Evening star., 1937-02-18
HAS THREE MARKS
FORB|GLEAGUES
Diamond History Is Spiced
by FeatS of Stickers in
Clutches.
BY DILLON GRAHAM,

REIGHTED with the RESPONSE
- bility of a verbal pinch-hitter,
your correspondent waddles up
to the plate with dictionary and
record book today to prove he's only
q substitute and to praise base balls
real pinch-hitters.
Pinch-hitting and base ball are as
close as 5 minutes to II. Actors, DO
litical speakers, radio artists and COL
umnists have plagiarized the term
and impudently altered its base ball
sense.
To quote the dictionary, o pinch
hitter is a batsman used in an emer-
gency; a substitute serves in lieu Of
another.
A base ball pinch-hitter must be
better than the man he replaces.
Base balls history Is spiced with
spectacular game winning deeds Of
clutch-batters.
Used Only Two in Season.
TN THE early days few were used,
only two being recorded in the Ma
tional League in the 1892 season. Man.
ayers then waited until the ninth in
ming to use some idle player to hit,
often when their club was far behind.
John McGraw perhaps set the style of
using pinch-hitters in early innings Of
close games.
Unfortunately, no records relate
the acts Of Moose Mccormick and Sam
Strang Of the Giants pioneer pinch
hitters. But it is known that Cy Will
liams Of the National and Wally
Schang Of the American League served
longest as pinch-hitters, q stretch Of
18 years.
Charley CRed) Lucas, q National
Lacquer. owns three major league
pinch-hitting records, most games,
398; times at bat, 349 and hits, 90.
Bob Fothergill is the American leader,
pinch-hitting in 278 games, batting
257 times and getting 76 hits.
Four years ago Sam Leslie Of the
Giants and Dodgers batted u times
and got ~ hits for major league
single season records. Fothergilrs 19
hits in 1929 tops the American League.
Hits Twice In Inning.
T Asst season Lovill Dean Of the AS
got two pinch-hits in one inning
to tie the major league record. and Ed
Coleman Of the Browns set new Ameri-
can League records for most times as
a pinch-hitter. IA; most lega! times
at bat, 81. and most hits, 20.
Cy Williams banged out home
runs as pinch-hitter, more than any
other. while Johnny Frederick Of
Brooklyn hit the most pinch-hit home
runs in a single year. 6 in 1882.
Seventeen pinch-hitters, including
Williams, Rogers Hornsby, Jimmie
Foxx and Al Simmons. have hit home !
runs with the bags loaded.
The Boston Red Sox used the most
pinch-hitters in a single season-239
in 1929-and also made the greatest
number Of hits, 81.
The most pinch-hitters used in the
American League in one season. says
Ford Sawyer. who keeps such statistics
for Charlie Whites little red book. was
1874 in 1926 The National loop
used 1,l33 in 1880.
Among players who have been
pinch-hitters in more than 100 games,
R. o. Miller. with National League
clubs from 1910 to 1914. has the high
est batting average, $50. Those over
the 1926 mark include H. Bennett,
Cactus Cravath, F. G. Gibson, Dave
Harris and Earl Smith.
c. G. Moore, with an average Of
.426, tops all pinch-hitters used in so
or more games. Frank Snyder. now
coach with the New York Giants.
has q .404 average and Charley Farrell
an even 400.
Jimmie Foxx hit for BAT. Babe
Herman for .33e. Jim Bottomley for
1888 and Iris Speaker for $50.