Herb Washington: Designated Pinch Runner

I've been looking through a publication produced in 2007 by "The Society for American Baseball Research" (you know them as SABR), called The SABR Baseball List & Record Book. Today I ran across an interesting piece of information; between 1974 and 1975, Herb Washington, who played for the Athletics, appeared in 105 different games, and stole a total of 30 bases, but never actually logged a plate appearance, or played in the field.

The first thing I thought was: "Wierd. How the heck is it possible to keep a guy on the roster long enough to play 105 games in two years, but never hit? Or play anywhere on defense? Wouldn't he have had to do something else?"

Then it clicked in my head - the rosters were the same size in 1974 and 1975 (25 players), but teams were using 4-5 man rotations, and only carried 10 pitchers. That means that clubs had 5 or 6 position player subs (depending on whether it was an AL or NL team), not the 3 or 4 that are generally available today, with most teams carrying 12 pitchers. There was enough space on those rosters to do some interesting things.

I had actually heard of Washington several times before (from my father), but he was a little before my time, so I did some research. It turns out he was a world-class sprinter in the 1970's; a 4-time All American at Michigan State University. He at one point held world indoor track records in both the 50- and 60-yard dashes (5.0 and 5.8 seconds, respectively).

A's owner Charlie Finley signed him as the team's "designated pinch runner" prior to the 1974 season, and he filled that role in '74 (when Oakland won the World Series) and through early '75. He could obviously fly, but supposedly wasn't that great a basestealer... Washington played baseball in high-school, but not in college, and lacked professional-level baseball skills. A good example: while pinch-running for Joe Rudi in game two of the 1974 Series, he got picked off first base in a crucial ninth-inning situation by Dodgers' reliever Mike Marshall. Not exactly Dave Roberts-esque.

Cool Notes - According to Wikipedia, Washington's 1975 Topps baseball card is the only card ever released that used the term "pinch runner" to describe a player's primary position. And according to SABR (list # 014), Washington is the only non-pitcher in Major League history with more than 100 games played, and 0 plate apperances.

List # 014 - More Career Games Played than Plate Apperances by Non-Pitchers, since 1900 (min. 100 G)

• Matt Alexander (1973-1981), 374 G, 195 PA
• Charles Gipson (1998-2005), 373 G, 258 PA
• Glen Barker (1999-2001), 235 G, 197 PA
• Jack Reed (1961-1963), 222 G, 144 PA
• Allan Lewis (1967-1973), 156 G, 31 PA
• Ross Moschitto (1965, 1967), 110 G, 39 PA
• Herb Washington (1974-1975), 105 G, 0 PA