Firstman: Intentionally walking the pitcher
From SABR member Diane Firstman at Value Over Replacement Grit on May 12, 2013:
[A question from High Heat Stats] got me wondering if there had ever been an intentional walk of a pitcher. With the Baseball Reference Play Index Event Finder fired up, I found these nine occurrences since 1945 (as far back as the Event Finder goes, with the caveat that IBBs were not an officially-tracked statistic until 1955):
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Schoolboy Rowe could really handle himself at the plate. As a 22-year-old in A-ball in 1932, he hit .295 and smacked ten homers in 112 at-bats, while also going 19-7 on the mound with a 1.094 WHIP. In 1943, at the age of 33, he hit .294/.390/.510 in 59 plate appearances as a pinch-hitter, to go along with a .304/.385/.420 rate in games he actually started at pitcher.
Read the full article here: http://valueoverreplacementgrit.com/2013/05/12/intentionally-walking-the-pitcher/
Originally published: May 14, 2013. Last Updated: May 14, 2013.