Home Run Hitting Pitchers

[WillyM]

An article on the Orioles' homepage discusses pitchers who hit notable home runs.  There are pictures of Mike Hampton, Bartolo Colon, Madison Bumgarner, and the Orioles' Dave McNally, who remains the only pitcher ever to hit a grand slam in a World Series game. 

A number of other pitchers are mentioned in the article.  I was a little sorry to see that the article did not mention George Brett's brother Ken, who hit home runs in four consecutive games for the Phillies in 1973.  The heck of it is, it should have been five.

On June 3 of that year, Brett came to bat in the sixth inning at Candlestick Park in San Francisco and belted one to deep right-center.  The ball landed near the base of the fence, then bounded high and far beyond.  The question was whether it had landed in front of or behind the fence.  The fence was nothing more than a cyclone fence, so there was no solid background to allow the umpires to see whether the ball had descended in front of the fence or disappeared behind it.  The Phillies' TV crew showed numerous replays, but instant replays in that era weren't nearly as sharp as they are today, and even with the replays, it was impossible to tell where the ball had landed.

The umps, positioned far away in the infield, took their best shot and ruled it a ground-rule double.

The two guys with the best view of the play were Giants outfielders Bobby Bonds and Garry Maddox.  I heard, long afterward, that when the play happened, one of them looked toward the infield, saw Brett stopping at second base, then looked at his teammate and asked "Did the umps say that ball landed in front of the fence?'

To which his teammate replied, "Yes.  Now shut up and act as if you believe it."

Brett went on to hit home runs - and actually get credit for hitting home runs - in each of his next four games.

Edited June 24, 2019 by WillyM
added location

[OFFNY]

On 6/23/2019 at 9:10 PM, WillyM said:

 

An article on the Orioles' homepage discusses pitchers who hit notable home runs.  There are pictures of Mike Hampton, Bartolo Colon, Madison Bumgarner, and the Orioles' Dave McNally, who remains the only pitcher ever to hit a grand slam in a World Series game. 

A number of other pitchers are mentioned in the article.  I was a little sorry to see that the article did not mention George Brett's brother Ken, who hit home runs in four consecutive games for the Phillies in 1973.  The heck of it is, it should have been five.

On June 3 of that year, Brett came to bat in the sixth inning at Candlestick Park in San Francisco and belted one to deep right-center.  The ball landed near the base of the fence, then bounded high and far beyond.  The question was whether it had landed in front of or behind the fence.  The fence was nothing more than a cyclone fence, so there was no solid background to allow the umpires to see whether the ball had descended in front of the fence or disappeared behind it.  The Phillies' TV crew showed numerous replays, but instant replays in that era weren't nearly as sharp as they are today, and even with the replays, it was impossible to tell where the ball had landed.

The umps, positioned far away in the infield, took their best shot and ruled it a ground-rule double.

The two guys with the best view of the play were Giants outfielders Bobby Bonds and Garry Maddox.  I heard, long afterward, that when the play happened, one of them looked toward the infield, saw Brett stopping at second base, then looked at his teammate and asked "Did the umps say that ball landed in front of the fence?'

To which his teammate replied, "Yes.  Now shut up and act as if you believe it."

Brett went on to hit home runs - and actually get credit for hitting home runs - in each of his next four games.

 

o

 

Good info.

I believe that Dave McNally remains the only pitcher ever to hit a grand slam home run in a World Series (1970.)

I always found it interesting when a pitcher managed to hit at least .200 for their batting average and/or hit at least 4 or 5 home runs in a single season.

 

o

[Frobby]

From my youth, I remember Earl Wilson as a pitcher with a lot of clout.   From 1964-68 he hit 29 homers and had 79 RBI in 504 PA. Not too shabby!