This series of articles (looking to do it bi-weekly) focuses on a bizzaro or oddball statistical anomaly that played in professional sports. I probably will run out of players to do this with eventually though. Nonetheless the first one involves a personal (yet silly) story.
When I was a kid I had a baseball book that seemed to just be random stories (I really don’t remember except there was a Christy Mathewson and Grover Cleveland Alexander story in there). One story seemed quite odd and interesting. It was about a track runner whom the Oakland A’s signed to just run the bases. He was the team’s “designated runner”. This is about Herb Washington.
Washington had tied track world records and was signed by the As in 1974. Oddly enough, according to Wiki, his contract required he grow facial hair (which he couldn’t quite do). The statistical oddity? Washington never had one at-bat in 105 career games. Never. He was a “pinch runner” (as his baseball card said) and would replace players who got on base. He stole 31 bases in his career. Unfortunately, his big moment was a bad one as he was picked off in the 9th inning of a World Series game.
Washington was released in 1975. He never went up to bat, played the field or anything. He just ran.
My personal story: I was playing the Sports Edition of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” with a friend of mine and this story came up as the $250,000 or $500,000 question. You would not believe how excited I got. Probably one of my best gaming moments ever.