One of the themes in The Cheater’s Guide to Baseball is that the greats who really study and know how to take advantage of the rules contribute to the game’s advancement. Today, I wanted to bring up Paul Richards. Richards loved finding ways that he could gain an advantage. I love this quote from his Hall of Fame Veterans Committee profile, from baseball historian Warren Corbett:
“He pushed the envelope,” Corbett said. “He was always looking for an edge. He would skate up to edge of rule. Sometimes he would skate over the rule.”
He encouraged his players to get hit by a batted ball if it would break up a double play, for instance, which resulted in a rule change. But that’s not what I wanted to write up.
In the rules, there’s an interesting aside in Rule 3.03, which covers defensive switches.
Rule 3.03 Comment: A pitcher may change to another position only once during the same inning; e.g. the pitcher will not be allowed to assume a position other than a pitcher more than once in the same inning. Any player other than a pitcher substituted for an injured player shall be allowed five warm-up throws. (See Rule 8.03 for pitchers.)
8.03, if you’re curious, covers how many warm-up pitches they can take.
This is in order to prevent a team from (say) having a right-handed pitcher and a left-handed pitcher in the game at once, hiding one in left field while the other pitched and swapping them back and forth so that right-handed hitters only faced righties, left-handed hitters only faced lefties, and switch hitters would presumably get whoever the manager liked more in that situation.
You will occasionally see a pitcher head to the outfield for a batter and then resume pitching, but that’s it: at that point they’re forbidden from moving him again.
I mention this because Keith Scherer pointed me to this as at least party the result of the antics of Paul Richards, who was notorious for using bait-and-switch lineups and stuff like this. Richards is generally noted as the inventor of the oversized catcher’s mitt used when they draw the short straw and have to catch a knuckleballer.
Unfortunately Retrosheet doesn’t have a box score for these.
June 25, 1953, he brought Harry Dorish in, moved pitcher Billy Pierce to first (!) for two batters. On May 15, 1957, there’s another Dorish/Pierce move. Richards took the unusual move of putting pitcher Harry Dorish at third so that Billy Pierce could face Ted Williams. As much as the Williams shift (where teams put as many fielders as they dared on the right side of second) made it seem tempting for Williams to pull the ball to the left, with a pitcher at third it’s almost comical. Williams popped up and Dorish returned to pitch.
September 11th, 1958 — well, here’s the Baseball Library write-up:
Orioles manager Paul Richards lists three pitchers in his starting line-up, hoping for a scoring chance in the first inning, at which point he can remove the extra pitchers for a batter of his choice. Billy O’Dell, batting 9th at P; Jack Harshman in CF, batting 5th; Milt Pappas at 2B, batting 7th. Only O’Dell bats as he goes to 14–11, losing to KC’s Ned Garver, 7–1. The A’s plate five in the 8th, paced by Bob Cerv’s 33rd home run.
That, along with Earl Weaver’s use of phantom DHs, helped create the rules around declared lineup restrictions and substitutions.
And, obligatory plug, if you enjoy finding out why the rules are this way, you’ll like the book.
Mark S. | 07-Apr-07 at 7:38 pm | Permalink
Davey Johnson did this with the 86 Mets against the Reds (http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1986/B07220CIN1986.htm)
with Orosco and McDowell.
Mark S. | 07-Apr-07 at 7:41 pm | Permalink
I should clarify my previous comment. By this, I mean Orosco and McDowell spent the better part of a couple innings switching between pitching and playing the outfield. They stayed within the rules by only switching once per inning, but they did switch every inning from the 10th on.
Steve | 08-Apr-07 at 11:23 am | Permalink
A proposed rule plug:
No game should end on a balk.
Rationale:
What could possibly be more disappointing than spending $30/ticket, sitting through nine (or more!) innings of quality baseball, and then seeing the game end suddenly, leaving everyone with a “what the hell just happened?” feeling.
Throw the pitcher out and bring in a replacement. Let the bat boy go up to the mound and throw a meatball over the plate. Have the mascots race to determine the result of the game. It doesn’t matter. A balk is THE anticlimactic way to end a game.
zzyzx | 08-Apr-07 at 5:30 pm | Permalink
“A balk is THE anticlimactic way to end a game.”
No, being called for interference because you obstructed the view of a runner trying to tag up and score is even worse. Fielders trying to block the view of a catch is another cheating attempt.
david h | 11-Apr-07 at 10:35 am | Permalink
Couldn’t the pitcher move to LF and back multiple times, but just once in an inning? So you could have a couple lefty specialists come in to face someone like Hafner or Ortiz a couple times during a game, while going back to your starter. Of course, you’d burn your bullpen/bench a bit, but it could be worth it if they come up with guys in scoring position.
DMZ | 12-Apr-07 at 8:15 am | Permalink
Yes. You can see that in the Johnson link in the first comment, in fact - and Whitey Herzog flirted with this a couple of times, doing the substition with two outs so he could, if he felt like it, reverse it going into the next inning.
Warren Corbett | 12-Apr-07 at 10:23 am | Permalink
Derek,
Thanks for the plug. Here’s my shameless plug: My biography of Richards will be out next year, with any luck.
Richards pulled the pitcher switch four times in the majors, once in the minors (that I have found so far). He may have gotten the idea because he was an ambidextrous pitcher in high school and the minors.
Warren C
Kurt | 24-Apr-07 at 7:46 pm | Permalink
“He encouraged his players to get hit by a batted ball if it would break up a double play, for instance, which resulted in a rule change.”
I was actually wondering about this very question the other night. Can you point me in the direction of the rule that prohibits this? Thanks.
Daryl | 27-Apr-07 at 10:51 am | Permalink
This is related to “pitcher swapping”. I’m curious if any team has ever taken this approach (which seems especially well-suited for the post-season, when rotations are re-arranged frequently):
- Start a right-handed pitcher
- Watch the opponent load up with lefty hitters
- After one pitch (or one batter) replace the pitcher with a lefty ace.
- Watch opponent either play at a platoon disadvantage for the game or squander their bench in early innings.
Daryl
DMZ | 27-Apr-07 at 12:42 pm | Permalink
It’s been done, and Earl Weaver also tried a similar flip using the DH slot (he’d pencil in a pitcher and then decide at time-of-at-bat who would go).
You could, technically, do that. But it’s a convention of how the game works now that teams announce their next n starters in advance, and then don’t futz with it, and there’s a rule about starting players having to go the plate once unless there’s a pitching change, etc.
Josh | 17-May-07 at 1:42 pm | Permalink
University of Tennessee coach Rod Delmonico pulled the lineup switch on Florida one year.
He started left-handed pitcher John Darlington while All-SEC right-hander Bronson Heflin (cameo with Phillies) warmed up across the street in the gym.
After one runner got on he brought in Heflin and Florida replaced several players in the lineup.