Rarest of Baseball Observances?

[Redskins Rick]

Anyone ever seen a HR that so injured the batter that a pinch runner was required to complete the play? It appears legal and part of the rules to have a home run without being credited with a run scored. See Rule 5.10 © (1).

I remember Kirk Gibson playoff walkoff home, and he limb around the base path

[Filmstudy]

When the Birds were at San Diego and Rickard was robbed from a catch-able foul ball, the umpire ruled the batter out, on fan interference.

Fan inerference resulting in an out is an unusual, but not unheard of call.

Fan interference where a runner is allowed to score from first is more rare, but the umpire is allowed to award bases as he sits on fan interference.

Fan interference on a ball that lands uncaught, but is awarded as other than a double is exceedingly rare, but that's the one I know of occurring at Fenway in the 1970s and 80s.

[Redskins Rick]

Fan inerference resulting in an out is an unusual, but not unheard of call.

Fan interference where a runner is allowed to score from first is more rare, but the umpire is allowed to award bases as he sits on fan interference.

Fan interference on a ball that lands uncaught, but is awarded as other than a double is exceedingly rare, but that's the one I know of occurring at Fenway in the 1970s and 80s.

The Fan caught the ball in the field of play and held onto the ball, preventing Rickard from catching the ball.

[OFFNY]

o

I remember when Catfish Hunter batted for himself in a game against the Orioles in 1976.

It was an unorthodox move.

And not to be outdone, Earl Weaver (in a behavior that was even more unorthodox than Billy Martin having his pitcher hit for himself in the first place) actually argued against it !!!

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL197609050.shtml

My brother Mark (Yankee fan) said an encouraging, "Hey" when he saw that Hunter actually made contact, albeit on a groundball out.

The game was televised on WPIX-11 up here. I was 10 and-a-half years old at the time.

[Filmstudy]

I can't let a thread like this go without brainstorming some exceptionally rare things in baseball...

- Anyone ever seen an automatic triple? As in Rule 7.05 (b): (b) Three bases, if a fielder deliberately touches a fair ball with his cap, mask or any part of his uniform detached from its proper place on his person. The ball is in play and the batter may advance to home base at his peril;

- How about the part of the balk rule (8.05 (f)) that states the pitcher can't pitch when he's not facing the batter?

- Or rule 4.15 (g), mandating that the game be forfeited if one of the teams doesn't show up for the second game of a doubleheader within 20 minutes of the conclusion of the first game?

- Or 6.05 (n): With two out, a runner on third base, and two strikes on the batter, the runner attempts to steal home base on a legal pitch and the ball touches the runner in the batter?s strike zone. The umpire shall call ?Strike Three,? the batter is out and the run shall not count; before two are out, the umpire shall call ?Strike Three,? the ball is dead, and the run counts.

Amazingly, did a little searching and found that Clayton Kershaw came close to having the 3-base penalty applied as recently as 7/2/13

He missed the ball (so no penalty occurred) and subsequently recorded an out on the play!

[Filmstudy]

The Fan caught the ball in the field of play and held onto the ball, preventing Rickard from catching the ball.

Understood, it's in the first category of the 3 I list and the most common of those.

[Filmstudy]

o

I remember when Catfish Hunter batted for himself in a game against the Orioles in 1976.

It was an unorthodox move.

And not to be outdone, Earl Weaver (in a behavior that was even more unorthodox than Billy Martin having his pitcher hit for himself in the first place) actually argued against it !!!

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL197609050.shtml

My brother Mark (Yankee fan) said an encouraging, "Hey" when he saw that Hunter actually made contact, albeit on a groundball out.

The game was televised on WPIX-11 up here. I was 10 and-a-half years old at the time.

I won't forget Rick Rhoden being used as a DH against the Orioles (6/11/88) and batting 7th. The Orioles lost the game 8-6 and Rhoden had a sac fly.

[OFFNY]

I remember when Catfish Hunter batted for himself in a game against the Orioles in 1976.

It was an unorthodox move.

And not to be outdone, Earl Weaver (in a behavior that was even more unorthodox than Billy Martin having his pitcher hit for himself in the first place) actually argued against it !!!

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL197609050.shtml

My brother Mark (Yankee fan) said an encouraging, "Hey" when he saw that Hunter actually made contact, albeit on a groundball out.

The game was televised on WPIX-11 up here. I was 10 and-a-half years old at the time.

I won't forget Rick Rhoden being used as a DH against the Orioles (6/11/88) and batting 7th. The Orioles lost the game 8-6 and Rhoden had a sac fly.

Thanks, I did not know that.

The slight difference between these 2 incidents was that Rhoden started the game as the DH. In the 1976 game, the Yankees had a regular position player start the game at DH (Cesar Tovar), and Hunter pinch-hit for the #8 hitter in the 6th inning ...... while he was already in the game !!! ):eektf:

[Number5]

Fernando Valenzuela was a good hitter when with the Dodgers. I remember wondering why the Orioles never used him as a DH or PH on days he wasn't pitching.

[DrungoHazewood]

Fernando Valenzuela was a good hitter when with the Dodgers. I remember wondering why the Orioles never used him as a DH or PH on days he wasn't pitching.

Because his .467 career OPS was worse than almost every semi-regular Orioles' season since 1954. '67 Mark Belanger, '91 Juan Bell, and '57 Willie Miranda are the only players in O's history with 200+ PAs in a season and an OPS worse than Fernando's career mark. Once you account for context only Bell was worse, and he missed being on those '91 O's by two years.

[DrungoHazewood]

Thanks, I did not know that.

The slight difference between these 2 incidents was that Rhoden started the game as the DH. In the 1976 game, the Yankees had a regular position player start the game at DH (Cesar Tovar), and Hunter pinch-hit for the #8 hitter in the 6th inning ...... while he was already in the game !!! ):eektf:

That's probably the only time the pitcher has pinch hit, utilizing that obscure part of the DH rule (6.10 (b) (10)). The question is why? Why pinch hit with a guy with a .521 OPS who had one PA in the last four years? I suppose it's equally puzzling why you'd DH Tovar, who had a .703 career OPS but was in his final season where he hit .167.

[Rich Mac]

One of the coolest things I ever saw live was at Citifield in 2009.

Eric Bruntlett of the Phillies recorded an unassisted triple play to end the game. One of only 15 in the history of MLB. I was fortunate enough to have my son with me, so he can brag that he saw it too.

We had lousy seats in right field and it happened so fast that most of the people around us didn't know they saw the rarest of all baseball plays. I'm pretty sure I will never see another one live.

[Redskins Rick]

That's probably the only time the pitcher has pinch hit, utilizing that obscure part of the DH rule (6.10 (b) (10)). The question is why? Why pinch hit with a guy with a .521 OPS who had one PA in the last four years? I suppose it's equally puzzling why you'd DH Tovar, who had a .703 career OPS but was in his final season where he hit .167.

Carlos Zambrano pinch hit 20 times in his career, according to his wiki page.

Travis Wood hit a solo home run, while pinch hitting for the Cubs against the Angels, making him 1 for 7 as a pinch hitter.

[SteveA]

That's probably the only time the pitcher has pinch hit, utilizing that obscure part of the DH rule (6.10 (b) (10)). The question is why? Why pinch hit with a guy with a .521 OPS who had one PA in the last four years? I suppose it's equally puzzling why you'd DH Tovar, who had a .703 career OPS but was in his final season where he hit .167.

You do realize that no one knew what "OPS" meant back then. It's easy to sneer at people who didn't know what we know now, I suppose. There wasn't even a solid understanding of the value of on-base percentage.

[Filmstudy]

Carlos Zambrano pinch hit 20 times in his career, according to his wiki page.

Travis Wood hit a solo home run, while pinch hitting for the Cubs against the Angels, making him 1 for 7 as a pinch hitter.

baseball-reference.com has pinch hitting stats and shows Zambrano as 3 for 29 lifetime in that role.

Catfish Hunter was a .226 hitter career. However, my best friend and I grew up playing the 1971 version of Sports Illustrated Baseball, which included batting lines for each pitcher. Hunter hit .350 in 1971 (36 for 103), so he provided a big boost to the A's offense when he was pitching and whoever had him would usually use him as the leadoff hitter. Rick Wise also hit 6 HRs for the lowly Phillies that season (including 2 in his no-hitter). He was a big asset off the bench in every game for the Phillies.