10 Responses to “Great Pinch Hitters Since 1961”

1. Johnny Twisto Says:
   April 22nd, 2010 at 12:13 pm

   Funny not to see Manny Mota on a list of "great" PH. His OPS was .739, just off the bottom. But his BA was .300, and often BA is more important for a PH than in general.

   Actually, in trying to run my own list to rank by BA, I see that your Game Finder search picks up extra PA these batters had after entering the game. So the stats above are not strictly PH stats. I don't immediately see away to run lists of only PH totals. Anyway, it appears that Mota is about 5th in BA by PH with at least 200 games since 1961. (And Arias was #1, at .320.)

2. Kahuna Tuna Says:
   April 22nd, 2010 at 1:01 pm

   Top ten players on this list ranked by pinch-hitting appearances as a percentage of total career games played:

   1. Jose Morales, 67.7%
   2. Chip Hale, 61.3%
   3. Greg Dobbs, 52.9%
   4. Jerry Hairston, 50.6%
   5. Gates Brown, 49.7%
   6. John Vander Wal, 48.0%
   7. Thad Bosley, 45.8%
   8. Dwight Smith, 45.6%
   9. Jerry Turner, 44.5%
   10. Daryle Ward, 43.1%

   Next is Gail Hopkins at 39.9%. Mota wound up at 38.3%.

3. Johnny Twisto Says:
   April 22nd, 2010 at 2:12 pm

   When I was a kid I always thought the announcers were calling him "Bad" Bosley, and thought that was a pretty great name.

4. Rich Says:
   April 22nd, 2010 at 2:25 pm

   Maybe not the right forum for this but since I just tried to search a query of my own, I figured I'd mention it here. Is the site messed up for anyone else right now? I searched for Mariano Rivera and was taken to baseballreference.com/players. So then I went to the main page and got his page through the Yankees and he has no 2010 stats, and I try to do a game search for him and it said "Sorry your query was broken"

5. Philip Haberkorn Says:
   April 22nd, 2010 at 4:09 pm

   Your formula and procedure has left out one of the all-time greatest pinch-hitters, Smokey Burgess. Career Average .288 with 15 home runs. While still a "regular" in his early career, the Reds recognized his ability and he went .273 with 6 home runs over a three year period. He kept it up with the Pirates with a .441 average and 3 HRs. As old age put lots of guys on the sidelines, Smokey was still smokin' with the White Sox in the middle 60s with a respectable .256 average and 4 home runs. And his career "leverage" was way over 2.0, and often over 3.0, which meant his managers did not hestitate to send him into pressure situations. I played a table-top ball game when I was a kid in the 60s, and made most of my own cards. It was an all-star league loaded with future Hall of Famers and sluggers, but I made me a Smokey disc because the man could flat hit. Just once a game is all you needed with Smokey.

6. Gerry Says:
   April 22nd, 2010 at 8:47 pm

   Anyone else notice that Marv Rettenmund, with his .260 batting average, had the highest OBP (.420) on the list?

7. Zachary Says:
   April 23rd, 2010 at 2:10 am

   I like seeing Matt Stairs on that list. I remember last year or so he was featured in some Sportscenter stories about bringing the wood off the bench. Nice when the numbers back up the fluff!

8. Friday Links (23 Apr 10) – Ducksnorts Says:
   April 23rd, 2010 at 8:17 am

   [...] Great Pinch Hitters Since 1961 (Baseball-Reference). Steve Lombardi gives us a fun list. Hey, look, up at the top… it’s Willie McCovey and Matt Stairs. [...]

9. Frank Clingenpeel Says:
   April 23rd, 2010 at 10:48 am

   The one "great pinch hitter" that seems to be neglected in this list was Gates Brown. And Phil Haberkorn is right; although Burgess did his best "off-the-bench" work in the 'Fifties, he still deserves a nod here, too.

10. Kahuna Tuna Says:
    April 23rd, 2010 at 11:37 am

    Frank, Gates Brown is at #10 on Steve's list. Brown debuted in 1963, so he's not being neglected at all.