Call to the pen
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Best pinch hitters of all-time in MLB history

By Rick Soisson

DETROIT, MI - CIRCA 1970: Merv Rettenmund #14 of the Baltimore Orioles bats against the Detroit Tigers during an Major League Baseball game circa 1970 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Michigan. Rettenmund played for the Orioles from 1968-73. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
DETROIT, MI - CIRCA 1970: Merv Rettenmund #14 of the Baltimore Orioles bats against the Detroit Tigers during an Major League Baseball game circa 1970 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Michigan. Rettenmund played for the Orioles from 1968-73. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /
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best pinch hitters
MAY 4 1973; Down, but not Close to Being Out; Cliff Johnson of the Denver Bears dives safely back to first base to thwart a pick-off attempt during Thursday night’s Denver-Evansville game at Mile High Stadium. It was as close as Evansville got to getting Johnson out all night as the Bear slugger got five hits in five trips to the plate, scored five runs and batted in four. Bears resumed play for the first time since Sunday and hommered out 21 hits in defeating Evansville 17-1 for seventh win.; Denver Bears (Action); (Photo By Barry Staver/The Denver Post via Getty Images) /

3. Cliff Johnson

As Mike Goodpaster put it in 2016, “No player who has pinch-hit 300 times can come close to Johnson’s .876 OPS.” What is mildly interesting is Johnson’s ability to get on base and produce big hits only once translated into appearing more than 127 games in a season.

His overall OPS was a very decent .815, but the basic truth of Johnson’s career is that if it weren’t for the existence of the DH rule and his pinch-hitting, his career might well have been only six or seven years long. Instead, as he transitioned from an actual position player to DH and PH in the late ‘70s, he basically doubled the length of his career.

The philosophical argument for putting Johnson somewhere in the top three is as follows: The very best outcome of a pinch-hitter going to the plate, all things considered, is a home run.

Oh, the hitter’s team may be trailing badly, and one might argue that runners on base are needed, but a pinch hitter who provides a bomb never puts his team in a worse position. If need be, his team can send up a slap-hitting pinch hitter after his homer to start putting people on base.

Cliff Johnson held the record for PH home runs at 20 for 24 years after he retired.

best pinch hitters
WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 09: Matt Stairs #12 of the Washington Nationals at the plate against the Colorado Rockies at Nationals Park on July 9, 2011 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /

2. Matt Stairs

During and after the Phillies 2008 championship season, there were t-shirts in Philadelphia that read “In case of emergency, use Stairs.”

Stairs hung around long enough and played for enough teams to establish the current career pinch-hitting record for HRs, 23. And this total doesn’t include his vital homer for the eventual World Series champion Phillies off LA flamethrower Jonathan Broxton in the ’08 NLCS.

Somewhat ridiculous is the fact 15 of Stairs’ PH homers were hit between the ages of 38 and 42. Also, while he was a younger player and an outfielder, he displayed a pretty fine arm. He was ranked in the top five several times for DPs from the outfield or a particular OF position, and in 1999 was third in the AL with 13 OF assists.

Additionally, anyone who heard Stairs as a TV analyst in Philadelphia (and paid attention) can verify that this guy as thought long and hard about the act of putting a moving bat and a moving baseball together. This has led to his positions as hitting coach in both Philly and San Diego after his stint in the broadcast booth.

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