Pinch Hitter Records by Baseball Almanac

Pinch Hitting Records

Baseball Almanac is pleased to present a record book full of baseball milestones for the pinch hitter position — including career pinch hitting at-bat records, single season pinch hitting home run records and game related pinch hitting records.

"In high school I took a little English, some science, some hubcaps and some wheel covers." - Career Leader for Pinch Hit At-Bats / Detroit Tigers outfielder Gates Brown

Pinch Hitters / Pinch Hitting Pinch Hitter Career Records
Record	Lg	Name(s)	Team(s)	Data
Most Pinch Hit At-Bats In A Career	AL	Gates Brown	Detroit	414	414
	NL	Lenny Harris	Cincinnati	220	804
			Los Angeles	136
			New York	136
			Colorado	56
			Arizona	28
			Milwaukee	72
			Chicago	32
			Florida	124
Most Pinch Hits In A Career	AL	Gates Brown	Detroit	107	107
	NL	Lenny Harris	Cincinnati	60	212
			Los Angeles	24
			New York	35
			Colorado	20
			Arizona	10
			Milwaukee	22
			Chicago	4
			Florida	37
Most Pinch Hit Grand Slams In A Career	AL	Ben Broussard	Cleveland	3	06-23-2004
			Cleveland		08-12-2004
			Seattle		04-21-2007
		Rich Reese	Minnesota		08-03-1969
			Minnesota		06-07-1970
			Minnesota		07-09-1972
	NL	Willie McCovey	San Francisco	3	06-12-1960
			San Francisco		09-10-1965
			San Diego		05-30-1975
		Ron Northey	St. Louis		09-03-1947
			St. Louis		05-30-1948
			Chicago		09-18-1950
Most Pinch Hit Home Runs In A Career (Bold Names = League Leaders)	AL	Gates Brown	Detroit	16	16
	NL	Jerry Lynch	Cincinnati	11	18
	NL	Jerry Lynch	Pittsburgh	7	18
	ML	Matt Stairs	Oakland	4	23
			Milwaukee	1
			Pittsburgh	2
			Kansas City	2
			Detroit	1
			Toronto	2
			Philadelphia	7
			San Diego	4
		Cliff Johnson	Houston	7	20
			New York [AL]	5
			Cleveland	1
			Chicago	3
			Oakland	1
			Toronto	3
Record	Lg	Name(s)	Team(s)	Data
Pinch Hitters / Pinch Hitting Single Season Pinch Hitting Records
Record	Lg	Name(s)	Team(s)	Data
Highest Batting Average In A Season by a Pinch Hitter (Minimum 30 At-Bats) (Pinch Hitters are .450 or higher) (Bold Names = League Leaders)	NL	Ed Kranepool	New York	.486	1974
	NL	Seth Smith	Colorado	.472	2009
	AL	Smead Jolley	Chicago	.467	1931
	NL	Frenchy Bordagaray	St. Louis	.465	1938
	AL	Rick Miller	Boston	.457	1983
	NL	Bill Spiers	Houston	.455	1997
	NL	Jorge Piedra	Colorado	.455	2005
	AL	Elmer Valo	Kansas City	.452	1955
	NL	Jose Pagan	Pittsburgh	.452	1969
	NL	Mark Johnson	Pittsburgh	.452	1996
	AL	Gates Brown	Detroit	.450	1968
Most Pinch-Hit At-Bats In A Season	AL	Dave Philley	Baltimore	72	1961
Most Pinch-Hit At-Bats In A Season	NL	Lenny Harris	New York	83	2001
Most Pinch Hit Games In A Season	AL	Elmer Valo	New York	81	1960
	AL	Elmer Valo	Washington	81	1960
	NL	Lenny Harris	New York	95	2001
Most Pinch Hits In A Season	AL	Dave Philley	Baltimore	24	1961
Most Pinch Hits In A Season	NL	John Vander Wal	Colorado	28	1995
Most Pinch Hits In A Season Consecutively	AL	Randy Bush	Minnesota	7	07-05-1991
		Randy Bush	Minnesota		08-19-1991
		Ross Gload	Chicago		07-02-2006
		Ross Gload	Chicago		09-03-2006
		Bill Stein	Texas		04-14-1981
		Bill Stein	Texas		05-25-1981
	NL	Dave Philley	Philadelphia	8	09-09-1958
		Dave Philley	Philadelphia		09-28-1958
		Rusty Staub	New York		06-11-1983
		Rusty Staub	New York		06-26-1983
Most Pinch Hit Home Runs In A Season 5+ Pinch Hit Home Runs in a Season Bold = League Records	NL	Dave Hansen	Los Angeles	7	2000
	NL	Craig Wilson	Pittsburgh	7	2001
	NL	Johnny Frederick	Brooklyn	6	1932
	AL	Joe Cronin	Boston	5	1943
	NL	Butch Nieman	Boston	5	1945
	NL	Gene Freese	Philadelphia	5	1959
	NL	Jerry Lynch	Cincinnati	5	1961
	NL	Cliff Johnson	Houston	5	1974
	NL	Lee Lacy	Los Angeles	5	1978
	NL	Jerry Turner	San Diego	5	1978
	NL	Billy Ashley	Los Angeles	5	1996
	NL	David Dellucci	Arizona	5	2001
	NL	Erubiel Durazo	Arizona	5	2001
	NL	Mark Sweeney	Colorado	5	2004
	NL	Matt Stairs	Philadelphia	5	2009
Most Pinch Hit Runs Batted In In A Season	AL	Joe Cronin	Boston	25	1943
	NL	Jerry Lynch	Cincinnati	25	1961
	NL	Rusty Staub	New York	25	1983
Most Pinch Hitter Walks In A Season	AL	Elmer Valo	New York	18	1960
	AL	Elmer Valo	Washington	18	1960
	NL	Matt Franco	New York	20	1999
Record	Lg	Name(s)	Team(s)	Data
Pinch Hitters / Pinch Hitting Records

The major league record for pinch-hit home runs during a doubleheader is two and its only been accomplished twice: Joe Cronin with the Boston Red Sox on June 17, 1943 and Hal Breeden with the Montreal Expos on July 13, 1973 (Game 1 box score | Game 2 box score).

The following players have been called into a game and hit a pinch-hit home run during their first ever Major League at-bat:

American League
Ace Parker	Philadelphia	04-30-1937	9th Inning
John Kennedy	Washington	09-05-1962	6th Inning
Gates Brown	Detroit	06-19-1963	5th Inning
Bill Roman	Detroit	09-30-1964	7th Inning
Brant Alyea	Washington	09-12-1965	6th Inning
Joe Keough	Oakland	08-07-1968	8th Inning
Al Woods	Toronto	04-07-1977	5th Inning

National League
Eddie Morgan	St. Louis	04-14-1936	7th Inning
Les Layton	New York	05-21-1948	9th Inning
Ted Tappe	Cincinnati	09-14-1950	8th Inning
Chuck Tanner	Milwaukee	04-12-1955	8th Inning
Marlon Anderson	Philadelphia	09-08-1998	7th Inning
Gene Stechschulte	St. Louis	04-17-2001	6th Inning
John Hester	Arizona	08-28-2009	6th Inning

Did you know that three teams have used a record leading nine pinch-hitters during a nine-inning game and all three were National League teams? Those teams were the Los Angeles Dodgers (versus the St. Louis Cardinals on September 22, 1959), the Montreal Expos (versus the Pittsburgh Pirates on September 5, 1975), and the Atlanta Braves (versus the Montreal Expos on September 21, 1993).

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