Greatest Historical Hitters as a Pitcher

[theoldcoastleague]

This is a long list. Who were the very best.

Maybe a top 30 list.

Lets start with Wes Ferrell, Red Lucas and Bob Gibson with honorable mentions to Livan Hernandez and Mike Hampton.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Joe Wood

Walter Johnson

John Ward

Bob Caruthers

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Old Hoss was alright. He hit within 25 points of *lgBA

[baseballPAP]

Bob Lemon
Red Ruffing
Earl Wilson
Warren Spahn
Don Drysdale
Kid Nichols
and the list goes on...

[Lindseynelson]

Brain cramp, who was the Tiger pitcher in the late 60's that they occasionally used as a PH. I think he once hit two dingers in a game and I can not for the life of me remember his name. Rick Ankiel ended up a better hitter than pitcher

[64Cards]

I think Don Newcombe hit 7 HR's one season.

Jason Marquis has hit .292/.310 the past 2 seasons.

Bob Forsch was a decent hitter, came up as an infielder.

[64Cards]

From looking at the stats of most of the names mentioned, it looks like Ruffing, Newcombe, Lucas and Ferrell were the best of the bunch.

Drysdale hit 7 HR's in a season twice, .300 once, .223 another, but was never over .200 any other season.

The cardinals had a pitcher, Curt Davis, in 1939 won 22 and hit .381. His career avg. was only .203 though.

Dizzy Dean and Lon Warneke both had fairly decent career averages, in the .220's.

I'm sure there's a lot more we're missing.

[Matthew C.]

Tom Glavine won 4 Silver Sluggers. Maddux wasn't bad either.

[BoSox Rule]

Mike Hampton had a .272 EqA in 2002. He hit .344/.354/.516 that year.

[cooldrive]

The Detroit pitcher from the late '60s was Earl Wilson. He'd

played for Boston earlier. He hit 7 home runs at least twice, in '66 (1 with

Boston) and '68. He might have signed originally as a catcher.

[cooldrive]

Walter Johnson had some good years, offensively. In 1925, in 97 ABs

he hit .433 and slugged .577. His last year, 1927, in 46 ABs he hit .348 and

slugged .522. His lifetime BA was .236.


Don Larsen was regarded as a real threat at the plate. He had 66

official at bats as a pinch hitter in the '50s and '60s, but with little success....

only 12 hits. But his lifetime BA was .242 and had 14 homers in 596 ABs.

[Brian McKenna]

clark griffith didn't do that bad 166 RBI on 321 hits - one of the few pitchers to have a 5-hit game - couple of .300 seasons

[RuthMayBond]

Cy Seymour, dave Foutz, Elmer Smith, Guy Hecker, Kid Gleason, Jim Whitney, Tony Mullane, Nixey Callahan, Adonis Terry, George Mullin, Hoss Radbourn, Charlie Buffinton. Weren't Valenzuela & Rhoden pretty good?

[csh19792001]

This is a long list. Who were the very best.

Maybe a top 30 list.

Lets start with Wes Ferrell, Red Lucas and Bob Gibson with honorable mentions to Livan Hernandez and Mike Hampton.

Here's some good stuff.

Here. (http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?p=378378#post378378)

My Personal Candidates. (http://www.baseball-fever.com/showpost.php?p=377994&postcount=18)

Seriously, how many full time pitchers have had a career OPS+ equal to the league average?

George Mullin is an unknown, but one hell of a hitter.

[csh19792001]

Mike Hampton had a .272 EqA in 2002. He hit .344/.354/.516 that year.

Hampton is another. The guy looks like an outfielder at the plate.

What an incredible athlete.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Walter Johnson had some good years, offensively. In 1925, in 97 ABs

he hit .433 and slugged .577. His last year, 1927, in 46 ABs he hit .348 and

slugged .522. His lifetime BA was .236.


Yup, Barney was known to be a good hitter. The league BA was .269 during his career, so .236 ain't too shabby. He also hit the first triple in Fenway Park history...that's gotta be worth somethin'. :D

[leecemark]

--Earl Wilson wasn't very consistent at the plate, but he could hit the ball awfully hard when he made contact. I remember one game he won 2-1 with his 2 HR providing himself with all the support he needed.

[BoSox Rule]

Hampton is weird. He had one great year in Houston and another great year in Colorado with EqA's over .270. But, other years, he had had EqA's in the .100's and low .200's. Here is a chart of his EqA's post-1995. He is extremely inconsistent, but of course, he is a pitcher.

http://www.geocities.com/martinez45k/graph.jpg

[shlevine42]

No list of great hitting pitchers would be complete without the name of
Don Newcombe.

[64Cards]

Tony Cloninger's career numbers weren't that impressive [.192 BA, 11 Hr's & 67 RBI's] but on 8/3/66, as a Brave, he had the greatest day at the plate any pitcher ever had. Hit 2 grand slams and drove in 9. Had another day that seasom with a HR and 5 Rbi's. For the season had 5 HR and 23 RBI.

[Bench 5]

Tom Glavine won 4 Silver Sluggers. Maddux wasn't bad either.

That's because chicks dig the longball. :crazy



Of the pitchers that I've seen I think that Rick Rueschel and Rick Sutcliffe were the best. Not only was Rueschel considered a good hitting pitcher, he was often used as a pinch runner despite the fact that he was as big as a house. He was a heck of an athlete. Sutcliffe had a nice swing. Had he not been a pitcher I think he probably could have been a decent hitting first baseman.

[rsuriyop]

How about Ted "Double-Duty" Radcliffe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Radcliffe)? 4,000+ SO to go along w/ 400+ HR's sounds pretty good to me.

[leecemark]

--Double Duty was well known for creating his own legend. I suspect he was well short of both 4,000 and 400. He was both a good pitcher and a good catcher though. Seems an odd choice of positions for doubling up too. He sometimes pitched one end and caught the other of doubleheaders. Bet he slept good those nights, but hurt like hell the next day.

[Scoops]

Tony Cloninger's career numbers weren't that impressive [.192 BA, 11 Hr's & 67 RBI's] but on 8/3/66, as a Brave, he had the greatest day at the plate any pitcher ever had. Hit 2 grand slams and drove in 9.
July 3, not August 3 (http://baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=196607030SFN)

[theAmazingMet]

As previously mentioned Don Newcombe put up some big numbers in Brooklyn. In today's game, and for the foreseeable future Dontrell Willis ain't too shabby.

[digglahhh]

Rick Rhoden was kind of inconsistent but he did have a couple of pretty good years with the bat

[Lindseynelson]

The Detroit pitcher from the late '60s was Earl Wilson. He'd

played for Boston earlier. He hit 7 home runs at least twice, in '66 (1 with

Boston) and '68. He might have signed originally as a catcher.Thank you, I kept getting Gates Brown in the noggin and knew that was wrong. Preciate it!

[Freakshow]

Terry Forster (http://www.baseball-reference.com/f/forstte01.shtml) .397/.412//.474, OPS+ 146

[Freakshow]

Jack Stivetts (http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/stiveja01.shtml) .297/.344/.438, OPS+ 105

[csh19792001]

Rick Rhoden was kind of inconsistent but he did have a couple of pretty good years with the bat

If you've seen the guy golf this would come as no surprise. :)

[csh19792001]

Terry Forster (http://www.baseball-reference.com/f/forstte01.shtml) .397/.412//.474, OPS+ 146

Ah, the beauty of sample size.

"Eschew obfuscation, apotheosize disambiguation!!" -Freakshow

Always like that one, my fellow Feverite :D

[theoldcoastleague]

Don Newcombe for sure. I remember Rick Reuschel. He was at least 50 pounds overweight towards the end of his career with the Giants but he could hit a ton. Big fat dude, great athlete.... ala Livan Hernandez.

Maybe I'll start a thread for fat baseball players who were excellent players (Tony Gwynn??). I remember attending Spring training in 1991 and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Gwynn. He'd get fat during the offseason then lose the weight during spring training. The last 5 or 6 years of his career he never bothered losing the weight. He could have played another 5 years without the pounding his knees took carrying the extra baggage (my same sentiments about Jack Nicklaus) but the love of the good life sometimes might genuinely be worth it especially when Gwynn and Nicklaus had extraordinarily long careers anyway.

Another big clunky pitcher (not too fat though) that used to pinch hit was Don Robinson. I remember him late in his career with those knee braces. He said he'd switch to the outfield if his arm ever gave out but his batting numbers were never extremely impressive.

So many of the 19th and early 20th century pitchers were good hitters, I wonder why then more so than now.

Red Ruffing, Don Drysdale, Rick Rhoden, Walter Johnson, Don Larsen, Terry Forster, Jack Stivetts... all great hitting pitchers.

I loved how the Braves pitchers used to bet each other on who'd have the highest batting average and most home runs. No wonder they won every year.

Will Mazone make a huge difference in Baltimore? I wouldn't be surprised.

[64Cards]

Don Newcombe for sure. I remember Rick Reuschel. He was at least 50 pounds overweight towards the end of his career with the Giants but he could hit a ton. Big fat dude, great athlete.... ala Livan Hernandez.

Maybe I'll start a thread for fat baseball players who were excellent players (Tony Gwynn??). I remember attending Spring training in 1991 and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Gwynn. He'd get fat during the offseason then lose the weight during spring training. The last 5 or 6 years of his career he never bothered losing the weight. He could have played another 5 years without the pounding his knees took carrying the extra baggage (my same sentiments about Jack Nicklaus) but the love of the good life sometimes might genuinely be worth it especially when Gwynn and Nicklaus had extraordinarily long careers anyway.

.
Good post, coast league, although I must quibble with the reference to excess weight shortening Nicklaus' golf career. In the 60's he was a chunkball, but dropped a bunch in the early 70's and pretty much kept it off the rest of his career, although as you get older it just settles in around the waist, no matter what you do. Anyway, Jack was the oldest ever to win at Augusta, plus he could have cleaned up on the Senior Tour, if he choose to focus on that. I think he's had to have a hip replacement, though.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

Hampton is weird. He had one great year in Houston and another great year in Colorado with EqA's over .270. But, other years, he had had EqA's in the .100's and low .200's. Here is a chart of his EqA's post-1995. He is extremely inconsistent, but of course, he is a pitcher.

http://www.geocities.com/martinez45k/graph.jpg
I think what happens as once a good hitting pitcher gets noticed other teams start pitching to him as if he were a "real" hitter, lots of breaking balls, not just meatballs over the plate..