The Hardball Times -- Allan Wood http://www.hardballtimes.com/main Baseball. Insight. Daily. en studes@hardballtimes.com Copyright 2013 2013-05-23T08:50:15+00:00 When the Red Sox pitchers didn’t bat ninth http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/when-the-red-sox-pitchers-didnt-bat-ninth/ http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/when-the-red-sox-pitchers-didnt-bat-ninth/#When:08:57:15 Lou Boudreau experimented in a handful of games by moving his pitcher out of the ninth spot in the Boston batting order. In 14 of 18 games, the Red Sox pitcher batted sixth:

1952            Pitcher           BOP
April 15        Mel Parnell       7th
May 10          Mickey McDermott  8th
May 11          Mel Parnell       8th
July 27   (G2)  Willard Nixon     6th
July 30         Dick Brodowski    6th
July 31         Ralph Brickner    6th
August 7  (G2)  Willard Nixon     6th
August 9        Mel Parnell       6th
August 11       Sid Hudson        6th

1953            Pitcher           BOP
May 30    (G1)  Mickey McDermott  6th
May 30    (G2)  Willard Nixon     6th
August 22       Mickey McDermott  6th
August 23       Mel Parnell       6th
August 28       Bill Henry        6th
August 29       Mel Parnell       6th
August 30 (G1)  Hal Brown         7th
August 31       Mickey McDermott  6th
September 1     Willard Nixon     6th


The main pitchers were Parnell (five times), Nixon (four) and McDermott (four). Brodowski, Brickner, Hudson, Henry and Brown each did it once.

Those 18 games are the only times in Red Sox history—since Babe Ruth batted in the cleanup spot in 1919—that a Boston pitcher has hit any place other than ninth. (In fact, Ruth is the only pitcher to bat No. 4 for any team in at least 97 years (Baseball Reference has data from 1916-2012). Ruth batted cleanup for the Red Sox 11 times in 1918 and 12 times in 1919.)

In May 1926, Phillies pitcher Jack Bentley batted fifth three times, but he was mainly a first baseman that season (56 games at first and only eight as a pitcher). Pitcher Johnny Lindell of the Pirates batted fifth twice in 1953.

Pitchers have hit sixth in batting order only 19 times since 1919, and Boudreau's choices account for 14 of the 19. (One of the other five was the legendary Senators fireballer, Walter Johnson.) Starting pitchers have batted seventh 58 times since 1916. Dontrelle Willis of the Marlins—the only pitcher to do it since 1973—did it twice late in the 2005 season.

During spring training in 1952, Austen Lake of the Boston Evening American wrote that Boudreau "has a high brain polish and the ability to improvise". Lake said that Boudreau's "elastic mind" allows him to "mak[e] the best use of the materials at hand" rather than resorting to "the mouldy orthodoxies" of the game. The Sporting News (April 2) agreed, noting that "Boston's young, resourceful manager is no slavish follower of the so-called 'book.' He does his own thinking. He doesn't let Abner Doubleday do it for him."

Two weeks later, The Sporting News (April 16) offered a fuller explanation of Boudreau's thinking, and his plan to move Ted Williams up from the No. 3 spot:

To get Williams up to the plate more often, Lou moved him up to second in the batting order [in some spring training games]. Then, to give Williams some runners to drive in after his first time at bat, Boudreau had his pitcher hit seventh.

The hitter in the No. 8 and No. 9 slots became, for practical purposes, the No. 1 and No. 2 hitters.

Over his first 15 games, Boudreau found that the man hitting in the No. 2 slot batted only twice more than if he had hit No. 3—which was Williams' former place in the batting order. But for an entire season of 154 games, it is necessary to multiply those two extra times by 10—and Williams would be likely to bat at least 20 extra times a season as a result of the change.

However, Boudreau abandoned the Williams move when he found that his No. 8 and No. 9 hitters—usually (Billy) Goodman and Gus Niarhos—weren't getting on as much as Dom DiMaggio and Johnny Pesky, at No. 1 and No. 2, in the orthodox batting order.

But from his experiment, Boudreau retained one slight change. He now has hit better-hitting pitchers bat in the No. 8 slot. When Willard Nixon, Mel Parnell or Maurice McDermott are pitching, they hit in the eighth slot—with Niarhos batting ninth.


The Sporting News wrote that:

Some of the other managers, both in the American and National leagues, yelled loud in protest. Without going into the merits or weaknesses of Boudreau's arguments in favor of this strange experiment, it is safe to say that no training camp innovation of modern times caused so much comment, almost all of it critical.


Boudreau had to be resourceful. Williams ended up starting only two games in 1952—and he batted third both times. He left the Red Sox at the end of April for the Marines, and missed most of the 1952 and 1953 seasons while flying combat missions in Korea. (Williams did bat second for one game in 1953 and for 55 games in August and September 1954. Boudreau was still the Red Sox manager at that time.)

Boudreau had three rookies in his Opening Day lineup: second baseman Ted Lepcio, who was replacing Bobby Doerr, who had retired after 14 seasons; shortstop Jimmy Piersall; and right fielder Faye Throneberry. Johnny Pesky moved from shortstop to third base, to cover for Vern Stephens, who was coming back from a serious leg injury. However, after hitting only .149 through the end of May, Pesky was traded to Detroit on June 3.

In mid-August, The Sporting News reported Boudreau was holding the "patchwork" team together with "bailing wire and an extraordinary job of master-minding". Boston sportswriter Al Hirshberg said the Red Sox "have been living on desperation moves throughout the 1952 season." Boston finished the year in sixth place (out of eight teams), with a 76-78 record.

Boston was without Williams for most of 1953, as well. He returned to the team and pinch-hit on Aug. 6 and made his first start on Aug. 16. In 91 at-bats, Williams batted .407. There were similar shifts in the Red Sox defensive alignment. Piersall had suffered a "nervous breakdown" the previous year, and was now the full-time right fielder. Rookie Milt Bolling was the shortstop and George Kell, who had come over from the Tigers in the Pesky trade, was at third. The Red Sox improved to 84-69, and finished fourth.

Here is a look at the 18 games:

April 15, 1952: Opening Day at Washington. Parnell—who finished the 1951 season with a .309 average—bats seventh, and draws a walk in four plate appearances. The lefty also pitches a three-hitter, going the distance and shutting the Senators out 3-0. Boudreau tells the press that while he has abandoned his plan to bat Ted Williams second, he will continue having his "hitting pitchers" higher in the order. However, it will be another 21 games until that actually happens again.

May 10, 1952: McDermott—batting eighth—smacks a three-run homer in the second inning, giving himself an early 3-1 lead. He has a rough day on the mound, however, allowing seven runs in 5.1 innings (and throwing 129 pitches) as the Yankees win a Saturday afternoon rout at Fenway, 18-3, that lasts a lengthy 3:35. The Globe's Clif Keane writes that the Red Sox are "humbled, humiliated and horrored."

May 11, 1952: Parnell is in the eighth spot the following day. He goes 0-for-3, and loses to New York 1-0. Allie Reynolds wins the duel, giving up two hits and not walking anyone.

July 27, 1952: Nixon bats sixth, collecting a single and two RBI, as Boston snaps a four-game losing streak with a 9-3 win over the St. Louis Browns in the second game of a doubleheader. Nixon also pitches seven innings for the victory.

After losing to Cleveland on July 29, Boudreau is annoyed at the team's inability to bring runners home from third base. He says the only thing to do "is shake up the batting order. Maybe I'll use Goodman as lead-off batter. Then I might move (pitcher) Dick Brodowski to fifth or sixth in the order. But let me sleep on it before we make anything definite. There'll be some kind of a change, though."

With the Red Sox missing the batting thump of Williams and Stephens, Daily American writer Bob Holbrook says "a less calm man than Boudreau would have pulled out his hair by now after watching the runners get into scoring position and then rot there."

July 30, 1952: After a night's rest, Boudreau makes good on his idea. Brodowski hits sixth, and singles in two trips. He pitches five innings as the Red Sox hold on to defeat Bob Feller, 5-4.

July 31, 1952: Ralph Brickner hits sixth and he goes 1-for-1. It is a tight game until the bottom of the eighth inning, when Cleveland scores six times, grabbing an 8-2 victory.

Aug. 7, 1952: In the first of three consecutive games, Boudreau puts his pitcher in the sixth spot, followed by rookie first baseman Dick Gernert, catcher Sammy White and shortstop Johnny Lipon. Nixon lasts only 4.1 innings on the hill, but Boston beats the Philadelphia A's 8-4. Nixon is 1-for-3, with an RBI and a run scored.

August 9, 1952: The Red Sox travel to New York. With the score tied 1-1, Parnell walks the first two Yankees to begin the bottom of the ninth inning (his sixth and seventh free passes of the day). Reliever Al Benton puts out the fire, and then watches as Gernert and Dom DiMaggio hit solo home runs off Johnny Sain in the 10th for a 3-1 Boston victory. Parnell goes 0-for-3.

The American of Aug. 11 quotes Yankees manager Casey Stengel:

... batting his pitcher sixth. That's a good idea. If he's losing, it doesn't matter. He can pull him out of there for a pinch hitter. If he's winning, it doesn't make any difference where the pitcher's batting. And he's got a couple of pitchers who can hit the ball once in a while, so it might help him.


Boudreau will do it only once more this season, however.

Aug. 11, 1952: Sid Hudson is the man in the sixth spot, and he ends the day 0-for-1 and with four innings pitched. New York's Reynolds is (once again) untouchable, pitching a two-hitter and winning easily, 7-0.

All nine instances of the pitcher hitting out of the ninth spot in 1953—seven of which occurred during a late-season road trip—happened on the road.

May 30, 1953: Before the Saturday doubleheader in the nation's capital, Washington manager Bucky Harris says, "The Red Sox have a lineup today which may not beat you, but it's going to confuse you." McDermott (who began the day hitting .409—9 for-22) hits sixth in the first game, going 0-for-3 as fourth-place Boston beats the Senators 4-3.

May 30, 1953: In the nightcap, Nixon bats sixth. He goes 2-for-4, reaching base three times. Washington earns a split with a 2-1 win, beating Nixon with an unearned run in the bottom of the ninth.

Aug. 22, 1953: McDermott goes 1-for-3 from the six-hole as a three-run rally in the seventh inning carries the Red Sox to a 4-3 win over Washington. The Senators outhit the Red Sox 12-5.

Aug. 23, 1953: Parnell hits sixth and singles and doubles against the Senators in four trips; he also scores a run. He allows one earned run in seven innings, but is not involved in the decision. Boston scores a run in the top of the ninth and wins 5-4, sweeping the three-game series.

Aug. 28, 1953: Bill Henry hits sixth (1-for-4) and pitches a complete game, as Boston edges past the White Sox 4-3.

Aug. 29, 1953: Parnell hits sixth, and goes 0-for-3. He also loses to the White Sox 5-1. Boston manages only four hits off Connie Johnson and Virgil Trucks.

Aug. 30, 1953: (Game One) Hal Brown bats seventh, and goes 0-for-2. He pitches only 4.2 innings as Boston loses to Cleveland 6-5.

August 31, 1953: McDermott goes 1-for-4, with an RBI, from the sixth spot. Williams belts a three-run homer in the seventh to give Boston a 5-1 cushion and the Sox hold on to beat Cleveland 6-4.

Sept. 1, 1953: Nixon lasts only 1.1 innings, facing 13 batters, as Cleveland cruises to a 13-3 victory. Batting sixth, he strikes out in his only trip to the plate.

Click here to learn about THT's download subscriptions.]]> Allan Wood 2013-02-07T08:57:15+00:00 Doing all the driving http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/doing-all-the-driving/ http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/doing-all-the-driving/#When:08:32:15 the Red Sox beat the Mariners 9-8 in 10 innings in Seattle. Boston's left fielder, Mike Greenwell, batting eighth in the order, drove in all nine of the Red Sox runs. He set a major league record.

After flying out to right-center to lead off the top of the third inning, the Gator hit a two-out, two-run home run in the fifth, a grand slam with no one out in the seventh—putting the Sox ahead 6-5—a two-run double down the left field line in the eighth—tying the game at 8-8—and an RBI single in the top of the 10th to give the Red Sox a 9-8 lead. Unfortunately, Boston manager Kevin Kennedy stayed with reliever Heathcliff Slocumb in the home half of the tenth, denying Greenwell the opportunity to take the hill and pick up a save.

After the first inning, Boston managed only six hits, and Greenwell had four of them. He finished the day with a WPA of 1.051—the third highest for a Red Sox batter in Retrosheet history, and only the sixth Red Sox batter to ever top a 1.000 WPA. Greenwell also drove in Boston's first run the following night, making it 10 RBI in a row.

Before Greenwell's one-man show at the Kingdome, there had been two instances of a player driving in all eight of his team's runs.

George "Highpockets" Kelly went 4-for-4, with three home runs and a single, for the New York Giants on June 14, 1924, in an 8-6 win over the Cincinnati Reds. Nearly 14 years later to the day—June 12, 1938—Philadelphia A's second baseman Bob Johnson drove in eight runs in an 8-3 win over the St. Louis Browns in the first game of a doubleheader. Johnson had two homers and a single.

I started wondering which players with big RBI days had driven in almost all of their team's runs—eight of nine, nine of 10, 10 of 12, etc. I went to Baseball Reference's Play Index and did some digging. All of the information below covers games played in the last 93 years (1919-2011). I first looked at the highest RBI games—11 and 12 RBI—in major league history, but only one of the four instances even came close.

12 runs batted in


Mark Whiten tied a major league record with four home runs and drove in 12 of St. Louis' 15 runs in the second game of doubleheader against the Reds (a 15-2 win) on Sept. 7, 1993. In the first game, which Cincinnati won 14-13, St. Louis had 17 hits but Whiten went 0-for-4 with only one RBI.

Jim Bottomley went 6-for-6 with 12 RBI as the Phillies beat the Dodgers 17-3 on Sept. 16, 1924.

Eleven


Both players with 11 RBI in a game were part of serious blow-outs.

Tony Lazzeri (4-for-5, four runs scored), May 24, 1936, Yankees 25, Athletics 2. Phil Weintraub (4-for-5, five runs scored), April 30, 1944 (game one), Giants 26, Dodgers 8. In Weintraub’s game, the Giants added insult to injury by scoring their final eight runs in the bottom of the eighth.

Drove in 10 of 11 runs


No one.

Drove in 10 of 12 runs


Eight players have driven in 10 runs in a game. Two of those players drove in 10 of their team's 12 runs.

Nomar Garciaparra hit three home runs— two grand slams and a two-run shot—in the Red Sox’ 12-4 win over the Mariners on May 10, 1999. Alex Rodriguez drove in 10 runs in the Yankees' 12-4 victory over the Angels on April 26, 2005. He hit a grand slam, a three-run homer, a two-run homer and an RBI single.

Rudy York of the Red Sox drove in 10 of Boston's 13 runs on July 27, 1946, a game in which the Red Sox had only 12 team RBI. Note: Ted Williams reached base six times (single, double, four walks) ahead of York, but scored only three times.

Drove in nine of 10 runs (one time)


Vladimir Guerrero (4-for-4), June 2, 2004, Angels 10, Red Sox 7. David Eckstein (5-for-5) had the other Anaheim RBI.

Drove in nine of 11 runs (one time)


Jimmie Foxx hit for the cycle on Aug. 14, 1933, driving in nine runs in the A's 11-5 win over Cleveland. Philadelphia's other RBI came on a solo home run by Eric McNair. Note: Foxx finished the season with 163 RBI, 24 more than the AL's No. 2 man, Lou Gehrig, and an astounding 43 more than the NL leader Chuck Klein. Five seasons leater, in 1938, Foxx led the AL with 175 RBI, out-pacing Joe Medwick of the NL by 53!

Drove in eight of nine runs (three times)


On Sept. 19, 2003, the Chicago Cubs won the first game of a doubleheader against Pittsburgh, 10-9. Jason Bay drove in eight runs for Pittsburgh—the only time in the last 93 years a National League player had eight-plus RBI in a losing effort. While Pittsburgh scored nine runs, the Pirates were awarded only eight RBI—all of them from Bay. He hit a grand slam in the second and a two-run homer in the fourth. In the fifth, he was up with the bases loaded. A wild pitch scored a run and Bay hit the next offering for a two-run double, tying the game at 9-9. The Cubs scored the eventual winning run on a walk, a hit batsman, a wild pitch, another walk and a sacrifice fly.

Colorado’s Larry Walker hit three home runs and drove in eight runs as the Rockies beat St. Louis 9-7 on April 28, 1999. Walker grounded out to second in his final at-bat.

Dave Kingman hit a grand slam and two two-run bombs in his first three plate appearances on April 16, 1984, as the A's beat the Mariners 9-6. Kingman struck out and popped to shortstop in his next two times up.

Drove in seven of seven runs (15 times)


Since the start of the 1919 season, 401 players have driven in exactly seven runs in a game (their teams went 373-27-1). In 15 of those 401 games, the seven runs batted in were the total runs for the team—and five of those 15 games have come in the last 10 seasons.
{exp:list_maker}Hank Greenberg: Sept. 14, 1946—Tigers 7, Yankees 4
Del Ennis: July 23, 1955—Phillies 7, Cardinals 2
Roberto Clemente: May 15, 1967— Reds 8, Pirates 7 (loss)
Ken Harrelson: June 14, 1968—Red Sox 7, Indians 2
Brant Alyea: Sept. 7, 1970—Twins 7, Brewers 6 (game one)
Eddie Murray: Aug. 29, 1979—Orioles 7, Twins 4 (game two)
Larry Parrish: April 25, 1980—Braves 8, Expos 7 (loss)
John Kruk: Aug. 4, 1987—Braves 12, Padres 7 (loss)
Rondell White: July 24, 1994—Expos 7, Dodgers 4
Mark McGwire: May 18, 2000— Cardinals 7, Phillies 2
Richie Sexson: April 18, 2002—Brewers 7, Cardinals 5
Garret Anderson: May 8, 2003—Angels 7, Indians 1
Ryan Howard: June 20, 2006—Yankees 9, Phillies 7 (loss)
Albert Pujols: Aug. 22, 2006—Mets 8, Cardinals 7 (loss)
Jason Giambi: May 19, 2011—Rockies 7, Phillies 1 {/exp:list_maker}Some factoids:

Clemente and White are the only two of the 15 players to have four hits.

Pujols had only two hits, but they were both home runs. White and Anderson each scored only one run.

Giambi, Ennis, Harrelson, McGwire and Murray hit three home runs. Harrelson and Murray made outs in their first two plate appearances, then belted three home runs.
Sexson hit a two-run triple with no outs in the third, but no one drove him in (line out to shortstop, strikeout, line out to second).

John Kruk's seven RBI came in palindromic fashion: 300 010 003.

Ryan Howard broke a tie with each of his hits, but (as the potential winning run in the bottom of the ninth) grounded out against Mariano Rivera.

Drove in six of six runs (31 times)


Thirty-one players since 1919 have driven in all six of their team's runs. The only pitcher on the list is Wes Ferrell of the Red Sox, who hit a two-run home run and a grand slam in consecutive innings against the A's on Aug. 12, 1936 (game one). Ferrell also pitched a complete game, winning 6-4. It is the most RBI by a pitcher who drove in all of his team's runs.

Could a batter drive in all 10 of his team's runs? It's possible, though the odds must be astronomical. The batter obviously must have a good day at the plate, but he needs to be in the right spot at the right time (over and over again in the game). He needs men on base when he comes to bat and he needs to bring in all or most of them each time. Home runs are the hit of choice, since a double or a triple may clear the sacks, but would put the next batter in a prime spot for an RBI of his own.

Click here to learn about THT's download subscriptions.]]> Allan Wood 2012-01-06T08:32:15+00:00