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

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.

"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."

In 1955, Newcombe had perhaps the greatest hitting season for a pitcher, baring .359 in 117 at-bats, with nine doubles, seven homers and 23 RBI. As a pinch-hiRer that season, Newcombe went 8-for-21. "He'd pinch-hit for me and (fellow infielder) Billy Cox. What could we say? He was batting .360!" laughed Zimmer, who batted .239 that season. Cox hit .211.

Don Drysdale was another Dodgers pitcher of that era (1956-1969) who had power, twice hitting seven homers in a season and belting two pinch-hit home runs in 1965, a year in which he batted .300, the highest average on the team--for all players.

Another contemporary pitcher cited as an exceptional hitter was the Cardinals' Bob Gibson (1959-1975), who hit five home runs in a season twice, stole 13 bases in his career, won nine Gold gloves and was, according to McCarver, "The consummate athlete on both sides of the ball."

Hampton, though not as fast as Gibson, is a modern-day triple-threat. He showed New York fans his pitching, fielding and hitting prowess in 2000 with the Mets and turned it up a notch with the Rockies this year. But though Hampton hit two home runs and was the winning pitcher June 5 against Houston at Coors Field, there have been better two-way performances.

Wise hit a pair of two-run homers and pitched a no-hitter in the Phillies' 40 victory over the Reds on June 23, 1971. Tony Cloninger, the current Yankees' bullpen coach, hit two grand slams and drove in nine runs in pitching the Braves over the Giants at Candlestick Park on July 3, 1966. Both pitchers recalled, in detail, their magical days.

"The first homer I hit was a high slider off Ross Grimsley," Wise said. "The second one was a 2-and-0 pitch. I looked down to the third base coach for the take sign, but he just turned away. It was a cripple pitch from Clay Carroll--a fastball fight down the middle."

Those two homers, plus the fact that Wise had led all N.L. pitchers with a .270 average in 1969, gave him exalted status with Philadelphia manager Frank Lucchesi.

"The next game after the no-hitter, I was losing 3-1 to the Mets in the ninth inning," Wise said. "We had one on and one out, and I was allowed to hit. I flew out to the warning track and we lost the game."

Cloninger said he didn't even see his first grand slam against San Francisco 35 years ago. "I hit it good to straight-away center field, but I just put my head down and ran hard," said Cloninger, who hit five homers that season. "Willie Mays (the Giants' Hall of Famer) had leaped over the fence to rob me of a home run my first time up in the majors. I wasn't taking any chances.

"On the second one, I just went the other way and it carried over the right-field fence. I got a base hit to center to drive in another run. Then in the ninth, I hit the ball hard to left field with two men on, but got robbed. That would've been 11 RBI!"

Cloninger said he was not a good hitter early in his career, but improved, "when I lockered between (Hall of Fame sluggers) Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews. They were always talking about pitch location and looking for a pitch. I picked up some of that."

Stanton, for one, believes all of today's major league pitchers should be looking to improve their hitting." "With all the time baseball players have, there's no excuse for pitchers not to be able to help themselves with the bat," the left-hander said.

He credits his own prowess--little used because he is a reliever and has been in the A.L. since 1995--to a commitment to hitting by the Braves' organization. "I came up with them in the late `80s and they harped on it," Stanton said. "They wanted us to be able to bunt, hit and run. Anything to help your team win a game."

Stanton calls Atlanta left-hander Tom Glavine, one of the better hitting pitchers around, saying: "No. 1, he gets the bunts down. No. 2, he makes contact. He puts the ball in play and puts pressure on the defense. He gets to stay in some games in the late innings because he can help the team with his bat."

That was Wise's philosophy, too. "I always felt my hitting gave me an advantage," the 55-year-old said. "The other pitcher had to face nine hitters. I only had to face eight."

With few exceptions, that is still the case in the N.L. today.

HOMER-HITTING PITCHERS

A pitcher has hit six or more homers in a season
18 times accomplished by 12 different
hurlers. Earl Wilson is the only moundsman to
have three six-homer campaigns in the
majors.

HR Pitcher           Team                    Year

9--Wes Ferrell       Cleveland Indians       1931
7--Wes Ferrell       Boston Red Sox          1935
7--Bob Lemon         Cleveland Indians       1949
7--Don Newcombe      Brooklyn Dodgers        1955
7--Don Drysdale      Los Angeles Dodgers     1958
7--Don Drysdale      Los Angeles Dodgers     1965
7--Earl Wilson       Red Sox/Tigers          1966
7--Earl Wilson       Detroit Tigers          1968
7--Mike Hampton(+)   Colorado Rockies        2001
6--Hal Schumacher    New York Giants         1934
6--Jim Tobin         Boston Braves           1942
6--Bob Lemon         Cleveland Indians       1950
6--Jack Harshman     Chicago White Sox       1956
6--Jack Harshman     Detroit Tigers          1958
6--Earl Wilson       Boston Red Sox          1965
6--Fergie Jenkins    Chicago Cubs            1971
6--Sonny Siebert     Boston Red Sox          1971
6--Rick Wise         Philadelphia Phillies   1971

(+) Hampton's total through games of August 26
20-Game Winners Who Hit .300

Year   Pitcher, Team                 W-L     AB    H     BA

1922   Joe Bush, Yankees            26-7     95   31   .326
1911   Jack Coombs, A's             28-12   141   45   .319
1924   Wilbur Cooper, Pirates       20-14   104   36   .346
1939   Curt Davis, Cardinals        22-16   105   40   .381
1926   Pete Donohue, Reds           20-14   106   33   .311
1965   Don Drysdale, Dodgers        23-12   130   39   .300
1931   Wes Ferrell, Indians         22-12   116   37   .319
1935   Wes Ferrell, Red Sox         25-14   150   52   .347
1951   Ned Garver, Browns           20-12    95   29   .305
1970   Bob Gibson, Cardinals        23-7    109   33   .303
1901   Clark Griffith, White Sox    24-7     89   27   .303
1920   Burleigh Grimes, Dodgers     23-11   111   34   .306
1928   Burleigh Grimes, Pirates     25-14   131   42   .321
1912   Claude Hendrix, Pirates      24-9    121   39   .322
1971   Catfish Hunter, A's          21-11   103   36   .350
1925   Walter Johnson, Senators     20-7     97   42   .433
1900   Brickyard Kennedy, Dodgers   20-13   123   37   .301
1907   Ed Killian, Tigers           25-13   122   39   .320
1930   Ted Lyons, White Sox         22-15   122   38   .311
1921   Carl Mays, Yankees           27-9    143   49   .343
1955   Don Newcombe, Dodgers        20-5    117   42   .359
1934   Schoolboy Rowe, Tigers       24-8    109   33   .303
1939   Red Ruffing, Yankees         21-7    114   35   .307
1917   Babe Ruth, Red Sox           24-13   123   40   .325
1947   Johnny Sain, Braves          21-12   107   37   .346
1924   Joe Shaute, Indians          20-17   107   34   .318
1958   Warren Spahn, Braves         22-11   108   36   .333
1900   Jesse Tannehill, Pirates     20-6    110   37   .336
1923   George Uhle, Indians         26-16   144   52   .361
1939   Bucky Walters, Reds          27-11   120   39   .325
1903   Cy Young, Red Sox            28-9    137   44   .321
MASTERS OF FUTILITY

THE NOTION THAT PITCHERS CAN'T HIT IS NOT A NEW ONE. LONG
before the 1973 DH rule turned many major league pitchers
into swish-hitters, there were countless examples of futility.

There was the time that Yankees pitcher Lefty Gomez, a
career .147 hitter (1930-43), got picked off second base. He
returned to the dugout, where stern manager Joe McCarthy
demanded, "What happened?"

Gomez, a Hall of Fame pitcher and quipster, shrugged and
said, "I don't know. I've never been on second before."

Getting to first base has been a problem, too. Dean
Chance struck out 420 times in 662 at-bats and had a career
average of .066. Hank Aguirre struck out 236 times in 388 at-bats
while hitting .085. Sandy Koufax made opposing pitchers
feel like, well, Sandy Koufax, when they faced the
Dodgers' Hall of Famer. He struck out just about half the time
(386 in 776 at-bats) while posting a .097 career average.

Gaylord Perry was such a poor hitter early in his career
that his manager with the Giants, Alvin Dark, once predeicted,
"A man will land on the moon before Gaylord hits a home
run." Amazingly, Dark was prescient. On July 20, 1969, the
day Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed and walked on the
moon, Perry hit the first home run of his career at Candelstick Park.
He wound up with six homers in 1,076 at-bats, compiling a .131
average.

When it came to futility in the batter's box, however, nothing was
more astronomical than what Cubs pitcher bob Buhl did in 1962. The
right-handed batter went 0-for-the-season. Seventy at-bats, zero
hits, 36 strikeouts.

"He was so bad," recalled Joe Torre, Buhl's teammate for a couple
of years with the Milwaukee Braves, "that he even tried batting
lefty a couple of times." Turned out, Buhl really was a, briefly,
swish-hitter.

SOME OF THE WORST SEASONS FOR SOME OF THE MOST DISMAL-HITTING PITCHERS
IN MAJOR LEAGUE HISTORY

Pitcher          Team        Year    AB   H   2B   3B   HR   R   RBI

Bob Buhl         Cubs        1962    70   0    0    0    0   2     1
Dean Chance      Angels      1966    76   2    0    0    0   1     0
Hank Aguirre     Tigers      1962    75   2    0    0    0   0     1
Si Johnson       Reds        1933    72   3    1    0    0   1     0
Dick Ellsworth   Cubs        1964    87   4    0    0    0   4     1
Jerry Koosman    Mets        1969    84   4    0    0    0   1     1
Stan Bahnsen     Yankees     1968    81   4    0    0    0   4     3
Wilbur Wood      White Sox   1971    96   5    0    0    0   1     0
Hoyt Wilhelm     Orioles     1959    76   4    0    0    0   2     2
Roger Craig      Mets        1962    76   4    0    0    0   1     2
Dick Drago       Royals      1970    76   4    0    0    0   2     1
Bill Stoneman    Expos       1969    73   4    2    0    0   5     0
Nolan Ryan       Astros      1988    70   4    0    0    0   1     2
Mickey Lolich    Tigers      1965    86   5    0    0    0   3     0
Randy Jones      Padres      1976   103   6    0    0    0   6     2
Juan Marichal    Giants      1970    85   5    0    0    0   5     3
Bill Hands       Cubs        1968    82   5    0    0    0   2     0
Sandy Koufax     Dodgers     1963   110   7    0    0    1   3     7
Larry Dierker    Astros      1968    73   5    1    0    0   2     3
Bob Friend       Pirates     1960    88   6    1    0    0   5     3
Lefty Grove      Red Sox     1935    89   7    1    1    1   5     5
Dave McNally     Orioles     1969    94   8    2    0    1   4     5
Tom Seaver       Mets        1976    82   7    0    0    0   5     3
Gaylord Perry    Padres      1979    71   6    2    0    1   2     2

Pitcher          SO   AVG.

Bob Buhl         36   .000
Dean Chance      54   .026
Hank Aguirre     46   .027
Si Johnson       24   .042
Dick Ellsworth   43   .046
Jerry Koosman    46   .048
Stan Bahnsen     49   .049
Wilbur Wood      57   .052
Hoyt Wilhelm     23   .053
Roger Craig      33   .053
Dick Drago       44   .053
Bill Stoneman    55   .055
Nolan Ryan       34   .057
Mickey Lolich    37   .058
Randy Jones      39   .058
Juan Marichal    21   .059
Bill Hands       50   .061
Sandy Koufax     51   .064
Larry Dierker    35   .068
Bob Friend       31   .068
Lefty Grove      49   .079
Dave McNally     39   .085
Tom Seaver       26   .085
Gaylord Perry    19   .085
SOME BIG LEAGUE PITCHERS WITH THE WEAKEST CAREER BATTING RECORDS

Pitcher           Years     AB     H    R   RBI    SO     BA

Ron Herbel        1963-71   206    6    6     3   125   .029
Mark Clark        1991-99   242   14    7     9   106   .058
Dean Chance       1961-70   662   44   17    16   420   .066
Bill Hands        1965-75   472   37   19    19   249   .078
Wilbur Wood       1961-78   322   27   11    13   189   .084
Hank Aguirre      1955-70   388   33   14    21   236   .085
Roger Craig       1955-66   448   38   15    12   219   .085
Bill Stoneman     1967-74   338   29   23     8   212   .086
Jim Deshaies      1984-95   373   33   13    12   186   .088
Hoyt Wilhelm      1952-71   432   38   24    21   166   .088
Jose DeLeon       1983-92   419   38   12     9   171   .091
Sandy Koufax      1955-66   776   75   26    28   386   .097
Scott Sanderson   1978-93   474   46   20    26   224   .097
John Montefusco   1974-83   455   44   23    18   216   .097

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