Jerry Lynch 1930-2012
Jerry Lynch passed away recently. Lynch was an outfielder for the Pirates and Reds in the 1950s and 60s. He also caught a few games (and did so without a passed ball or error).
But, Lynch is remembered mostly for his prowess as a pinch-hitter. After the jump, I’ll look a bit more into how Lynch ranks among the game’s premier pinch-hitters.
Here are the leaders in most pinch-hit appearances in the game-searchable era. Note that, to avoid including non-PH appearances, I have limited the search to games appearing as a pinch-hitter and having exactly one PA, and stats shown are for just those appearances. For completeness, I’m also showing the PH appearances omitted from the stats and resulting total PH appearances (except those without a PA, when the pinch-hitter was pinch-hit for).
| Rk | Player | Omitted and Total PH games | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lenny Harris | 75 / 883 | Ind. Games | 808 | 737 | 191 | 33 | 4 | 5 | 81 | 58 | 84 | .259 | .314 | .335 | .649 |
| 2 | Mark Sweeney | 27 / 799 | Ind. Games | 772 | 658 | 166 | 37 | 0 | 14 | 95 | 95 | 172 | .252 | .348 | .372 | .720 |
| 3 | Dave Hansen | 30 / 705 | Ind. Games | 675 | 574 | 130 | 21 | 3 | 15 | 77 | 95 | 150 | .226 | .335 | .352 | .687 |
| 4 | Greg Gross | 90 / 733 | Ind. Games | 643 | 527 | 111 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 49 | 99 | 47 | .211 | .333 | .239 | .572 |
| 5 | John Vander Wal | 36 / 624 | Ind. Games | 588 | 507 | 116 | 30 | 4 | 17 | 90 | 78 | 147 | .229 | .330 | .404 | .735 |
| 6 | Smoky Burgess | 31 / 601 | Ind. Games | 570 | 486 | 137 | 25 | 0 | 15 | 134 | 73 | 42 | .282 | .375 | .426 | .801 |
| 7 | Manny Mota | 54 / 597 | Ind. Games | 543 | 457 | 133 | 14 | 2 | 4 | 101 | 55 | 45 | .291 | .366 | .357 | .722 |
| 8 | Red Lucas | 1 / 485 | Ind. Games | 484 | 436 | 116 | 22 | 4 | 2 | 69 | 40 | 40 | .266 | .328 | .349 | .676 |
| 9 | Elmer Valo | 12 / 491 | Ind. Games | 479 | 376 | 87 | 15 | 2 | 3 | 72 | 87 | 45 | .231 | .376 | .306 | .682 |
| 10 | Gates Brown | 24 / 500 | Ind. Games | 476 | 405 | 101 | 13 | 5 | 15 | 68 | 66 | 58 | .249 | .353 | .417 | .770 |
| 11 | Jerry Lynch | 38 / 507 | Ind. Games | 469 | 415 | 105 | 12 | 3 | 16 | 79 | 49 | 87 | .253 | .331 | .412 | .743 |
| 12 | Greg Norton | 26 / 489 | Ind. Games | 463 | 394 | 88 | 17 | 2 | 13 | 67 | 66 | 118 | .223 | .337 | .376 | .713 |
| 13 | Orlando Palmeiro | 64 / 525 | Ind. Games | 461 | 404 | 103 | 19 | 2 | 2 | 45 | 41 | 58 | .255 | .324 | .327 | .651 |
| 14 | Jim Dwyer | 46 / 501 | Ind. Games | 455 | 385 | 90 | 16 | 2 | 10 | 68 | 55 | 73 | .234 | .323 | .364 | .687 |
| 15 | Mike Lum | 23 / 475 | Ind. Games | 452 | 396 | 97 | 14 | 2 | 8 | 56 | 45 | 89 | .245 | .324 | .351 | .675 |
| 16 | Matt Stairs | 42 / 490 | Ind. Games | 448 | 380 | 92 | 19 | 1 | 20 | 76 | 58 | 101 | .242 | .348 | .455 | .803 |
| 17 | Terry Crowley | 46 / 494 | Ind. Games | 448 | 385 | 99 | 16 | 1 | 5 | 64 | 56 | 45 | .257 | .348 | .343 | .691 |
| 18 | Steve Braun | 44 / 482 | Ind. Games | 438 | 374 | 101 | 19 | 3 | 4 | 54 | 59 | 55 | .270 | .368 | .369 | .737 |
| 19 | Tim McCarver | 27 / 456 | Ind. Games | 429 | 356 | 80 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 46 | 59 | 41 | .225 | .327 | .295 | .622 |
| 20 | John Cangelosi | 45 / 469 | Ind. Games | 423 | 359 | 67 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 52 | 82 | .187 | .297 | .237 | .534 |
| 21 | Jose Morales | 66 / 486 | Ind. Games | 420 | 386 | 111 | 22 | 2 | 12 | 85 | 26 | 75 | .288 | .333 | .448 | .782 |
| 22 | Jay Johnstone | 36 / 452 | Ind. Games | 419 | 376 | 81 | 6 | 2 | 10 | 55 | 38 | 56 | .215 | .290 | .322 | .612 |
| 23 | Gerald Perry | 16 / 429 | Ind. Games | 413 | 353 | 93 | 16 | 1 | 6 | 62 | 54 | 66 | .263 | .356 | .365 | .721 |
| 24 | Jerry Hairston | 23 / 434 | Ind. Games | 411 | 346 | 86 | 15 | 1 | 8 | 50 | 57 | 56 | .249 | .349 | .367 | .716 |
| 25 | Rusty Staub | 19 / 418 | Ind. Games | 399 | 343 | 94 | 20 | 0 | 7 | 87 | 46 | 38 | .274 | .353 | .394 | .747 |
Omitted PH appearances arise from times when a pinch-hitter remains in the game and has subsequent PAs. Those with larger numbers in the Omitted column (e.g. Greg Gross) may indicate PH appearances that include mid-game platoon substitution. I have my suspicions about the low Omitted numbers for Red Lucas and Elmer Valo – the older data may not be entirely compelete and/or accurate.
So, Lynch ranks 9th all time with 507 plate appearances as a PH. And, he performed quite well in that role. Here are his rankings among the 225 most frequently used pinch-hitters (min. 200 PAs) since 1918.
- HR – 3rd
- RBI – 9th
- SLG – 18th
- OPS – 24th
- BB – 27th
The rate stat rankings may be a bit misleading since Lynch did hit in a lower run scoring environment.
Happily for comparison purposes, Lynch appears next to Gates Brown on the list. Brown did walk more and strike out less, but otherwise the numbers are eerily similar. While Brown did hit in a tougher offensive environment, their career OPS+ are nevertheless identical 110 scores. Yet, my sense is that much more has been made of Brown’s skill as a pinch-hitter. Any contrary views on that?
Lynch had a 167 OPS+ in the 1961 season, playing a key role for the pennant-winning Reds. His pinch-hitting stats that year were exceptionally strong.
| I | Split | G | GS | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| as PH | 59 | 59 | 47 | 11 | 19 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 25 | 12 | 5 | .404 | .525 | .851 | 1.376 |
Incidentally, that 167 OPS+ is tied for 5th best (min. 200 PAs) among the 130 players with career (min. 3000 PA) OPS+ of 108 to 112.
Gates Brown also had a similar monster year in the Tigers championship season of 1968, with a 234 OPS+ that included this PH split.
| I | Split | G | GS | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| as PH | 48 | 48 | 40 | 7 | 18 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 1 | .450 | .542 | .850 | 1.392 |
Selective evidence to be sure, but these two seasons are at least indicative of the value of a reliable pinch-hitter.
In today’s game with 12 and 13 man pitching staffs and resulting ultra-short benches, pinch-hitting specialists could become a vanishing breed. Consider this list of pinch-hit appearances by year since 1998 – you’ll see the 3 lowest totals are the past 3 seasons, and the 4 highest totals are the first 4 seasons in this period.
| Rk | Year | #Matching |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2000 | 5778 |
| 2 | 1999 | 5774 |
| 3 | 1998 | 5750 |
| 4 | 2001 | 5743 |
| 5 | 2007 | 5742 |
| 6 | 2008 | 5716 |
| 7 | 2003 | 5700 |
| 8 | 2005 | 5632 |
| 9 | 2002 | 5616 |
| 10 | 2004 | 5615 |
| 11 | 2006 | 5612 |
| 12 | 2010 | 5541 |
| 13 | 2009 | 5451 |
| 14 | 2011 | 5266 |
What future do you see for the pinch-hitting specialist?
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When you factor in the era in which he played and everything else, Lynch has a reasonable argument for being the best pinch hitter of all time. He’s certainly in the top 10 and I would put him in the top 5, I think. But he would be behind Gates because he is a Tiger after all.
I’ve stated my belief before that the notion of 12 & 13 man pitching staffs isn’t just ridiculous I think it’s actually counter-productive, mostly because teams can no longer carry a pinch hitter. I keep hoping that someone will come to their senses and cut back to a 10 man rotation, have someone have a huge season as a pinch hitter like Lynch did and win the World Series. I suspect that within a few years everyone would be back to staffing that way again. I just don’t know who’s going to do it.
Makes me sad that so many of the heros of my youth are dying. Thanks for the post, Doug.
Judging from Lynch’s offensive splits (look at these “Clutch” and “Leverage” numbers!), as well as his defensive ratings (consistently very poor), he probably should have spent more than half his time coming off the bench.
That caught my eye too. -7.3 dWAR in 710 games in the field (just over 4 full seasons). Ouch!
Table is interesting, although to a certain extent self-selecting. Not a single hitter over .291, with majority below .250. Only 7 of 25 above .350 OBA. Only a small bit of power-60% had fewer than 10 HR’s. Can you make an argument that PH’s are like relief pitchers-some talent, but not good enough to start?
I would say pinch hitters are like relief pitchers in that they have weaknesses that are exposed with increased playing time.
Relievers usually have a great pitch or two good ones, rarely three. In the same way good pinch hitters are usually skilled at contact and/or power but are not starters because they lack the skills to play everyday either because of age, health, or their defensive shortcomings.
Matt Stairs on this list ranks 10th in OPS as a PH (min. 200 PA). Leader is Cliff Johnson at .902 in 280 PA. Willie McCovey is 3rd at .840 in 289 PA during a low offense era – I would guess his PH OPS+ would be tops.
Manny Mota on this list ranks 4th in BA (again, min. 200 PA). Leader is Alex Arias at .321 in 226 PAs (195 AB), followed by Greg Colbrunn .315 and Bob Fothergill .304.
Like the list in the article, above are games as a PH with exactly one PA.
Doug, is Matt Stairs the all-time leader in pinch-hit HR?
That’s right. Stairs has 23 PH home runs, so 3 were hit in the games “omitted” from the stat list because of other non-PH PAs in those games.
The previous record holder was Cliff Johnson with 20.
Thanks, Doug. One thing I’ve noticed on your recent articles(and this may just be my screen) is that when you put a table next to the baseball card of the player, it cuts off the table at the right margin. BA is visible, but it cuts off after that(I assume that’s OBP next to it but I can only see only letter.)
Edit: I can only see “one” letter.
Sorry you’re having difficuties, bstar. Everything looks fine on my browser. But, I’ll remember that for future posts, and move the tables furher down in the article.
Doug, FWIW, I also see the right-most column of the table running over the margin, when I’m using Mozilla Firefox. When I use Google Chrome, it looks fine.
Ah, it must be Firefox doing it, then. Sorry Doug.
It seems to have improved for firefox, but displays better on safari
In Smoky Burgess’s last season at age 40 he went 8 for 60 exclusively pinch hitting. Without that season his PH average would be .303. What’s true for Smoky is true for several others: they were kept on because of their pinch hitting ability, and as soon as that died, so did their careers.
A second point: pitchers used to be used as pinch hitters on occasion, certainly far more than today when the occurrence is next to nil. Strange, when so many pitchers clog the rosters. (Please note—irony.)
Ditto for Matt Stairs in 2011. He had similar anemic BAs in 2010 and, especially, 2009, but could still deliver the long ball. Once he could no longer do either, he was done.
Irony is duly noted. To Hartvig’s point @1, it does seem rather ridiculous to have so many pitchers when the last guys in the bullpen probably aren’t going to give more than 30 or 40 innings, if that. And, they provide nothing else, save possibly for a very occasional pinch-running stint. No pinch-hitting, no versatility to fill-in for an inning here or there in different defensive positions. Seems like an awful waste of roster spots for the contribution obtained.
Lynch was born nearby and is in the local county hall fo fame. I pass his picture everytime I go to the community center. Here is a fine obit:
http://www.mlive.com/sports/bay-city/index.ssf/2012/04/bay_county_loses_legend_jerry.html
Thanks, Brandon. I see from the Obit that two of Lynch’s PH home runs were in the “omitted” games in my stat list. I’ll update the HR ranking noted in the article.
Brandon, thanks for sharing that obit.
I noticed that the author quoted a passage from The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract. Unfortunately, he missed the point:
__________
In his New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, James made a case for Lynch being named MVP for his 1961 heroics.
“He hit over .400 as a pinch hitter with power and played 44 games in the outfield. His slugging percentage of .624 and 50 RBI in 181 at-bats was a far better rate than Roger Maris had that same season, hitting 61 home runs,” James wrote. “More than that, Lynch had big, big hits; game after game, when the Reds were in danger of falling short, Lynch came up with the big hit to put them back in front, and the Reds, picked to finish sixth, won the pennant.”
__________
That’s obviously praise, high praise. But James wasn’t making a case for Lynch as MVP. He was using Lynch’s pinch-hit heroics to illustrate the absurdity of giving the 1992 AL MVP Award to Dennis Eckersley, who pitched 80 innings and faced 309 batters.
“Lynch had big, big hits; game after game,” etc. Seems like hitting in the clutch isn’t all baloney to Saint James.
Ooops! That’s the other discussion.
no stat, James was being sarcastic about Lynch’s ’61 season to demonstrate why a closer shouldn’t win the MVP.
I agree in that while a Dick Radatz-type reliever, with 130-160 IP, would be a somewhat worthy MVP candidate, an Eckersley (’92) or Fingers (’81) year, with about 80 IP, just doesn’t have enough playing time to be seriously considered for the MVP award.
NSB, is it your position that a person who denies that there are significant differences in “clutch” ability loses the right to talk about a big hit?
I mean, I dug the clever quip and all, but at the end of the day, I’d like to know whether you meant what you implied.
JA:
First, I’d like to say that your comments overall are to my mind the most apt and penetrating at HHS. I’m always looking for your input.
As for my reply above, it was a joke: I saw a fork in the road and I took it, as that sage Yogi once remarked to the enlightenment of all.
However, I do think clutch hitting exits, but only in a situational context. You apparently have played the game. Graham’s experience of hitting a triple with the bases loaded in a tight finish must be paralleled in your own experience someplace—I remember four times in mine—they are vivid after fifty years. I don’t remember all the other at bats—some I do, good and bad—but I remember quite clearly when I came through to help win the game—because I helped win the game, not because it upped my stats.
I’ve not answering your original question, I know, but that’s the best i can do.
Thought of an answer:
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.—RWE
Bill James has a big mind. Hope the rest of us do as well.
NSB
” “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.—RWE” ”
Hey, what movie was that?
Ralph Waldo Emerson. Poet, but not really a filmmaker.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, eh?
A poet, you say?
John A, a way with woids!
Based on Keena’s stats, maybe it’s good he kept his day job?
But, Pusty Caballero? What feat (or is it “feet”, since he pinch ran) earned him that moniker?