Midweek trivia

To become a major league player is hard. Obviously.

To become an All-Star even harder. Definitely.

Once or twice, let alone four times, an All-Star. Even harder yet.

Which brings us to today’s installment of Midweek Trivia.

This particular player in question – a position player, mind you, not a pitcher – becomes a four-time All-Star selection, of which there have been plenty of them since the midsummer exhibition game begins in 1933.

This particular position player, though, has the distinction of being a four-time All-Star selection with fewer than 700 career hits during his 11 seasons in the majors from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s.

This statistical anomaly belongs to, well … take a moment to ponder your answer.

And take another moment.

Eventually, you will think of …

John Stearns, the New York Mets’ catcher who from 1977-82 represents the National League at four All-Star Games.

While he plays in 139 games during his first All-Star season in 1977 and then 155 in his second All-Star season in 1979, Steans simply has trouble staying healthy after that.

Injuries limit him to 91 games during his third All-Star season in 1980 and then to 98 games in his fourth and final All-Star season in 1982.

Stearns’ final two seasons in 1983 and ’84 consist of 12 games. Total.

The 696th and last hit in Stearns’ career is an RBI single in his final at-bat during the Mets’ 5-4 loss to the Montreal Expos on Sept. 30, 1984.

His first hit back on Sept. 22, 1974 comes in his first at-bat as a pinch-hitter for Philadelphia – a single in the top of the fifth inning of an 8-5 loss, also at Montreal.

Turns out that single in 1974 is Stearns’ only hit for the Phillies, who select him in the first round of the 1973 amateur draft only to trade him to the Mets after the 1974 season in a deal that brings All-Star closer Tug McGraw to Philadelphia.

After his playing career, Stearns stays in the game for more than a quarter-century as a scout, major league coach and minor league manager.