Pitchers Dig the Long Ball (At Least When They Are Hitting)

There have been many pitchers who also excelled with the bat, hurlers who could help their team with the stick as well as with their arm. This article will look at some of the most proficient home run-hitting pitchers in the major leagues and some of their accomplishments.

In 1999 there was a shoe company advertising campaign that featured the slogan: “Chicks dig the long ball.” The ad starred two Cy Young Award-winning pitchers who definitely did not dig the long balls hit by their opponents. However, most baseball players, when batting, do dig hitting home runs. This article will look at some of the most proficient home run-hitting pitchers in the major leagues and some of their accomplishments.

There have been many pitchers who also excelled with the bat, hurlers who could help their team with the stick as well as with their arm. Table 1 shows the career leaders for home runs hit by pitchers.1 Wes Ferrell pitched in the majors from 1927 through 1941, a period of high-octane offense. Ferrell fit into that period well by hitting 38 four-baggers in his career, including a pinch hit homer in 1935.2 The active career leader is Carlos Zambrano with 23 home runs and no other active pitcher has 15 or more home runs in his career.

 

Table 1: Most Career Home Runs Hit by a Pitcher

Player	HR
Wes Ferrell	37
Bob Lemon	35
Warren Spahn	35
Red Ruffing	34
Earl Wilson	33

 

Ferrell is also the record-holder for most home runs hit by a pitcher in one season.  In 1931, he smacked nine dingers, including two in one game on August 31 in Chicago. Ferrell hit seven homers as a pitcher in 1933, which ties him with six other hurlers for second place on the single-season list. See Table 2 for the top one-season performances by pitchers.

Many of these hard-hitting pitchers also spent time playing other positions on the field. Ferrell played 13 games in left field for the Indians in 1933 but hit no homers in those games. Bob Lemon, tied with Warren Spahn with 35 homers as a pitcher, played in the outfield and at third base in his career. Lemon hit two pinch-hit homers in addition to his swats as a pitcher and hit seven four-baggers in 1949. Spahn hit all 35 of his long balls as a pitcher but never hit more than four in one season.

 

Table 2. Most Home Runs in One Season by a Pitcher

Player	Year	HR
Wes Ferrell	1931	9
Don Drysdale	1958	7
Don Drysdale	1965	7
Wes Ferrell	1933	7
Bob Lemon	1949	7
Don Newcombe	1955	7
Jack Stivetts	1890	7
Earl Wilson	1968	7
Mike Hampton	2001	7

 

One of the most exciting plays in baseball is the game-ending home run. Only 33 times in big league history has the slugger who hit that game-ender been a pitcher, with the last occurrence on April 25, 1986. Craig Lefferts, who entered that game for the Padres in the eleventh inning, pitched two frames against the 

Giants, surrendering a run in the twelfth. In the bottom of that inning, Graig Nettles led off with a home run to tie the game. One out later, Lefferts hit a solo shot off Greg Minton to win the contest. Only two pitchers have ended more than one game with a homer, Wes Ferrell and Kirby Higbe. Table 3 shows all pitchers who have ended a game with a home run.

 

Table 3. Pitchers Who Ended a Game with a Homer

Player	Game Date
Monte Ward	05/02/1883
Jack Stivetts	06/10/1890
John Clarkson	09/18/1893
Jouett Meekin	09/06/1894
Jack Powell	08/01/1899
John Malarkey	09/11/1902
Chick Fraser	06/16/1903
Jack Quinn	04/21/1914
Ferdie Schupp	09/11/1919
Pete Alexander	05/31/1920
Leon Cadore	08/05/1922
Jack Bentley	08/29/1925
Red Ruffing	04/14/1933
Wes Ferrell	08/22/1934
Wes Ferrell	07/22/1935
Dizzy Dean	08/06/1935
Jack Wilson	09/02/1935
Dizzy Trout	05/30/1944
Jim Tobin	08/12/1945
Claude Passeau	06/07/1946
Kirby Higbe	09/11/1947
Harry Gumbert	08/23/1948
Kirby Higbe	08/27/1948
Lou Sleater	05/30/1957
Bob Grim	09/05/1957
Dixie Howell	09/06/1957
Murry Dickson	05/26/1958
Glen Hobbie	08/25/1960
Lindy McDaniel	06/06/1963
Juan Marichal	09/21/1966
Steve Hargan	06/19/1967
Jim Hardin	05/10/1969
Craig Lefferts	04/25/1986

 

At Braves Field in Boston on May 13, 1942, knuckleballer Jim Tobin pitched a complete-game victory over the Cubs, winning the contest, 6–5. Tobin led off the fifth and seventh innings with solo homers and the two clubs were tied, 4–4, when Tobin walked to the plate in the eighth inning with teammate Paul Waner on first base. Tobin proceeded to hit his third dinger of the day to give his squad the game’s winning margin. The previous day, Tobin had hit a two-run pinch homer in a losing cause for the Braves. Thus, Tobin hit four home runs in five plate appearances over two days. The only other pitcher to hit three four-baggers in one contest is Guy Hecker, who performed the feat on August 15, 1886. All three home runs by Hecker were inside the park.

Many pitchers have hit two home runs in one game. The last to do so was Micah Owings of the Diamondbacks on August 18, 2007. He hit the two homers as part of a four-hit, six-RBI day in Atlanta. Wes Ferrrell had five multi-homer games in his career, while Don Newcombe performed the feat three times.

The American League adopted the designated hitter rule in 1973. Consequently, pitchers did not bat except in extraordinary situations from that season until the start of Interleague play in 1997, and no American League pitcher homered from 1973 through 1996. The last pitcher to hit a homer in the Junior Circuit before the start of the DH Era was rookie Roric Harrison, who hit one for the Orioles in Cleveland on October 3, 1972. This was the last game of the season and Harrison’s four-bagger helped earn the win for the Birds.

Table 4 shows all the American League hurlers who have hit a home run since 1973. Two pitchers, CC Sabathia and Josh Beckett, have each hit two home runs in his American League career. Sabathia hit both of his while playing for the Indians, one in Cincinnati and one in Los Angeles. Beckett has hit two for the Red Sox, going deep twice in Philadelphia. Ten of 14 AL teams are represented on the list, with the Indians accounting for five of the 17 instances. The teams with no homers by pitchers are the Angels, the Athletics, the Twins, and the Yankees. The fact that the Bronx Bombers have no homers on this list is interesting, especially considering the fact that CC Sabathia has pitched for the team for three years.

 

Table 4. AL Pitchers Who Have Hit a Home Run Since 1973

Game Date	Player	Team
06/30/1997	Bobby Witt	TEX
06/07/1998	Dave Burba	CLE
06/11/1999	Dwight Gooden	CLE
06/04/2000	Esteban Yan	TBA
06/21/2003	Mark Hendrickson	TOR
06/20/2004	Jason Davis	CLE
05/21/2005	CC Sabathia	CLE
06/08/2005	Jason Johnson	DET
06/10/2005	Zack Greinke	KCA
05/20/2006	Josh Beckett	BOS
06/17/2006	Kris Benson	BAL
06/18/2006	Jon Garland	CHA
06/21/2008	CC Sabathia	CLE
06/23/2008	Felix Hernandez	SEA
06/14/2009	Josh Beckett	BOS
06/14/2009	Mark Buehrle	CHA
07/03/2011	Zachary Britton	BAL

 

The Reds hosted the Phillies on June 23, 1971, at Riverfront Stadium. The mound match-up that night was Ross Grimsley for the home team and Rick Wise for the visitors. After four innings, the Phillies led, 1–0. In the top of the fifth, Wise hit a two-run homer to left field to extend the lead. Grimsley was removed for a pinch-hitter in the sixth and replaced by Clay Carroll on the mound. Wise led off the top of the eighth with another homer to left field. The two home runs by Rick Wise made this a special game for the hurler. However, he did not forget about his pitching because of his batting feat. Wise pitched a no-hitter against the Reds, allowing only one runner to reach base on a sixth-inning walk to Dave Concepcion. Wise is the only pitcher to hit two home runs and pitch a no-hitter in the same game. Four hurlers have thrown a no-hitter and smacked one homer: Frank Mountain (June 5, 1884), Wes Ferrell (April 29, 1931), Jim Tobin (April 27, 1944), and Earl Wilson (June 26, 1962).

The name Jim Tobin has been mentioned a few times already in this article. He smashed 16 homers as a pitcher and one more as a pinch-hitter in his career. In 1945, his last in the majors, he pitched in 27 games for the Braves before being sold to the Tigers for $15,000 on August 9. He had hit three homers for the Boston National League team and proceeded to hit two more for the Detroit American League squad in the 14 games he pitched. By doing so, Tobin became the first hurler to hit homers in both the National and American Leagues in one season. His feat was repeated by Earl Wilson in 1970. This long-time American Leaguer started the year with Detroit, hitting a home run on June 20. After being sold to the Padres on July 15, Wilson hit his last career homer on September 9. Wilson hit 35 home runs in his career, 33 as a pitcher and two while pinch-hitting; all but one came in the American League. The third pitcher to homer in both leagues in one season is CC Sabathia, who performed the feat in 2008. Sabathia started the year pitching for the Indians and hit a home run in an Interleague game in Los Angeles. After being traded to the Brewers for four players on July 7, Sabathia hit a four-bagger in his second start for the Brew Crew on July 13.

Dave Eiland pitched in 92 big league games in 10 seasons, spending most of his time in the American League. He made his major league debut on August 3, 1988, pitching for the Yankees in Milwaukee. The first batter he faced, Paul Molitor, hit a home run over the center field fence. Eiland is one of 95 pitchers to surrender a home run to the first batter he faced in the majors. After pitching parts of four seasons with the Yankees, Eiland was released and signed by the Padres in January 1992. Eiland had never batted in the American League but he hit for the circuit in his first game in the Senior Circuit. His first at-bat of the game and his career was against Bob Ojeda of the Dodgers in San Diego on April 10, 1992, and he smashed a line drive home run over the left-center field wall to give his team a 3-1 lead at the time. Eiland is the only player in history to both hit a homer in his first at-bat and surrender one to his first batter faced.

Warren Spahn hit 35 home runs in his 21-year Hall of Fame career. These came in 17 different seasons, the most seasons in which any pitcher has hit at least one home run. Walter Johnson hit 24 home runs in 16 different seasons for the Washington Nationals, while Red Ruffing hit 34 as a pitcher in 16 seasons for the Red Sox and Yankees. Table 5 shows the pitchers who homered in the most seasons.

 

Table 5. Most Years Homering as a Pitcher

Player	Years
Warren Spahn	17
Walter Johnson	16
Red Ruffing	16
Cy Young	13
Bob Lemon	12
Milt Pappas	12
Jim Kaat	11
Al Orth	11
Schoolboy Rowe	11
Dizzy Trout	11
Early Wynn	11

 

Pitchers have hit 15 home runs in the World Series, with Bob Gibson and Dave McNally each hitting two. One of McNally’s blasts, on October 13, 1970, was a grand slam for the Orioles. He is the only pitcher in Series history to hit one with the bases loaded. Ten days earlier, McNally’s teammate Mike Cuellar hit a grand slam in the League Championship Series. They are the only hurlers to hit slams in the postseason. Mickey Lolich hit a four-bagger off Nelson Briles in the 1968 World Series, which was his only career home run. Joe Blanton hit his only career home run off Edwin Jackson in the 2008 World Series and Don Gullett hit his only career home run off Larry Demery in the 1975 NLCS. See Tables 6 and 7 for lists of postseason homers by pitchers. A pitcher has never hit a home run in the League Division Series nor in an All-Star Game.

 

Table 6. Pitchers Homering in the World Series

Player	Team	Game Date
Jim Bagby	CLE AL	10/10/1920
Rosy Ryan	NY NL	10/06/1924
Jack Bentley	NY NL	10/08/1924
Jesse Haines	SLN NL	10/05/1926
Bucky Walters	CIN NL	10/07/1940
Lew Burdette	MIL NL	10/02/1958
Mudcat Grant	MIN AL	10/13/1965
Jose Santiago	BOS AL	10/04/1967
Bob Gibson	SLN NL	10/12/1967
Mickey Lolich	DET AL	10/03/1968
Bob Gibson	SLN NL	10/06/1968
Dave McNally	BAL AL	10/16/1969
Dave McNally	BAL AL	10/13/1970
Ken Holtzman	OAK AL	10/16/1974
Joe Blanton	PHI NL	10/26/2008

 

Table 7. Pitchers Homering in the LCS

Player	Team	Game Date
Mike Cuellar	BAL AL	10/03/1970
Don Gullett	CIN NL	10/04/1975
Steve Carlton	PHI NL	10/06/1978
Rick Sutcliffe	CHN NL	10/02/1984
Kerry Wood	CHN NL	10/15/2003
Jeff Suppan	SLN NL	10/14/2006

 

Hitting a home run to win a 1–0 ballgame is a special event. Of the many times this has happened in the majors, a pitcher performed the feat 13 times. Table 8 is the list of pitchers who have hit a home run to win a 1–0 game. Seeing Red Ruffing (36 career home runs) or Milt Pappas (20) on this list is not surprising. However, Harry McCormick and Odalis Perez each hit his only career homer in a 1–0 contest, while Gene Packard and Bob Welch only hit two career four-baggers. There are many long gaps between occurrences on this list and yet it happened twice in 1962!

 

Table 8. Pitchers Homering in 1–0 Game

Batter	Game Date	Team
Harry McCormick	07/26/1879	SYR NL
Tom Hughes	08/03/1906	WAS AL
Gene Packard	09/29/1915	KC FL
Red Ruffing	08/13/1932	NYA AL
Spud Chandler	05/21/1938	NYA AL
Early Wynn	05/01/1959	CHA AL
Milt Pappas	04/18/1962	BAL AL
Johnny Klippstein	08/06/1962	CIN NL
Jim Bunning	05/05/1965	PHI NL
Juan Pizarro	09/16/1971	CHN NL
Bob Welch	06/17/1983	LAN NL
Odalis Perez	08/28/2002	LAN NL
Yovani Gallardo	04/29/2009	MIL NL

 

No discussion of pitchers hitting home runs would be complete without a mention of Babe Ruth, who started his career as a hurler for the Red Sox. Table 9 shows the 14 times he hit a home run as a pitcher. The first column is the career home run number for the Babe. He hit 12 of the 14 for the Red Sox, with five of those 12 against the Yankees. Ruth was the starting pitcher for the Yankees in the game on June 13, 1921 and hit a home run in the third and another in the seventh after being replaced on the mound and moving to center field. His mound exploits included striking out Ty Cobb and earning the win. The New York Times story, in typical style for that era, said that the Yankees tried out a young pitcher and that “he will be valuable to the team with a trifle more seasoning.”3

 

Table 9. Babe Ruth’s Home Runs as a Pitcher

Nbr	Game Date	Site
1	05/06/1915	New York
2	06/02/1915	New York
3	06/25/1915	Boston
4	07/21/1915	St. Louis
5	06/09/1916	Detroit
7	06/13/1916	St. Louis
8	08/10/1917	Boston
9	09/15/1917	New York
10	05/04/1918	New York
13	06/02/1918	Detroit
22	05/20/1919	St. Louis
34	07/21/1919	Detroit
123	06/13/1921	New York
686	10/01/1933	New York

 

Ruth’s last home run as a pitcher came in the final game of the 1933 season against his former team, the Red Sox. He pitched a complete game, allowing 12 hits, 3 walks, and 5 runs. This was Ruth’s last pitching appearance in the big leagues and came in a game that meant nothing to either squad.

Since 1876, 1,214 different pitchers have hit at least one home run in the major leagues, with 567 of them hitting a single four-bagger and 71 hitting at least 10 career blasts. The most home runs in one season by all pitchers combined came in 1970, when 51 dingers were hit by hurlers. The previous season has the second-highest total with 50, while no other season has more than 38. Since the start of the designated hitter rule in 1973, the season with the most is 2000, when 26 home runs were hit by hurlers. Pitchers went deep only 24 times in 2011, so if you witness a pitcher hitting a home run, know that you have seen a rare event! 

DAVID VINCENT is the official custodian of SABR’s Home Run Log, a database which contains every big league home run hit since 1871, and is recognized as the preeminent authority on the history of the home run.

 

Notes

1 All home run statistics are from SABR’s Tattersall/McConnell Home Run Log and include the 2011 season. Other data, including career statistics and trade information, was collected from www.retrosheet.org.

2 The totals for home runs by a pitcher do not count those hit while playing other positions, including as a pinch hitter. For example, Babe Ruth hit 14 homers as a pitcher, not 714.

3 “25,000 See Ruth Hurl 6–5 Victory,” The New York Times, June 14, 1921.