Last night the Rays completely blew out the Yankees, 15-5. So when they needed a reliever late in the game, the Yankees did something that always makes me happy: They brought in a position player to pitch.
Nick Swisher's (Video Here) line for the night? 1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K, 0 Runs
Pretty impressive. But this got me thinking of last year, when Tony Pena Jr. pitched in a blowout for the Royals and was definitely more impressive (though I think I enjoyed Swisher's appearance more on a fun level since he was clearly enjoying himself). I mean, after all, he did cause me to create a facebook group about it. Plus this guy agrees that Pena's 1-2-3 9th with a strikeout of Ivan Rodriguez was quite impressive (Plus Pena was throwing in the low 90's). Video unavailable, but here's yahoo's recap of the game.
So then I looked for other non pitchers who pitched. And I found this (very) comprehensive list of every non pitcher who has ever pitched ever.
Everyone knows about Pena, Swisher, Wade Boggs, Jose Canseco, and Bobby Bonilla. But some of the more interesting names that suprised me include Mark Grace, Wiki Gonzalez, Frank Menechino, Mark Loretta, Robin Ventura, Terry Francona, Chili Davis, and Ted Williams (who pitched 2 innings).
Fun facts: 27 Hall of Famers have pitched as position players (defined on the site as guys with 5 times as many games in the field as games pitched). The last win by a position player was Brent Mayne. The last loss was by Jamie Burke. It's a pretty cool list, check it out.
On an unrelated note, check out this sweet link of a cat running onto the field at Shea. Best part is definitely this lady who freaks out.
Position Players Pitching - a Look Back
