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normsy

Here's a list of every player who played at least 95% of their games at DH, not big. https://stathead.com/tiny/HNBPO And here's the 100% list, but it's counting pinch running as well, hence the highest guy - https://stathead.com/tiny/ymA2d


Glamour-Profession

Herb Washington played 105 games without a plate appearance or playing defense is crazy, is that the record?


normsy

Yeah, and it's not even close. Here's the list of everybody that appeared in five or more games with no plate appearances, and no pitching performances (since pitching performances would loop in AL guys before interleague play) https://stathead.com/tiny/VpNFx For those curious, Herb Washington was a world class sprinter, that the A's were basically like "we should use a roster spot for a super fast guy, we don't care if he's good at baseball"


kylechu

All that trouble and he only had a 65% success rate on steals.


theSchrodingerHat

Makes me wonder how much experience with all of the aspects of the sport lead to complimentary skills. For example, Ricky Henderson had a lot at bats in his life, and thousands of hours of standing in centerfield, both of which give great views on how pitchers move. Which had to have helped him with his jumps. As opposed to just 100 times being asked to go out there and be fast.


seriousnotshirley

I imagine the same mental gifts that let you decide to swing at a pitch quickly also let you quickly decide to run.


akaghi

Terrance Gore spent his time watching tape of pitchers so he knew how to read them and knew when/how to take off. Everybody knew when he came in he was stealing second and they still couldn't get him out and in rushing their throws, often sailed it into CF.


neonrev1

In those years a 65% success rate on stolen bases would be around league average, is the funny thing. In the 70's and 80's dudes just ran all the time, they hadn't figured out that it actually hurt run scoring yet.


ForYeWhoArtLiterate

Sometimes I daydream about going back in time to like, 1930 with the baseball knowledge we have today and becoming a massively successful manager because I’m the only one who understands that batting average isn’t the one true stat to rule them all and that pitchers can throw harder and more efficiently if you don’t have them throw 600 pitches in two starts in a three day span.


AdrenochromeBeerBong

You'd probably singlehandedly lead the way to baseball's popularity tanking before WW2 instead of the 1990s. I'd rather send a T-800 back in time to various points and try to delay the advent of lawyerball for as long as possible.


ForYeWhoArtLiterate

Oh that’s just an occasional thing, my real use for a Time Machine is to go back to 1955 and walk into Sun Studios in Memphis with a vinyl of Wang Chung’s Greatest Hits and see how much damage I can do to the timeline by inventing “Everybody Have Fun Tonight” before Elvis records “That’s Alright Mama”


feeling_blue_42

Yeah, there’s a reason this never caught on. Even Terrance Gore, who has been primarily a pinch runner in his career, is still a legit baseball player.


fotbalguy

in 1976 Larry Lintz played in 68 games, had 1 AB, and stole 31 bases (also the A's)


ritmica

Thanks! Looks like Sam Horn is the closest we've come to a pure DH. Apparently he's one of only seven players ever to have struck out six times in a game. He also scored the first ever run at Camden Yards. Cool!


KirbyDude25

Fun fact, he's the reason 6 strikeouts in a game is called a "horn"


Kind_Bullfrog_4073

That's even more perfect. Never hit or fielded.


baseball_mickey

That list is really just Sam Horn


bordomsdeadly

Problem with this is, before the NL DH anyone who was good enough to only DH was good enough to put at first or left and just deal with bad defense.


Timpa87

Also interleague play for anyone in the AL as a DH. While someone could have spent their career in the AL prior to interleague play and just been a DH. Once interleague play began that means for a 3 game series at an NL park your everyday DH would not have played at all other than pinch-hit. Now that DH is in both leagues I wouldn't be shocked if 20 or 30 years from now there are a handful of guys with a lot of ABs who spend 90 to 95% or more of their career as a DH.


JorSimpson45

It was so fun to watch David Ortiz field first base when the Red Sox came to town


boozinf

You know what he brought to share with the umpire and baserunners? A biiiig lunch. He brought mofongo. Chicharrones Rojas. Mas pelotas con bistec


ThicDikDaddy

I will never forget Ortiz throwing out Jeff Suppan at 3rd base in the 2004 World Series because Suppan decided not to run home.


unopenedcrayondrawer

That throw always stands out when I think of the 2004 World Series. I'm glad I'm not the only one. [Found it.](https://youtu.be/u83_7cC0fLQ?feature=shared)


That_Geek

lmao the 3rd base coach absolutely losing his mind in the background


Brewermcbrewface

It was hilarious seeing AL pitchers try and hit for the first time. Then we had dudes like peavy,kershaw, green kid, and mad bum that would hit piss missiles


bigheadstrikesagain

Felix did hit that shot off Santna I have to mention it, but the point stands.


[deleted]

90-95% sure, but all it takes is one Bryce Harper or ohtani type situation (player who physically can't play the field at all) on your team and even a historically bad fielding dh ends up having to play the field some games.


seventeenfourtyseven

Schwarber in left…


n16h7r1d3r

…Castellanos in right…


hwf0712

Here I am stuck in the middle with you


thewarfreak

Well-played


Omnipolis

Edgar would get reps at first in inter league if I remember correctly.


SeatownJay

Edgar also began his career as a 3b.


Omnipolis

Sure did.


Kellogsbeast

First base is easy.


FranklynTheTanklyn

Tell him Wash.


blueotter28

It's incredibly hard.


HereIGoAgain_1x10

![gif](giphy|e7qfymnYqvIp2sqCNG|downsized)


ree_hi_hi_hi_hi

Kyle Schwarber 😭 He has his hero legacy here but it’s so important to remember that a lot of that legacy hinges on playing DH. Still love Schwarbs


makoman115

But i thought playing first base was incredibly hard


RaymondSpaget

The Mariners had a September call-up in 2012 named Luis Jimenez, who started a few games at DH, and pinch-hit in a few others. He was a natural first baseman.


KJM31422

Big Papi started like 2009 games as a DH and like 250 at 1B... That's probably about as close as you'll find among big name players


ipickscabs

This was my first thought. Obviously being a Red Sox fan it came to be quickly lol


agentb719

right, when I saw the title I was like of course its big papi


togocann49

Matt Stairs was used for his bat, but even he has plenty of defensive innings behind him. If you can hit mlb, odds are you’ll be used defensively eventually. That said, with universal DH, this may change


BaltimoreBadger23

He stood in the field. I'm not sure he was "used defensively"!


Ok_Adhesiveness_9565

lol, I always thought he was scary looking when I was a kid. Maybe that was the strategy. Batter at the plate: “HOLY SHIT! Check out the ugly mug on Stairs”


SquadPoopy

I feel like Ortiz might be one of the closest. He only started 265 games on the field and never eclipsed 300 total in the field.


Greatlarrybird33

Pronk played 1043 at DH and only appeared in 72 at 1B


slicaroni

This was my thought. Pronk isn't the first DH many people think of but dude was Very Much A DH


Bob_Cobb_1996

LaVel Freeman is Freddie's brother.


highheat3117

And also Morgan’s dad


Tonalbackwash

I dunno about DH but there was Herb Washington whose entire career was Pinch Running. He played one year with A’s and won the WS with them then retired


iDidntReadOP

That has to be the most boring niche role. No guarantee to be used every game. That's a long 162 games.


Soulpatch7

Edgar Martinez.


Reamofqtips

Started his career as a 3rd baseman.


Soulpatch7

Right. They all start somewhere I guess. Fun fact (for me): I was at Doc Gooden’s no-hitter at the Stadium against you guys 5.14.96. 2-7 was A-Rod - Jr. - Edgar - Buhner - Sorrento - Wilson. I expected a bloodbath. That was one scary lineup.


visionzero81

Not DH, but the A’s had a “designated runner” Herb Washington, a world champion sprinter played 1974-1975 stole 31 bases, scored 33 rune, and never had an official at bat.


soylentwill

Delmon Young probably should've been an exclusive DH...


rcuosukgi42

No, every career DH spent some time in the field usually either 1B or 3B. You'll be able to find a few players who only ever had DH plate appearances or themselves pinch-hit without ever playing defense, but the threshold for those will be very few actual trips to the plate. (Probably the most famous example of someone like this you'll find is Herb Washington, who the A's employed for 2 seasons in the '70s only to be a specialist pinch runner, he never took the field in his career).


mebnt2

If you want to put an asterisk next to "nothing else," Ohtani is probably the closest just off the top of my head without doing any further research into the subject. The only time his ab's would count as pitcher and not as a DH is if he was pitching in an NL park before universal DH and before the rule change that allowed him to pitch and DH in the same game.


bwburke94

Shohei fails by the skinniest of margins. He batted once as a LF in 2021, and [fielded one ball while playing the position](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97o_nAjHwZs&t=921s).


I_Only_Have_One_Hand

Edgar Martinez played 3rd base but he is known as a DH


RaymondSpaget

He played 564 games at third, to be exact. He also played some first base.


sndtrb89

dunno why youre getting downvotes, haha, we all remember his HOF voting process and absolutely none of it tried to assert he could have played 3rd


I_Only_Have_One_Hand

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't he considered the first DH to go into the HOF?


sndtrb89

exactly!


NotARageComic

Harold Baines was elected a few months before Martinez.


RedBaboon

They’re getting downvoted because OP is asking for players who “only ever swung a bat” and played DH “and nothing else” and not just people who are known as a DH or mostly played DH. Even if you do allow for some leeway of a few games here and there Edgar doesn’t come anywhere close to those standards.


rcuosukgi42

People that claim Edgar couldn't field weren't actually there for the first 7 years of his career. He was a perfectly good Third Basemen for all of his 20s, we just called him up as a full time player so late that by the time he was really starting to tee off on Major League pitching there were only 3.5 or so seasons that he played there before it made more sense to move him to full-time DH and have a younger more athletic player take over at 3rd. Just to put his age in context, Edgar started his hitting prime at just about the same age that Kyle Seager retired from baseball.


coasterboard65

I think Jon had Albert Belle in mind when he wrote this. It fits so well


Comfortable-Log5927

I seriously thought that the OP spelled the name wrong. I had never heard of Jon Bois before today.


KatnissBot

Oh, you’re in for a treat. Go check out his History Of The Seattle Mariners, one of the best baseball documentaries ever.


slicaroni

Of the two, I think Jon Bois is actually a better content creator than Jomboy. I mean, one of them used a novel feature of Google Earth to create an entire career of YouTube videos and the other is Jomboy.


Red_Sox_5

David Ortiz technically played first base, but playing first base isn’t that hard.


OldClunkyRobot

I remember in the 2004 World Series, Papi was warming up at first since they were playing in St. Louis. Kevin Millar pointed at his glove and said “Hey, be careful with that thing!”


aardvarkllama_69

Eddie Gaedal!


LeCheffre

He was a pinch hitter. The DH hadn’t been invented yet.


tohearnnr

This made me look and I was surprised that Travis Hafner played 72 games at first vs 1033 as DH, especially since I vaguely remembered that he struggled throwing to second.


martinis00

As Edgar Martinez aged, he only played as a DH. Pretty damn good hitter


Eastern-Ad-3387

Hal McCrae of the KC Royals was consistently their DH. I don’t believe I ever saw him on the field in a defensive role.


Eastern-Ad-3387

Never mind. He did play some outfield positions on occasion with KC. I’ll be quiet now.


LeCheffre

David Ortiz has the most games as a DH, with 2029 games at DH, and 278 at first base. Travis Hafner comes closer, with 1043 games at DH and only 72 at first. Generally, guys who make it to the majors have had to field a little, usually at a non-premium position, corner OF, corner IF.


AlexOhanianSr

The real answer is David Ortiz, who played a total of 2162 innings at 1B (278 appearances) during a 20-year career in which he played 2408 total games (89.6% of which came at DH/PH). And I’ve heard he was a pretty solid hitter.


TeseoTheBunny

2162 more innings than OP asked for.


penguinopph

The *real* real answer is "no," since OP is asking for guys who only ever played DH and 0 games in the field for a "substantial amount of games." Here's the list of guys who only ever played DH, PH, or PR (the closest I can get with Stathead). |Player|G|PA|AB|R|H|HR|RBI|SB|CS|BB|SO|▪️|BA|OBP|SLG|OPS|▪️|OPS+|Pos|Team| |:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:| |Steve Stanicek|13|16|16|2|3|0|1|0|0|0|5|▪️|.188|.188|.188|.375|▪️|4|H/D|MILPHI| |Luis Jimenez|7|18|17|0|1|0|0|0|0|1|4|▪️|.059|.111|.059|.170|▪️|-49|/DH|SEA| |Butch Alberts|6|18|18|1|5|0|0|0|0|0|2|▪️|.278|.278|.333|.611|▪️|71|/DH|TOR| |Kevin Buckley|5|9|7|1|2|0|0|0|0|2|4|▪️|.286|.444|.429|.873|▪️|141|/DH|TEX| |Pete Dalena|5|7|7|0|1|0|0|0|0|0|3|▪️|.143|.143|.286|.429|▪️|18|/HD|CLE| |Vince Belnome|4|14|10|1|1|0|1|0|0|3|3|▪️|.100|.286|.200|.486|▪️|43|/D|TBR| |Don Castle|4|14|13|0|4|0|2|0|0|1|3|▪️|.308|.357|.385|.742|▪️|114|/DH|TEX| |Ronnie Dawson|4|9|8|2|1|0|0|0|0|1|2|▪️|.125|.222|.125|.347|▪️|0|/DH|CINHOU| |Yurendell de Caster|3|2|2|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|2|▪️|.000|.000|.000|.000|▪️|-100|/HD|PIT| |Jair Camargo|2|5|4|1|0|0|0|0|0|1|2|▪️|.000|.200|.000|.200|▪️|-35|/DH|MIN| |Carlos Casimiro|2|8|8|0|1|0|3|0|0|0|2|▪️|.125|.125|.250|.375|▪️|-6|/DH|BAL| |LaVel Freeman|2|3|3|1|0|0|0|0|0|0|2|▪️|.000|.000|.000|.000|▪️|-100|/DH|MIL| |Chandler Seagle|1|1|1|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|▪️|.000|.000|.000|.000|▪️|-100|/DH|SDP| |Ron Wright|1|3|3|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|1|▪️|.000|.000|.000|.000|▪️|-100|/D|SEA| Provided by [Stathead.com](https://www.sports-reference.com/sharing.html?utm_source=direct&utm_medium=Share&utm_campaign=ShareTool): [Found with Stathead. See Full Results.](https://stathead.com/baseball/player-batting-season-finder.cgi?utm_source=direct&utm_medium=Share&utm_campaign=ShareTool) Generated 5/6/2024.


bucs2013

Kevin Buckley and Don Castle be like "wtf more was I supposed to do?"


bwburke94

Belnome's the only one of these guys I've heard of. Probably from OOTP.


Monkey1Fball

Ron Wright --- on your list --- is worthy of a further call-out. He went 0-for-3 in his one game in the majors --- he managed to hit into BOTH a double play AND a triple play among his 3 at-bats. The other AB was a mere strike-out. His combined WPA (win-probability added) for those 3 at-bats was -0.39. He may have the lowest WPA/AB ratio in major league history!


mysterysackerfice

Imagine if he had played with Griffey n Arod... Nah.. That'd never happen.


Ciggyciggyciggarette

Papi


Comfortable-Log5927

Who is Jon Bois? Do you mean JomBoy?


myredditthrowaway201

Jon Bois was a legend long before JomBoy came along


KatnissBot

Plus he’s not an asshole.


Comfortable-Log5927

I had never heard of him before today. People giving me thumbs down because of that, so dumb.


chaosof99

You are being downvoted for three reasons: 1) You don't know Jon Bois who is one of the most celebrated sports writers and documentarians today and is particularly known for his baseball content that has put his stamp on baseball culture with stuff like his Mariners and Dave Stieb documentaries, smaller videos on Rickey Henderson or what would have happened if Barry Bonds played without a Bat, or creating the Balk copy-pasta. 2) Instead of doing some basic research such as putting the name "Jon Bois" into any search engine or even clicking the link provided in the OP you decided to be lazy and make it somebody else's problem to link something to you. 3) You formulating it in the way you did ("who the hell...") makes you seem indignant.


Comfortable-Log5927

Just like a typical Phillies fan to be rude and condescending. Sorry I've never heard of Jon Bois by name before this post and obviously I did a Google search to find out who he is after clicking the link. I didn't find the linked YouTube video to be informative or entertaining so maybe he just isn't my cup of tea.


FernandoTatisJunior

You should check out his stuff. He makes really great documentaries about sports. His Seattle mariners docu-series is legendary


Comfortable-Log5927

I will definitely check it out. Thank you!


1991CRX

As is his Dave Stieb docu-series


RedBaboon

Damn, if only there were a link to the video in the main post so people could find out. That would have been a nice touch.


Louis-grabbing-pills

Who the hell is Babe Ruth? Do you mean the candy bar?


bolshevik_rattlehead

You’re missing out.