10 Most Memorable Position-Player Pitching Performances of All Time

Last week, I dove deep into the annals of Baseball-Reference.com and came up with a list of the top 10 all-time pitching performances by position players.

It was a fun list, but I got the feeling afterwards that there was more to say about position-player pitching performances. They're few and far between and they're rarely pretty, but they're also quite awesome in their own way.

So I went back to the records. This time, my goal was to uncover the most memorable position-player pitching performances of all time.

I'm going with a pretty loose definition of the word "memorable" here. Some of the performances I came up with are memorable because of the player who was doing the pitching. A few others are memorable because they were so incredibly bad. 

It's a mixed bag, but definitely a fun one as well. Let's take a look.

Note: Baseball-Reference.com has a complete list of pitching stats for non-pitchers. I highly recommend checking it out, and then quitting your job so you can spend more time with it.

10. Glenn Wilson, 1987

I got a tip on Glenn Wilson's pitching performance in 1987 from a reader named "Lefty 33." This one's for him.

On August 5th, 1987, Wilson's Philadelphia Phillies were taking a beating from the New York Mets. It was 13-3 by the time the bottom of the eighth rolled around, and that's when Wilson, an outfielder by trade, found himself on the mound.

Wilson found himself matched up against Gary Carter, a perennial All-Star and a future Hall of Famer, to lead off the inning. He got him to ground out to short.

Up next was Howard Johnson, who was on his way to a top-10 finish in the NL MVP voting. Wilson struck him out.

With two outs, Rafael Santana stepped up to the plate, and Wilson retired him on a comebacker.

So in Wilson's one and only career pitching performance, he retired the side in order despite the fact he had to face some tough hitters. Not bad for a guy who looks like a star from the local beer league softball team.

9. John Mabry, 2001

The then-Florida Marlins were just about finished with their 2001 season when they traveled to Atlanta to take on the Braves on October 5th, 2001. They were probably just looking forward to getting things over with.

The Braves didn't make it easy. They jumped all over Ryan Dempster in the first inning, and they did a number on Benito Baez as well.

It was 15-3 by the time John Mabry was called in to pitch in the bottom of the eighth. Suffice it to say that he did not stop the bleeding.

Mabry quickly loaded the bases on a single by Brian Jordan, a walk to B.J. Surhoff and a walk to Andruw Jones. He would go on to give up four earned runs, recording a single out in the process.

Mabry was bad enough to make Marlins manager Tony Perez think twice. He lifted Mabry with one out in the inning and put in Vic Darensbourg. He promptly got Chipper Jones to ground into an inning-ending double play.

All told, Mabry gave up five earned runs on three hits and three walks. He left the game with an ERA of 135.00.

8. Larry Biittner, 1977

Larry Biittner wasn't a bad hitter in his time. He played 14 seasons in the major leagues, retiring with a batting average of .273. He once hit .315 in a single season in 1975.

Biittner made one pitching appearance in his career, and it came when he was with the Chicago Cubs on the 4th of July, 1977.

It didn't go so well.

The Cubs were getting destroyed by the Montreal Expos that day, and it was 11-2 by the time Biittner was called on to pitch in the top of the eighth with two men already out.

The first batter Biittner faced was Larry Parrish, and he hit a three-run home run. It was 14-2 when Biittner got the third out of the inning.

Surprisingly, Biittner was sent back out there for the top of the ninth. He ended up surrendering home runs to Ellis Valentine and future Hall of Fame Andre Dawson.

Biittner's line: 1.1 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 3 HR. He had an ERA of 40.50 for the day.

Only one other position player has made a single pitching appearance and given up three home runs. That was Manny Castillo in 1983, and he did it over 2.2 innings.

7. Manny Alexander, 1996

Manny Alexander never really panned out as a hitter. He never played in more than 108 games in a single season, and he never hit better than .271.

Sadly, Alexander wasn't much of a pitcher either. We found that out on April 19th, 1996.

Alexander was still with the Baltimore Orioles that year, and they were getting absolutely destroyed by the Texas Rangers. When Alexander entered the game in the bottom of the eighth, it was already17-7.

Things quickly got worse. Alexander came in with one out in the inning. In the process of getting the next two outs, he gave up five earned runs on one hit and four walks.

The one hit he gave up was a grand slam hit by the great Kevin Elster, who hit 88 home runs in 13 years of big league service.

Alexander's ERA for that game was 67.50. That's tied for the highest ERA ever among non-pitchers. Larry Harlow also has an ERA of 67.50, but he gave up two hits in his two-thirds of an inning. Alexander gets the nod because he gave up just as many runs on just one hit.

Sorry for rubbing it in, Manny.

6. Nick Swisher, 2009

Chien-Ming Wang just didn't have it when he faced the Tampa Bay Rays on April 13th, 2009. He gave up eight earned runs in a single inning of work, and the rout was on from there.

The game was well out of hand by the time it reached the bottom of the eighth, and Joe Girardi saw no point in wasting another pitcher. Instead, he called right fielder Nick Swisher to the mound.

Swisher got off to a tough start, as he walked B.J. Upton to lead off the inning and then gave up a single to Willy Aybar. 

Swisher would bear down, however. He struck out Gabe Kapler for the first out of the inning, and then retired Carlos Pena on a pop-up and Pat Burrell on a fly ball to deep center.

He was the only Yankee hurler to pitch a scoreless inning that day.

Not exactly the most memorable position-player pitching performance in and of itself, but I'll always remember it for the chant that came a few days later when the Yankees were getting blown out again:

"We want Swisher!" [Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap] "We Want Swisher!"

5. Jose Canseco, 1993

Long before he was generating headlines with his epic weirdness on Twitter, Jose Canseco was just another musclebound slugger doing work in the early 1990s.

Canseco was with the Texas Rangers in 1993, and he made his pitching debut on May 29th of that year at Fenway Park against the Boston Red Sox.

The Rangers were down 12-1 when Canseco took the mound in the bottom of the eighth inning. He ended up walking three of the first four hitters he faced, and he gave up three runs on a single to Luis Rivera, a sacrifice fly by Billy Hatcher and a single by Mo Vaughn.

Final line: 1 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 0 SO.

All things considered, not a bad day at the office for Canseco. Not when compared to some of the other performances on this list.

He did, however, ultimately have to have Tommy John surgery to repair an injury he suffered while pitching. 

Surely all the forearm bashing he used to do must have weakened his arm. 

4. Ted Williams, 1940

Yes, Ted Williams pitched once. Bet you didn't know that.

Nor did I until I bothered to look. The Splendid Splinter found himself on the mound on August 24th, 1940 against the Detroit Tigers in the first game of a doubleheader.

Joe Heving started the game for the Red Sox, but he have up seven earned runs in just 2.1 innings of work. Yank Terry was the first man out of Boston's bullpen, and he coughed up four more runs. 

Williams entered the game in the top of the eighth and got the next six outs for the Red Sox, giving up one run on three hits and no walks in the process. He struck out one.

That's actually kinda respectable. You'd take that from a setup man over two innings of work these days.

Thankfully, Williams did not quit his day job. He went on to hit .344 in 1940, and .406 in 1941.

3. Ty Cobb, 1918

Yeah, Ty Cobb also took the mound once upon a time. Unlike the Splendid Splinter, he did it three times.

Two of Cobb's three career pitching appearances came on back-to-back days late in the 1918 season. He pitched two innings on September 1st, 1918 against the St. Louis Browns, and two more innings on September 2nd, 1918 against the Chicago White Sox.

Cobb pitched pretty well against the Browns, allowing one run on three hits and no walks. He got into a little more trouble against the White Sox, giving up three hits and two walks in his two innings. Nonetheless, he escaped with just one earned run allowed.

Surprisingly, he didn't hit a batter in either game. He must have been in a good mood those two days.

Or maybe the records are incomplete...

2. Wade Boggs, 1997

We think of Wade Boggs as one of baseball's all-time great hitters. He retired with a career batting average of .328, and he won five American League batting titles in the 1980s.

Boggs could still hit when he joined the Yankees in the early 1990s, but the Bombers found themselves needing Boggs' knuckleball on August 19th, 1997.

David Wells got crushed by the then-Anaheim Angels that day, giving up 11 earned runs in three innings. The score was 12-4 when Boggs took the mound in the bottom of the eighth.

Boggs started by walking Luis Alicea, but he then retired Tim Salmon, Garrett Anderson and Todd Greene in order. He got Greene on a swinging third strike.

The story after the game was the surprising quality of Boggs' knuckler. Jack Curry of The New York Times wrote all about it in a column, saying that Boggs "put a funny spin on the evening with a pitch that does not spin."

Brilliant.

1. Rocky Colavito, 1968

A couple weeks ago, we all freaked out when Chris Davis of the Baltimore Orioles won a game after coming in as a reliever in the 16th inning of a game against the Boston Red Sox.

Big deal. Rocky Colavito won a game for the New York Yankees in 1968, and he did it after entering a game against the Detroit Tigers in the fourth inning.

This happened back on August 25th, 1968. Steve Barber started the game for the Yankees, but he was pulled after he gave up four earned runs on seven hits in 3.1 innings.

The first man Colavito retired was Al Kaline, and he proceeded to pitch two more scoreless innings, giving up a single hit and two walks along the way.

As a bonus, the Yankees scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 6-5 lead, and they would hold on to it to make Colavito the winning pitcher. The next AL position player to win a game was Davis earlier this month.

This wasn't the first time Colavito had impressed on the mound. A decade earlier in 1958, he pitched three shutout innings for the Cleveland Indians. Clearly, he was meant to be a pitcher, not a right fielder.

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