The Orioles' Chris Davis just broke an MLB record no one wants to break
Baltimore Orioles first baseman Chris Davis didn't need to do much more to forever cement his baseball legacy in infamy after finishing the 2018 season with the lowest batting average of all time — an Earth-shattering .168 mark. He also strikes out ... a lot. But he continued his quest to break records for all the wrong reasons on Monday night.
Davis, who was at one time a feared slugger (he finished third in American League MVP voting in 2013), just cannot, for the life of him, get a hit. Dating back to last September, Davis is now hitless in 49 at-bats, following an 0 for 5 performance against the Oakland Athletics in Baltimore on Monday evening in a 12-4 Orioles victory. That batting line pushed Davis past former utility-man Eugenio Velez's record of 46 at-bats without a hit, per ESPN.
Davis did at least make some good contact during the game, lining out in his first three at-bats. But that doesn't show up in the box score.
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Still, the beleaguered first baseman, who is in the fourth year of a 7-year, $161 million deal, can take solace in his handsome contract, as well as the fact that, well, not many people actually saw him break the record. The Orioles' stadium, Orioles Park at Camden Yards, registered the lowest fan attendance in the park's 28-year-history.
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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
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