Readers Research: playing a new position after 1,000 games
Posted by Andy on April 25, 2010
Can you name a player who played a position for the first time after appearing in at least 1,000 games at other positions?
I'll start off with Ernie Banks, who first appeared at first base in this game, his 1,135th career major league game.
In 1985, Robin Yount had a few firsts. Check out his game logs from that year. On Opening Day he made his first career appearance in left field in game #1,550. He made his first of many appearance in center field in game #1,604. Later, in game #1,648 he made his first appearance (of only 12 in his career) at first base.
I'm sure there must be players who went even longer into their careers before appearing at a new position. Bonus points if you can come up with players like Banks (at 1B) and Yount (in CF) who made essentially permanent switches to their new positions.
April 25th, 2010 at 8:37 am
Without giving it much thought, Arod is an obvious one, with 1275 career games before playing 3B.
April 25th, 2010 at 8:56 am
Pudge Rodriguez played both 1B and 2B in 2006, after way more than 1,000 games at C and DH. Very not-permanent though.
April 25th, 2010 at 9:27 am
I don't know if this counts, but Wade Boggs played pitcher for the first time in 1997. He had over 2100 career games under his belt. (I can't get into the gamelogs right now, so I don't have an exact count.)
April 25th, 2010 at 11:10 am
Omar Vizquel played 3B for the first time last season. His first game was the 2683rd of his career.
April 25th, 2010 at 11:12 am
Granny Hamner first pitched in 1956, after having appeared at shortstop in 858 games and at second base in 423 games.
April 25th, 2010 at 11:16 am
Come on...pitching appearances like that are not in the spirit of what I am looking for.
Chuck Knoblach went to left field after 1,415 games primarily at second base.
April 25th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
Most players migrate to an easier position at some point in their careers... if they can still hit well enough. The trick is to find players that did so without every trying out the easier position at some point when they were younger. I mean Pete Rose famously switched regular positions several times but he had made appearances at all those positions between 66-68, so he doesn't show up on long drought lists. Everyone knows about Ripken's switch to 3B, but he played there a bit as a rookie.
Mantle played his first game at 1B in 1967 after 2113 games elsewhere and never played anywhere but 1B after that. That was the "DH" of the day, though. Is that in the spirit of what you are looking for?
Honus Wagner didn't play a game at SS until his fifth season. That's not a long span of time, but its a rare occurrence of a player moving to a more difficult position as he got older.
April 25th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Andy, I'd remind you that Hamner was recalled as a pitcher at the end of his career by the Kansas City A's. Not that he pitched much or well after being recalled, but he was with KC as a pitcher.
And here I thought I'd gotten into bonus territory. (-;þ Go look up Smoky Joe Wood and Bucky Walters and some of those guys, wouldja?
April 25th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
Thanks for the correction, KT. You are right of course. I got fooled by the earlier mention of Wade Boggs.
April 25th, 2010 at 12:31 pm
Joe Morgan and Omar Vizquel both appeared at 3B for the very first time very late in their careers. 2200+ games for Morgan and 2600+ games for Vizquel. Neither became a regular there though.
April 25th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Gary Sheffield playing 1st base for the Yankees in 2006 comes to mind!
April 25th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
Ron Santo played 2b in his 1,897th game in 1972. After his trade to the White Sox, he played more 2b than 3b in 1974.
In the same year for the 1972 Cubs, Billy Wiliams played 1b for the 1st time, in his 1,797th game.
One team with 2 guys
April 25th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
Not yet but Jeter has to be only a year or two away from his 1st appearance anywhere besides SS or DH after 2153 games.
April 25th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
Oooh - how about Troy Glaus? About 1400 games at 3B, SS & DH before first appearing at 1B for the Cards in 2008. . . .with his shoulder it sure looks like he's a 1B only at this point.
April 25th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
Paul Molitor - approx 1400 games at 3B, 2B, SS & OF (plus another 200 at DH) before playing 1B for the first time in 1990. He was mostly a DH after that but 1B was the only position he played in the field after 1990.
Joe Torre - 1239 games at C, 1B & LF before moving to 3B where he won an MVP in 1971 as a full-time 3B. He went back & forth between 1B & 3B the rest of his career.
(BTW Mike Piazza just misses at 1B - he played 1 inning at 1B in 1993 otherwise he would fit here. Biggio was another thought but he played the OF a little early in his career. Ditto for Chipper & LF)
April 25th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
Hammerin Hank technically qualifies - played 1B for the 1st time in 1962 in game #1263 and he did play 1B full-time but not until much later in 1972 (and only for a season at that).
April 25th, 2010 at 4:42 pm
Darrell Evans first appeared at SS in career game #1653, all at 1B, 3B & LF. He was never a full-time SS but he did appear in 22 games over the next 2 seasons at SS.
April 25th, 2010 at 5:35 pm
Jimmie Foxx pitched an inning in 1939. That may have been a stunt, but in 1945 he pitched in 9 games, 2 as a starter, for the Phillies.
April 25th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
I may be recalling incorrectly, but didn't Alfonso Soriano put some significant time in the infield while he was at Texas. If meory serves, he did -- albeit not with what you'd call notable success.
April 25th, 2010 at 5:53 pm
A second player who might fall into this category is Rod Carew -- a steller second baseman fo the Twins, who ended up at first for the Twins. And would Greenburg qualify, switching to the outfield in '40 so the Tiges could play Rudy York at first?
April 25th, 2010 at 5:54 pm
As for Carew, I meant that his first base years were for the Angels. Forgive the brain spasm there.
April 25th, 2010 at 5:57 pm
How strange, Frank — I just looked up Carew. Carew played one of his first 1,120 games at first base.
April 25th, 2010 at 6:16 pm
Luke Appling had played well over 1,000 games at shortstop (and a few in the outfield) before being tried at third base, an experiment that lasted through the entire 1942 season and into 1943. He then returned to short.
April 25th, 2010 at 6:21 pm
Believe it or not, Dick Allen played all of his first 748 major-league games at positions other than first base.
April 25th, 2010 at 6:38 pm
Mike Lowell will probably get added to this list very soon, as talks about him playing first base continue.
April 25th, 2010 at 9:55 pm
I was going to say Mike Schmidt but he played 2 games at first in '73 then 2 in '84 before playing 106 games at first as the Phillies tried to move Rick Schu into the lineup. By 1986, he was back playing more 3rd base than 1st.
April 26th, 2010 at 2:49 am
Dwight Evans first appeared at first base in his 1,971st game. He would go on to make 142 more appearances at first.
April 26th, 2010 at 8:56 am
Miguel Tejada played his first game at 3B this year after 1,871 games at SS/DH.
April 26th, 2010 at 9:21 am
How about this: What player played the most games while only ever appearing at one field position (DH not included)? As mentioned above, Jeter is in this group right now, though it seems doubtful he will end his career this way. I bet a catcher wins this one.
April 26th, 2010 at 9:25 am
Willie Mays first played a position other than CF (SS) in game #1651 (1963). He played 48 games at 1B in 1971 when McCovey was hurt.
April 26th, 2010 at 9:27 am
Eorns...sweet idea. I know how to figure that out and will make a new post about it.
April 26th, 2010 at 9:34 am
Craig Biggo played 1,602 games at second base before switching to the outfield. Of course, he also played 428 games at catcher before switching to second, so he may not be exactly what you're looking for.
April 26th, 2010 at 10:21 am
OK, just looked this up for every position, and I was quite wrong with my guess! Here's the list of players who have played the most career games having played only one field position:
C Rick Ferrell 1884*
1B Fred McGriff 2460
2B Lou Whitaker 2390
3B Scott Rolen 1762*
SS Luis Aparicio 2601*
LF Matt Holliday 872
CF Brian McRae 1354
RF Harry Lumley 730*
OF Barry Bonds 2986
*No games at DH
So it's SS, 1B, 2B, then C. Holliday is pretty unique here. Only one other player has as many as 100 career games exclusively in LF. And it's kinda surprising is it that Rolen has never DH'd.
For future consideration, here are the active leaders:
C Jason Varitek 1446
1B Derrek Lee 1669
2B Luis Castillo 1650*
3B Scott Rolen 1762*
SS Derek Jeter 2155
LF Matt Holliday 872
CF Grady Sizemore 804
RF Justin Upton 307
OF Bobby Abreu 1970
*No games at DH
No huge surprises here. Upton is actually second to Lumley at RF. They are the only two above 80 games! Interesting that Castillo hasn't DH'd--even for a single game--either despite time in the AL.
April 26th, 2010 at 10:25 am
Sorry, Andy, didn't see your comment until after I posted. Hopefully you get the same answers 🙂
April 26th, 2010 at 10:28 am
Actually I got wildly different stuff and I'm sure that you're right. How did you find the answers?
April 26th, 2010 at 10:31 am
I looked up players with 95% career games at a position sorted by most games. I went down the "Pos" column to find the first one without another position.
April 26th, 2010 at 10:34 am
Actually, I should make it 50%...I might have missed some who've DH'd a lot.
April 26th, 2010 at 10:45 am
Nope, same guys.
April 26th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
What about Carl Yastrzemski who played left field for the majority of his career and then moved to 1st base later in his career.
April 26th, 2010 at 2:15 pm
shawn dunston
April 26th, 2010 at 2:47 pm
Yup. Dunston played over 1,200 games at shortstop before appearing at any other position.
April 26th, 2010 at 3:04 pm
YOGI BERRA played over 1,400 game before his first assignment as a Birst Faceman. Pardon me, First Baseman.
April 26th, 2010 at 5:31 pm
Dave Winfield first played 3rd Base in his 1886th game. He only played there twice in his career, both times in 1986, for one inning each time.