Time for another edition of Trivia(l) Tidbit Tuesday. I hope you are enjoying weekly presentation of baseball occurrences that for some reason caught The Roundtable’s eye. (I’m particularly fond of unexpected performances or statistical coincidences.) These won’t necessarily be momentous occurrences, just events, statistics or coincidences that grabbed my attention. For longer “Tidbits,” I’ll direct you to the Baseball Roundtable blog. This one will be presented in its entirety here. (Still trying to find out exactly why Facebook won’t allow a link to the blog in my FB posts.)
No being a big fan of the Designated Hitter, I was drawn to this tidbit – which I believe is one of those one-of-a-kind MLB “unicorns” I especially like. (I am still researching this, but I have yet to find another such instance.)
On September 12, 1969, The Mets swept a doubleheader in Pittsburgh – winning both games by a 1-0 score. The trivia(l) bit of trivia that attracted me was that The Mets’ starting pitcher drove in the only run in each game.
Game One was started by Jerry Koosman, who threw a three-hit (three walks/four strikeouts) shutout. In the fifth inning, Koosman came to the plate against Pirates’ starter Bob Moose, with runners on first and third and one out, and punched an RBI single to right for the game’s only run. Notably, it was Koosman’s only RBI of the season (he hit 0.48 on the season, with just four singles in 84 at bats). Koosman’s win that day was his fourteenth of a season in which he would go 17-9, 2.28, with 16 complete games and six shutouts. Koosman, by the way, was a lifetime (19 seasons … 1967-85 … Mets, Twins, White Sox, Phillies) .119 hitter. On the mound, he was 232-209, 3.36.
Game Two saw Don Cardwell starting for the Mets against the Pirates’ Dock Ellis. Cardwell got the win, pitching eight innings (four hits, no runs, one walk three strikeouts) – which brought his record to 7-9, 2.93 on the season. He drove in the game’s only tally in the top of the second. A doubling Bud Harrelson was on second base with two outs and Cardwell singled to center off Ellis to bring Harrelson home. Cardwell was a better hitter than Koosman. In 1969, he went .170-1-5. For his career (14 seasons … 1957-70 … Phillies, Cubs, Pirates, Mets, Braves), he was .135-15-53. Cardwell finished 1960 at 8-10, 3.01 with four complete games.
I Digress
Now, events in MLB yesterday, led me to another Tidbit. I know at times this post may be a bit like watching a series of unrelated slides. (Younger readers may not remember slides, but they were pretty popular. You also may not remember Pete Runnels, but he was pretty popular as well.)
Anyway, yesterday, as the Red Sox topped the Orioles 12-3 (in Boston), Boston’s RF Rob Refsnyder and DH Tyler O’Neill (hitting in the three- and four-holes) hit back-to-back homers in the third and eighth innings. Two players going deep back-to-back in the same games – not a Roundtable unicorn. But what does qualify as a Roundtable unicorn was the day that the Mariners’ Brett Boone and Mike Cameron hit back-to-back home runs in the same inning.
On May 2, 2002, 2B Boone and CF Cameron were batting in the two- and three-holes in the Mariners’ lineup, as they faced off against the White Sox in Chicago. After Mariners’ RF Ichiro Suzuki was hit by a pitch (on the first pitch) to open the game, Boone took the very next pitch from White Sox’ starter Jon Rauch to deep RF for a two-run home run. It took four pitches, but Cameron followed up with a solo home run. Six runs and two outs later, Boone came up again and delivered another two-run home run (this time off Jim Parque) and Cameron followed with a solo shot to center. Back-to-back twice in the same inning – an unexpected MLB first and still only. Cameron, by the way, went on to hit an MLB single-game, record- tying four home runs in the contest – won by the Mariners 15-4.
Now back to our originally schedule programming – pitchers-hitting tidbits. Here are three that are well known, but deserve another mention here:
- On June 23, 1971, Rick Wise became the first – and still only – pitcher to hit two home runs in a game in which he also pitched a no-hitter. Wise walked one and fanned three in the no-no – and homered in the fifth (a two-run shot off Ross Grimsley) and eighth (a solo homer off Clay Carroll) driving in three of the Phillies’ four runs. Wise pitched in 18 MLB seasons (1964, 1966-82 … Phillies, Cardinals, Red Sox, Indians, Padres), going 188-181. 3.69. He won 15 or more games in six campaigns. As a hitter, he went .195-15-66 in 668 at bats).
- On May 8, 1968, the A’s Jim “Catfish” Hunter pitched a perfect game – beating the Twins 4-0 in Oakland. He also became the first, and still only, pitcher, to collect three hits in a game in which he pitched a “perfecto.” Like Wise (above), Hunter drove in three of the A’s four runs. Hunter doubled in the third (off Dave Boswell); flied out in the fifth (Boswell); broke up a scoreless tie with an RBI bunt single (Boswell) in the seventh; and hit a two-run single in the eighth. Hall of Famer Hunter went 224-166, 3.26 in 15 MLB seasons (1965-79 … A’s, Yankees). He was a eight-time All Star and won 20 or more games in five consecutive seasons (1971-75). As a hitter, he went .226-6-51 in 658 at bats. Note: Originally, had this date as May 6, a reader (Kenneth J.) caught the faux pax. Thanks for the fine catch and Mea Culpa!
- Finally, one I really like (and have written about perhaps too often). The first National League player (any position) to hit two Grand Slam home runs in a game was Braves’ pitcher Tony Cloninger. On July 3, 1966, Cloninger went three-for-nine with two Grand Slams and nine RBI as the Braves beat the Giants 17-3 in San Francisco. That season, Cloninger went .234-5-23 at the plate (111 at bats) and 13-11, 4.12 on the mound. For more on Cloninger’s unique career – he went from an MLB pitcher to an All-World slow-pitch softball third baseman, click here.
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