Which prompts another question, has a converted pitcher ever played a position besides the outfield?

There have been a bunch of pitcher/first basemen, but I guess it does seem that they're mostly outfielders. Let's see. ..how many of those guys can we name? Bobby Darwin, Willie Smith, Johnny Cooney, Bob Smith, Ruth, Rube Bressler, Wood, Jack Bentley. ..too many to name in that generation; we should stick to post-1950. Jeffcoat, Hartung. I think George Crowe, who hit 31 homers for Cincinnati in 1957, may have been a pitcher in the Negro Leagues; certainly his teammate Bob Thurman was. A guy named Bart Johnson tried to make the transition, but failed, and. .who was the guy who was a replacement player in the '94 strike, later switched to the outfield and played for the Twins?

Anyone know who the Twins player is?

Phillies reliever Joe Savery briefly converted to 1B. Micah Owings could be headed that way. Adam Loewen played some 1B in the minors, but was an OF (and pitcher) in the big leagues.

Ron Mahay was a scab OF in the '94 strike, later converted to pitcher and finished his career with the Twins. I wonder if BJ has it backwards (seems to be a recent theme)

As an r.f. engineer I have to wonder what component of a baseball reflects microwaves sufficiently in order to obtain any reading on a RADAR gun, let alone a reliable one. There's not much mass there to start with. It's either cork, string, or leather, none of which reflect radio energy very well. Obviously, the metal of your vehicle does the best job, but there aint no metal in a baseball last time I checked.

I wouldn't be surprised if the pitcher's hand, comprised mostly of water as our bodies are, is what is reflecting most of the energy back to the gun. If so, that's gotta be the most accurate pitch release speed available.

I spent a pleasant hour throwing softballs past a portable speed gun by the side of the road in a small town one day several years ago. It was one of these signs on wheels with a big numerical display that had been parked near a school to remind drivers how fast they were going. Never imagined it would register something as small as a thrown ball until I tried it, but it worked like a charm.

I have a question about saves; not necessarily for Bill James...

How did Hanrahan get a save for Pitt today (sun)? He comes in w/ 2 outs and 2 on in the ninth, Pirates up by 4. He gets the final out and a save. So the tying run just has to come to the on deck circle? Sorry I could not think of another place to post this.

Yes, if the tying run is on deck, it's a save situation.

10.19 SAVES FOR RELIEF PITCHERS
A save is a statistic credited to a relief pitcher, as set forth in this Rule 10.19.
The official scorer shall credit a pitcher with a save when such pitcher meets all four
of the following conditions:
(a) He is the finishing pitcher in a game won by his team;
(b) He is not the winning pitcher;
(c) He is credited with at least 1/3 of an inning pitched; and
(d) He satisfies one of the following conditions:
(1) He enters the game with a lead of no more than three runs and pitches for at
least one inning;
(2) He enters the game, regardless of the count, with the potential tying run either
on base, or at bat or on deck (that is, the potential tying run is either already on
base or is one of the first two batters he faces); or
(3) He pitches for at least three innings.

Kid Gleason is the most obvious case of a pitcher converting to a non-outfield / non- first base position. He converted from several years at pitcher to many years at second base. - Brock Hanke

Red Sox reliever the other day said that he got “Peskied”, meaning that he gave up a short home run to right on a ball that wouldn’t have gone out anywhere else.

Better than saying he got "poled".

I spent a pleasant hour throwing softballs past a portable speed gun by the side of the road in a small town one day several years ago. It was one of these signs on wheels with a big numerical display that had been parked near a school to remind drivers how fast they were going. Never imagined it would register something as small as a thrown ball until I tried it, but it worked like a charm.

I'm guessing you hadn't seen The Rookie. Good to know the scene where Dennis Quaid did that wasn't entirely bogus.

Kid Gleason is the most obvious case of a pitcher converting to a non-outfield / non- first base position. He converted from several years at pitcher to many years at second base. - Brock Hanke

There are probably more examples from the Negro Leagues but the one that comes immediately to mind is Jose Mendez. He was primarily a pitcher from 1907 to 1915 and then mostly a shortstop from 1916 to 1923, though like most players in the Negro Leagues, he moved around the diamond a lot (seamheads gives him one reason in RF and another at 3B, as well as those at P or SS).

Stetson Allie (Pirates "Prospect") just moved from pitcher to 3B.

I'm guessing you hadn't seen The Rookie. Good to know the scene where Dennis Quaid did that wasn't entirely bogus.

Man, I love that scene. It was just so corny and absurd and loveable.

Come to think of it, didn't John Montgomery Ward go from pitcher to SS? IIRC I think James did a writeup on him in The Politics of Glory...

Come to think of it, didn't John Montgomery Ward go from pitcher to SS? IIRC I think James did a writeup on him in The Politics of Glory...

Yep. It's mentioned in Mike Sowell's book on Ed Delahanty, which I read just a few weeks ago.