There are many things different about the way baseball is played from 1957 to today. There’s probably not anything that makes that more apparent than pitcher usage in general. These days, pitchers don’t throw nearly as many innings as they used to, as teams rely heavier on bullpens than they used to. Complete games are far more elusive, and teams use way bigger pitching staffs in general.
It’s also clear in the whole “pitchers batting” thing. With the advent of the designated hitter in both leagues,
you generally aren’t going to see a pitcher not named Shohei Ohtani step up to the plate unless something went very wrong (the Yankees were benefactors of such an odd situation in April 2024). Also, even in the dying days of pitchers hitting, there’s no chance a team would willingly let a pitcher take an at-bat in a key situation in a game.
That wasn’t always the case. In fact, in one 1957 game, the Yankees let a pitcher — a reliever, even — take what ended up being the game-deciding at-bat, and it worked out swimmingly.
On September 5, 1957, the Yankees were hosting the Red Sox in the Bronx. The Yankees had an acceptably-sized lead in the American League race over the White Sox, but with still a couple weeks to go, they couldn’t afford to take their foot off the gas pedal yet in search of their eighth pennant in nine seasons under Hall of Fame manager Casey Stengel.
However, this particular game against Boston didn’t get off to the best of starts. Through four innings, they had recorded just two hits — both singles, and both runners of which were promptly erased on the basepaths. Meanwhile, starting pitcher Bob Turley allowed a two-run homer to Boston’s Jackie Jensen in the top of the fourth.
Red Sox starter Willard Nixon continued to keep the Yankees off the board, as the team failed to capitalize of the chances they did get. Through seven innings, the Yankees still hadn’t scored, had put just four runners on, only one of which had gotten into scoring position.
Nixon came back out for the eighth and issued a lead-off walk to Jerry Lumpe. It then looked like he would get right back to the routine of working around the few Yankee threats, as Nixon then retired pinch-hitters Enos Slaughter and Joe Collins. Stengel had another card to play, though, as he then sent up another pinch-hitter for his pitcher in Turley. This hitter was a certain Mickey Mantle. Likely partially being careful and not looking to let the future Hall of Famer get him, Nixon ended up walking Mantle to keep the inning alive. However, that led to another walk to Tony Kubek, loading the bases. Gil McDougald then stepped up to the plate and punched a single through. Two runs came around to score, and after not doing much at the plate all game, the Yankees had come back to tie the game.
Having sent up Mantle for Turley, the Yankees now needed someone to come in and pitch. Former Rookie of the Year winner Bob Grim was the choice, but he very quickly nearly gave it all back. Jensen led off the top of the ninth with a double and moved up to third on a groundout. Grim bore down after that, and eventually got Nixon himself to fly out to end the inning. After that, a pitcher would get one more at-bat in the game, and that one would turn out very different.
Yogi Berra led off the bottom of the ninth with a single, but was promptly thrown out trying to steal and get into scoring position. Nixon then retired the next hitter to get an out away from sending the game to extras. However, Lumpe kept the frame alive with a single and Nixon then walked Slaughter. It wasn’t listed as an intentional walk, but it certainly would’ve made sense to not give Slaughter anything real to hit as the pitcher’s spot and Grim were due up next.
In modern baseball, a pitcher would be pinch-hit for by pretty much any position player still on the bench, because the average pitcher was truly bad at the plate by the time the DH went universal. Even at the time, it probably would’ve made sense to pinch-hit for Grim. The pitcher would finish his career with a .127/.178/.175 triple slash and a -3 OPS+ in over 200 plate appearances. Yet, Stengel let him take the batter’s box on this day, and it worked out. Grim took Nixon deep for a three-run homer, giving the Yankees a 5-2 win.
The Yankees probably just needed a hit of any kind there, but with a career .127 average, the odds that Grim would’ve done that weren’t high. He only had three career homers too, so the odds that he would’ve homered there were even lower. Yet, as a certain former Yankees radio broadcaster would say, “you can’t predict baseball.”
