MLB History: Five Oldest Pitchers to Hit a Homerun
Bartolo Colon made headlines for hitting his first career home run over the weekend. However, he is not the oldest pitcher to put one out of the park. Let’s look at the oldest pitchers to hit a home run in MLB history.
Pitchers hitting in baseball is one of the most controversial acts in the game today. Fans and players are divided into two camps, one saying they should and the other saying they shouldn’t. No matter which side of the aisle you fall on, you can’t deny that watching Bartolo Colon hit is one of the most entertaining things in the game today.
With his first ever home run, Big Sexy has become the fifth oldest pitcher to hit a home run since 1913.
Check out this slide show to find out more about the five oldest pitchers to hit home runs in the history of the MLB.
Next: Bartolo Colon
5) Bartolo Colon
Colon has been the source of joy for Mets fans ever since he came to Flushing in the winter of 2014. His attitude on and off the field is reminiscent of a young child playing little league for the first time. Everything he does is done with an aura of joy and exuberance.
The best part of having Colon on the Met’s has been seeing him at the plate. In his first year with the Met’s, he struggled at the plate but never failed to entertain baseball fans everywhere. Almost every at-bat featured a monster hack by Big Sexy that made his helmet, which never seemed to sit well on his head, to fall off or rotate and momentarily cover his eyes.
It was truly a comedy of errors when Big Bart was at the plate.
It wasn’t until 2015 that Colon came into himself at the plate and had a career high eight hits and four RBI’s. Expectations for Colon were high coming into this season and up until recently, he has not produced any offence.
This all changed, when on May 7, 2016, Bartolo Colon became the fifth oldest pitcher to hit a home run at the age of 42 years, 11 months and 13 days.
This feat will forever be remembered by Gary Cohen’s incredible call:
Next: Warren Spahn
4) Warren Spahn
Spahn began his career in 1942 with the Boston Braves as a starting pitcher. Before he could get his feet wet and become established in the league, he enlisted in the US Army and served for three years before getting back into baseball.
When he did return to baseball in 1946, his hitting ability did not take long to show and almost equal his pitching ability. In 1948, Spahn hit his first home run at the age of 27 from there, everything was cake. Each subsequent year, Spahn hit at least one home run and collected at least 10 hits. In addition to procuring hits in his at bats, Spahn also became versed at drawing the occasional walk. In his career, he totaled 94 with a career high of nine in 1965.
In his career, Spahn collected 363 hits and 35 home runs with career highs of 36 hits in 1958 and four home runs in 1955.
Spahn did not stop helping himself at the plate with just singles however. In his career, he totaled a respectable 189 RBI’s with a career high in 1958 and 1961 with 15 RBI’s a piece in each season.
On July 22, 1964 Warren Spahn hit his last Major League home run at the age of 43 years, 2 months and 19 days.
Next: Phil Niekro
3) Phil Niekro
Coincidentally, Niekro made his Major League debut the same season Spahn hit his final home run.
Niekro debuted on April 15, 1964 with the Milwaukee Braves. Niekro’s time in the league was bumpy to start out, he did not get regular playing time until his fourth year, 1967, when the club had moved to Atlanta. The next year, Niekro’s bat got hit and he hit two home runs in the 1968 season.
Niekro wasn’t only a long ball threat, he also consistently put up 15+ hits for his club. In fact, Niekro’s hitting ability shined when he was just getting dinky singles and the occasional double. Following his two home run season, Niekro was only able to muster a total of five more home runs in his long career.
For his career, Niekro totaled 260 hits with 42 doubles and a lone triple. He totaled a respectable seven home runs on his time in the majors. In contrast to other pitchers on this list, Niekro was not versed in the art of drawing walks and totaled just 17 in his 24-year career.
Niekro’s final home run came in his last game of 1982 on October 1. In his complete game shutout victory over the San Diego Padres, Niekro was aged 43 years and 6 months.
Next: Dazzy Vance
2) Dazzy Vance
Vance is the first of the two really old time players on this list.
Vance made his debut on April 16, 1915 with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Before he could be acclimated to the steel city however, he was traded to the city that never sleeps with the New York Yankees. After a disastrous start with the former Highlanders, Vance took a hiatus from baseball until 1918. His time with the club in ’18 proved to be even more disastrous. In just 2.1 innings pitched, he accumulated an ERA of 15.43. After a dismal start to his career, Vance took another hiatus and did not return to baseball until 1922 with the Brooklyn Robins.
His time with the Robins proved to be much more successful, both on the mound and at the plate. In his first season, Vance accumulated a stellar 20 hits. His hitting success carried over into his second season with the Robins, in which Vance smacked his first home run as a major leaguer.
Vance’s final home run as a major leaguer came in his penultimate season.
On September 12, 1934, Dazzy Vance hit his seventh and final major league home run. He was aged 43 years, 6 months and 8 days.
Next: Jack Quinn
1) Jack Quinn
Of all the players on this list, Quinn is the oldest.
Born on July 1, 1883, Quinn made his Major League debut at the age of 25 with the New York Highlanders.
Quinn began his home run hitting ways in his third season with the Highlanders, by hitting a single home run in the 1911 season. He would not hit another until 1914 when he was a part of the Baltimore Terrapins organization in the Federal League.
Following two years in the Federal League with the Terrapins, Quinn took some time off from baseball.
When he returned to the league, Quinn was a part of the Chicago White Sox for a year then he went back to his first team, the newly renamed, Yankees. After a stretch of three seasons from 1920 to 1923 in which he hit four home runs total, his bat cooled off until 1930 in which he hit his eighth and final Major League home run.
Next: Top five shortstops in baseball
On June 27, 1930, Jack Quinn hit a home run in a game as a part of the Philadelphia Athletics. His final home run in baseball came at the age of 46 years, 10 months and 26 days.