A player you should know about (Historical)

Ankit · 04-16-2002, 04:35 AM

Many people use OOTP to do historical career sims and hisotrical replays. Everyone knows that Babe Ruth was a pitcher turned hitter and I assume everyone changes him to a hitter because he was more successful at it. However, there was another player who did this, yet probably only a few change him into a hitter. The player is Lefty O'Doul.

O'Doul spent most of his career in the Pacific Coast League, first as a 12-8 pitcher in 1918. Sore-armed, he saw little action while with the Yankees in 1919, 1920 and 1922, but he went 25-9 for San Fransisco (PCL) in 1921. He earned his two major league decisions as a Red Sox reliever in 1923. Then his arm went dead.

He returned to the PCL, where he pitched unsuccessfully in 1924 and began his second career, as an outfielder, to make use of his great natural hitting ability. With Salt Lake, Hollywood, and San Fransisco (PCL) from 1924-27, O'Doul batted between .338 and .392 and hit with power. He was an OF for the Giants in 1928 before being traded to the Phillies, with cash, for the more-established Fred Leach - a lifetime .307 hitter.

Playing in 154 games for Philadelphia in 1929, O'Doul had 32 home runs and set a National League record with 254 hits, batting .398 to win the NL batting crown. He hit .383 in 1930, then was traded to Brooklyn in a five-player deal. His .368 average in 1932 again won him the NL batting title.

After spending 1934 with the Giants, he returned, at age 37, to the PCL.O'Doul managed the San Fransisco Seals from 1935-1951 (and other PCL teams through 1957), pitching and pinch hitting some, and becoming a renowned teacher of young players. He sent Joe DiMaggio up to the Yankees, claiming the most significant thing he did for his fellow San Franciscan was to change nothing.

The last 4 paragraphs are from Baseball Library.com (http://www.pubdim.net/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/O/ODoul_Lefty.stm)

For his career he hit .349, 4th best all-time. He struck out only 122 times in 3,264 at-bats. He scored 624 runs, had 1,140 hits, 175 doubles, 41 triples, 113 homeruns, 542 RBIs, 333 walks and stole 36 bases.

I hope I have helped you guys know more about the player and will give him a chance to be a hitter instead of a reliever when you import him as a rookie in 1919. It would me nice to see what he and the Yankees would do in the 1920s with Ruth, Gehrig, Meusel, Lazzeri and O'Doul in the starting lineup. If anyone does or will do this, keep me updated on him by e-mail me at ankitpayal@hotmail.com

Tiger Fan · 04-16-2002, 05:06 AM

Good to know.
Thanks.

Lucas718 · 04-16-2002, 05:13 AM

Thanks for the info! I'm just about to start 1918 so I'll have to keep this in mind. I'll likely start him off as a pitcher and move him to the OF later. I want to keep things as realistic as possible - although I did move Ruth to the OF a year early because he just wasn't getting any playing time as a pitcher with Boston.

[ 04-16-2002, 11:16 AM: Message edited by: Lucas718 ]

Henry · 04-16-2002, 05:49 AM

Ankit,

Excellent player review

Side note... don't know if you do this regularly or not, but I've wanted to add player/team reviews to BigCityBaseball - both historical and fictional. If your interested (or anyone else) please send me a sample at BCB@citygate.net

Can't promise I'll add everyone's, but I think this would make a wonderful addition to the site...

Scott Vibert · 04-16-2002, 07:14 AM

Another player who played both was Smokey Joe Wood, who went on to be a outfielder for the Indians in the late 10's/early 20's (after beginning his career as a pitcher with the Pilgrims/Red Sox in the late 1900's).

Jesse Tannehill often played a few games a season in the outfield during his days as a pitcher as well.

bravesfan · 04-16-2002, 07:18 AM

How about Bob Lemon who went from outfield to pitcher?

Scott Vibert · 04-16-2002, 07:21 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by bravesfan:
How about Bob Lemon who went from outfield to pitcher?<hr /></blockquote>Ron Mahay is another who made this progresson.

Modern Relic · 04-16-2002, 08:13 AM

And on a related note, this from the Chicago Sun Times Website:

Throwing a changeup
Brooks Kieschnick has something to prove. Not to the Cubs, who made him the 10th overall pick of the 1993 amateur draft. Not to you. Not to your neighbor or your husband or wife, for that matter. Nope, Kieschnick has something to prove to himself. So after eight years of professional baseball, the outfielder has embarked on a career change. He wants to become a major-league closer.

The complete story is <a href="http://www.suntimes.com/output/cubs/cst-spt-inside16.html" target="_blank">here</a> .

blubbla · 04-16-2002, 11:33 AM

Here's another hitter that had a long career that began as a pitcher:

Sam Rice came up with the Washington Senators in 1915. He would appear in 4 games (all on the hill) and would hurl in 5 more contests the next season.

Rice quit pitching after Detroit pitcher Hooks Dauss connected for a triple.

So, Rice moved to the outfield, and became a fixture in the Washington lineup for years, leading the league in hits twice, once pacing the circuit in triples, and in 1920, had a league-high 63 steals.

After joining Cleveland for the 1934 season, Rice finished his career with a .322 BA, coming up just short of a pair of magic milestones: He collected 2987 hits and 498 doubles over his 20 year career. Amazingly, he never hit less than .293 (his final season)!

(info collected from Total Baseball)

Scott Vibert · 04-16-2002, 11:48 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by Modern Relic:
And on a related note, this from the Chicago Sun Times Website:

Throwing a changeup
Brooks Kieschnick has something to prove. Not to the Cubs, who made him the 10th overall pick of the 1993 amateur draft. Not to you. Not to your neighbor or your husband or wife, for that matter. Nope, Kieschnick has something to prove to himself. So after eight years of professional baseball, the outfielder has embarked on a career change. He wants to become a major-league closer.

The complete story is <a href="http://www.suntimes.com/output/cubs/cst-spt-inside16.html" target="_blank">here</a> .<hr /></blockquote>The Red Sox tried something similar with Greg Pirkl (sp?) a few years back... it didn't work out for him.. but who knows maybe something will work out for Kieschnink.

Ankit · 04-16-2002, 12:05 PM

This is turning into an interesting thread. I am keeping a list of the players that have been mentioned as switching positions and will edit the Lahman DB for myself to incorporate the changes. Out of all the players listed, only one player's switch did not work out: Smokey Joe Wood. Although his arm died in 1913 or so, he never did turn out to be a really good outfielfer. All other players who switched had better careers because of it.

If there are other players that switched positions, let me know. I am keeping a list.

rallymonkey1982 · 04-16-2002, 12:48 PM

Ankit, I started my career with the Yanks in 1920, and had to try to develop O'Doul as a hitter. Alas, he never amounted to much and never made a huge mark in the bigs. Fortunately, I've ended up fine in the OF, but have to start instituting some house rules to make things more competitive. Babe Ruth just retired after the 1935 season, but I ended up with Joe DiMaggio coming in the next season. What will be very interesting to me is what I do now, I have the 35 year old Hack Wilson as a PFA, but have 25 year old Hank Greenberg on the bench backing him up. I love this game

[ 04-16-2002, 06:52 PM: Message edited by: rallymonkey1982 ]

warrenpeace · 04-16-2002, 02:11 PM

I love Lefty and did make the change back in 1919. he played two years with the yanks as a leftfielder. Won Rookie award hitting .321 13 87. Played 3 more years and hit .342 66 449 before suffering a torn groin muscle that ended his career!

best year 1922

.332 22 135 19SB

BTW, this was probably the most disapointing event in my career so far. I have always loved lefty ever since he used to destroy the league in my Earl Weaver leagues.

Covenant47 · 04-16-2002, 02:14 PM

In my single-player league, I'm progressing through baseball history as my beloved Orioles. (Except of course they were the St. Louis Browns for quite a while). Using real rookies, but drafting them each year.

I've been on the lookout for players who are talent-rated as both pitcher and hitter. If the player's talents are slanted largely towards hitting, but he's listed as a pitcher, I simply edit him to a hitter in the rookie draft (or vice versa). In the case where someone has great ratings both ways, I just leave him as is.

For example, Babe Ruth enjoyed a 20 year career in my league. He came up as a pitcher with the Yankees (oddly enough), and pitched his first two seasons. I acquired him in a trade and began to teach him to hit in the minors, and he played outfield for my Browns club for 8 years. When he left via free agency he was still rated highly as a pitcher and a hitter, so when the pitching-hungry Reds picked up, I swapped his position back to pitcher.

Anyway, the Babe had a solid career on both sides, though his power never developed to the epic levels it did in the real world. As a hitter he went .302 for his career with 200 homers (still good enough for 2nd on my all-time list as of 1935). As a pitcher, he went 140-91 with a 2.49 ERA, which is solid.

But of course, arguably the greatest player in the history of my league, as you might have already guessed, is Lefty O'Doul. I made him my first-round pick in the year he entered the draft. He's played his entire career with my Browns, breaking into the majors in 1921, and he will retire after this 1935 season. He has been voted to the all-star team every season of his career.

It's worth noting he's always been a platoon player, as for some reason his LHP hit rating never bothered going past 4, even though his RHP hits was at 12! That's by far the biggest disparity I've ever seen. As such, his stats are somewhat helped by the fact that he's never had to face any lefties.

Some stats: 3 MVP seasons:
1922 .413 AVG, 1.052 OPS, 13 HR, 131 RBI
1925 .416 AVG, 1.039 OPS, 12 HR, 105 RBI
1932 .442 AVG, 1.121 OPS, 17 HR, 104 RBI.

But his consistency has been amazing, here's his WORST year:
1926 .370 AVG, 0.860 OPS, 0 HR, 83 RBI.
I guess I can let a year or two like that slide, heh.

Career numbers:
.401 AVG, .455 OBP, .533 SLG, .988 OPS,
140 HR, 1313 RBI
If he retired tomorrow he would be #1 in AVG (2nd is .352!), #18 in RBI, and #27 in HR.

So, all in all, quite a career. And as Lefty's career ends, the Braves have drafted one Tommy Moore, who's Good/Good/Fair/Fair/Good/Good as a hitter, and Brilliant/Average/Brilliant/Brilliant/Poor as a pitcher. Should be interesting to see where he ends up.

itsahit97 · 04-16-2002, 05:16 PM

Speaking of Lefty Odoul, back in 94 while on my honeymoon in San Fransisco my wife and I were walking down a side street to our hotel. We came across a little hole in the wall restaurant named Lefty Odoul's. He and his family operated it. They had about 5 tables in the place but had some impressive memorabilia on the walls. To this day I have not had better lasagna.

bravesfan · 04-17-2002, 05:06 AM

Didn't Tim Wakefield also start out as an outfielder, who eventually saved his career when he learned the knuckleball?

I also remember a pitcher for the White Sox in the 70s or 80s named Bart Johnson I think who tried moving to the outfield. I don't think he was successful however.

Jason Moyer · 04-17-2002, 05:08 AM

I remember this guy just because he was in that old NES baseball game Baseball Stars. I believe he was the leftfielder for the American Dreams. =)

Jason

Ankit · 04-17-2002, 11:40 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by bravesfan:
Didn't Tim Wakefield also start out as an outfielder, who eventually saved his career when he learned the knuckleball?

I also remember a pitcher for the White Sox in the 70s or 80s named Bart Johnson I think who tried moving to the outfield. I don't think he was successful however.<hr /></blockquote>Both Wakefield and Johnson never did anything but pitch, at least in the Majors.

CMH · 04-17-2002, 01:22 PM

Kenny Rogers was suppose to be a great outfielder until Texas (i think it was texas) realized he had a great arm and put him on the mound.

Mark McGwire, as most people know was also a star pitcher until finally making a stay in the lineup crancking up homer after homer.

04-16-2002, 05:13 AM	#3
Lucas718 Major Leagues Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 402	Thanks for the info! I'm just about to start 1918 so I'll have to keep this in mind. I'll likely start him off as a pitcher and move him to the OF later. I want to keep things as realistic as possible - although I did move Ruth to the OF a year early because he just wasn't getting any playing time as a pitcher with Boston. <small>[ 04-16-2002, 11:16 AM: Message edited by: Lucas718 ]</small>

04-16-2002, 07:21 AM	#7
Scott Vibert Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: My Computer Posts: 8,249	</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Originally posted by bravesfan: <strong>How about Bob Lemon who went from outfield to pitcher?</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Ron Mahay is another who made this progresson.

04-16-2002, 08:13 AM	#8
Modern Relic All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 1,266	And on a related note, this from the Chicago Sun Times Website: Throwing a changeup Brooks Kieschnick has something to prove. Not to the Cubs, who made him the 10th overall pick of the 1993 amateur draft. Not to you. Not to your neighbor or your husband or wife, for that matter. Nope, Kieschnick has something to prove to himself. So after eight years of professional baseball, the outfielder has embarked on a career change. He wants to become a major-league closer. The complete story is <a href="http://www.suntimes.com/output/cubs/cst-spt-inside16.html" target="_blank">here</a> . __________________ American Folklore Baseball League (closed): Commissioner/GM - Mudville Nine (ruled!) Former member of Boys of Summer: GM - St. Louis Browns (doormats!) Former member of the OTBL: GM - Gashouse Gorillas (also ruled!) "People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." Rogers Hornsby

04-16-2002, 11:48 AM	#10
Scott Vibert Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: My Computer Posts: 8,249	</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Originally posted by Modern Relic: <strong>And on a related note, this from the Chicago Sun Times Website: Throwing a changeup Brooks Kieschnick has something to prove. Not to the Cubs, who made him the 10th overall pick of the 1993 amateur draft. Not to you. Not to your neighbor or your husband or wife, for that matter. Nope, Kieschnick has something to prove to himself. So after eight years of professional baseball, the outfielder has embarked on a career change. He wants to become a major-league closer. The complete story is <a href="http://www.suntimes.com/output/cubs/cst-spt-inside16.html" target="_blank">here</a> .</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Red Sox tried something similar with Greg Pirkl (sp?) a few years back... it didn't work out for him.. but who knows maybe something will work out for Kieschnink.

04-16-2002, 12:05 PM	#11
Ankit All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Singapore Posts: 603	This is turning into an interesting thread. I am keeping a list of the players that have been mentioned as switching positions and will edit the Lahman DB for myself to incorporate the changes. Out of all the players listed, only one player's switch did not work out: Smokey Joe Wood. Although his arm died in 1913 or so, he never did turn out to be a really good outfielfer. All other players who switched had better careers because of it. If there are other players that switched positions, let me know. I am keeping a list. __________________

04-16-2002, 04:35 AM	#1
Ankit All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Singapore Posts: 603	A player you should know about (Historical) Many people use OOTP to do historical career sims and hisotrical replays. Everyone knows that Babe Ruth was a pitcher turned hitter and I assume everyone changes him to a hitter because he was more successful at it. However, there was another player who did this, yet probably only a few change him into a hitter. The player is Lefty O'Doul. O'Doul spent most of his career in the Pacific Coast League, first as a 12-8 pitcher in 1918. Sore-armed, he saw little action while with the Yankees in 1919, 1920 and 1922, but he went 25-9 for San Fransisco (PCL) in 1921. He earned his two major league decisions as a Red Sox reliever in 1923. Then his arm went dead. He returned to the PCL, where he pitched unsuccessfully in 1924 and began his second career, as an outfielder, to make use of his great natural hitting ability. With Salt Lake, Hollywood, and San Fransisco (PCL) from 1924-27, O'Doul batted between .338 and .392 and hit with power. He was an OF for the Giants in 1928 before being traded to the Phillies, with cash, for the more-established Fred Leach - a lifetime .307 hitter. Playing in 154 games for Philadelphia in 1929, O'Doul had 32 home runs and set a National League record with 254 hits, batting .398 to win the NL batting crown. He hit .383 in 1930, then was traded to Brooklyn in a five-player deal. His .368 average in 1932 again won him the NL batting title. After spending 1934 with the Giants, he returned, at age 37, to the PCL.O'Doul managed the San Fransisco Seals from 1935-1951 (and other PCL teams through 1957), pitching and pinch hitting some, and becoming a renowned teacher of young players. He sent Joe DiMaggio up to the Yankees, claiming the most significant thing he did for his fellow San Franciscan was to change nothing. The last 4 paragraphs are from Baseball Library.com (http://www.pubdim.net/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/O/ODoul_Lefty.stm) For his career he hit .349, 4th best all-time. He struck out only 122 times in 3,264 at-bats. He scored 624 runs, had 1,140 hits, 175 doubles, 41 triples, 113 homeruns, 542 RBIs, 333 walks and stole 36 bases. I hope I have helped you guys know more about the player and will give him a chance to be a hitter instead of a reliever when you import him as a rookie in 1919. It would me nice to see what he and the Yankees would do in the 1920s with Ruth, Gehrig, Meusel, Lazzeri and O'Doul in the starting lineup. If anyone does or will do this, keep me updated on him by e-mail me at ankitpayal@hotmail.com __________________

04-16-2002, 05:06 AM	#2
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,873	Good to know. Thanks. __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles

04-16-2002, 05:49 AM	#4
Henry Hall of Fame Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 6,498	Ankit, Excellent player review Side note... don't know if you do this regularly or not, but I've wanted to add player/team reviews to BigCityBaseball - both historical and fictional. If your interested (or anyone else) please send me a sample at BCB@citygate.net Can't promise I'll add everyone's, but I think this would make a wonderful addition to the site...

04-16-2002, 07:14 AM	#5
Scott Vibert Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: My Computer Posts: 8,249	Another player who played both was Smokey Joe Wood, who went on to be a outfielder for the Indians in the late 10's/early 20's (after beginning his career as a pitcher with the Pilgrims/Red Sox in the late 1900's). Jesse Tannehill often played a few games a season in the outfield during his days as a pitcher as well.

04-16-2002, 07:18 AM	#6
bravesfan Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 47	How about Bob Lemon who went from outfield to pitcher?

04-16-2002, 11:33 AM	#9
blubbla Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Herscher, IL Posts: 2,458	Here's another hitter that had a long career that began as a pitcher: Sam Rice came up with the Washington Senators in 1915. He would appear in 4 games (all on the hill) and would hurl in 5 more contests the next season. Rice quit pitching after Detroit pitcher Hooks Dauss connected for a triple. So, Rice moved to the outfield, and became a fixture in the Washington lineup for years, leading the league in hits twice, once pacing the circuit in triples, and in 1920, had a league-high 63 steals. After joining Cleveland for the 1934 season, Rice finished his career with a .322 BA, coming up just short of a pair of magic milestones: He collected 2987 hits and 498 doubles over his 20 year career. Amazingly, he never hit less than .293 (his final season)! (info collected from Total Baseball)

04-16-2002, 12:48 PM	#12
rallymonkey1982 Major Leagues Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Orange County Posts: 436	Ankit, I started my career with the Yanks in 1920, and had to try to develop O'Doul as a hitter. Alas, he never amounted to much and never made a huge mark in the bigs. Fortunately, I've ended up fine in the OF, but have to start instituting some house rules to make things more competitive. Babe Ruth just retired after the 1935 season, but I ended up with Joe DiMaggio coming in the next season. What will be very interesting to me is what I do now, I have the 35 year old Hack Wilson as a PFA, but have 25 year old Hank Greenberg on the bench backing him up. I love this game <small>[ 04-16-2002, 06:52 PM: Message edited by: rallymonkey1982 ]</small> __________________ "This is sort of like living the American dream. You get to come the ballpark and get a free beer." - Arte Moreno My Life

04-16-2002, 02:11 PM	#13
warrenpeace Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 23	I love Lefty and did make the change back in 1919. he played two years with the yanks as a leftfielder. Won Rookie award hitting .321 13 87. Played 3 more years and hit .342 66 449 before suffering a torn groin muscle that ended his career! best year 1922 .332 22 135 19SB BTW, this was probably the most disapointing event in my career so far. I have always loved lefty ever since he used to destroy the league in my Earl Weaver leagues. __________________ two fifty for an eyeball, and a buck and a half for an ear, happy hour, happy hour, happy hour is here....

04-16-2002, 02:14 PM	#14
Covenant47 Bat Boy Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 8	In my single-player league, I'm progressing through baseball history as my beloved Orioles. (Except of course they were the St. Louis Browns for quite a while). Using real rookies, but drafting them each year. I've been on the lookout for players who are talent-rated as both pitcher and hitter. If the player's talents are slanted largely towards hitting, but he's listed as a pitcher, I simply edit him to a hitter in the rookie draft (or vice versa). In the case where someone has great ratings both ways, I just leave him as is. For example, Babe Ruth enjoyed a 20 year career in my league. He came up as a pitcher with the Yankees (oddly enough), and pitched his first two seasons. I acquired him in a trade and began to teach him to hit in the minors, and he played outfield for my Browns club for 8 years. When he left via free agency he was still rated highly as a pitcher and a hitter, so when the pitching-hungry Reds picked up, I swapped his position back to pitcher. Anyway, the Babe had a solid career on both sides, though his power never developed to the epic levels it did in the real world. As a hitter he went .302 for his career with 200 homers (still good enough for 2nd on my all-time list as of 1935). As a pitcher, he went 140-91 with a 2.49 ERA, which is solid. But of course, arguably the greatest player in the history of my league, as you might have already guessed, is Lefty O'Doul. I made him my first-round pick in the year he entered the draft. He's played his entire career with my Browns, breaking into the majors in 1921, and he will retire after this 1935 season. He has been voted to the all-star team every season of his career. It's worth noting he's always been a platoon player, as for some reason his LHP hit rating never bothered going past 4, even though his RHP hits was at 12! That's by far the biggest disparity I've ever seen. As such, his stats are somewhat helped by the fact that he's never had to face any lefties. Some stats: 3 MVP seasons: 1922 .413 AVG, 1.052 OPS, 13 HR, 131 RBI 1925 .416 AVG, 1.039 OPS, 12 HR, 105 RBI 1932 .442 AVG, 1.121 OPS, 17 HR, 104 RBI. But his consistency has been amazing, here's his WORST year: 1926 .370 AVG, 0.860 OPS, 0 HR, 83 RBI. I guess I can let a year or two like that slide, heh. Career numbers: .401 AVG, .455 OBP, .533 SLG, .988 OPS, 140 HR, 1313 RBI If he retired tomorrow he would be #1 in AVG (2nd is .352!), #18 in RBI, and #27 in HR. So, all in all, quite a career. And as Lefty's career ends, the Braves have drafted one Tommy Moore, who's Good/Good/Fair/Fair/Good/Good as a hitter, and Brilliant/Average/Brilliant/Brilliant/Poor as a pitcher. Should be interesting to see where he ends up.

04-16-2002, 05:16 PM	#15
itsahit97 Bat Boy Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 7	Speaking of Lefty Odoul, back in 94 while on my honeymoon in San Fransisco my wife and I were walking down a side street to our hotel. We came across a little hole in the wall restaurant named Lefty Odoul's. He and his family operated it. They had about 5 tables in the place but had some impressive memorabilia on the walls. To this day I have not had better lasagna.

04-17-2002, 05:06 AM	#16
bravesfan Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 47	Didn't Tim Wakefield also start out as an outfielder, who eventually saved his career when he learned the knuckleball? I also remember a pitcher for the White Sox in the 70s or 80s named Bart Johnson I think who tried moving to the outfield. I don't think he was successful however.

04-17-2002, 05:08 AM	#17
Jason Moyer Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Pittsburgh Posts: 5,106	I remember this guy just because he was in that old NES baseball game Baseball Stars. I believe he was the leftfielder for the American Dreams. =) Jason __________________ "I pretty much popped everything cold turkey. We were doing steroids they wouldn't give to horses." -- Tom House "I was very fortunate to have a pitching coach by the name of Tom House...Tom, I really miss those days that we spent in the weight room and out on the field working together." -- Nolan Ryan's HoF Induction Speech

04-17-2002, 11:40 AM	#18
Ankit All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Singapore Posts: 603	</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Originally posted by bravesfan: <strong>Didn't Tim Wakefield also start out as an outfielder, who eventually saved his career when he learned the knuckleball? I also remember a pitcher for the White Sox in the 70s or 80s named Bart Johnson I think who tried moving to the outfield. I don't think he was successful however.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Both Wakefield and Johnson never did anything but pitch, at least in the Majors. __________________

04-17-2002, 01:22 PM	#19
CMH Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 5,057	Kenny Rogers was suppose to be a great outfielder until Texas (i think it was texas) realized he had a great arm and put him on the mound. Mark McGwire, as most people know was also a star pitcher until finally making a stay in the lineup crancking up homer after homer.