Good Hitting Vintage Pitchers

[molenick]

Thank you ghostmarcelle...I was racking my brain trying to think of the Negro League player who had great two-way stats. Bullet Rogan (as per Baseball Reference):

120-52 2.65 ERA (162 game average 22-10) in 214 games as a pitcher. WAR of 38 as a pitcher.

50/419/.338 106 SBs with a .934 OPS as a hitter (162 game average 12/100 with 25 SBs). WAR of 23.4 as a batter. Besides pitching he played all three outfield positions, as well as a little at 1b and 2b.

[tedzan]

Tommy Byrne was a very good hitting Pitcher. I met him in 1991 at the BB card Show in Westfield, NJ.
A very friendly guy, he visited with most of the dealers, at the end of the Show. Tommy and I enjoyed
reminiscing about BB during the late 1940's thru to the late 1950's.

A fine example of Tommy's pinch-hitting ability on 5/16/1953, White Sox Mg Paul Richards summoned
Tommy from the bullpen to-hit for infielder Vern Stephens with the bases loaded and 2 men out in the
9th inning. Right-handed pitcher Ewell Blackwell had just entered the game for the New York Yankees.
Byrne recalled.... I go up to bat, and after working the count to 2-2, I hit a Grand Slam HR into Right-
Field seats to win the game.





TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[John1941]

Originally Posted by molenick

Thank you ghostmarcelle...I was racking my brain trying to think of the Negro League player who had great two-way stats. Bullet Rogan (as per Baseball Reference):

120-52 2.65 ERA (162 game average 22-10) in 214 games as a pitcher. WAR of 38 as a pitcher.

50/419/.338 106 SBs with a .934 OPS as a hitter (162 game average 12/100 with 25 SBs). WAR of 23.4 as a batter. Besides pitching he played all three outfield positions, as well as a little at 1b and 2b.

His statistics in Hawaii from 1915 to 1918 were crazy. Playing mostly for the 25th Infantry he had a 35-2 record, 468 strikeouts in 355 innings, and an ERA well under 1.00. At the plate he hit .347 with 28 home runs, 61 stolen bases, and 153 runs scored in 125 games.

[cubman1941]

Have not looked up any stats but Smoky Joe Wood, Red Ruffing and Walter Johnson must have been pretty fair hitters. Of course, do not have to look up Babe's stats :}.

“Shohei Ohtani is the 5th player in the Modern Era (since 1900) with 500 hits as a batter and 500 Ks as a pitcher, joining Smoky Joe Wood, Red Ruffing, Walter Johnson and Babe Ruth. Ohtani’s 13th K of the game tonight was the 500th of his career.”

[jakebeckleyoldeagleeye]

Does Tony Mullane count? He did play some other positions when not pitching but he had 223 RBI's in his career.

[molenick]

Not sure if that was intentional or not, but of course Tony Mullane counts...his nickname was the Count!

[topcat61]

3 pitchers that were great hitters that I can think of were Wes Ferrell (probably the best), Warren Sphan and 1950s Red Sox pitcher Leo Kiely.

[molenick]

I am not doing this to be a jerk, but when someone posts a player I am unaware of, I like to check out his stats.

Ferrell and Spahn of course I know. But I needed to look up Leo Kiely. He was 20 for 139 (.144) with a .392 OPS and one home run lifetime. Personally, I would not put him on the list of great hitting pitchers.

[darwinbulldog]

Originally Posted by jakebeckleyoldeagleeye

Does Tony Mullane count? He did play some other positions when not pitching but he had 223 RBI's in his career.

He's gotta be the best combination batter/LHP/RHP at least.