Pitchers in the Outfield

Written by: Jere Smith on 2nd May 2009

Pitchers in the Outfield | read this item

Javier Lopez is going through a tough stretch. On Tuesday, he dropped an easy toss from Kevin Youkilis while covering first base, allowing the winning run to score. On Thursday, he came in to mop up late in an 8-0 game. After getting the first out, he allowed the next five batters to reach base, all of whom would score. Terry Francona came out to the mound, but Lopez wasn’t headed to the showers just yet. The call wasn’t made to the bullpen, but to right field. Outfielder Jonathan Van Every trotted in to pitch, and Lopez was sent to right field to deal with the rare circumstance of staying in the fans’ view after being pulled from the mound.

The Red Sox have had position players pitch recently. But how often has a regular Boston pitcher played the field? The Boston media reported that the last time this happened was on August 3rd, 1980. Red Sox manager Don Zimmer replaced lefty Tom Burgmeier with Skip Lockwood with two outs in the ninth, his team up by a run. But Burgmeier was sent to left field, replacing Jim Rice, who came out of the game. Why not just remove Burgmeier, and keep Rice in the game? The question was asked on The Joy of Sox blog, and I set out to find the answer.

A few Web sites mentioned the 1980 game, and Retrosheet’s play-by-play of it noted the switch, but nobody seemed to be giving a reason why it happened. I did a news search, and the Hartford Courant from a few days after the incident had the answer. Zimmer wanted to keep Burgmeier available to come back to the mound later in the inning:

“If Lockwood doesn’t get Roberts, then Burgmeier comes back to pitch to (Mickey) Rivers,” Zimmer said.

Burgmeier himself pointed out that not only had he been involved in the same move while playing in the minors a couple of times, but that “five or six times this season, the same thing would have happened, but I got the guy out. I feel comfortable in the outfield and it gives us the option of my coming back to pitch to a left-handed batter.”

Another Joy of Sox commenter named Benjamin turned up Peter Gammons’ Boston Globe piece from the day after the game:

“I’d done this in the minors a couple of times,” said Zimmer. “I’ve come close to doing it on a number of occasions here, using either Burgmeier or Drago in the outfield, but we’ve always gotten the batter out.” Burgmeier had played center field in five games for the Angels in 1968, although in none of those appearances did he go to the field from the mound. Burgy’s entrance to the field terminated the DH, for those of you scoring along at home, and when he looked in at Lockwood’s first pitch to Dave Roberts, he watched it scream down the left-field line.

Foul. Easily. “I just gave it a courtesy trot towards the line,” said Burgmeier. Roberts popped up the fourth pitch to Carlton Fisk, and the madness was over.

Had Roberts reached base, Zimmer would have brought Burgmeier back to the mound to face Mickey Rivers and used Garry Hancock in left. Burgmeier would have then batted fifth – Rice’s old spot in the order – and Hancock would have been placed in the eighth spot.

Why Zim picked Rice as the outfielder getting replaced is anyone’s guess. Rightfielder Dwight Evans’ spot in the order had passed more recently than Rice’s.

Who was the last Red Sox pitcher to play the field before Burgmeier? You have to go back another four decades. From Retrosheet’s play-by-play of the 1980 game:

“Burgmeier becomes the first Red Sox pitcher to play another position since Mike Ryba caught three games in 1942.”

Topics: javier lopez jonathan van every tom burgmeier

John Rosenfelder says:

May 3, 2009 at 6:56 am

How can you possibly write this story without mentioning the greatest pitching outfielder (or fielding pitcher) of all time?

He played for the Red Sox until 1918, and his name was George Herman “Babe” Ruth. He set a record for scoreless innings in World Series play that stood for about 70 years, not to mention his home run and many other offensive records.

Don’t ever forget the Babe.
Jere Smith says:

May 3, 2009 at 10:12 am

Dear person,

YOU MISSED THE POINT OF THE ARTICLE.

Don’t worry, Babe Ruth makes my list of all Sox who did both (played the field and pitched), but this article was about regular pitchers who were put into the field for whatever reason. Not about guys who did both regularly–and even if Ruth was in that category, he still wouldn’t have made this article, because this wasn’t a full list of everyone who has ever done it, it was about the last time it was done since it’s so rare these days.

By the way, if you’re gonna be all high and mighty, get your facts straight. Babe Ruth was with the Red Sox until 1919. (And no, I didn’t have to look that very well-known fact up.)
Jere Smith says:

May 3, 2009 at 10:36 am

Also, when my friend Allan Wood read this, he didn’t say “hey, you didn’t mention Babe Ruth.” And he wrote a book about Babe Ruth! (His blog is linked in this piece, and if you check last night’s game thread there, you’ll see where I was already talking about all the rest of the pitchers I found pre-1942 who played the field, which will go into my next piece.) That book is by my bed right now, so, again, I assure you I didn’t “forget” about Babe Ruth, he just had nothing to do with this piece. Maybe if this were a children’s book or something, I would’ve put a standard line about “back when it was more common, in Babe Ruth’s day,” but this is Baseball Digest, where everybody knows it, and all articles involving pitchers and outfielders need not be prefaced with it.
redsock says:

May 3, 2009 at 5:28 pm

Everyone should keep a copy of my book on his or her bedside table!