Larry Twitchell

Lawrence Grant Twitchell

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 185 lb.

• Debut April 30, 1886
• Final Game July 7, 1894
• Born February 18, 1864 in Cleveland, OH USA
• Died August 23, 1930 in Cleveland, OH USA

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Biographical Information

Larry Twitchell is remembered for his 1887 season, when he went 11-1 as a pitcher and .333 as a hitter with the Detroit Wolverines, who won the equivalent of the 1887 World Series.

Twitchell was an outfielder and pitcher during his nine-season major league career. As early as the spring of 1887 he said about his pitching that if his arm gave out "again", he would focus on being an outfielder.

Not normally a great hitter, he also went .310 for the Louisville Colonels in 1893. On August 15, 1889, however, playing for the Cleveland Spiders, he had a game for the ages against the Boston Beaneaters. He went 6 for 6 with a walk, hitting for the cycle and accumulating 16 total bases. He hit three triples, one double and one homer and scored five runs in the game, a 19-8 win by Cleveland. Kid Madden pitched the whole game for Boston, giving up all the hits, while Larry pitched one inning in relief in the game, making him the only man in history to hit for the cycle in a game in which he pitched. The 16 total bases were a major league record at the time.

He umpired 4 National League games in 1894. After his major league days he played for the Milwaukee Brewers in the minors, and managed them in 1895 and 1896.

He showed up in 1921 for an Old Timers' Game in Cleveland, and a photo was taken of him along with many other former major leaguers, including Cy Young and Nap Lajoie. Cleveland Old Timers

Further Reading

• Brian Marshall: "Larry Twitchell's Big Day: With Notes About Individual Total Bases", The Baseball Research Journal, SABR, Volume 44, Number 2 (Fall 2015), pp. 81-85.

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