The Craziest Lineup In MLB History
You'll never believe this one
The Craziest Lineup In MLB History
I defy you to find a crazier lineup than this one.
On June 28, 1961, the Giants and Phillies played to a 7-7 draw at Connie Mack Stadium. The game lasted 15 innings and a little over 5 hours. The game was only declared a tie because Major League Baseball rules at the time prohibited any inning from starting after 12:30 AM.
That forced the two teams to play a doubleheader the next day, June 29. To make matters worse, the first game of the doubleheader was scheduled to start at 6:30 PM on that Thursday evening, making for what was sure to be a long night of baseball.
Giants manager Alvin Dark delayed officially announcing his starting pitcher until the last possible second, which made Gene Mauch furious.
By all accounts, Mauch had 6 pitchers warming up at the start of this game. He also came out with the craziest regular season lineup I’ve ever seen.
Before I explain, just look at the thing:
I could probably write a book about this lineup. Let me cover some of the key points:
Don Ferrarese was not a center fielder. He was a left handed pitcher. In fact, Ferrarese had pitched 5 2/3 innings of the marathon the night before.
Jim Owens was not a right fielder. He was a pitcher. He had started the Phillies game on June 26, and would start the next night — June 30 — at home against the Dodgers.
Chris Short was not only not a catcher (he was also a pitcher) — he wasn’t even right handed. He was one of the few left handed throwers in Major League Baseball history to be listed as a catcher.
Not only did none of these players receive at bats in this game, but none of them received even a single defensive inning. Any game that gives these guys a player card including these defensive ratings is simply not accurate. They never actually played at these positions.
It gets crazier.
Bobby Del Greco came in to replace Ferrarese before the first pitch.
The same is true of Jimmie Coker, who replaced Short at catcher.
Bobby Smith replaced Owens at right field at the same time.
This gives us this bizarre line in Baseball Reference:
That wasn’t all.
Bobby Smith, a right handed batter, was taken out after half an inning. He was replaced by Tony Gonzalez, a left handed batter, in right field.
Jimmie Coker, who hit right handed, was taken out after half an inning. He was replaced by Clay Dalrymple, who threw right but batted left.
Finally, it turns out that starting pitcher Ken Lehman, a lefty, was actually a decoy. Dallas Green, a righty, was the true starting pitcher, and replaced Lehman after two batters.
Mauch wasn’t the only one using decoys. Alvin Dark decided to start Billy O’Dell in this game. His last minute decision to start O’Dell probably prompted Mauch to announce that ridiculous lineup. O’Dell was a lefty, and was replaced after a single batter by right handed hurler Sam Jones, who had been predicted by all the papers to start that game.
All in all, both managers used decoy starting pitchers, in a move that would have made Bucky Harris proud. Mauch used up a grand total of 6 players in the first half inning in hopes of getting a marginal platoon advantage.
The Giants won the game in 10 innings, and easily won the second game of the doubleheader as well. That second game didn’t start until 10 PM, by the way.
Newspaper Reaction
The real shocking thing is that none of the newspapers paid much attention to these shenanigans.
The Philadelphia Inquirer had almost nothing to say:
The Daily News wasn’t much more imaginative:
The San Francisco Examiner was similarly tame in its treatment:
The Sporting News acted like nothing happened at all:
Sure, TSN had two games to report on in limited space — but this was a left handed thrower starting at catcher. You’d think they’d have more to say.
Finally, there was this tidbit from The Philadelphia Inquirer about the second game of the doubleheader:
Can you blame them?
Interesting article. I had never heard of this game. Seems like each manager was trying to show up the other.