Homers by American League pitchers
Posted by Andy on August 3, 2007
The Stat of the Day blog has gotten some nice press over here, and one of the commenters asked for all pitchers who hit homers while playing in the American League. Before I look it up, I'd have to guess that it was fairly "common" before the DH rule, roughly as common as was seen in the National League.
Let's see:
We to go the PI Batting Game Finder, set Player's Team to "AL only", set Batter's Defensive Position to P, set HR >= 1, and then sort by date.
Now, here is everyone to do it since 1973, when the DH was instituted:
Cnt Player Date Tm Opp GmReslt PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS BOr Positions +----+-----------------+-------------+---+----+-------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---------+ 1 Jon Garland 2006-06-18 CHW @CIN W 8-1 4 2 2 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 9th P 2 Kris Benson 2006-06-17 BAL @NYM W 4-2 3 3 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 3 Josh Beckett 2006-05-20 BOS @PHI W 8-4 4 4 2 2 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 4 Zack Greinke 2005-06-10 KCR @ARI L 11-12 2 2 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 5 Jason Johnson 2005-06-08 DET @LAD L 1-3 2 2 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 6 C.C. Sabathia 2005-05-21 CLE @CIN W 5-3 3 3 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 7 Jason Davis 2004-06-20 CLE @ATL W 5-2 3 3 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 8 Mark Hendrickson 2003-06-21 TOR @MON L 5-8 3 3 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 9th P 9 Esteban Yan 2000-06-04 TBD @NYM W 15-5 2 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 10 Dwight Gooden 1999-06-11 CLE @CIN W 8-6 2 2 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 11 Dave Burba 1998-06-07 CLE @CIN W 6-1 3 3 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 12 Bobby Witt 1997-06-30 TEX @LAD W 3-2 3 3 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 13 Jeff Kunkel 1989-05-20 TEX MIN L 3-19 5 5 1 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2nd SS P
That Jeff Kunkel entry doesn't really count, since he was actually the SS but pitched in that game. I remember that crazy game.
Interestingly, as we thought, it happened a lot before 1973. Here are all the homers by AL pitchers from just 1972 alone:
+----+-----------------+-------------+---+----+-------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---------+ Cnt Player Date Tm Opp GmReslt PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS BOr Positions +----+-----------------+-------------+---+----+-------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---------+ 14 Roric Harrison 1972-10-03(2) BAL @CLE W 4-3 3 3 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 15 Lindy McDaniel 1972-09-28 NYY @DET W 3-2 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 16 Marty Pattin 1972-09-26 BOS MIL L 4-6 3 3 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 17 Steve Dunning 1972-09-19(1) CLE DET W 3-2 3 2 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 18 Bill Lee 1972-09-11 BOS @CLE L 5-6 2 2 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 19 Clyde Wright 1972-09-08(2) CAL @CHW W 9-4 4 4 1 1 0 0 1 3 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 20 Sonny Siebert 1972-09-07 BOS NYY W 10-4 4 4 2 3 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 21 Steve Dunning 1972-09-06(1) CLE MIL W 4-3 2 2 2 2 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 22 Blue Moon Odom 1972-09-04(1) OAK CAL W 10-5 4 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 23 Steve Dunning 1972-09-02 CLE @MIN W 5-3 3 3 1 2 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 24 Dave McNally 1972-08-27 BAL @OAK L 1-2 3 3 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 25 Blue Moon Odom 1972-08-22 OAK @DET W 6-3 3 2 2 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 9th P 26 Dave McNally 1972-08-09 BAL @MIL W 10-0 4 3 2 2 0 0 1 3 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 27 Mike Cuellar 1972-07-15 BAL CHW W 6-3 4 4 1 2 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 28 Marty Pattin 1972-07-01 BOS MIL W 5-4 3 3 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 29 Rollie Fingers 1972-06-27 OAK @TEX W 9-3 2 2 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 30 Mike Cuellar 1972-06-13 BAL @OAK W 5-1 4 4 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 31 Jim Kaat 1972-06-11 MIN @CLE W 5-3 3 3 1 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 32 Gaylord Perry 1972-06-09 CLE MIN W 7-1 4 3 1 1 0 0 1 2 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 33 Clyde Wright 1972-05-28 CAL KCR W 4-2 3 3 1 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 34 Don Rose 1972-05-24 CAL @OAK W 6-5 3 3 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 9th P 35 Jim Kaat 1972-05-14 MIN MIL W 4-2 3 3 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P
Rollie Fingers?!?!?!?
February 28th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
I was at the Esteban Yan game. He hit it on his first ML pitch. Evidently it was even the first pitch he saw in his pro career. It also immediately followed a HR by the #8 hitter.