As Baseball Roundtable waits for the MLB season to start in earnest, my mind tends to wander to all sorts of big-league achievement and oddities – iconic, ironic or just plain unusual baseball events. In my recent (March 18), Baseball Roundtable Tenth Anniversary post, I described ten of my favorites such MLB occurrences. (Click here for that post.) Today, I’d like to continue those off-beat musings – looking at 39 pitchers who took the MLB mound at least once in their career – and never retired a batter. I ask that readers keep in mind that, despite their lack of success, all these hurlers belong to that elite group of athletes that actually made it to the major-league mound.
N0t Sure If This One Counts
This list can be expanded to a fabulous forty if you include Larry Yount, brother of Hall of Famer Robin Yount, who had arguably the shortest MLB career ever. On September 15, 1971, Yount (with the Astros) was called to the mound in the top of the ninth with Houston trailing the Braves 4-1. He was slated to face LF Ralph Garr, 1B Hank Aaron and C Earl Williams. He faced none of them. Young had experienced a bit of an elbow twinge in the bullpen and, while warming up on the mound, it got worse. The trainer came to bump and Yount was pulled from the game – officially registering an MLB pitching appearance, but without tossing a single pitch. Yount pitched two more minor-league seasons, but never made it to the MLB mound again. (In seven minor-league seasons, Yount went 40-69, 4.56.)
So, let’s look at some of the 39 “No-Out Wondes.”
Twenty-nine of the 39 gave up at least one earned run, giving them an earned run average of infinity.
Bill Childers of the 1895 Louisville Colonels and Elmer “Doc” Hamann of the 1922 Cleveland Indians gave up the most earned runs in their no-out MLB mound careers – six each.
Childers sole MLB appearance came on July 27, 1895. He was called on with one out in the top of the ninth, with his Louisville Colonels trailing the Baltimore Orioles 12-6. Childers proceeded to face seven batters – giving up two hits and five walks (and tossing three wild pitches) before being relieved in a 22-6 Louisville loss.
One September 21, 1922, Hamann (with the Indians) was brought in to open the top of the ninth (versus the Red Sox), with the Indians trailing 9-5. In his six-earned-run outing, Hamann, like Childers, faced seven batters,Hamann gave up three hits, three walks and one hit-by-pitch. The final score of this one was Red Sox 15 – Indians five. (For Baseball Roundtable’s Minnesota readers, Hamann (a New Ulm native), played baseball and basketball for St. Thomas College. Side note: This no-out outing proved to be not only Hamann’s only MLB appearance, but his only professional pitching appearance.
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Five of the 39 were position players called in to pitch.
The most famous of the position players who took the mound during their career without ever retiring a batter was Stan Musial. On September 28, 1952, Musial, already a five-time batting champion, was called in – not from the bullpen, but from CF – with one out and one on in the top of the first inning in a Cardinals/Cubs tilt in St. Louis. Cardinals’ starting pitcher Harvey Haddix went from the mound to RF, with RF Hal Rice moving to center. Musial faced Cubs’ RF Fran Baumholtz (hitting .325 at the time – second only to Musial in the NL batting race). Stan the Man almost pitched his way off this list. Baumholtz put Musial’s first (and only) MLB pitch into play and “The Man” would have recorded an out, except for an error (on a groundball) by Cardinals’ 3B Solly Hemus. After facing Baumholtz, Musial went back to CF, Haddix returned to the mound and Hal Rice went back to right.
If you’re wondering why Musial was called to the mound, it was kind of a “courtesy” call. Musial started his professional career as a pitcher – and , in fact, appeared only as a pitcher in his first two minor-league campaigns. (Shoulder issues eventually led him to give up moundwork – which turned out to not be a bad deal at all.) In three minor-league seasons, Musial went 33-13, 3.52.
Other MLB position players to make at least one mound appearance without retiring a batter include: OF Vic Davalillo; OF Gerardo Parra; OF Jose Roque, OF Billy Sunday and C/OF Dave Pierson.
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Only one player has made two career mound appearances without recording a single out.
Vic Davalillo, who enjoyed a 16-season MLB career as an outfielder (1963-74, 1977-80), took the mound for the Cardinals twice in 1969, without retiring a batter – both times against the Mets. On June 30, he opened the top of the ninth with the Cardinals trailing the Mets 10-2. He gave up a walk to CF Tommie Agee and a single to 3B Bobby Pfeil, before being relieved by Chuck Taylor, who got out of the inning without a run scoring. Just three days later, Davalillo pinch hit for pitcher Ray Washburn in the top of eighth, with the Cardinals down to the Mets by a 7-0 score. Davalillo lined out the end the frame and stayed in to pitch in the eighth. He again started with a walk to CF Tommie Agee and then gave up a run-scoring double to 2B Ken Boswell before being pulled. Over his career, Davalillo was a one-time All Star and a one-time Gold Glover. He had a career line of .279-36-329, with 12t stolen bases in 1,458 MLB games.
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Fourteen of the 39 no-out wonders achieved this “goal” as starting pitchers.
Harry Heitmann’s (1918 Brooklyn Robins) only MLB appearance came in the second game of a double header on July 27, with his Brooklyn Robins facing the Cardinals in Brooklyn. Heitmann faced four batters and gave up four runs on four hits – without recording an out. It was the only MLB appearance for Heitmann, who was called up to Brooklyn after compiling a 17-6 record at Double A Rochester. He went on to pitch eight more minor-league seasons, winning 17 games for Rochester again in 1921, but never made it back to the big leagues.
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Only two of the no-out wonders surrendered a home run in their appearance.
Zack Weiss is the only pitcher on this list to give up two home runs in his no-out MLB pitching career. On April 12, 2018 – as his Reds faced the Cardinals in Cincinnati – Weiss came on in relief in the top of the seventh, with the Reds down by just one run (5-4). Weiss gave up a home run on a 2-0 pitch to Cards’ 1B Jose Martinez. Then, C Yadier Molina took a 2-0 pitch out 0f the park. Next, Weiss walked SS Paul DeJong on four pitcher and 2B Kolten Wong on five pitches before leaving the game. Weiss is still active, so he can pitch his way off this list, but for now, he has thrown 15 MLB pitches – 12 balls and three strikes, with two of his three strikes going yard.
The only other no-out career pitcher to surrender a home run in his appearance is Dave Pierson, a catcher/outfielder pitched in one game for the 1876 Cincinnati Reds. It came in the bottom of the first inning (Pierson started the game), as his Reds faced the Louisville Colonels (May 18, 1876). Pierson faced two batters and gave up two hits – the second of which was an inside-the-park home run to Louisville 3B Bill Hague. The Reds lost that one 9-3 – and Pierson was tagged with the defeat.
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Baseball Roundtable Extra – Relieved by a One-Legged Pitcher
Lots of players discussed here can boast of an earned run average of infinity, but what about measurable ERA? Well, the highest measurable ERA – which would be by a pitcher who recorded at least one MLB out – is 189.00, It belongs to the 1945 Washington Senators’ righty Joe Cleary – and he gets extra credit since, in his one and only MLB appearance, he was relieved by MLB’s only one-legged pitcher. More on that in a minute.
Cleary was in his fifth pro season (1939, 1941-42, 1944-45, when he was called up to the Senators (in the pitching lean war years). On August 4, in the second game of a double header between the Senators and the Red Sox, Cleary made his MLB debut in the top of fourth inning, with the Senators trailing 6-2, a runner on third base and one out. Clearly made his way once through the Red Sox lineup and it went like this:
- RBI single by CF George Metkovich;
- Walk to 1B Dolph Camilli;
- RBI single by RF Pete Fox;
- Walk to 2B Skeeter Newsome;
- Two-run single by C Bob Garbark;
- Strikeout by P Dave Ferris;
- RBI single by SS Eddie Lake;
- Walk to 3B Ty LaForest;
- Three-run double by LF Tom McBride.
That brought Metkovich for the second time in the frame and brought Bert Shepard – the one-legged pitcher I mentioned earlier – to the mound. Shepard stuck out Metkovich to end the inning.
Although Cleary pitched in five more minor-league seasons, he never made it back to the big leagues. As for Shepard, he pitched five more innings that day, giving up just one run on three hits. (Washington lost 15-4.) Side note: Shepard lost part of his right leg (below the knew) when his P-38 fighter was shot down near Hamburg Germany in May of 1944. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal and a Purple Heart. For the story of how he made it to the big leagues on one leg, click here.
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