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Throwback - Mike Hampton, a rare pitcher who can hit - includes information on other hitting pitchers - Statistical Data Included

Baseball Digest, Nov, 2001 by Bob Herzog

Mike Hampton's Hitting Reminiscent of An Earlier Generation of Pitchers

AS JOE TORRE WATCHED HIS pitchers take a few tentative, awkward swings in the batting cage earlier this summer, the Yankees' manager could only shake his head and mutter, "A lot of pitchers today are afraid of the ball."

Torre remembered a time when that wasn't the case. "Warren Spahn pinch-hit for me when I was a rookie," Torre, a lifetime .297 hitter with 252 home runs, said of his 1960 season alongside the Milwaukee Braves' Hall of Fame 300-game winner. "He hit a sacrifice fly. I couldn't argue. I was 20 years old and just happy to be in the big leagues. And Spahnnie was a good hitter." Moments later, Torre heard a resounding crack followed by a ball crashing into the upper deck.

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"It's not Pettitte," joked Torre, whose view of the cage from the dugout was obscured by a gathering of reporters. But Torre knows his players. Andy Pettitte, an American Leaguer who rarely bats because of the designated hitter rule implemented in 1973, has never had a major league hit. The "slugger" of the moment was Mike Stanton, a competent batsman who is 7-for-14 in his big league career, which naturally started in the National League. "Stanton can hit," Torre declared.

It's a phrase rarely uttered about a pitcher today. With the exception of Colorado's Mike Hampton, who was launching an assault on the all-time single-season home run record for pitchers, baseball's second century begins with the term "hitting pitcher" being mostly an oxymoron.

"Hampton obviously is a guy who makes contact and is an athlete," Stanton said of the Rockies' left-hander who had seven home runs, 13 RBI, 20 runs scored and a .290 average (20-for-69) through August 26. "He's pitching late into ballgames and getting three or four at-bats a game. That helps."

But Hampton is a throwback. Even in the N.L., there are few pitchers who excel with the bat. The reason is simple: Hitting for pitchers has been de-emphasized by the DH rule at all levels, and most pitchers just don't practice it like they did in pre-1973 baseball. With so many pitchers switching leagues in the age of free agency and expansion, it's easy to forget about the bats when packing up and moving. Whatever hitting skills these transient players once had are now atrophied from disuse.

"I had 15 home runs in my first nine seasons in the National League," said Long Island Ducks pitching coach Rick Wise, an 18-year major league veteran (1964, 1966-82). "Then I spent six years in the American League without swinging a bat. I came back at the end of my career for a couple of years in the National League and hardly got a hit. My hand-eye coordination was shot."

Broadcaster Tim McCarver, who played with and against some of the best hitting pitchers in history during his 21-year major league career (1959-1980), noted of today's hurlers, "Hitting is no longer a skill they are called upon to demonstrate."

But beginning with Babe Ruth in 1915, baseball lore is liberally sprinkled with tales of pitchers who could also hit.

"Pitchers want to be hitters and hitters want to be pitchers," Stanton said.

Ruth, of course, did both. So, for a brief time, did Hall of Famer Bob Lemon. But the former Indian, and one-time Yankees manager, couldn't hit well enough as a third-baseman/outfielder and was nearly cut by Cleveland in 1946. What saved him was his experience as a pitcher while serving in World War II, when he faced numerous big league contemporaries.

"You may think he's a third baseman, but I know he's a pitcher," catcher Birdie Tebbetts told Indians management. "I hit against him during the war in the Pacific, and if I never have to bat against him again, it will be too soon."

Lemon won 207 games despite a late start and military service. He also batted a respectable .232 with 37 career home runs, second all-time to Wes Ferrell, who hit 38 and batted .280. Ferrell hit nine in one season for Cleveland in 1931, the record that Hampton was chasing.

"But he's hitting most of his home runs in Coors Field, isn't he?" Yankees coach Don Zimmer snickered.

One of the earliest superb hitting pitchers not named Babe was Red Ruffing. The Hall of Famer won 273 games from 1924-1947. Traded from the woeful Red Sox to the Yankees in 1930, Ruffing's career took off. He won 20 games four times and was one of a small group of pitchers to bat .300 and win 20 games in the same season, another milestone Hampton could reach in future years. In 1939, Ruffing went 21-7 for the world champion Yankees and batted .307 with 20 RBI in 114 at-bats. He hit 36 career home runs, third all-time, and is the career leader for pitchers in doubles (97) and RBI (273). Amazingly, Ruffing pinch-hit 228 times in his career, getting 58 hits, a .254 average Rey Ordonez would be proud to achieve.

Pinch-hitting is not a highlight on Hampton's resume yet, but it was not uncommon for the better-hitting pitchers up until the 1960s.

Zimmer recalled being pinch-hit for several times by Brooklyn ace pitcher Don Newcombe, who sometimes batted eighth and often was listed with the Dodgers' hitters in the daily averages in the newspaper. Newk threw right-handed but batted loft-handed. "He was a dead low-ball hitter," Zimmer recalled. "If it was a fastball down around the shoetops, he killed it."

Throwback - Mike Hampton, a rare pitcher who can hit - includes information on other hitting pitchers - Statistical Data Included

Baseball Digest, Nov, 2001 by Bob Herzog

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