John Oldham (baseball)

John Oldham

Pinch runner

Born: November 6, 1932
Salinas, California

Batted: Right

Threw: Right

MLB debut

September 2, 1956, for the Cincinnati Redlegs

Last MLB appearance

September 2, 1956, for the Cincinnati Redlegs

MLB statistics

Games played

At bats

Teams

Cincinnati Redlegs (1956)

John Hardin Oldham (born November 6, 1932) is a former Major League Baseball player. Although he was a pitcher during all of his professional career, Oldham's only MLB appearance came as a pinch runner for the Cincinnati Redlegs in the 1956 season; he is one of only two pitchers (the other being Larry Yount) who appeared in a major league game without throwing a single pitch.

College

Oldham was a three-year letterwinner at San Jose State University, from 1952 through 1954. A member of the school's Hall of Fame,^[1] Oldham still holds the Spartans' career and single-season records for strikeouts and walks; he also ranks among the school's top ten for career wins, and career and single-season innings pitched.^[2]

Professional

Oldham was signed by the Redlegs out of San Jose State University in 1954 as a pitcher. He spent that season with the minor league Columbia Reds of the South Atlantic League. In 1955, he pitched for the Seattle Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League, where he had a record of 9-6 and an earned run average of 3.84.

Despite not appearing in a single minor league game in 1956 (due to an injury), the Redlegs called Oldham up in September. On September 2, 1956, he entered the game against the Chicago Cubs in the third inning at Crosley Field in Cincinnati as a pinch runner for Ted Kluszewski, who himself had pinch-hit for third baseman Alex Grammas. The next batter popped out and Oldham was replaced on defense by Rocky Bridges.^[3] Although he pitched for three more seasons in the minors, his MLB career was over.

Oldham batted right and threw left-handed, which was itself unusual: as of 2015, only 553 players in MLB history (about 3% of all players) hit right and threw left, with Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson probably the best known.

Coaching

From 1985-97, Oldham coached the Broncos of Santa Clara University, leading them to four NCAA appearances and three West Coast Conference championships. His final record at Santa Clara was 433-324-6, a .571 winning percentage.

References

External links

Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)

Santa Clara Broncos head baseball coaches

Unknown (1883)
No team (1884–1888)
Unknown (1889)
No team (1890)
Unknown (1891–1896)
Billy Hulen (1897)
Joseph Corbett (1898)
Joseph Corbett & Jay Hughes (1899)
Billy Hulen (1900)
Charlie Graham (1901)
Unknown (1902)
Joseph Corbett & Charlie Graham (1903)
Nick Williams (1904)
Wallace Bray (1905)
Unknown (1906)
Jimmy Byrnes (1907)
Unknown (1908)
Tom Kelly (1909–1910)
Bob McHale (1911)
Unknown (1912)
Patsy O'Rourke (1913)
Harry Wolter (1914–1915)
Mike Fitzgerald (1916)
Tubby Spencer (1917–1918)
Joe Aurrecoechea (1919–1920)
Robert E. Harmon (1921)
Joe Aurrecoechea (1922–1923)
Eddie Kienholz (1924)
Sam Agnew & Charley Scherf (1925)
Sam Agnew (1926)
Mike Fitzgerald (1927–1929)
Marv Owen (1930)
Walter Mails (1931–1933)
Mike Fitzgerald (1935–1939)
Len Casanova (1940–1942)
Neil Reese (1943)
No team (1944–1945)
John J. Cottrell (1946–1951)
Bill Prentice (1952–1953)
Chuck Bedolla (1954–1957)
Bill Leonard (1958–1960)
John J. Cottrell (1961–1964)
Sal Taormina (1965–1979)
Al Endriss (1980)
Jerry McClain (1981–1984)
John Oldman (1985–1997)
Mike Cummins (1998–2001)
Mark O'Brien (2002–2011)
Dan O'Brien (2012– )

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, January 02, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.