Greatest Player to Never Bat?

[Edgy MD]

Who is the best, or maybe famostest, major league player to never bat?

I was thinking primarily of pitchers who came up shortly after the dawn of the DH rule and retired before inter-league play, spending a long and profitable career entirely in the AL. Ron Guidry had three at-bats in the 1977 World Series. Jack Morris took a single turn at the plate in 1987. Who else might qualify?

[Guest d'Kong76]

Mets drafted some stiff ahead of Reggie Jackson that never played.
Not sure if that's what the question means, though.

[Ceetar]

This cheating?

[th]Rk[/th][th]Player[/th][th]G[/th][th]PA[/th][th]From[/th][th]To[/th][th]Age[/th][th]Pos[/th][th]Tm[/th]

1	Buddy Groom	786	0	1992	2005	26-39	*1	DET-FLA-OAK-BAL-ARI-NYY
2	Jason Frasor	671	0	2004	2015	26-37	*1	TOR-CHW-TEX-KCR
3	Bob Stanley	637	0	1977	1989	22-34	*1	BOS
4	Jonathan Papelbon	622	0	2005	2015	24-34	*1	BOS-PHI
5	Mike Fetters	620	0	1989	2004	24-39	*1	CAL-MIL-OAK-ANA-BAL-LAD-PIT-ARI-MIN
6	J.J. Putz	572	0	2003	2014	26-37	*1	SEA-NYM-CHW-ARI
7	Chad Bradford	562	0	1998	2009	23-34	*1	CHW-OAK-BOS-NYM-BAL-TBR
8	Tippy Martinez	548	0	1974	1988	24-38	*1/HD	NYY-BAL-MIN
9	Jamie Walker	545	0	1997	2009	25-37	*1	KCR-DET-BAL
10	Mike Flanagan	529	0	1975	1992	23-40	*1/D	BAL-TOR
11	Steve Farr	509	0	1984	1994	27-37	*1	CLE-KCR-NYY-BOS
12	Mark Clear	481	0	1979	1990	23-34	*1	CAL-BOS-MIL
13	Brian Shouse	467	0	1993	2009	24-40	*1	PIT-BOS-KCR-MIL-TEX-TBR
14	David Robertson	432	0	2008	2015	23-30	*1	NYY-CHW
15	Ed Nunez	427	0	1982	1994	19-31	*1	SEA-NYM-DET-TEX-MIL-OAK
16	Mike MacDougal	407	0	2001	2012	24-35	*1	KCR-CHW-WSN-STL-LAD
17	Joakim Soria	404	0	2007	2015	23-31	*1	KCR-TEX-DET
18	Tony Sipp	391	0	2009	2015	25-31	*1/79	CLE-ARI-HOU
19	Frank Francisco	391	0	2004	2014	24-34	*1	TEX-TOR-NYM-CHW

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/29/2015.

[Edgy MD]

No, that's mostly good work. I'm surprised at how few guys fit the profile I laid out though: post-1972/pre-interleague career AL pitchers: Flanagan, Martinez, Stanley, Clear, Nu�ez.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

It's too bad JJ Putz never had the chance to get hit in his fat face with a pitch.

[Guest d'Kong76]

That's a list of best or famoustest? Just saw the thing on fb.

[Ceetar]

d'Kong76 wrote: That's a list of best or famoustest? Just saw the thing on fb.

that's the top 19 or so by game played.

[dinosaur jesus]

Moonlight Graham. Or Herb Washington.

[Edgy MD]

Those are two candidates that certainly occurred to me.

Dave Steib: two trips to the plate.

[Ceetar]

dinosaur jesus wrote: Moonlight Graham. Or Herb Washington.

I'd never heard of Herb Washington until I just reran that query for non-pitchers.

31 stolen bases! 105 games! never batted. Eddie Phillips is next on that list with 9 games and 4 runs.

[Ceetar]

I got excited because i saw Jim Abbott on this list. Would've been a great answer to this question except he played for the Brewers in 1999 and got two hits.

[G-Fafif]

Three Mets made that list. Can't believe Davey/Jerry/Terry never thought to use Nunez/Putz/Francisco to pinch-hit.

[Ceetar]

G-Fafif wrote: Three Mets made that list. Can't believe Davey/Jerry/Terry never thought to use Nunez/Putz/Francisco to pinch-hit.

4!

Willie/Bradford. Our moneyball star in retirement.

[G-Fafif]

Ceetar wrote: I'd never heard of Herb Washington until I just reran that query for non-pitchers.

The things that slip from the general consciousness as years go by. Herb Washington was designated pinch-runner on the 1974 and 1975 Oakland A's. Owner Charlie Finley sought to revolutionize the game by signing a track star to not so much play baseball but channel his talent into baseball. I still don't know if it was a good idea, but it was cool as hell that someone like that endured on a major league roster as long as he did, at least while he was doing so.

[G-Fafif]

Ceetar wrote: G-Fafif wrote: Three Mets made that list. Can't believe Davey/Jerry/Terry never thought to use Nunez/Putz/Francisco to pinch-hit. 4! Willie/Bradford. Our moneyball star in retirement.

Gosh, yes. I missed that.

Mets have to stop acting like an American League franchise. Perhaps Matz is saving them in more ways than we knew.

[G-Fafif]

Frank Francisco...what a strange signing.

[Ceetar]

G-Fafif wrote: Mets have to stop acting like an American League franchise. Perhaps Matz is saving them in more ways than we knew.

Especially since Buddy Carlyle and Jeurys Familia were our best hitters by OPS last season.

[seawolf17]

This grew out of my FB post this afternoon, remembering Moonlight Graham on the 110th anniversary of his game. Admittedly, his game is only famous because of Shoeless Joe/Field of Dreams, but I think Herb Washington is the only one we've mentioned who comes close in terms of notability.

[Edgy MD]

Mark Fidrych. Dave Rozema. Britt Burns. Rich Dotson.

[seawolf17]

Oh, the Bird is a good one.

[Edgy MD]

John Paciorek: one game, three trips to the plate, and he gets his own bio.

CBS got five and a half minutes out of him too.

[stevejrogers]

Ceetar wrote: I got excited because i saw Jim Abbott on this list. Would've been a great answer to this question except he played for the Brewers in 1999 and got two hits.

And at least one rare one as an Angel as documented by this Upper Deck card, hard to really determine, but I don't think that is a Spring Training shot.

[stevejrogers]

G-Fafif wrote: Ceetar wrote: I'd never heard of Herb Washington until I just reran that query for non-pitchers. The things that slip from the general consciousness as years go by. Herb Washington was designated pinch-runner on the 1974 and 1975 Oakland A's. Owner Charlie Finley sought to revolutionize the game by signing a track star to not so much play baseball but channel his talent into baseball. I still don't know if it was a good idea, but it was cool as hell that someone like that endured on a major league roster as long as he did, at least while he was doing so.

Also The Panamanian Express, Allan Lewis, whom is a Toppsless Athletic, despite being the first official Designated Runner for Finley's A's.

[Guest d'Kong76]

SteveJRogers wrote: And at least one rare one as an Angel as documented by this Upper Deck card, hard to really determine, but I don't think that is a Spring Training shot.

Weird, never batted as an Angel according to his bbrdotcom page.

[Edgy MD]

Memory cloudy, but I think that may be from some sort of exhibition in a big league ballpark.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Odd picture selection to use on a card, sometimes I think
they did stuff like that on purpose... but I doubt it.

[seawolf17]

Upper Deck definitely did that stuff on purpose, especially in the first few years.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Interesting, will have to look into that somehow. Can you think
of any quirky Mets instances?

[stevejrogers]