul Mondesi

Born: March 12, 1971 (San Cristobal, Dominican Republic)

Position: Right field

Teams: Los Angeles Dodgers (1993-99), Toronto Blue Jays (2000-02), New York Yankees (2002-03), Pittsburgh Pirates (2004), Anaheim Angels (2004), Atlanta Braves (2005)

Bottom Line: Raul Mondesi

After a 12-year career in which he was named the 1994 National League Rookie of the Year, a two-time Gold Glove Award winner and made one All-Star team, Raul Mondesi returned to his native Dominican Republic and entered into politics.

Mondesi proved to be one of the truly corrupt politicians of his time in the D.R. In 2017, he and three of his staff members were convicted of defrauding his hometown of San Cristobal out of more than $6 million during his time as mayor. He was sentenced to eight years in prison.

22. Marge Schott

Born: Aug. 18, 1928 (Cincinnati, Ohio)

Died: March 2, 2004 (age 75, Cincinnati, Ohio)

Position: Owner

Teams: Cincinnati Reds (1981-96, 1999)

Bottom Line: Marge Schott

Marge Schott wasn't a player. She was a terrible owner. Schott bought a minority ownership stake in the Cincinnati Reds in 1981 and bought controlling interest in the franchise in 1984.

In 1993, she was banned from baseball for one year after making racist comments about African-Americans. Then in 1996, Schott made comments favorable to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in the same month she made racist comments about Asian-American children.

MLB acted quickly to suspend Schott for two years, and she sold controlling interest in the team before the 1999 season. Schott died in 2004.

21. Matt Bush

Born: Feb. 8, 1986 (San Diego, California)

Position: Right-handed pitcher

Teams: Texas Rangers (2016-18, 2021-present)

Bottom Line: Matt Bush

Matt Bush was selected No. 1 overall in the 2004 MLB draft by his hometown San Diego Padres, which landed the then-shortstop a $13.15 million signing bonus. But he never suited up for the franchise.

Bush was suspended before he ever played a minor league game for fighting at a bar, the first of a labyrinthine series of legal issues that included beating up two high school lacrosse players with a golf club, throwing a baseball at a woman's head during a party and drunkenly running over a bicyclist's helmeted head as he tried to flee the scene of another crime.

Bush eventually served three years in prison before he aced a tryout with the Texas Rangers in a Golden Corral parking lot and eventually made the big leagues as a pitcher in 2016.

20. Shawn Abner

Shawn Abner, one of the worst MLB players

Born: June 17, 1966 (Hamilton, Ohio)

Position: Outfield

Teams: San Diego Padres (1987-91), California Angels (1991), Chicago White Sox (1992)

Bottom Line: Shawn Abner

It's tough to convey the utter contempt we have for people who are cruel to animals. Former MLB outfielder Shawn Abner is one of those people.

Abner was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1984 MLB draft and widely considered one of the biggest draft busts of all time, with a career .227 batting average, 11 home runs and 71 RBI in just six seasons.

In 2020, Abner was convicted of animal cruelty and sentenced to up to two years in prison when he left his sick, 14-year-old husky outside for a month, and the dog died.

19. Ben Chapman

Born: Dec. 25, 1908 (Nashville, Tennessee)

Died: July 7, 1993 (age 84, Hoover, Alabama)

Position: Outfield/manager

Teams: New York Yankees (1930-36), Washington Senators (1936-37, 1941), Boston Red Sox (1937-38), Cleveland Indians (1939-40), Washington Senators (1941), Chicago White Sox (1941), Brooklyn Dodgers (1944-45), Philadelphia Phillies (1945-48); Manager, Philadelphia Phillies (1945-48)

Bottom Line: Ben Chapman

Ben Chapman was one of the best outfielders in the majors in the 1930s, when he won a World Series with the New York Yankees, made four All-Star teams and led the American League in stolen bases four times. He also gained a reputation as a racist and anti-Semite, giving Nazi salutes and hurling epithets at Jewish fans at Yankee Stadium.

As a player/manager for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chapman's harassment of Brooklyn Dodgers star Jackie Robinson backfired to the point it threw public support behind Robinson and vilified Chapman, who was forced to take a picture with Robinson as a form of public apology.

18. Troy Neel

Troy Neel didn't live up to expectations during his MLB career

Born: Sept. 14, 1965 (Freeport, Texas)

Position: First base/designated hitter

Teams: Oakland Athletics (1992-94)

Bottom Line: Troy Neel

Troy Neel did nothing of note during three seasons in the majors in the early 1990s, all with the Oakland Athletics, even though he did win championships in Japan and Korea.

Off the field, Neel set an infamous record after he fled Texas and monthly child support payments of $5,000 to his ex-wife and three children. One judge called Neel "the worst deadbeat dad in Texas history" when the back payments reached $785,000.

Neel was found living on an island in the South Pacific, sent back to Texas and settled for a fraction of what he owed — around $116,000.

17. Luis Polonia

Born: Dec. 10, 1963 (Santiago, Dominican Republic)

Position: Outfield

Teams: Oakland Athletics (1987-89), New York Yankees (1989-90, 1994-95, 2000), California Angels (1990-93), Atlanta Braves (1995, 1996), Baltimore Orioles (1996), Detroit Tigers (1999-2000)

Bottom Line: Luis Polonia

Luis Polonia's career and crime show how different professional baseball was just a generation ago.

After he was convicted of having sex with a 15-year-old girl in 1989 and sentenced to 50 days in prison, Polonia played another 12 seasons in the majors, including on a pair of World Series championship teams with the New York Yankees in 1995 and 2000.

In today's day and age, Polonia's career would have hopefully been over after the conviction in 1989.

16. Lenny Dykstra

Born: Feb. 10, 1963 (Santa Ana, California)

Position: Center field

Teams: New York Mets (1985-89), Philadelphia Phillies (1989-96)

Bottom Line: Lenny Dykstra

Lenny Dykstra shot to fame as a member of the New York Mets' 1986 World Series championship team. Fans loved the undersized, scrappy outfielder because of his tough play and utter disregard for his own personal safety. It's how he got the nickname "Nails."

Dykstra used that fame as a shield for his next three decades of criminal activity. Beginning in 1991, there has been little that Dykstra hasn't been arrested for, including DUIs, sexual harassment, sexual assault, indecent exposure, drugs (so many drugs), grand theft auto, embezzlement and all manner of other financial crimes.

Dykstra's latest arrest (we think) came in 2018 when he was put in handcuffs for uttering terroristic threats and possession of cocaine and meth in New Jersey.

15. Milton Bradley

Born: April 15, 1978 (Harbor City, California)

Position: Outfield

Teams: Montreal Expos (2000-01), Cleveland Indians (2001-03), Los Angeles Dodgers (2004-05), Oakland Athletics (2006-07), San Diego Padres (2007), Texas Rangers (2008), Chicago Cubs (2009), Seattle Mariners (2010-11)

Bottom Line: Milton Bradley

Former MLB outfielder Milton Bradley played for eight teams over 11 seasons and made one All-Star team in 2008. But his true, tarnished legacy was one of a serial abuser of women.

Bradley had no less than a dozen domestic violence incidents throughout his career, with two wives. He was sentenced to 32 months in prison in 2013. When Bradley's appeal of the conviction was rejected, a judge in California remarked how "breathtakingly callous" Bradley was in his appeal and sent him to prison.

14. Ed Bouchee

Born: Marcy 7, 1933 (Livingston, Montana)

Died Jan. 23, 2013 (age 79, Phoenix, Arizona)

Position: First base

Teams: Philadelphia Phillies (1956-60), Chicago Cubs (1960-61), New York Mets (1962)

Bottom Line: Ed Bouchee

Ed Bouchee played seven seasons in the majors, and the former Washington State star even finished second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting in 1957.

In 1958, Bouchee was arrested for exposing himself to young girls in his hometown of Spokane, Washington, and committed to a psychiatric facility in Connecticut. Somehow, he was allowed to return to the Philadelphia Phillies' lineup in July 1958.

13. Pinky Higgins

Born: May 27, 1909 (Red Oak, Texas)

Died: March 21, 1969 (age 59, Dallas, Texas)

Position: Third base

Teams: Philadelphia Athletics (1930, 1933-36), Boston Red Sox (1937-38, 1946), Detroit Tigers (1939-44, 1946); Manager, Boston Red Sox (1955-59, 1960-62)

Bottom Line: Pinky Higgins

There were a lot of really racist dudes playing in the majors in the 1930s and 1940s. Frank "Pinky" Higgins took the cake.

No player/manager was more against the integration of baseball than Higgins, who hated his nickname and who was one of the biggest reasons the Boston Red Sox were the last team to field a Black player. The Brooklyn Dodgers broke the color barrier in 1947 with Jackie Robinson, and the Red Sox didn't have a black player until 1959.

Pinky was also a killer. In 1968, he drunkenly drove his car through a road crew in Louisiana, killing one and severely injuring four others. He was sentenced to four years in prison and died one day after being granted an early release.

12. Ugueth Urbina

Born: Feb. 15, 1974 (Caracas, Venezuela)

Position: Right-handed pitcher

Teams: Montreal Expos (1995-2001), Boston Red Sox (2001-02), Texas Rangers (2003), Florida Marlins (2003), Detroit Tigers (2004-05), Philadelphia Phillies (2005)

Bottom Line: Ugueth Urbina

Ugueth Urbina was one of the most dominant relief pitchers in baseball for a decade, making two All-Star teams, leading the National League in saves in 1999 and helping the Florida Marlins win a World Series in 2003.

Urbina's MLB career came to an end after a decade when he led an attack on a group of workers on his farm he believed had stolen from him, striking them with a machete and pouring gasoline on them in an attempt to light them on fire.

He was found guilty of attempted murder and illegal deprivation of liberty in his native Venezuela and sentenced to 14 years in prison.

11. Josh Lueke

Born: Dec. 5, 1984 (Covington, Kentucky)

Position: Right-handed pitcher

Teams: Seattle Mariners (2011), Tampa Bay Rays (2012-14)

Bottom Line: Josh Lueke

It's a mystery to us how Josh Lueke not only ended up playing in the majors but also how he's not still in prison.

In 2009, Lueke was convicted of unlawful sexual intercourse and sodomy with an unconscious victim for raping a woman in his apartment in Bakersfield, California, in 2008.

Lueke was eventually sentenced to two months in prison, traded to the Seattle Mariners and played three seasons in the majors.

10. Jim Rivera

Born: July 22, 1921 (New York, New York)

Died: Nov. 13, 2017 (age 96, Fort Wayne, Indiana)

Position: Outfield

Teams: St. Louis Browns (1952), Chicago White Sox (1952-61), Kansas City Athletics (1961)

Bottom Line: Jim Rivera

There's been this weird sort of whitewashing of Jim Rivera's crimes over the years. For all intents and purposes, the 12-year MLB veteran and 1955 stolen bases leader was a serial rapist.

Rivera enlisted in the Army in 1942 and was arrested for the rape of an officer's daughter in 1944 and received a life sentence. His baseball talent got him released when the owner of a minor league team agreed to sign him to a contract upon his release.

Rivera was arrested for rape again in 1952 when he was with the Chicago White Sox, but those charges were later dropped. Because no sex offender registry existed back then, most of his crimes didn't come to light until the 1990s.

9. Ralph Schwamb

Born: Aug. 6, 1926 (Los Angeles, California)

Died: Dec. 21, 1989 (age 63, Lancaster, California)

Position: Right-handed pitcher

Teams: St. Louis Browns (1948)

Bottom Line: Ralph Schwamb

Ralph Schwamb was trouble before he ever played one season in the majors with the St. Louis Browns in 1948. He was nicknamed "Blackie" because he idolized the bad guys in old Western movies and dressed in all black himself.

Schwamb, at 6-foot-5 and 200 pounds, served in the Navy during World War II but was eventually given a dishonorable discharge after he struck an officer.

Following the 1948 season, Schwamb murdered a doctor in Long Beach, California, to pay off a debt he owed to infamous mobster Mickey Cohen and was sentenced to life in prison. Schwamb was eventually released in 1960.

8. Julio Machado

Julio Machado (MLB right-handed pitcher)

Born: Dec. 1, 1965 (San Carlos del Zulia, Venezuela)

Position: Right-handed pitcher

Teams: New York Mets (1989-90), Milwaukee Brewers (1990-91)

Bottom Line: Julio Machado

Both the New York Mets and Milwaukee Brewers desperately wanted to make Julio Machado their full-time relief pitcher in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but the Venezuela native was never really up to the task.

His MLB career came to a screeching halt in 1992 after he was convicted of shooting and killing 23-year-old Edicta Vasquez following an accident between Machado's car and a car Vasquez was traveling in as a passenger in Venezuela.

Machado went on the run and was captured and sentenced to 12 years in prison in 1996.

7. Felipe Vazquez

Born: July 5, 1991 (San Felipe, Venezuela)

Position: Left-handed pitcher

Teams: Washington Nationals (2015-16), Pittsburgh Pirates (2016-19)

Bottom Line: Felipe Vazquez

Felipe Vazquez was one of MLB's most promising young pitchers in the late 2010s, making back-to-back All-Star teams in 2018 and 2019.

His career ended in September 2019 when authorities arrested him for child pornography and the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl. Vazquez was convicted on 15 counts stemming from his relationship with the girl and sentenced to three years in prison in May 2021.

He still faces additional child pornography and sexual assault charges in Missouri.

6. Farmer Weaver

Born: March 23, 1865 (Parkersburg, West Virginia)

Died: Jan. 23, 1943 (age 77, Akron, Ohio)

Position: Pitcher

Teams: Louisville Colonels (1888-94), Pittsburgh Pirates (1894)

Bottom Line: Farmer Weaver

Farmer Weaver was a truly vile human being. He was arrested at least twice during his MLB career for assaulting fans and sportswriters.

Weaver's worst was yet to come. In the early 1900s, his wife left him unexpectedly, moving from Kansas to Idaho to get away from him, citing a history of "repeated violence and adultery." A few years later, the public found out about Weaver's hideous crimes. He'd been repeatedly raping and impregnating a daughter he and his wife had adopted when she was 9 years old.

Weaver was convicted of rape and sentenced to 21 years in prison in 1912, but he served just two years of his sentence. He moved to Ohio and lived the rest of his life in obscurity, working on the production line for the Goodyear Tire Company.

5. Sam Crane

Born: Sept. 13, 1894 (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania)

Died: Nov. 12, 1955 (age 61, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

Position: Shortstop

Teams: Philadelphia Athletics (1914-16), Washington Senators (1917), Cincinnati Reds (1920-21), Brooklyn Robins (1922)

Bottom Line: Sam Crane

Sam Crane played nine seasons in the majors, and about a decade after his career was over, he committed a heinous crime when he murdered his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend in 1930, shooting them to death in a bar.

Crane was sentenced to up to 36 years in prison but was released in 1944 thanks to the constant support of former manager Connie Mack, who petitioned for his release on parole during his incarceration.

4. Rusty Torres

Born: Sept. 30, 1948 (Aguadilla, Puerto Rico)

Position: Outfield

Teams: New York Yankees (1971-72), Cleveland Indians (1973-74), California Angels (1976-77), Chicago White Sox (1978-79), Kansas City Royals (1980)

Bottom Line: Rusty Torres

Outfielder Rusty Torres played 10 seasons for five different teams in the 1970s, and his career was probably most notable for being on the field for three different forfeits, including the infamous Ten Cent Beer Night riot in Cleveland and the Disco Demolition Night disaster in Chicago.

After his MLB career was over, Torres founded the nonprofit "Winning Beyond Winning" in New York to help young athletes. Authorities later learned the organization was a front for Torres to prey on young children, and he was convicted of sexually abusing an 8-year-old girl in 2012 and sentenced to three years in prison.

3. Chad Curtis

Chad Curtis was one of the worst people in the MLB

Born: Nov. 6, 1968 (Marion, Indiana)

Position: Outfield

Teams: California Angels (1992-94), Detroit Tigers (1995-96), Los Angeles Dodgers (1996), Cleveland Indians (1997), New York Yankees (1997-99), Texas Rangers (2000-01)

Bottom Line: Chad Curtis

Chad Curtis was a Bible-thumping Christian in MLB locker rooms over his decade-long career, including a pair of World Series championships with the New York Yankees in 1998 and 1999.

Curtis, who continually berated teammates over their "wild" ways, revealed his true nature after his career was over. In 2013, Curtis was convicted of being a serial sexual predator as a coach and athletic director at a series of Michigan high schools, where he abused underage girls.

Curtis was sentenced to 7 to 15 years in prison and released in late 2020.

2. Sergio Mitre

Born: Feb. 16, 1991 (Los Angeles, California)

Position: Right-handed pitcher

Teams: Chicago Cubs (2003-05), Florida Marlins (2006-07), New York Yankees (2009-10, 2011), Milwaukee Brewers (2011)

Bottom Line: Sergio Mitre

Sergio Mitre played nine seasons in the majors but pitched his last game in 2011 with the Milwaukee Brewers. He was still hanging around the Mexican League in 2019 when he was arrested for domestic assault in Mexico.

Less than one year later, Mitre was arrested for possession of marijuana on July 13, 2020, then one day later was charged with an unthinkable crime — the murder of his girlfriend's 22-month-old daughter.

Mitre was convicted of the murder and sentenced to 50 years in prison in 2022.

1. Mel Hall

Born: Sept. 16, 1960 (Lyons, New York)

Position: Outfield

Teams: Chicago Cubs (1981-84), Cleveland Indians (1984-88), New York Yankees (1989-92), San Francisco Giants (1996)

Bottom Line: Mel Hall

Mel Hall was a rangy outfielder known as much for being aloof and a lousy teammate as he was for his fielding and hitting ability over 14 seasons in the majors. During his playing days is when he began a devastating series of crimes.

Hall, who played his final MLB game in 1996, was arrested in 2007 on two counts of sexual assault of a girl under 17 years old. Shortly after that, another girl came forward, and another count was added. One of the girls was 12 years old.

Hall was convicted of all counts and sentenced to 45 years in prison in 2009. An article by SB Nation's Greg Hanlon in July 2015 showed his predatory sexual crimes dated back to the beginning of his career.

Hall's episode of the brilliant podcast "Crime in Sports" is also a must-listen.