When Pitchers Were Hitters
By Peter Schiller on Jun 06, 2008 with Comments 4
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Filed Under: Baseball • Pete’s Perspective
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In the first year of the Kansas City Royals existence (1969), Jim Rooker hit .281/.305/.544 with 4 HRs and 8 RBI. Rooker was the first Kansas City Royals player to have a multi homerun game. The following year Rooker didn’t hit for a high average but he did have 13 RBI. Over the course of his career he wasn’t all that good of a hitter but he was pretty solid in 69 and 70.
I remember when Beckett first came to Boston and he dominated with the bat in an interleague game against the Phillies. That was the first time I remembered seeing a Red Sox pitcher swing the bat well.
The Sox also had a guy named Steve Avery who could hold his own with the bat back in 1997-1998. He had played for the Braves prior to the Sox and was teammates with Glavine and Maddux (both decent hitting pitchers in their younger years).
[...] I wrote about when pitchers were hitters, too. Something I did not mention, but in hindsight, I should have, is how AL pitchers run the [...]