Herb Washington - Failure Museum

Herb Washington

From 1974-1975, Herb was the A’s designated runner. He had no professional baseball experience and wasn’t asked to develop other baseball skills. He played 105 games and had 31 stolen bases, 33 runs scored, and zero at bats. This 1975 Topps baseball card is the only baseball card ever released that uses the “pinch runner” position label.

One of the biggest misconceptions about the art of stealing bases is that it is all about speed. That isn’t the case. If it were, Herb Washington, a world-class sprinter, would have been unstoppable.

In reality, he was thrown out in 16 of his 45 attempts that year, for a pedestrian success rate of 64%. (Modern baseball analysts have concluded that trying to steal ultimately hurts your team if you are under 80%).

Buffalo Braves - Failure Museum

Buffalo Braves

The Braves were one of three NBA expansion franchises in the 1970-71 season. However, a series of missteps resulted in the league taking control of the team before it even played a preseason game. In 1978 the team became the San Diego Clippers and in 1984 the team became the Los Angeles Clippers.

Food Fighters

Food Fighters

In 1988, the Food Fighters line of action figures has the good guys (the “Kitchen Commandos”) fight the bad guys (“Refrigerator Rejects” which includes Chip-The-Ripper) for control of your refrigerator.

Sam Bowie - Failure Museum

Sam Bowie

In 1984, Portland drafted Sam Bowie ahead of Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley. Portland management was told by Bob Knight, who had just coached Jordan on the Olympic team, that they should draft Jordan no matter what.  They went with their gut, though, and ended up drafting one of the biggest busts in NBA history.

Brien Taylor - Failure Museum

Brien Taylor

In 1991, the New York Yankees selected Brien with the first overall selection in the draft, but he never played a game in the majors. He threw a punch that didn’t connect, which ripped his left arm right out of the socket, dislocating his shoulder and tearing both his labrum and capsule.

Bic pantyhose

Bic Pantyhose

In 1976, Bic decided to introduce disposable pantyhose as they were successful with other disposable products, such as pens and lighters.

Ants

Army Ants

In 1987 Hasbro believed they had struck gold by modernizing the “green plastic army men” concept.

Fast 111

Fast 111’s

Released in 1980 and discontinued in 1983, Kenner wasn’t able to compete with the popularity of Hot Wheels. Each car had a “one of a kind license plate” and a “certificate of ownership” for the owner to fill out to add to the personal ownership concept.

laptop

One Laptop Per Child

Introduced in 2005 at a cost of $100 when it’s competitors cost $1000 or more. Cutting so many corners the laptop barely worked and had less memory and storage than a budget smartphone.