I’m not sure what the current major league record is for
number of balls fouled off in an at bat . . . if that’s even an official stat.
But on July 1, 1949, Cincinnati Reds outfielder Harry Walker
hit 13 foul balls off St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Ted Wilks in one at-bat that
stretched for nearly 10 minutes.
The Reds were ahead 9-2 in the seventh inning, when “The
Hat” stepped to the plate. At the time he was batting .261.
After letting a low pitch pass for ball one, Walker fouled
off the next two pitches, before looking at a high pitch that was ball two.
He fouled off two more, then stepped back from ball three, a
high inside pitch. He then fouled off nine straight pitches before smashing a
double high off the screen in right-center field. It was reported that some of
Walker’s fouls were hard-hit balls.
Later in the game rookie Lloyd Merriman was brought in to replace Walker in centerfield. The Reds beat the Cards 10-2.
Maybe that's how he got his nickname.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Your comments, criticism, additional information, questions, etc., are welcome . . . as long as they are germane to the original topic. All comments are moderated before they are allowed to appear and spam comments are deleted before they ever appear. No "Anonymous User" comments are allowed.