Brian McCann’s 2-HR game
Posted by Andy on May 17, 2011
Earlier today Brian McCann entered a game as a pinch-hitter, hit a game-tying homer in the 9th inning, and a walk-off homer in the 11th inning.
There's no easy way to search for games exactly like this. There have been 65 times since 1919 that a player entered a game as a sub and hit at least 2 homers.
Here is the best of those games, ranked by WPA:
| Rk | Player | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | WPA ▾ | RE24 | BOP | Pos. Summary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Art Shamsky | 1966-08-12 | CIN | PIT | L 11-14 | 1.503 | 4.614 | 2.510 | 9 | LF |
| 2 | Mike Young | 1987-05-28 | BAL | CAL | W 8-7 | 1.087 | 0.881 | 2.435 | 2 | PH DH |
| 3 | Thad Bosley | 1985-08-12 | CHC | MON | W 8-7 | 0.948 | 4.228 | 2.485 | 9 | PH LF |
| 4 | Scott Hairston | 2007-08-03 | SDP | SFG | W 4-3 | 0.828 | 2.364 | 1.663 | 3 | LF |
| 5 | Del Rice | 1961-06-18 | LAA | KCA | W 5-3 | 0.693 | 2.581 | 3.080 | 8 | PH C |
| 6 | Jeff Bagwell | 1992-05-10 | HOU | PIT | W 6-4 | 0.665 | 2.000 | 1.885 | 3 | PH 1B |
| 7 | Ryan Howard | 2006-05-14 | PHI | CIN | W 2-1 | 0.626 | 2.122 | 2.217 | 9 | PH 1B |
| 8 | Kirk Gibson | 1994-05-28 | DET | MIN | L 9-10 | 0.626 | 2.976 | 2.260 | 7 | PH CF |
| 9 | Carmelo Martinez | 1988-09-22 | SDP | LAD | W 5-4 | 0.579 | 2.606 | 1.137 | 5 | LF |
| 10 | Chuck Essegian | 1961-06-11 (1) | CLE | KCA | W 7-3 | 0.532 | 4.411 | 1.790 | 2 | PR CF |
| 11 | Marvell Wynne | 1986-04-13 | SDP | CIN | W 7-6 | 0.517 | 1.000 | 1.845 | 9 | PH CF |
Shamsky's game was a loss so we know he didn't hit a walk-off homer.
Mike Young did as well as McCann--he homered in the bottom of the 10th and the 12th.
Hairston tied the game on a homer in the 8th and then won it in the 10th on another homer.
Rice hit a tying home in the 9th and go-ahead homer in the 11th, but playing for the visiting team.
Bagwell homered in the top of the 8th and 10th innings.
Howard homered in the top of the 8th and 12th innings.
None of the other games qualify either.
So, we've got Mike Young and Brian McCann...anybody else?
May 17th, 2011 at 9:28 pm
Here's something similar:
On June 21, 2003, Jim Thome hit game-tying homers in the 8th and the 12th innings against the Red Sox.
Todd Pratt hit a walkoff shot in the 13th.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHI/PHI200306210.shtml
---
Also, I love to brag about this Strat-o-Matic feat:
I was doing a 1997 Tigers replay, and Bob Hamelin hit a game-tying homer in the 9th, followed by a walk-off homer in the 10th.
Then in the very next game, I brought him in as a pinch-hitter in the 9th and hit hit a game-tying homer. He won the game on a walk-off in the 16th inning.
May 17th, 2011 at 9:51 pm
@1
Tim, Strat-o-Matic ain't real life :<)
Andy, had to look at the Art Shamsky game with a WPA like that.
He single-handedly kept his team in the game and cost two opposition pitchers a save.
His game was insane... entering in the bottom of the eighth and then hitting two, 2-run HR and a solo shot. How do you have a WPA like that and still your team loses the game?
Looking at the box for the game, I would have liked to see the final Dave Bristol lineup card. What a creative set of substitutions!
May 17th, 2011 at 9:54 pm
Yeah the Shamsky game comes up all the time on this blog. I think this is the 4th time in just the last few months. Any time one of us blogs about high-WPA games, or 3-HR games, or special PH appearances, etc.
May 17th, 2011 at 10:13 pm
I thought I remembered another Mike/Michael Young in addition to the one who has been with Texas for the past several years.
May 17th, 2011 at 10:19 pm
@4
Double, not a bad effort in the "original" Mike Young's game on Andy's list. He struck out in his first AB when entering in the fifth inning.
May 17th, 2011 at 10:28 pm
@2, Neil -- "Heretic!!!" 🙂
May 17th, 2011 at 10:45 pm
McCann's only previous PH-HR was a 10th-inning grand slam last Aug. 11.
(Not a big WPA event, though, as the Braves had already gone up by 2 runs.)
May 17th, 2011 at 10:46 pm
@6
JA, never played Strat-o-Matic. Is it a better simulation than X-Box "MLB 2011 - The Show."
My college-enrolled son plays on X-Box.... but he doesn't know old-time teams!
JA, not to sound like Andy in here, but when when will you exercise your blogging priveleges on BRef?
May 17th, 2011 at 11:00 pm
There was never a bigger offensive performance than this game where it meant winning for your team:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN198406230.shtml
Similar is situation to McCann, but not as a pinch hitter, but HRs were off a more dominant pitcher. And if he didnt hit BOTH of them, his team lost.
May 17th, 2011 at 11:17 pm
McCann's first HR was with 2 outs and 2 strikes in the bottom of the ninth, and the second was obviously the walkoff. Doubt that's happened often, and it's probably even tougher to find.
May 17th, 2011 at 11:24 pm
Only mildly related, but last night's extra-inning contest between the Marlins and Mets had two very strange situations. The game went extra innings, the Mets were short a bench player because david Wright had not been put on the DL yet.
But with two outs in the 11th inning, two runners on, the Marlins manager opts to leave his pitcher in (Badenhop), instead of pinch hitting for him. The guy was 1 for 38 previous to this. But somehow he manages to stroke a clean single, scoring the go ahead run.
Next batter makes an out.
So you figure if they let this guy hit for himself with the game on the line, he'd stay in, right? wrong.
They bring in Nunez who gets two quick outs, and the Mets' pitchers spot is due up, so they pinch hit a pitcher (John Niese), who is 1 for 13 this season, and he proceeds to hit a triple.
Unfortunately he was left stranded at third.
But when have you seen two pitchers, on opposing teams, left in to hit with two outs in extra innings, deliver huge hits in the same inning.
I'm not sure of their offensive WPAs, but I just never saw anything quite like it.
May 17th, 2011 at 11:40 pm
Neil -- I couldn't compare S-O-M to a video game. There is a computer version, but I don't even know what it looks like; I was strictly a cards'n'dice man. I haven't played any of the modern baseball video games either, other than a few minutes of some home-run-derby thing at a ballpark once.
(And on the other thing ... soon!)
May 17th, 2011 at 11:41 pm
@11
Duke, you gotta figure both managers were conceding the game and were playing for tomorrow. Look how it turned out!
Only in the NL. When will both leagues play by the same rules?
May 17th, 2011 at 11:55 pm
Neil -- No concession on the Mets' part; they were simply out of position players when the pitcher's spot came up, with David Wright on the bench unable to play. One of the sad consequences of carrying 12 pitchers....
May 18th, 2011 at 12:04 am
John Autin, a short Met's position-player bench. It is hard to see that from the gamelog!. Thank you.
Can the Mets realistically compete in the NL East this year, in your opinion?
May 18th, 2011 at 1:30 am
Neil,
I know you were asking JA, but I thought I'd lend you my two cents on the Met's chances this year.
0, Zero, Nada, Nilch.
This from a lifelong fan, who bleeds orange and blue.
24 million from this year and last for jason Bay to hit 8 HR and play in 116 games.
36 million over the last three years for Ollie Perez to pitch in 31 games (none this year), winning 3 of them.
24 million over the last 4 years for Louis Castillo to play 315 games (79 games/year, none this year) & an 85 OPS +.
57 million over the last three years to have Carlos Beltran play in half of those games (184 of 366).
60 million over the last three years for Johan Santana to miss 23-25 (8/year) starts (none this year).
14 Million to David Wright whose season is likely done.
3 million last year for John Maine to start 9 games and win 1.
12 million to Gary Mathews to not play.
1.2 million a year for the next 25 years to Bobby Bonilla not to play.
1.1 Million to Chris Young's 1 win this season (season over).
So almost 70 million $ the last two years to have Santana, Perez, Maine & Young win 12 games total.
And 60 million $ the last two years to have Beltran and Bay combine for 23 HRs.
The only hope is to sell everyone and sell them cheap.
May 18th, 2011 at 8:10 am
ESPN reports this morning that according to Elias, McCann was "the second player in major league history to hit a game-tying pinch-hit home run in the ninth inning and a walk-off home run in extra innings. It was first done by Jeff Heath of the Boston Braves on August 27, 1949 against the Reds."
Looking up Heath's 1949 Game Log, it must be this game:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BSN/BSN194908270.shtml
Looks like Mike Young's first HR, in the bottom of the 10th, wasn't itself a pinch-hit HR -- he entered the game earlier as a PH.
May 18th, 2011 at 8:56 am
Two walkoffs in a week for B-Mac. The torch is being passed as leader of the Braves from Chipper to McCann. He's the one guy in the lineup you can pretty much count on every day (and, like yesterday, even in off days).
Regarding the Mets: they have to get the ownership situation figured out first and foremost. Then, they have to rebuild and cut all the dead weight. Not sure about hiring Terry Collins this year, but I believe the idea was to instill some discipline and change the attitude in the near term. They have the baseball minds (Alderson, etc.) to turn it around, it will just take a while. The blueprint is to build your farm system and be patient, but since they are in NY, they will probably get new owners and try the FA route once again because the pressure to win is so intense there. It's not like KC where you can take 5 years to let a plan develop, although they should really go that route if they want to do it correctly...just my 2 cents...
May 18th, 2011 at 9:37 am
@1
I was at the game!!!
It was even more exciting for me, because I grew up both a Phillies and Red Sox fan. I am from the Philly area, but I have relatives from Boston. I vacationed every summer in New Hampshire.
I wasn't even sure which team I liked better at the time (since the Phillies sucked so much around those years...)
I lost my voice that day. 🙂
May 18th, 2011 at 10:25 am
[...] Brian McCann’s 2-HR game (Baseball-Reference). What do former Padres outfielders Scott Hairston, Carmelo Martinez, and Marvell Wynne have in common. Wait, Marvell Wynne?!? [...]
May 18th, 2011 at 11:59 am
@2 Neil, & @6 JA,
Strat-O-Matic sure seemed like real life for me and my brother back in our youth (1979 thru 1984). We'll still pull out the old game here and there.
May 18th, 2011 at 12:16 pm
@21
Tmckelv,
Strat-o-matic sounds so, well....... retro, in a good sense.
How detailed were the player statcards? How many game events were allowed for? Was a whole plate appearance completed with one roll of the die(dice)? Individual piches with each roll? I assume there was a gameboard.
May 18th, 2011 at 2:33 pm
What was McCann's WPA?
May 18th, 2011 at 2:52 pm
Neil -- The cards'n'dice version of S-O-M that I played in the '70s/'80s (and whenever I see my ol' pal Alan) was fairly granular, but not down to the scale of an individual pitch. So there were no batting counts, no pickoff throws. But you could bunt, steal, hit-and-run, and every player was individually rated for those skills, as well as his (very detailed) offensive and defensive ratings. There were separate defensive ratings for range and fielding percentage. There were platoon splits, and in later super-advanced versions, home/road splits and even "clutch" splits (we never used those!).
May 18th, 2011 at 2:54 pm
Neil -- Strat-O-Matic is still going strong:
http://www.strat-o-matic.com/products/baseball
May 18th, 2011 at 2:58 pm
@23, BSK -- McCann's WPA was 0.856. That's the 3rd-highest mark of this season.
May 18th, 2011 at 3:08 pm
Nevermind. Found it. .856. Good for 4th on this list.
That makes me curious... is there any way of turning WPA (which is a counting stat) into a rate stat? For instance WPA/PA? (How ugly!) But it'd be interesting to see, I think.
May 18th, 2011 at 3:15 pm
We'd probably have to multiply the number by 100 to make it useful, but it seems useful to know whether .856 of WPA was accrued over 1 PA or 5.
May 18th, 2011 at 4:44 pm
Speaking of yesterday's games:
-- Twins 2, Mariners 1: First game of the year in which each team had 3 hits or less. It was the 9th time this year that Seattle scored 1 run or less, and the 25th (out of 41) that they scored 3 runs or less. Minnesota snapped a 9-game losing streak, their longest since 1998.
-- Cardinals 2, Phillies 1: Jaime Garcia got no decision allowed 1 unearned run in 8 IP. It was the 12th time this year that a pitcher got a ND or a loss without allowing an ER in 8+ IP. In 2001, there were 15 such games all year. Chad Billingsley and Wandy Rodriguez each have 2 such games already. Philly has scored 7 runs on 17 hits during their 4-game losing streak, with no more than 5 hits in any game. It's the first time since 1974 that the Phils have gone 4 straight games without reaching 6 hits.
-- A's 14, Angels 0: The Angels matched their franchise record for worst shutout loss, done once before in 1987. It was Oakland's biggest shutout margin since 2005.
-- Yankees 6, Rays 2: A-Rod's 59th career multi-HR game got him back on pace to extend his 13-year streak of 30-HR seasons, but left him just shy of a pace to extend that same streak of 100-RBI and .500-slugging seasons.
-- Rockies 5, Giants 3: Jonathan Sanchez did not allow a walk in 7 IP but allowed 4 runs (3 ER) and took the loss. This continues an odd trend for Sanchez, who averaged 4.6 BB/9. In the 7 career starts in which he has not issued a walk, his ERA is 4.03, just a little better than his overall 4.21 mark -- and that includes his perfect game. In the 49 career starts in which he has allowed 2 walks or less, his ERA is 4.26 -- which is higher than his career ERA. Ubaldo Jimenez has not won in his last 10 starts dating to last September. Since reaching a peak of 13-1, 1.15 last June 17, Jimenez is 7-10, 4.76 in his last 26 starts.
May 18th, 2011 at 7:15 pm
@17 and Jeff Heath.
Mark, What's interesting about the Elias game is that in the B-R box score, Heath is not shown as pinch-hitting. And, in the Game Log view, where the player's position is over on the right, it only lists "LF" for Heath's position for that game.
Looking at a couple of other games (Aug 14, Sep 5) from that year, where the Game Log view shows "PH LF" for Heath's positions, the boxes again do not indicate that Heath pinch-hit.
Curious.
May 18th, 2011 at 7:28 pm
What's also interesting about the Jeff Heath's game,
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BSN/BSN194908270.shtml
is that the extra-inning walk-off was in the 10th. Both of his homeruns, in the 9th and 10th, were solo shots, and were the only runs the Braves scored in those innings.
So, Heath must have hit his 9th inning shot leading off the inning, and the Braves must have then left the bases loaded after that. Then, he got his walk-off shot after the first two batters made outs in the 10th.
Not that there's anything particularly notable about how those innings transpired. Just found it was interesting that that scenario could be derived based just on the information Elias provided and the line score of the game.
May 18th, 2011 at 9:57 pm
I searched the NY Times data base and found an article that says Heath was pinch hitting when he hit his first home run in that game in 1949
May 18th, 2011 at 11:22 pm
It's too bad someone didn't grab Heath's bat after that PH HR and smash it to pieces on the dugout wall. That's what Heath did to his own bat after Willard Brown borrowed it and hit an inside-the-park, PH HR in 1947 against Hal Newhouser; it was the first HR by a black man in the AL.
May 19th, 2011 at 8:16 am
man do I miss Strat-O-Matic.....:0)