Neifi Perez

Born today, none other than Neifi Perez.

Chicago sportswriter, Bruce Miles called Perez "one of the worst offensive players in baseball history."

I can't really disagree with that as I saw Neifi play semi-regularly with the Tigers in 2007 and he seemed to have a batting style which can be best described as just "throw your bat out there when the pitch comes." Several times, I saw him miss pitches by not just inches.

Baseball statistician, Nate Silver used Perez as an example of a net negative when discussing Sarah Palin's effect on the Republican ticket in the 2008 presidential election. "Sarah Palin, I think would have to have a VORP of -10 or so. Somewhere in the Neifi Perez range; she tangibly hurt that ticket."

All good things come to an end though as on July 6, 2007, Perez was suspended 25 games by MLB for a second positive test for amphetamines. On August 3, 2007, he was suspended an additional 80 games for a third positive test which ended his association with the Tigers and no other team was interested in someone like this.

Career earnings for all of this excellence? $21 million or about the same as that earned by Yakov Smirnoff.

What a country!