The Rare Designated Two Hitter

Posted by Steve Lombardi on February 18, 2010

The Yankees are considering batting Nick Johnson second (in their starting line-up) this season - as their Designated Hitter. Thinking of this, I wondered if any team in baseball history - and, in this case, because we're talking "D.H.", this means since 1973 - has ever had a "full-time" Designated Hitter bat second in their line-up?

Thanks to Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Batting Game Finder, this is a simple question to answer. Using "PI," I asked it to show me: From 1973 to 2009, players who started a game at D.H. where they batted 2nd in the line-up, sorted by greatest number of games in a single season.

Here's the list of those who have 20+ such games in a season:

Rk	Player	Year	#Matching		PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	SH	SF	IBB	HBP	GDP
1	Hal McRae	1977	102	Ind. Games	476	428	131	35	7	14	61	38	26	.306	.372	.519	.891	0	2	4	8	9
2	Hal McRae	1978	94	Ind. Games	422	388	98	19	4	11	43	26	42	.253	.299	.407	.706	0	6	5	2	8
3	Paul Molitor	1995	93	Ind. Games	431	379	108	25	2	14	50	43	39	.285	.359	.472	.831	2	4	0	3	6
4	Jose Vidro	2007	76	Ind. Games	351	304	95	16	0	3	38	36	30	.313	.379	.395	.774	3	7	3	1	10
5	Bill Madlock	1987	64	Ind. Games	282	247	65	11	0	10	38	19	36	.263	.335	.429	.764	7	1	1	8	9
6	Julio Franco	1993	63	Ind. Games	279	244	63	15	0	10	39	29	47	.258	.335	.443	.777	4	2	0	0	6
7	Hal McRae	1979	56	Ind. Games	262	229	76	19	1	7	52	29	24	.332	.406	.515	.921	1	2	0	1	3
8	Oscar Gamble	1973	43	Ind. Games	184	169	45	5	1	6	13	10	20	.266	.311	.414	.726	1	2	1	2	1
9	Roy Smalley	1986	35	Ind. Games	153	136	37	4	1	8	17	15	24	.272	.340	.493	.833	0	2	0	0	3
10	Hal McRae	1980	35	Ind. Games	159	144	42	10	2	6	31	9	9	.292	.346	.514	.860	0	2	1	4	2
11	Terry Francona	1988	35	Ind. Games	162	155	52	5	0	1	7	3	11	.335	.344	.387	.731	2	2	0	0	3
12	Reggie Jefferson	1998	31	Ind. Games	126	113	36	9	1	6	19	12	25	.319	.381	.575	.956	0	1	1	0	3
13	Jeremy Giambi	2001	31	Ind. Games	123	104	22	8	0	2	8	17	21	.212	.333	.346	.679	0	0	0	2	1
14	David Newhan	2004	30	Ind. Games	141	123	31	4	0	2	18	11	27	.252	.321	.333	.655	4	1	0	2	2
15	Lee Mazzilli	1982	28	Ind. Games	125	110	33	5	0	5	17	15	10	.300	.384	.482	.866	0	0	0	0	1
16	Kevin Seitzer	1996	27	Ind. Games	124	104	38	12	1	1	14	17	12	.365	.468	.529	.997	0	0	1	3	2
17	Don Money	1979	26	Ind. Games	119	98	22	4	0	1	7	17	14	.224	.342	.296	.638	2	1	0	1	5
18	Bip Roberts	1998	25	Ind. Games	111	94	24	5	0	0	8	15	12	.255	.364	.309	.672	1	0	0	1	1
19	Cecil Cooper	1974	25	Ind. Games	96	90	27	6	0	0	8	5	18	.300	.337	.367	.704	1	0	1	0	0
20	Wade Boggs	1998	25	Ind. Games	115	105	33	6	2	2	16	9	11	.314	.365	.467	.832	0	1	2	0	1
21	Darrell Evans	1987	24	Ind. Games	110	88	19	2	0	10	24	20	17	.216	.355	.580	.934	0	2	1	0	0
22	Alan Trammell	1984	22	Ind. Games	105	93	31	6	1	3	11	10	20	.333	.398	.516	.914	2	0	0	0	1
23	Nick Johnson	2003	22	Ind. Games	101	80	27	6	0	4	14	16	16	.338	.459	.563	1.022	3	0	0	2	4
24	Gregg Jefferies	1999	22	Ind. Games	98	87	18	1	0	2	10	9	4	.207	.286	.287	.573	0	1	1	1	3
25	Bobby Murcer	1980	21	Ind. Games	96	86	24	3	1	1	13	8	9	.279	.333	.372	.705	0	2	2	0	4
26	Mickey Rivers	1984	20	Ind. Games	86	82	27	5	0	3	12	3	2	.329	.353	.500	.853	1	0	0	0	1

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/18/2010.

As you can see, there's never been a "full-time" case where someone has batted second as a D.H. before...unless you count Hal Mcrae in 1977 where he started 102 games as a D.H. where he batted second in the line-up. It will be interesting to see if the Yankees do end up using Johnson as a D.H. where he starts 120+ games batting second. And, if it happens, it will be a first.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 18th, 2010 at 3:48 pm and is filed under Game Finders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

11 Responses to “The Rare Designated Two Hitter”

Will Yankees Nick Johnson Make History This Year? | WasWatching.com Says:
February 18th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
[...] Nick Johnson become the first truly full-time “D.H. who bats second” in baseball history this [...]
Johnny Twisto Says:
February 18th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
I'd consider McRae full-time. Lineups shift around more than we (I) realize -- teams all seem to use more than 100 different lineups a season. I'd bet the #2 spot is less stable than 1, 3, or 4 usually are. How common is it for any individual to have 100 games batting second in a season? I'm sure a few guys do it every year, but is the list above that unusual?

I checked for AL second basemen since '73. I grew up with Willie Randolph and that seems like a position which might more commonly bat 2nd. A 2Bman has only batted second 100+ times in 37 seasons, so about once a year. Certainly much more common than DH, but not that common. (Aaron Hill last year actually has the high during that time frame, with 155 such games.)
Johnny Twisto Says:
February 18th, 2010 at 4:29 pm
Oh, and of course, Randolph himself only barely cracked 100 appearances in the 2-hole one time, and that before I was aware, even though it seems liked he always batted 2nd for the Yanks.
Darrel Says:
February 19th, 2010 at 12:04 am
McRae was a dh in 115 games that year, so he was not in the #2 hole for 13 of them as a dh. He scored 104 runs (I wonder how many of those were driven in by George Brett who hit in the #3 hole.)
Raphy Says:
February 19th, 2010 at 6:35 am
4. Darrel Says: (I wonder how many of those were driven in by George Brett who hit in the #3 hole.)

Not many. Brett only played 139 games in 1977 and only 51 of those were from the 3 hole.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?n1=brettge01&year=1977&t=b#lineu

In fact, among Brett's 88 RBI that season, the term "McRae Scores" appears only 8 times.
Andy Says:
February 19th, 2010 at 11:43 am
It's staggering to think that teams use more than 100 different lineups in a 162-game season.

Check it out for the 2009 Yankees:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYY/2009-batting-orders.shtml

No lineup was used more than 15 times and they used 106 total batting orders not counting differences among pitchers. (I assume this refers to games in NL stadiums where the pitcher is in the batting order.)

The Red Sox used 113 different batting orders and none more than 8 times!

I suspect that the average baseball fan, if asked how many times his or her favorite team used their most common lineup, would guess something more like 40-60 times in a season...amazing just how wrong we would be.
DK Says:
February 19th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
No way in hell does Nick Johnson stay healthy enough to even PLAY 120 games let alone DH in the 2-spot for that many.
eorns Says:
February 19th, 2010 at 3:41 pm
It's a similar list, numberswise, for DHs batting leadoff. Paul Molitor and Brian Downing own 7 of the top 10 spots! Each has their greatest number (109 and 89, respectively) in 1989.
eorns Says:
February 19th, 2010 at 3:42 pm
Oops...I meant 1991, not 1989.
DoubleDiamond Says:
February 19th, 2010 at 7:04 pm
I tried this out for 9th (it took me awhile since I'm new at this), and Nick Johnson in his first tour of duty with the Yankees is the leader in this spot! 26 times in 2002.

Looking at his game log, on 5/14/2002, he switched to first base during a game in Yankee Stadium against Tampa Bay. Pitcher Ramiro Medoza went into the clean-up spot that was vacated by Jason Giambi. But these were garbage time substitutions in a situation in which it was highly unlikely that the Yankee pitcher would have to bat. The Bombers had scored 6 runs in the bottom of the 8th to go ahead 10-1. Giambi had made the third out. Although the Devil Rays did score twice in the top of the 9th, they didn't score enough to force the Yankees to have to bat again.
DoubleDiamond Says:
February 19th, 2010 at 7:08 pm
One more thing regarding my search for the 9th spot - I thought I remembered Ken Phelps hitting 9th as a DH. But he didn't show up on this list at all.

Also Johnson's 26 in 2002 was the only one of at least 20.

I'm going to try 8th next. Some teams followed a practice in the late 1970s or early 1980s of putting a strong hitter in #9, for when the batting order turned over. In fact, Tony LaRussa has been doing this with the Cardinals, batting the pitcher 7th or 8th and (and Pujols 3rd) in recent years. So I actually expected more DH activity at #9 than I did find. And thus I'll expect even less at #8.

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