mightyflynn:sbnation:jeffbaum:sbnation:moooradley:
WHY YES, THAT IS ROY OSWALT PLAYING LEFT FIELD.
Only one pitcher — Javier Lopez in 2009 — has played a non-pitching position since 1980.
Not true! As documented in the classic documentary “1986 - A Year to Remember”, The Mets pulled the following off:
The Mets were 13-3 at the end of April, 31-12 at the end of May, and 50-21 at the end of June. The Mets quickly developed a reputation around the league as an arrogant team that would brawl at the drop of a hat. Third baseman Ray Knight was perhaps the prime offender, charging the mound after being hit by pitches, and starting a fight with Cincinnati’s Eric Davis after Davis slid hard into him at third base.
This particular game was a demonstration of Davey Johnson’s managerial skills. The Mets and Reds were tied 3-3 in the tenth inning when Knight and Davis were ejected, and the game dragged on to an eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth inning. Johnson, with his short bullpen, replaced Roger McDowellwith Jesse Orosco, but sent McDowell out to play left field. McDowell and Orosco then alternated between the mound and left field, depending on whether the situation called for a right-handed or left-handed pitcher. Ray Knight’s replacement, Howard Johnson, stroked a three-run homer and won the game in the 14th inning.
I just love that Ray Knight was a brawler. It’s funny, his in-studio and on-air pieces have him much more in the space of a calm and collected analyst, not the rough-and-tumble sort of player that he was.
