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Greatest Player to Never Bat?

Edgy MD Jun 29 2015 12:46 PM

Who is the best, or maybe famostest, major league player to never bat? I was thinking primarily of pitchers who came up shortly after the dawn of the DH rule and retired before inter-league play, spending a long and profitable career entirely in the AL. Ron Guidry had three at-bats in the 1977 World Series. Jack Morris took a single turn at the plate in 1987. Who else might qualify?

d'Kong76 Jun 29 2015 12:51 PM Re: Greatest Player to Never Bat?

Mets drafted some stiff ahead of Reggie Jackson that never played. Not sure if that's what the question means, though.

Ceetar Jun 29 2015 01:11 PM Re: Greatest Player to Never Bat?

This cheating? [th]Rk[/th][th]Player[/th][th]G[/th][th]PA[/th][th]From[/th][th]To[/th][th]Age[/th][th]Pos[/th][th]Tm[/th] 1 Buddy Groom 786 0 1992 2005 26-39 *1 DET-FLA-OAK-BAL-ARI-NYY 2 Jason Frasor 671 0 2004 2015 26-37 *1 TOR-CHW-TEX-KCR 3 Bob Stanley 637 0 1977 1989 22-34 *1 BOS 4 Jonathan Papelbon 622 0 2005 2015 24-34 *1 BOS-PHI 5 Mike Fetters 620 0 1989 2004 24-39 *1 CAL-MIL-OAK-ANA-BAL-LAD-PIT-ARI-MIN 6 J.J. Putz 572 0 2003 2014 26-37 *1 SEA-NYM-CHW-ARI 7 Chad Bradford 562 0 1998 2009 23-34 *1 CHW-OAK-BOS-NYM-BAL-TBR 8 Tippy Martinez 548 0 1974 1988 24-38 *1/HD NYY-BAL-MIN 9 Jamie Walker 545 0 1997 2009 25-37 *1 KCR-DET-BAL 10 Mike Flanagan 529 0 1975 1992 23-40 *1/D BAL-TOR 11 Steve Farr 509 0 1984 1994 27-37 *1 CLE-KCR-NYY-BOS 12 Mark Clear 481 0 1979 1990 23-34 *1 CAL-BOS-MIL 13 Brian Shouse 467 0 1993 2009 24-40 *1 PIT-BOS-KCR-MIL-TEX-TBR 14 David Robertson 432 0 2008 2015 23-30 *1 NYY-CHW 15 Ed Nunez 427 0 1982 1994 19-31 *1 SEA-NYM-DET-TEX-MIL-OAK 16 Mike MacDougal 407 0 2001 2012 24-35 *1 KCR-CHW-WSN-STL-LAD 17 Joakim Soria 404 0 2007 2015 23-31 *1 KCR-TEX-DET 18 Tony Sipp 391 0 2009 2015 25-31 *1/79 CLE-ARI-HOU 19 Frank Francisco 391 0 2004 2014 24-34 *1 TEX-TOR-NYM-CHW Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used Generated 6/29/2015.

Edgy MD Jun 29 2015 01:29 PM Re: Greatest Player to Never Bat?

No, that's mostly good work. I'm surprised at how few guys fit the profile I laid out though: post-1972/pre-interleague career AL pitchers: Flanagan, Martinez, Stanley, Clear, Nuņez.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jun 29 2015 01:39 PM Re: Greatest Player to Never Bat?

It's too bad JJ Putz never had the chance to get hit in his fat face with a pitch.

d'Kong76 Jun 29 2015 01:42 PM Re: Greatest Player to Never Bat?

That's a list of best or famoustest? Just saw the thing on fb.

Ceetar Jun 29 2015 01:43 PM Re: Greatest Player to Never Bat?

d'Kong76 wrote: That's a list of best or famoustest? Just saw the thing on fb. that's the top 19 or so by game played.

dinosaur jesus Jun 29 2015 01:44 PM Re: Greatest Player to Never Bat?

Moonlight Graham. Or Herb Washington.

Edgy MD Jun 29 2015 01:46 PM Re: Greatest Player to Never Bat?

Those are two candidates that certainly occurred to me. Dave Steib: two trips to the plate.

Ceetar Jun 29 2015 01:48 PM Re: Greatest Player to Never Bat?

dinosaur jesus wrote: Moonlight Graham. Or Herb Washington. I'd never heard of Herb Washington until I just reran that query for non-pitchers. 31 stolen bases! 105 games! never batted. Eddie Phillips is next on that list with 9 games and 4 runs.

Ceetar Jun 29 2015 01:52 PM Re: Greatest Player to Never Bat?

I got excited because i saw Jim Abbott on this list. Would've been a great answer to this question except he played for the Brewers in 1999 and got two hits.

G-Fafif Jun 29 2015 02:22 PM Re: Greatest Player to Never Bat?

Three Mets made that list. Can't believe Davey/Jerry/Terry never thought to use Nunez/Putz/Francisco to pinch-hit.

Ceetar Jun 29 2015 02:24 PM Re: Greatest Player to Never Bat?

G-Fafif wrote: Three Mets made that list. Can't believe Davey/Jerry/Terry never thought to use Nunez/Putz/Francisco to pinch-hit. 4! Willie/Bradford. Our moneyball star in retirement.

G-Fafif Jun 29 2015 02:25 PM Re: Greatest Player to Never Bat?

Ceetar wrote: I'd never heard of Herb Washington until I just reran that query for non-pitchers. The things that slip from the general consciousness as years go by. Herb Washington was designated pinch-runner on the 1974 and 1975 Oakland A's. Owner Charlie Finley sought to revolutionize the game by signing a track star to not so much play baseball but channel his talent into baseball. I still don't know if it was a good idea, but it was cool as hell that someone like that endured on a major league roster as long as he did, at least while he was doing so.

G-Fafif Jun 29 2015 02:26 PM Re: Greatest Player to Never Bat?

Ceetar wrote: G-Fafif wrote: Three Mets made that list. Can't believe Davey/Jerry/Terry never thought to use Nunez/Putz/Francisco to pinch-hit. 4! Willie/Bradford. Our moneyball star in retirement. Gosh, yes. I missed that. Mets have to stop acting like an American League franchise. Perhaps Matz is saving them in more ways than we knew.

G-Fafif Jun 29 2015 02:28 PM Re: Greatest Player to Never Bat?

Frank Francisco...what a strange signing.

Ceetar Jun 29 2015 02:29 PM Re: Greatest Player to Never Bat?

G-Fafif wrote: Mets have to stop acting like an American League franchise. Perhaps Matz is saving them in more ways than we knew. Especially since Buddy Carlyle and Jeurys Familia were our best hitters by OPS last season.

seawolf17 Jun 29 2015 05:55 PM Re: Greatest Player to Never Bat?

This grew out of my FB post this afternoon, remembering Moonlight Graham on the 110th anniversary of his game. Admittedly, his game is only famous because of Shoeless Joe/Field of Dreams, but I think Herb Washington is the only one we've mentioned who comes close in terms of notability.

Edgy MD Jun 29 2015 06:49 PM Re: Greatest Player to Never Bat?

Mark Fidrych. Dave Rozema. Britt Burns. Rich Dotson.

seawolf17 Jun 29 2015 06:50 PM Re: Greatest Player to Never Bat?

Oh, the Bird is a good one.

Edgy MD Jun 30 2015 05:44 AM Re: Greatest Player to Never Bat?

John Paciorek: one game, three trips to the plate, and he gets his own bio. CBS got five and a half minutes out of him too.

SteveJRogers Jun 30 2015 08:47 AM Re: Greatest Player to Never Bat?

Ceetar wrote: I got excited because i saw Jim Abbott on this list. Would've been a great answer to this question except he played for the Brewers in 1999 and got two hits. And at least one rare one as an Angel as documented by this Upper Deck card, hard to really determine, but I don't think that is a Spring Training shot.

SteveJRogers Jun 30 2015 08:51 AM Re: Greatest Player to Never Bat?

G-Fafif wrote: Ceetar wrote: I'd never heard of Herb Washington until I just reran that query for non-pitchers. The things that slip from the general consciousness as years go by. Herb Washington was designated pinch-runner on the 1974 and 1975 Oakland A's. Owner Charlie Finley sought to revolutionize the game by signing a track star to not so much play baseball but channel his talent into baseball. I still don't know if it was a good idea, but it was cool as hell that someone like that endured on a major league roster as long as he did, at least while he was doing so. Also The Panamanian Express, Allan Lewis, whom is a Toppsless Athletic, despite being the first official Designated Runner for Finley's A's.

d'Kong76 Jun 30 2015 08:53 AM Re: Greatest Player to Never Bat?

SteveJRogers wrote: And at least one rare one as an Angel as documented by this Upper Deck card, hard to really determine, but I don't think that is a Spring Training shot. Weird, never batted as an Angel according to his bbrdotcom page.

Edgy MD Jun 30 2015 08:56 AM Re: Greatest Player to Never Bat?

Memory cloudy, but I think that may be from some sort of exhibition in a big league ballpark.

d'Kong76 Jun 30 2015 08:59 AM Re: Greatest Player to Never Bat?

Odd picture selection to use on a card, sometimes I think they did stuff like that on purpose... but I doubt it.

seawolf17 Jun 30 2015 09:31 AM Re: Greatest Player to Never Bat?

Upper Deck definitely did that stuff on purpose, especially in the first few years.

d'Kong76 Jun 30 2015 09:44 AM Re: Greatest Player to Never Bat?

Interesting, will have to look into that somehow. Can you think of any quirky Mets instances?

SteveJRogers Jun 30 2015 10:41 AM Re: Greatest Player to Never Bat?