Neyer: Greenberg set to play in baseball’s latest storied stunt
From SABR member Rob Neyer at Baseball Nation on October 2, 2012:
You’ve probably heard about Adam Greenberg by now. Never considered a hot prospect, Greenberg nevertheless reached the majors seven years ago, with the Cubs … and in his first action, as a pinch-hitter, he got hit in the head by a pitch — the first pitch — and, suffering from various symptoms in the following months, never played in the majors again. Greenberg did continue playing baseball, most recently with Bridgeport in the independent Atlantic League; last season he posted a .393 on-base average and scored 82 runs in 106 games (which is really good).
This year, though, a Cubs fan began militating to get Greenberg one more shot, however brief … and, somewhat incredibly, it actually worked: the Miami Marlins have signed Greenberg to a one-day contract and, as Joe Capozzi writes in The Palm Beach Post, Greenberg’s probably going to play Tuesday night against the Mets (if just briefly).
Obviously, this is a stunt. It’s not likely to draw many extra fans, but will generate at least a modicum of goodwill for a franchise that’s run a deficit in that area this season. And as I wrote when it looked like Roger Clemens might make an appearance for the Astros, there’s a long history of such things. In that piece, I focused on pitchers, but they haven’t been the only ones. Here’s a short (and less than complete) history of personnel stunts in the majors …
Read the full article here: http://mlb.sbnation.com/2012/10/2/3441216/adam-greenberg-miami-marlins-mlb-history-stunts
Originally published: October 2, 2012. Last Updated: October 2, 2012.