The dumbest loss in Giants history?
In the recently published profile of v26 Club member Candy Maldonado, we examined two-thirds of this graphic from the back of his 1988 Topps Big card. Remarkably, the part that didn’t warrant conversation was about Candy’s back-to-back pinch homers in 1986. The home runs in question came during a weekend set between the Padres and Giants in San Diego and neither of them were ledgers.
The first of these homers came on Friday, April 25, 1986, as Maldonado pinch hit for reliever Mark Davis in the top of the eighth. His solo shot narrowed the Padres lead to two, but the Giants didn’t muster more runs in the inning.
Maldonado did not play in the Saturday game, but once again found himself pinch hitting in the top of the eighth in Sunday’s game. He hit a two-run blast this time which gave the Giants their first runs of the game. Topps, you’ve been fact checked, and you passed (although Maldonado’s process in getting their wasn’t a straight line).
But something about the play-by-play account for Friday’s game caught my eye. The Giants mounted a comeback in the ninth thanks to a series of singles, walks, and a sacrifice fly, mostly off Goose Gossage, that tied the game at seven all. The Padres couldn’t answer in the bottom of the ninth.
The scored remained knotted at seven through the tenth and eleventh frames. Robby Thompson of the Giants broke the tie with an RBI single in the top of the twelfth. This game would stand in contrast to a game that would be played later this year and was our first Club Chronicle where the managers were swapping players to the point where they swapped more than any two teams had swapped before. This game was slightly more conservative.
Another familiar v26 face was due up for the Padres in the bottom of the twelfth. Graig Nettles stood in and promptly re-tied the game at eight with a home run (not a ledger). Gary Templeton was up next and he grounded out to first base. Next up was the pitcher’s spot. While this would have been an excellent spot to pinch hit, manager Jack McKeon sent out Craig Lefferts to hit for himself.
Lefferts was 8-for-39 for his career up to that point. He had never hit a home run. But with a swing as awkward as anyone could muster, Lefferts sent a ball sailing over the right field wall. That was a walk-off winner, the only home run of Lefferts’ career, and of course, a ledger.
Craig Lefferts is the last pitcher to hit a walk-off home run. It has not happened again in 38 seasons and had only happened about 25 times prior. The chances of it happening again are quite slim and the best hope sits with Shohei Ohtani or similar two-way players.
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It’s the 30-year anniversary of one of the dumbest losses in Giants history
30 years ago, Craig Lefferts of the Padres did something no pitcher has done since
WATCH
And in an interesting coincidence, there’s another MLB.com video featuring both Candy Maldonado and Craig Lefferts: Lefferts Closes Bullpen Door.
Al Michaels fails to clarify in the clip that this somehow wasn’t ruled anything but a plain ol’ double (despite color commentator Tim McCarver’s half-kidding protestation it should be a ground rule home run). [Double to RF (Line Drive to Deep 1B) per BBREF]
Prior to Lefferts, twenty-three pitchers had hit walk-off home runs, but not all of them were ledgers. Per Stathead, here’s the list since 1912 which includes the date, player, team and opposing team, opposing pitcher, and inning. Home runs were ledgers unless otherwise indicated:
September 11, 1919 – Ferdie Schupp, St. Louis Cardinals vs Brooklyn Robins (Leon Cadore, b9). This would be Schupp’s only career home run and was an inside-the-park hit.
May 31, 1920 (Game 1) – Grover Alexander, Chicago Cubs vs Cincinnati Reds (Ray Fisher, b10). Not a ledger. Alexander beat up on Cincinnati Reds pitching in his career with this being the fourth home run the Hall of Famer hit against them.
August 5, 1922 (Game 2) – Leon Cadore, Brooklyn Robins vs Cincinnati Reds (Pete Donohue, b10). Cadore obviously wanted in on the action after allowing the walk-off to Schupp in 1919. Fun fact, Schupp gave up Cadore’s first home run in 1920.
August 29, 1925 – Jack Bentley, New York Giants vs St. Louis Cardinals (Art Reinhart, b11) One of seven career home runs.
May 25, 1926 – George Uhle, Cleveland Indians vs St. Louis Browns (Win Ballou, b11) One of nine career home runs.
April 14, 1933 – Red Ruffing, New York Yankees vs Boston Red Sox (Bob Weiland, b9) Not a ledger. Ruffing had one previous home run against the Red Sox. This home run was a grand slam, the only one of the bunch.
August 22, 1934 – Wes Ferrell, Boston Red Sox vs Chicago White Sox (Les Tietje, b10) Not a ledger. Ferrell was an accomplished batter and had four home runs against the White Sox prior to 1934. Even if he didn’t have those four, this was the second home run Ferrell hit in this game, which makes it not a ledger.
July 22, 1935 – Wes Ferrell, Boston Red Sox vs St. Louis Browns (Dick Coffman, b9) Not a ledger, again. Ferrell hit the Browns even better than he did the White Sox. He had seven previous home runs against the Browns. The previous day (July 21, 1935) Ferrell had a walk-off too. This one was against the Tigers and was Ferrell pinch hitting, not pitching. It was also not a ledger.
August 6, 1935 – Dizzy Dean, St. Louis Cardinals vs Cincinnati Reds (Emmett Nelson, b10) Not a ledger. Dizzy had a single previous home run against the Reds.
September 2, 1935 (Game 1) – Jack Wilson, Boston Red Sox vs Washington Nationals (Phil Hensiek, b11) This was his first of three career home runs. The other two came in the same game on June 16, 1946.
June 7, 1946 – Claude Passeau, Chicago Cubs vs Brooklyn Dodgers (Joe Hatten, b9) Not a ledger. Passeau had one previous home run against the Dodgers.
May 24, 1947 – Dizzy Trout, Detroit Tigers vs Chicago White Sox (Gordon Maltzberger, b10) Not a ledger. Trout had two previous home runs against the White Sox and hit twenty home runs in his career.
September 11, 1947 (Game 1) – Kirby Higbe, Pittsburgh Pirates vs Boston Braves (Johnny Sain, b13). This was Higbe’s second career home run of three.
August 23, 1948 – Harry Gumbert, Cincinnati Reds vs Philadelphia Phillie (Schoolboy Rowe, b10) This was the last of five career home runs.
August 27, 1948 – Kirby Higbe, Pittsburgh Pirates vs Philadelphia Phillies (Dutch Leonard, b9). Not a ledger. Higbe’s first career home run had come against the Phillies. This home run is also notable because it does not show up in Stathead because a play-by-play account of the game is not available. It was only because of his September 1947 walk-off that this one was found in his BBREF Home Run Log.
May 30, 1957 (Game 1) – Lou Sleater, Detroit Tigers vs Kansas City Athletics (Wally Burnette, b10) This was Sleater’s first career home run and one of four ledgers.
September 5, 1957 – Bob Grim, New York Yankees vs Boston Red Sox (Willard Nixon, b9) This was Grim’s second career home run, which was sandwiched by home runs against the White Sox.
September 6, 1957 – Dixie Howell, Chicago White Sox vs Kansas City Athletics (Wally Burnette, b9). This was the last of his five career home runs.
May 26, 1958 – Murry Dickson, Kansas City Athletics vs Baltimore Orioles (Arnie Portocarrero, b10) This was the last of three career home runs for Dickson.
August 25, 1960 – Glen Hobbie, Chicago Cubs vs Pittsburgh Pirates (Vinegar Bend Mizell, b9). The first of four career home runs. Hobbie would hit two in a game vs St. Louis on July 2, 1961.
June 6, 1963 – Lindy McDaniel, Chicago Cubs vs San Francisco Giants (Billy Pierce, b10) The second of three career home runs.
September 21, 1966 – Juan Marichal, San Francisco Giants vs Pittsburgh Pirates (Roy Face, b9). This was the second of four home runs in the Hall of Famer’s career.
June 19, 1967 (Game 1) – Steve Hargan, Cleveland Indians vs Kansas City Athletics (Chuck Dobson, b9). This was Hargan’s only career home run.
May 10, 1969 – Jim Hardin, Baltimore Orioles vs Kansas City Royals (Moe Drabowsky, b9). The was the first of three career home runs.
April 25, 1986 – Craig Lefferts, San Diego Padres vs San Francisco Giants (Greg Minton, b12). This was the only home run of Lefferts’s career.
