July 27, 1971: Philadelphia’s Bobby Pfeil hits his only two career home runs during emergency start behind the plate

In the early morning hours of July 27, 1971, the Philadelphia Phillies slumped away from Veterans Stadium after losing a 15-inning battle to the Houston Astros that took 4 hours 12 minutes to finish.

The loss was bad enough to think about on its own, but manager Frank Lucchesi sent one of his players home with something extra to consider before a twilight-night doubleheader that evening.

With starting catcher Tim McCarver continuing to rehabilitate a bruised knee he suffered eight days earlier and backup catcher Mike Ryan needing time off to deal with a severe back spasm he suffered about 90 minutes before catching all 15 innings against Houston, Lucchesi had a simple message for utilityman Bobby Pfeil as they left the ballpark.

“Go home and prepare yourself,” Lucchesi told him.1

Prepare yourself to catch, that is.

Pfeil, a 28-year-old who primarily played on the left side of the infield, had caught in six games for Triple-A Eugene (Oregon) in 19702 and four innings for the Phillies earlier in 1971.3 Pressed into emergency duty and drawing inspiration from Ryan’s gritty performance,4 Pfeil caught all 18 innings of the doubleheader on July 27 and had even more to remember in the evening’s first game.

Not only did Pfeil play admirably behind the plate, he also became the fifth National or American League position player since 1901 to hit his only two career home runs in the same game5 as Philadelphia trounced Houston 8-3 – an added treat for 20,779 attendees on hand for the doubleheader, including Veterans Stadium’s one millionth fan of the season.6

Pfeil, who had played 10 innings at third base the night before and had appeared in right field, left field, and first base earlier in the season, learned to catch with the 1969 “Miracle Mets.”

Manager Gil Hodges suggested that he add the skill to his arsenal to better his chances of making the roster as a utility player.7 While Pfeil never caught for the Mets, he appeared in 62 games to help them win their first National League pennant. Then New York sent him to Philadelphia in a trade early in the 1970 season.8

Never known for explosive offensive performances – Pfeil had only 12 extra-base hits in his first 91 major-league games9 – he came into his first major-league start behind the plate more worried about how to handle starting pitcher Woodie Fryman’s zigging and zagging pitches than how many hits he would collect.

“You know, I’m not the easiest guy to catch,” the left-handed Fryman acknowledged. “In fact, Billy Wilson and I are about the hardest to catch on the whole staff. Our balls sink and run, and we don’t have the pinpoint control.”10

But Pfeil was up for the challenge as the Phillies and Astros made up a May 8 rainout.

He handled 102 pitches from Fryman with only a few mishaps and crushed two sliders for home runs against Houston’s All-Star starter Larry Dierker, who had not pitched in 10 days because of elbow soreness.11 That combination created an unexpected narrative he would retell for years to come.

“[Dierker] wasn’t throwing like he can,” Pfeil said. “But I won’t tell people that 10 years from now when I say I hit two home runs off Larry Dierker.”12

The Phillies seemed determined to get revenge after losing the previous night’s game by allowing three runs in the 15th inning. Rookie Willie Montañez and veteran Deron Johnson set the tone by slugging back-to-back two-out homers13 off Dierker in the bottom of the first inning. Montañez’s 21st homer extended the franchise rookie record for left-handed hitters that he broke the night before.14

In the fourth, Pfeil’s inexperience behind the plate helped the Astros tie the score. Joe Morgan walked and moved to second on Pfeil’s second passed ball of the game. After Jim Wynn grounded out, César Cedeño hit an RBI double to left,15 and he scored when Doug Rader followed with a single to right.

But Pfeil redeemed himself in the bottom of the inning, following Johnson’s leadoff single with his first career home run for a 4-2 lead.

“I just walked up and swung,” Pfeil said. “I was relaxed. Maybe not thinking about hitting helped. When you’re catching, you only think about catching. Catching would be easy if you didn’t have to hit, too.”16

“I’m surprised catchers can hit at all,” he added. “You spend so much time concentrating on catching technique that hitting becomes almost secondary.”17

Houston got a run back in the sixth on Denis Menke’s bases-loaded fly out to center, but the Phillies took a commanding lead with a rally in the seventh.

Pfeil led off the inning with his second homer of the game. Coming into the start, Dierker had allowed only three home runs in 145⅔ innings pitched, and the four he surrendered to the Phillies marked a career-worst showing as he dropped to 12-5 in the eighth season of his 14-year career.18

“I made some bad pitches,” Dierker said. “If I had been going better, I might have gotten away with the mistakes.”19

John Vukovich hit a single and scored on Denny Doyle’s one-out double that chased Dierker from the mound. Larry Bowa sent reliever Denny Lemaster’s first pitch into left field for an RBI double, and Montañez – the eventual runner-up in NL Rookie of the Year voting20 – capped the rally with an RBI single to center for an 8-3 lead.

The Astros collected a hit in each of the final three innings, but Fryman – who had made six starts and 20 relief appearances before the game – never let a rally materialize and finished off his second complete game of the season by striking out pinch-hitter Ray Busse to improve to 7-4. He remained in Philadelphia’s rotation for the rest of the season, closing the year with a 10-7 record.

“I asked [McCarver] about Fryman, and he told me just to expect his breaking ball to break more than I’d expect it to,” Pfeil said. “I sat down with Woodie before the game, we went over the hitters and how we wanted to pitch to them, and that was it.”21

Added Fryman: “[Pfeil’s] a major-league ballplayer, and he wouldn’t be up here if he didn’t know what he was doing. I think I only shook him off five times at the most. I don’t think he could have done a better job with the glove or with his bat. But I like the bat best of all.”22

In Game Two, Houston starter Wade Blasingame stifled the Phillies with a four-hitter in a 5-1 victory to keep the Astros at .500 for the season (51-51).23 Pfeil committed a throwing error but also withstood his first collision at the plate to complete a double play in the top of the ninth, though the Phillies dropped to 45-59 with the loss. Astros backup catcher Jack Hiatt also caught all 17 innings of the doubleheader24 because starter Johnny Edwards suffered an injury the day before when his hand hit the back of Johnson’s helmet while he made a throw to second base.25

McCarver returned to Philadelphia’s lineup the next night, ending his nine-game absence with an RBI double in a 6-3 Astros win.26 Ryan missed 16 games and did not play again until August 13, but neither Pfeil nor the backup to the emergency backup, Roger Freed, was forced into action before Ryan returned.27

Pfeil appeared in 13 more games in 1971 – mostly as a pinch-hitter – but he felt a special connection with his teammates, despite Philadelphia’s finish with the fourth-worst record in the majors (67-95).28

“These are the best bunch of guys I ever played with,” Pfeil said after a February 1972 trade sent him from the Phillies to the Milwaukee Brewers.29 “I’ve played on winning teams, and the attitude here amazed me. The guys here like to play ball.”30

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Victoria Monte and copy-edited by Len Levin. Special thanks to John Fredland for research assistance.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted the Baseball-Reference.com, Stathead.com, and Retrosheet.org websites for pertinent statistics and the box scores noted below. He also used information obtained from the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, Houston Post, Houston Chronicle, and Camden Courier-Post.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHI/PHI197107271.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1971/B07271PHI1971.htm

Photo credit: Bobby Pfeil, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 Ralph Bernstein (Associated Press), “Bobby Pfeil Shows Versatility With Phils,” Lebanon (Pennsylvania) Daily News, July 28, 1971: 10.

2 One of Pfeil’s catching appearances in Eugene came on August 17, 1970, when he attempted to play all nine positions in a game at Tacoma, though he could not complete the feat. Tacoma manager Whitey Lockman protested his appearance on the mound because Eugene’s front office had not certified Pfeil as a pitcher, as Pacific Coast League rules of the era required. Ed Honeywell, “Ems Stomp T-Cubs 11-5,” Tacoma (Washington) News Tribune, August 18, 1970: 14.

3 Pfeil caught the bottom of the eighth inning during a 6-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on June 22 and caught the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings during a 14-4 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 25. He never made another professional appearance at catcher after the doubleheader against the Astros.

4 Bernstein.

5 Other position players to hit their only two career home runs in the same game before Pfeil were Jack Lelivelt (1912), Sammy Holbrook (1935), Glen Stewart (1943), and Brian McCall (1962). Four pitchers had also accomplished the feat: Ed Summers (1910), Jess Doyle (1925), Jack Knight (1926), and Babe Birrer (1955). Between 1972 and 2023, another five players added their names to the list: Doug Loman (1984), pitcher Derek Lilliquist (1990), Derrick Gibson (1999), Tim Hyers (1999), and Brandon Harper (2006).

6 John Conway of Camden, New Jersey, was selected in a drawing to be officially declared the one millionth fan of the season. He won a color television and a three-night stay in Atlantic City. It marked the seventh time overall and first time since 1966 that the Phillies had drawn at least a million fans. By season’s end, a franchise record 1,511,223 had gone through the turnstiles, beating the 1964 attendance figure by 85,332. The Phillies also welcomed more than twice as many fans as they did in 1970 (708,247). “Camden Man Millionth Fan,” Camden (New Jersey) Courier-Post, July 28, 1971: 30.

7 Bob Kenney, “File Bobby’s Record Under ‘S’ For Super Sub,” Camden Courier-Post, July 28, 1971: 30.

8 Pfeil went to Philadelphia on May 26, 1970, as the player to be named later after the Mets received Ron Allen from the Phillies on April 10. Pfeil initially struggled to accept the move because the Phillies told him they planned to “use him later,” but he thought he could contribute right away. He spent the rest of the 1970 season at Triple A in the Pacific Coast League with the Eugene (Oregon) Emeralds. Dick Young, “Young Ideas,” New York Daily News, May 31, 1970: 37C.

9 Pfeil had hit 49 home runs in 1,098 minor-league games since signing with the Chicago Cubs as a 19-year-old in 1962.

10 Paul Giordano, “Bobby Pfeil: Interim Hero,” Delaware County Daily Times (Upper Darby, Pennsylvania), July 28, 1971: 20.

11 Because of his elbow soreness, Dierker did not pitch in the 1971 All-Star Game on July 13. On July 17 he left his start after only 3⅔ innings. He pitched in pain against the Phillies, and his campaign ended 12 days later when he left his start against the San Diego Padres after one inning on August 8.

12 Bernstein “Bobby Pfeil Shows Versatility With Phils.”

13 Montañez and Johnson, the only two Philadelphia players to hit more than 10 homers in 1971, had also tagged Don Gullett for back-to-back home runs in the first inning of a May 23 game against the New York Mets. Later in the season, on September 16, Montañez and Johnson hit consecutive homers off Steve Renko of the Montreal Expos. Each player also went back-to-back with a different teammate during the season. Montañez and Oscar Gamble hit back-to-back homers off Nolan Ryan on June 20 in the first game of a doubleheader against the Mets, while Johnson and Roger Freed smacked consecutive home runs off George Stone in an August 2 game against the Atlanta Braves.

14 Don Hurst held the old mark with 19 home runs in 1928. By season’s end, Montañez had crushed 30 homers to beat Dick Allen’s 1964 franchise rookie home-run record by one. Through 2024, Montañez remained Philadelphia’s all-time rookie home-run leader.

15 Cedeño’s 26th double moved him into a tie with Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Willie Davis for the NL lead. By season’s end, Cedeño led the NL with 40 doubles (Lou Brock finished second with 37), and he repeated the feat in ’72 by ending the season in a tie with Willie Montañez with 39 two-baggers. Cedeño became the first player to lead the NL in consecutive years since Vada Pinson did so in 1959 and ’60. By 1977 Cedeño had become Houston’s all-time leader in doubles, passing Jim Wynn (228) with a three-double performance on June 29. Cedeño’s final tally of 343 doubles remained the franchise record until Craig Biggio surpassed him on May 4, 1999.

16 Ray Finocchiaro, “Catcher Latest Stop in Utilityman Pfeil’s File” Wilmington (Delaware) Evening Journal, July 28, 1971: 42.

17 Bill Conlin, “Pfeil Has His Night,” Philadelphia Daily News, July 28, 1971: 60.

18 Dierker became the fourth Astros pitcher to surrender four home runs in a game. The others: Ken McKenzie (May 16, 1965, against the San Francisco Giants); Don Nottebart (July 8, 1965, against the Milwaukee Braves); and Dave Giusti (August 9, 1966, against the Chicago Cubs). As of the end of the 2024 season, only one Astros pitcher had allowed five home runs in a game (José Lima against the Cubs on April 27, 2000). In 1970 Dierker gave up a franchise-record 31 home runs, a mark that stood until Lima allowed 34 homers in 1998. Two years later, Lima surrendered 48 home runs – two shy of Bert Blyleven’s 1986 major-league record.

19 John Wilson, “Astros Split Two; Dierker Blasted, Blasingame Wins,” Houston Chronicle, July 28, 1971: 73.

20 Atlanta’s Earl Williams beat Montañez in the voting after slugging 33 home runs and hitting .260 in 13 fewer games than Montañez played. According to Baseball-Reference’s formula, Williams – who appeared as a catcher (72 games), first baseman (31), and third baseman (42) – had a 3.3 Wins Above Replacement value, while Montañez accumulated only a 1.9 WAR.

21 Giordano, “Bobby Pfeil: Interim Hero.”

22 Giordano.

23 For Blasingame, it marked his first complete game since August 28, 1970. He fired the 16th and final complete game of his 10-year career in his next outing, on August 1.

24 Because of Philadelphia’s win in Game One, the Astros did not take the field in the bottom of the ninth inning.

25 Edwards missed 16 games and returned to action on August 12. Hiatt started the bulk of the games Edwards missed, though rookie Larry Howard started a pair.

26 McCarver, who because of a broken hand played in only 44 games in his first season with the Phillies, missed nine games after suffering a bruised knee from colliding with Astros shortstop Roger Metzger to break up a double play on July 20. On that play, McCarver was ruled out of the baseline on his way to break up a double play by sliding into Metzger. Philadelphia manager Frank Lucchesi and Phillies coach George Myatt were ejected for arguing rookie umpire Bruce Froemming’s interference call, though McCarver’s hard-nosed style earned the veteran catcher praise from Astros manager Harry Walker, who said: “The only other player in the league who plays as hard to beat you is Pete Rose.” Bill Conlin, “Umpire Throws the Book at Furious Phillies,” Philadelphia Daily News, July 20, 1971: 64.

27 Freed, an outfielder, made 15 catching appearances in the Baltimore Orioles’s minor-league system between 1967 and ’69. He later caught the final inning for the Phillies on August 25 in a 7-0 loss to the San Diego Padres in his only major-league appearance as a catcher.

28 The Cleveland Indians (60-102), San Diego Padres (61-100), and Washington Senators (63-96) had worse records than Philadelphia.

29 In exchange, the Brewers sent the Phillies a player to be named later (minor leaguer Chico Vaughns). On March 20 Milwaukee sent Pfeil to the Boston Red Sox as compensation for Pat Skrable, a minor leaguer involved in a 10-player trade from October 1971 between the teams that centered on Jim Lonborg, George Scott, and Billy Conigliaro. Skrable opted to retire before the 1972 season, causing Milwaukee to send Pfeil to the Red Sox. Pfeil reported to Triple-A Louisville for the 1972 season and retired after that campaign.

30 Frank Dolson, “Phils’ Trade Means Pffft For Pfeils,” Philadelphia Inquirer, February 13, 1972: 1-D.