all pitch, no bat?

Stephan Lemonjello Jr. wrote:

> Anyone know what MLB'er holds the record for most career games played without
> ever batting in a regular-season game, post-season game, or all-star game?
> Thanks.
>
>

From Lee Sinins' Encyclopedia:

CAREER
AT BATS = 0

GAMES G AB
1 Jose Mesa 169 0
2 Mike Fetters 114 0
3 Herb Washington 105 0
4 Kerry Ligtenberg 99 0
5 Bret Prinz 63 0
6 Eddie Oropesa 60 0
7 Tom Davey 56 0
8 Kevin Gryboski 53 0
9 Shawn Barton 52 0
10 Bob Wells 50 0

Jose Mesa didn't have an at bat in either the 95 or 97 world series. I
doubt he had one in an all star game.

sean


--
"There are no digressions in baseball, where everything connects to
everything else." -- Roger Angell
 >> Stay informed about: all pitch, no bat? 

sean gilman wrote:

>
>
> Stephan Lemonjello Jr. wrote:
>
>> Anyone know what MLB'er holds the record for most career games played
>> without
>> ever batting in a regular-season game, post-season game, or all-star
>> game?
>> Thanks.
>>
>>
>
> From Lee Sinins' Encyclopedia:
>
> CAREER
> AT BATS = 0
>
> GAMES G AB
> 1 Jose Mesa 169 0
> 2 Mike Fetters 114 0
> 3 Herb Washington 105 0
> 4 Kerry Ligtenberg 99 0
> 5 Bret Prinz 63 0
> 6 Eddie Oropesa 60 0
> 7 Tom Davey 56 0
> 8 Kevin Gryboski 53 0
> 9 Shawn Barton 52 0
> 10 Bob Wells 50 0
>
> Jose Mesa didn't have an at bat in either the 95 or 97 world series. I
> doubt he had one in an all star game.
>
> sean
>
>

but that doesn't make any sense since mesa has played much more than 169
games. hrmm.

sean


--
"There are no digressions in baseball, where everything connects to
everything else." -- Roger Angell
 >> Stay informed about: all pitch, no bat? 

Stephan Lemonjello Jr. wrote:
> Anyone know what MLB'er holds the record for most career games played without
> ever batting in a regular-season game, post-season game, or all-star game?
> Thanks.

I was wondering about that myself. I figure there had to be some career
American League pitchers who debuted in the majors after the DH was
introduced but was gone by the time regular season interleague play
began who never had to bat. If they were on World Series teams at all,
it was in years in which the DH was used. Or in years in which the DH
was used in American League parks, they didn't get into any NL games, or
they got pinch hit for, which would also have been the case for years in
which the DH wasn't used.

I'm actually more interested in pitchers who were predominantly
starters. Relievers often don't get as many hitting opportunities anyway
- they aren't in the game as long, plus when it's their turn to hit, the
team may figure they've been in long enough, and they get removed for a
pinch hitter. The exceptions here would be when a team has run out of
either pinch hitters or additional pitchers or both! The main purpose of
the double switch is to keep the reliever's turn at bat from coming up
too soon.

--
Please note my correct email address:

rslitman [at-sign] infionline [dot] net
 >> Stay informed about: all pitch, no bat? 

Ben wrote:
>
> if i'm using sean lahman's db correctly, the leaderboard looks like this:
>
> TIPPY MARTINEZ 546
> STEVE FARR 509
> MARK CLEAR 481
> MIKE TIMLIN 463
> TOM GORDON 444
> MARK GUBICZA 384
> KIRK McCASKILL 380
> MIKE WITT 341
> DOUG CORBETT 313
> DENNIS LEONARD 312
>
> but i don't think he lists all-star game stats.

As I posted in response to the original message, I've been curious about
this, too, but I've been mainly interested in it as it applies to
pitchers who were mainly starters. Of those in the above list, I know
that Gubicza, Witt, and Leonard were mainly starters. (And here's a
trivia question - Who pitched a perfect game in the major leagues
without ever having a major league at-bat? The answer of course is Mike
Witt.) Martinez, Farr, Timlin, and Gordon were/are mainly relievers. I
know that Timlin and Gordon have been with National League teams, but I
guess they never made it to the plate.

--
Please note my correct email address:

rslitman [at-sign] infionline [dot] net
 >> Stay informed about: all pitch, no bat? 

sean gilman <sdedalus DeleteThis @attbi.com> wrote in message news:<95JKa.26565$XG4.18982@rwcrnsc53>...
> sean gilman wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > Stephan Lemonjello Jr. wrote:
> >
> >> Anyone know what MLB'er holds the record for most career games played
> >> without
> >> ever batting in a regular-season game, post-season game, or all-star
> >> game?
> >> Thanks.
> >>
> >>
> >
> > From Lee Sinins' Encyclopedia:
> >
> > CAREER
> > AT BATS = 0
> >
> > GAMES G AB
> > 1 Jose Mesa 169 0
> > 2 Mike Fetters 114 0
> > 3 Herb Washington 105 0
> > 4 Kerry Ligtenberg 99 0
> > 5 Bret Prinz 63 0
> > 6 Eddie Oropesa 60 0
> > 7 Tom Davey 56 0
> > 8 Kevin Gryboski 53 0
> > 9 Shawn Barton 52 0
> > 10 Bob Wells 50 0
> >
> > Jose Mesa didn't have an at bat in either the 95 or 97 world series. I
> > doubt he had one in an all star game.
> >
> > sean
> >
> >
>
> but that doesn't make any sense since mesa has played much more than 169
> games. hrmm.
>
> sean


Pitchers are only credited with a game in the offensive stats if (1)
the DH wasn't used in that game or (2) the DH was used, but the team
lost the DH and the pitcher was in the game during a time in which the
team was DH-less.

That accounts for Mesa being listed with only 169 offensive games.

Lee
 >> Stay informed about: all pitch, no bat? 

newsgrouper DeleteThis @aol.comNOSPAM (Stephan Lemonjello Jr.) wrote in message news:<20030626162631.21932.00001126 DeleteThis @mb-m19.aol.com>...
> Anyone know what MLB'er holds the record for most career games played without
> ever batting in a regular-season game, post-season game, or all-star game?
> Thanks.

You guys are missing the really interesting person who shows up in the
second poster's list: Herb Washington.

OK, I know your question was really pointed to pitchers (starters, no
less), with the idea that an HOF'er without a hit will show up.
That's cool...

I just think it's fascinating that there's a guy near the top of the
first list that didn't pitch, so he's a "position" player with over
100 games, who never went to bat. That's a rare bird.

Oh yeah, he played with the A's.

JimmyG
 >> Stay informed about: all pitch, no bat? 

sean gilman <sdedalus.TakeThisOut@attbi.com> wrote in message news:<81JKa.25074$Bg.13703@rwcrnsc54>...
> Stephan Lemonjello Jr. wrote:
>
> > Anyone know what MLB'er holds the record for most career games played without
> > ever batting in a regular-season game, post-season game, or all-star game?
> > Thanks.
> >
> >
>
> From Lee Sinins' Encyclopedia:
>
> CAREER
> AT BATS = 0
>
> GAMES G AB
> 1 Jose Mesa 169 0
> 2 Mike Fetters 114 0
> 3 Herb Washington 105 0
> 4 Kerry Ligtenberg 99 0
> 5 Bret Prinz 63 0
> 6 Eddie Oropesa 60 0
> 7 Tom Davey 56 0
> 8 Kevin Gryboski 53 0
> 9 Shawn Barton 52 0
> 10 Bob Wells 50 0
>
> Jose Mesa didn't have an at bat in either the 95 or 97 world series. I
> doubt he had one in an all star game.
>
> sean

Herb Washington is the only non-pitcher on the list. No big deal
there; as a "designated runner", he probably couldn't hit any better
than the pitchers on the list anyway. I remember there was talk at
the time of giving him an AB near the end of '74 before the playoffs.
Not one to shy away from novelty, I'm surprised Charlie Finley didn't
OK it.

Rerics
 >> Stay informed about: all pitch, no bat? 

JimmyG wrote:
> newsgrouper.DeleteThis@aol.comNOSPAM (Stephan Lemonjello Jr.) wrote in message news:<20030626162631.21932.00001126.DeleteThis@mb-m19.aol.com>...
>
>>Anyone know what MLB'er holds the record for most career games played without
>>ever batting in a regular-season game, post-season game, or all-star game?
>>Thanks.
>
>
> You guys are missing the really interesting person who shows up in the
> second poster's list: Herb Washington.
>
> OK, I know your question was really pointed to pitchers (starters, no
> less), with the idea that an HOF'er without a hit will show up.
> That's cool...
>
> I just think it's fascinating that there's a guy near the top of the
> first list that didn't pitch, so he's a "position" player with over
> 100 games, who never went to bat. That's a rare bird.

And he scored 33 runs in his career.
 >> Stay informed about: all pitch, no bat?