John Gouchnaur, SS,
Cleveland, 1901-1903.
Speaking of mediocrity, yesterday I forgot to mention what had awakened me to our work on Al Doyle’s Baseball Hall of Mediocrity over the years. It was brought to light by an e-mail I had received only a couple of days ago from fellow SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) member Tony Cavender about an early 20th century Cleveland shortstop named John Gouchnaur (sometimes spelled earlier as Gouchnauer).
Unless everyone at his position from his era was comparable, and they weren’t, John Gouchnaur was the epitome of mediocrity and mysteriously terrible play on both offense and defense. In 1903, Gouchnaur hit .185 for Cleveland as he also committed 98 errors at shortstop in 134 games, finishing his 3-year MLB career (1901-03) with a .187 BA. In the field, he compiled 146 career errors in 264 MLB games. Two years later, as a 1905 minor leaguer for San Francisco, he batted .156 (106 for 678) in 215 games. I’m not sure what the record low for one-season batting averages is for minor leaguers with over 600 season times at bat, but Gouchnaur has to be near the record holder in that category.
John Gouchnaur simply did not play long enough in the big leagues to qualify for the Baseball Hall of Mediocrity. If he could have doubled his time to include six full seasons of performance at the same low levels, he would have been a “shoo-in” for induction in my book.
As for the change of his last name spelling from Gouchnauer to Gouchnaur over time, we may only suggest that it probably came down to being the only way that a kind reporting world finally got around to helping beleaguered John Gouchnaur get at least one “E” out of his system.
John Gouchnaur’s Career …
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gochnjo01.shtml
Mediocrity survives best where excellence is neither required, provided, or expected. Remember that little aphorism the next time you are standing in line at the post office and growing impatient. If you will just lower or eliminate your own great expectations, everything will seem to be normal and all right.
For mediocrity to survive over time in baseball in areas of play and relevant performance that normally require singular excellence, establishing a Baseball Hall of Mediocrity to those who have shot that gap seems appropriate.
Who knows? Maybe we will even find a radio play-by-play guy who did games for half a century without ever giving the score until the game had concluded. – Do you suppose that’s ever happened? If it has, John Gouchnaur is innocent of all charges. As far as we know, he never called any games. Blowing them on the field was his area of expertise.
The Pecan Park Eagle 
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