Good Hitting Vintage Pitchers

[cgjackson222]

Originally Posted by Tabe

Wilson twice hit 7 homers in a season. Only Ferrell ever hit more in a season and Wilson is the only guy to hit 7 twice (Drysdale did it once).

Wilson had enough power that he was used as a pinch hitter 28 times in his career.

Didn’t Drysdale hit 7 in both ‘58 and ‘65?

Ferrell hit 9 in ‘31, 7 in ‘33, and 7 in ‘35.

[EddieP]

Ken Brett:

For all the talk of Shohei Ohtani being the best two-way prospect ever, Ken Brett came first. He was a phenom on the mound and in center field before he became a journeyman. About 30 years ago, John Garrity wrote a book called "The George Brett Story." This was shortly after George almost hit .400 and was one of the biggest sports stars in America. Garrity quoted George's father, Jack:
"I went to a game one time," Jack said, "and somebody said, 'Casey Stengel is in the stands today to see him.' Yogi Berra was there. Carl Hubbell came to see him. I thought, 'God. Maybe he's good.'
"He was Mister America -- it was almost like he was a man among boys. I thought he could be a decathlon athlete. ... And he had a knack for doing the right thing. He was very modest. He was quiet. He was somebody you could be proud of. ... I always wanted him to play for the Yankees. I wanted him to replace Mickey Mantle."
Only after a little while did Garrity reveal that Jack was not talking about George. He was talking about Ken Brett.
"To this day," George says, "people just flat out say that he may be one of the best all-around athletes to ever come out of Southern California. ... He could have gone to any college in the country on a football scholarship or baseball. And academically."
Mister America. Future Major League All-Star Scott McGregor grew up in the same neighborhood; he said that Ken was his idol. But he was everyone's idol, really. Ken was the fourth pick in the 1966 MLB Draft. Here's how different it was then, The Associated Press story that introduced him to America said this:
"Boston snatched Ken Brett, a 17-year-old schoolboy from El Segundo, Calif., who was recommended by scouts."
That's a weird line, right? Recommended by scouts? Why did they put that in there? Were other players in the draft NOT recommended by scouts?
But there is some underlying truth to it because scouts adored Ken Brett. He was the perfect prospect. He was smart. He was a good student. He was an incredible athlete. And he was equally gifted as a pitcher and a hitter; going into the Draft, nobody knew which way he would go. Joe Stephenson, the legendary Red Sox scout (and father of Jerry Stephenson, a big leaguer and himself legendary scout for the Dodgers), saw Brett hit and wanted him to play center field.
"Kemer [Ken Brett's nickname] was the best prospect I ever saw," Stephenson once told Peter Gammons. "Kemer was a combination of George, Fred Lynn and Roger Maris."

“H ow good a hitter could he have been?
"What you have to understand," Ken Brett's close friend, 1980 American League Cy Young winner Steve Stone, says, "is that when you have a brother like George Brett, a Hall of Famer, an all-time great, you become the other brother in the relationship. But what they don't understand is that Ken Brett could hit better than George. He could throw better than George. He could run better than George. He did just about everything better than George."
George concurs.
"Whoever was drafting fifth [Cubs] was taking him as a center fielder," George says. "Whoever was drafting sixth [Washington] was taking him as a center fielder. Whoever was drafting seventh [St. Louis] was taking him as a center fielder. I don't know how many teams there were in 1966 [20], but he was everybody's choice as a left-handed-hitting center fielder. He could run. He had a great arm, obviously. But the guy could frickin' hit "

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by cgjackson222

Didn’t Drysdale hit 7 in both ‘58 and ‘65?

Ferrell hit 9 in ‘31, 7 in ‘33, and 7 in ‘35.

Listen, if you want me to actually be accurate, you're gonna have to pay me more.

Also, thanks for the correction.

[bgar3]

I don’t know his overall batting stats but Tony Cloninger hit 2 grand slams in one game.
No one mentioned Joe Wood yet. Haven’t looked up his stats recently, but he was a good enough hitter to play the outfield after he stopped pitching.

[bgar3]

Just looked up his hitting stats, quite a good hitter as a pitcher and then even better as outfielder.
His great 1912 season, he was 34-5 pitching and hit .290, with 36 hits.

[ghostmarcelle]

Bullet Rogan!

[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.