by David Nemec
The following year the rule was revised to let a second substitute for each team also enter a game at the end of a complete inning. In 1891, the rule was further liberalized so that it now resembled the current rule. Beginning with the 1891 campaign, any player on the field could be substituted for at any time during a game. Among other things, the revamped rule ushered in a new type of specialist: the pinch hitter. Previously, a player had sometimes been sent up to bat for a teammate but only when an injury compelled the opposition agree to the substitution. Like so many innovations, however, the concept of a pinch hitter was slow to take hold. In the early 1890s, pinch-hitters were used so infrequently that until 1896 the record for the most pinch hits in a season stood at a mere two, first done in 1893 by Jack Sharrott, a reserve with the Philadelphia Phillies.
According to baseball legend, the one player who more than any other forced the game’s lawmakers to tighten the 1891 substitution rule was Mike “King” Kelly. There is an oft-told tale that one afternoon in the early 1890s, shortly after the rule was loosened to allow substitutes to enter a game at any time, Kelly, then with the Boston Beaneaters, was on the bench when a pop foul headed his way. Seeing that Beaneaters catcher Charlie Ganzel had no chance to reach it, Kelly sprang to his feet, announced himself in the game for Ganzel, and snared the pop. The problem here is that if Kelly really pulled off this stunt, one would imagine that so obvious a loophole in the rules would have been immediately sealed. However, there was no further important legislation regarding substitutions until 1910, when it was mandated that the captain of a team making a substitute must immediately notify the umpire, who in turn must announce the change to the spectators. By 1910, Kelly was not only out of the game but had been dead for some sixteen years. Hence the probability is strong that the Kelly tale, if not altogether apocryphal, has been embellished over the years. What’s more, two contemporary players of Kelly’s, Kid Gleason and Charlie Bennett, attested that his gambit was not bought by the umpire that day in any event.
5.10 (d)
A player once removed from a game shall not re-enter that game. If a player who has been substituted for attempts to reenter, or re-enters, the game in any capacity, the umpire-in-chief shall direct the player’s manager to remove such player from the game immediately upon noticing the player’s presence or upon being informed of the player’s improper presence by another umpire or by either manager. If such direction to remove the substituted for player occurs before play commences with the player improperly in the game, then the substitute player may enter the game. If such direction to remove the substituted-for player occurs after play has commenced with the substituted-for player in the game, then the substitute player shall be deemed to have been removed from the game (in addition to the removal of the substituted-for player) and shall not enter the game. If a substitute enters the game in place of a player-manager, the manager may thereafter go to the coaching lines at his discretion. When two or more substitute players of the defensive team enter the game at the same time, the manager shall, immediately before they take their positions as fielders, designate to the umpire-in-chief such players’ positions in the team’s batting order and the umpire-in-chief shall so notify the official scorer. If this information is not immediately given to the umpire-in-chief, he shall have authority to designate the substitutes’ places in the batting order.
Much ado was made when Chris Young of the Red Sox appeared twice in the same game on August 25, 2017, in a lopsided 16–3 loss to Baltimore in Fenway Park. Young began the game as the Sox’ DH, batting in the seventh spot in the order. Given that the game was a complete blowout, Boston manager John Farrell selected a position player to pitch the top of the ninth inning, and chose one of his players already in the game, first baseman Mitch Moreland, for the task. Because Moreland—who had batted cleanup the entire game—replaced a pitcher, who does not bat, the Red Sox forfeited the designated hitter pursuant to Rule 5.11 (a), meaning that Moreland would continue hitting for himself in the four spot, and Moreland’s first-base replacement, Hanley Ramirez, would also hit for himself and replace DH Young in the seventh slot in the batting order.
As luck would have it, the seventh-place hitter was due up second in the bottom of the ninth, and none other than Young stepped into the batter’s box and hit a fluke single. Fortunately the inning ended without the Sox scoring, so Orioles reliever Mike Wright’s ERA went unblemished. He was charged with a hit, however, when the game ended with the illegal substitution unnoticed by any of the umpires or Baltimore manager Buck Showalter. Since it did so end, the portion of Rule 5.10 (d) applied, which states any play that occurs while a player appears in a game after having been substituted for shall count.
Rules pundits contended Young’s “feat” was the first time in major- league history that a player returned to a game after having been removed from it and revealed how close Major League Baseball had come to a similar catastrophe earlier in the season. On July 25, 2017, at Dodger Stadium, plate umpire Lance Barrett misheard Minnesota manager Paul Molitor’s double-switch request “Pressly for Polanco” as “Belisle for Rosario,” causing Barrett to hurriedly wave shortstop Jorge Polanco, who had disappeared into in the Twins dugout thinking he was out of the game, back onto the field. By the time the entire muddle was sorted out with the replay command center in New York, a pitch had already been thrown to Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig, but after an 18-minute delay it was determined that Polanco—even though he had entered the dugout—was still in the game. Thus, the “no re-entry rule” was waived and MLB was able to breathe a sigh of relief that its perfect illegal substitution record was still unblemished—for exactly one more month.
But more thorough research by MLB gurus would have shown that Young’s “feat” was far from being a first. As David Nemec and Eric Miklich recounted in their book, The Complete Book of Forfeited and Successfully Protested Major League Games, an early instance of a player appearing twice in the same game occurred on July 27, 1890, in an American Association contest between the Columbus Senators and Brooklyn Gladiators: “In the fifth inning of the very first game [umpire and former catcher Jim] Peoples worked involving his former team [Columbus], Columbus pitcher Hank Gastright was knocked out of the box and replaced by Elton Chamberlain, who was subsequently fined and banished to the bench in the seventh inning for refusing to pitch with a new ball. Contrary to the rules, Peoples then allowed Gastright to return to the game because Columbus claimed it had no other bona fide pitchers available. Rule 28, Section 2—new to the rule book in 1890—specifically addressed substitutions and should have been enforced here but was not.
Two players, whose name shall be printed on the score card as extra players, may be substituted at any time, by either club, but no player so retired shall thereafter participate in the game. In addition, thereto a substitute may be allowed at any time in place of a player disabled in the game then being played, by reason of illness or injury, of the nature and extent of which the umpire shall be the sole judge.
Instead, however, Peoples eventually forfeited the game to Columbus because—guess what—Brooklyn was unable to furnish Peoples with a new ball when he demanded one in the eighth inning with Brooklyn ahead, 13–8!”
Rule 5.10 (d) Comment: A pitcher may change to another position only once during the same inning; e.g. the pitcher will not be allowed to assume a position other than a pitcher more than once in the same inning.
The proviso prohibiting pitchers from assuming a position other than pitcher more than once in the same inning was added to Rule 5.10 (d)—formerly Rule 3.03—largely to thwart managers like Paul Richards, who created undue delays with his perplexing maneuvers in the 1950s that would have made four-hour games the norm nowadays. On June 25, 1953, in the top of the ninth inning at Comiskey Park, with the the White Sox leading the Yankees, 4–2, and righty Hank Bauer leading off the frame, Richards, then at the helm of the White Sox, removed his southpaw ace, Billy Pierce, stationing him at first base and brou
ght in right-hander Harry Dorish. After lefty Don Bollweg pinch-hit for Bauer and beat out a bunt single, Pierce returned to the mound to face lefty Gene Woodling and emerged from the inning a 4–2 victor who played a complete game but did not pitch one. Richards had first pulled this stunt two years earlier in a Tuesday afternoon game on May 15, 1951, at Fenway Park with Dorish, sending him to replace Minnie Minoso at third base while Pierce took the mound in relief to face Ted Williams in the top of the ninth inning of a 7–7 game. After Pierce retired Williams on a popup, Dorish again assumed the pitching chores and a new third baseman, Floyd Baker, came into the lineup. The Pale Hose eventually won, 9–7, in 11 innings, with Dorish getting the win. Richards’s move in this case was particularly daring inasmuch as Minoso, then a rookie, was the Sox’ best all-around player and Pierce had been scheduled to start the following day but was held back until May 18.
Richards also employed the maneuver twice more in 1954, once with right-hander Sandy Consuegra and finally with southpaw Jack Harshman. Without a rule to prevent it, a manager with Richards’s kind of mind could orchestrate a lefty-righty switch again and again during an inning, or for that matter during every inning if he happened to have a right-handed pitcher with the same versatility as Harshman, who was originally a first baseman, and a bench loaded with players who could play first base. The machination obviously has the potential to make a game interminable, but was so seldom perpetrated anymore—even before the 2020 rule change requiring a new pitcher to either face three batters or end the inning—that mass confusion occurred when the Rays’ manager Kevin Cash pulled this ancient rabbit out of his cap in a game with the Red Sox at Tampa’s Tropicana Field on July 23, 2019.
With the score 3–2, Rays in the top of the eighth, Adam Kolarek took the hill for his second inning in relief of starter Charlie Morton. After Sam Travis, the first Boston batter was retired, Kolarek moved to first base, replacing Austin Meadows, and right-hander Chaz Roe took the mound to face righty Mookie Betts. After Betts flew out to left field, Cash brought Kolarek back to the mound to face Raffy Devers, with Nate Lowe taking over at first base. Before Kolarek could throw his first pitch to Devers, Red Sox manager Alex Cora stormed out of the dugout. Few, if any, in attendance had any notion what Cora’s grievance was with the umpiring crew, headlined by home-plate ump Angel Hernandez, except that it seemed to concern something with Tampa’s new batting order. When play eventually resumed, Devers grounded out on the first pitch thrown in more than 20 minutes to end the frame. Then the fun resumed. Cora returned to once again lay out his complaint to the umpires and word began to spread in the stands that Boston was playing the game under protest. The source of the problem was the designated hitter rule (5.11), which lists a lot of scenarios that terminate the use of the designated hitter but does not explicitly detail what the batting order should be when a pitcher goes to another position and a new pitcher comes in. Rule 5.11 (a) (8) just notes that the DH is gone when this occurs in an American League game. Rule 5.11 (a) (5) covers the DH going to the field and the new pitcher having to bat in the DH spot, unless more than one substitution is made, in which case the manager designates the spots. From all reports, Cash failed to do this when Lowe entered the game throwing everyone into a quandry, most conspicously of all the umpiring crew. Hernandez, a frequent catalytic presence in controversial officiating decisions, later said that that in the absence of any instructions from Cash he had full authority to take it upon himself to decide who in the Tampa Bay lineup now hit where. Even if true, Boston had no grounds for a protest according to Rule 7.04, because nothing that happened after Kolarek re-entered the game as a pitcher had any bearing on the final outcome, which remained 3–2 Rays.
An example of a legal position switch by a pitcher under the current rule occurred in a game in San Francisco on September 1, 1979. With Pittsburgh leading 5–3, Pirates closer Kent Tekulve got the first two outs in the ninth inning. Jack Clark then singled and lefty-hitting Darrell Evans came to bat representing the tying run. Pirates skipper Chuck Tanner moved Tekulve to left field and brought in southpaw Grant Jackson to face Evans. Jackson got the save when Evans flied out to none other than Tekulve. Had Evans reached base, Tanner no doubt have brought back Tekulve to face the next batter, righty Mike Ivie, but whether he would have put Jackson in left field in the event Ivie kept the rally alive, bringing up lefty-swinging Terry Whitfield we will never know.
Houston fans witnessed a much more intriguing example in a game between Pittsburgh and the Astros on August 18, 1965, at the Astrodome. Pirates ace Bob Veale, with an 8–1 lead, began the bottom of the ninth on cruise control but was hastily replaced by right-hander Al McBean, Pittsburgh’s customary closer, after the first four Houston batters reached base. McBean entered the game with the score 8–3 and two runners on base, not a save situation under today’s rules since the potential tying run was neither at the plate nor on deck. But after McBean allowed three consecutive hits, the score was shaved to 8–6 and the potential winning run was at the plate in the person of Joe Morgan. Pirates skipper Harry Walker brought in lefty Frank Carpin to face the lefty-hitting Morgan, but with a trio of right-handed hitters to follow he kept McBean in the game in left field, replacing Willie Stargell. After Carpin fanned Morgan, Bob Bailey moved to left field with Jose Pagan replacing him at third base, and McBean, now in a retroactive save situation, returned to the hill. He promptly surrendered a double to Jim Wynn, scoring Walt Bond and bringing the score to 8–7 with still only one out.
Jim Gentile, pinch-hitting for first baseman Frank Thomas, was then walked intentionally, loading the bases for catcher Ron Brand, playing out of position at third base that day. Many managers would have yanked McBean at this point. Walker stuck with him, however, and was rewarded when Brand grounded into a game-ending double play.
5.10 (e)
A player whose name is on his team’s batting order may not become a substitute runner for another member of his team.
Rule 5.10 (e) Comment: This rule is intended to eliminate the practice of using so-called courtesy runners. No player in the game shall be permitted to act as a courtesy runner for a teammate. No player who has been in the game and has been taken out for a substitute shall return as a courtesy runner. Any player not in the lineup, if used as a runner, shall be considered as a substitute player.
Until 1950, courtesy runners were permitted with the consent of the opposing team. This rule enabled catcher Pat Collins to set a record that will almost certainly never be equaled. In the second inning of a game on June 8, 1923, against the Philadelphia Athletics at Shibe Park, St. Louis Browns third sacker Homer Ezzell had to heed a call of nature after reaching base. A’s pilot Connie Mack permitted the Browns to use Collins as a courtesy runner while Ezzell took care of business. Collins later pinch-hit for pitcher Ray Kolp in the top of the ninth and walked, making him the only documented player to date to pinch-run and pinch-hit in the same game. Observe that Collins’s usage as a substitute twice in the same game technically was yet another early day violation of Rule 5.10 (d).
5.10 (f)
The pitcher named in the batting order handed the umpire-in-chief, as provided in Rules 4.02 (a) and 4.02 (b), shall pitch to the first batter or any substitute batter until such batter is put out or reaches first base, unless the pitcher sustains injury or illness which, in the judgment of the umpire-in-chief, incapacitates him from pitching.
5.10 (g)
If the pitcher is replaced, the substitute pitcher shall pitch to the batter then at bat, or any substitute batter, until such batter is put out or reaches first base, or until the offensive team is put out, unless the substitute pitcher sustains injury or illness which, in the umpire-in-chief’s judgment, incapacitates him for further play as a pitcher.
Note that Rule 5.10 (g) inserted this addendum in the 2019 rule book, applicable for the moment to National Association play only, although the independent Atlantic League also employed it: As of 2020, the rule will also apply for the first time
in MLB play.
The starting pitcher or any substitute pitcher is required to pitch to a minimum of three consecutive batters, including the batter then at bat (or any substitute batter), until such batters are put out or reach first base, or until the offensive team is put out, unless the starting pitcher or substitute pitcher sustains injury or illness which, in the umpire-in-chief’s judgment, incapacitates him from further play as a pitcher.
Only time will tell if this 5.10 (g) addendum permanently becomes a rule at all levels of the game.
5.10 (h)
If an improper substitution is made for the pitcher, the umpire shall direct the proper pitcher to return to the game until the provisions of this rule are fulfilled. If the improper pitcher is permitted to pitch, any play that results is legal. The improper pitcher becomes the proper pitcher as soon as he makes his first pitch to the batter, or as soon as any runner is put out.
Comment: If a manager attempts to remove a pitcher in violation of Rule 5.10 (h) the umpire shall notify the manager of the offending club that it cannot be done. If, by chance, the umpire-in-chief has, through oversight, announced the incoming improper pitcher, he should still correct the situation before the improper pitcher pitches. Once the improper pitcher delivers a pitch he becomes the proper pitcher.
5.10 (i)
If a pitcher who is already in the game crosses the foul line on his way to take his place on the pitcher’s plate to start an inning, he shall pitch to the first batter until such batter is put out or reaches first base, unless the batter is substituted for, or the pitcher sustains an injury or illness which, in the judgment of the umpire-in-chief, incapacitates him from pitching. If the pitcher ends the previous inning on base or at bat and does not return to the dugout after the inning is completed, the pitcher is not required to pitch to the first batter of the inning until he makes contact with the pitcher’s plate to begin his warm-up pitches.