A broken finger had sidelined Clark Griffith, the staff ace. Stomach trouble had put the kibosh on Jimmy Callahan, a two-time 20-game winner. As for Jack Katoll, the right-hander had been suspended for throwing a ball at an umpire. Enter Frank Dupee.

Desperate for short-term pitching help, player-manager Griffith had summoned the former seminarian from a minor league team in Maine to start the Aug. 24, 1901, game for the Chicago White Stockings, who in this inaugural season of the American League held a one-game lead over the Boston Americans.

For Dupee, a 24-year-old right-hander from Vermont, the game against John McGraw’s Orioles marked both the beginning and the end of his big league career. Perhaps befitting an emergency starter whose preparation had amounted to 13 games in the New England League, the game—and so the career—neither started nor ended well. Facing a trio of .300 hitters to begin the bottom of the first inning, Dupee walked all three. Skipper Griffith promptly removed him, and Dupee looked on as each runner scored.

Dupee would pitch 13 more years in the minors but never would return to The Show. His major league ledger: 0.0 innings pitched, 0-1 record, an ERA of infinity.

Dupee is not alone. At the start of 2017, 526 pitchers had been credited with a single major league mound appearance. “A cup of coffee,” of course, is what each is said to have had. And so, henceforth, each will be called a Sipper. It is not an insult. Each achieved what 90 percent of minor leaguers haven’t. He made it to the majors, if only for 15 minutes of infamy.

(They share the distinction with 363 position players; we’ll deal with them another time.)

For most of the one-time-only pitchers, the common denominator is easily summarized: HELP! Owing to rainouts, back-to-back doubleheaders, injuries, illnesses, suspensions or any other source of a temporary pitching deficit, the need for immediate mound help began as early as the 1880s and continues to this day. So pitching-deprived were the 1888 Nationals that they gave 40-year-old Civil War veteran John Greening a shot on the mound. As it stands, contemporary pitchers like Tayron Guerrero, who worked two innings for San Diego in 2016, share space with Greening–and Carl Spongberg.

In July of 1908, Spongberg joined the defending World Series champion Cubs from the unlikeliest of teams: the Ogden Lobsters of the independent Utah State League. Acting on a word-of-mouth recommendation, Cubs manager Frank Chance had signed Spongberg, sight unseen, to a $300-a-month contract. Behind Mordecai Brown, Ed Reulbach and Orval Overall, the Cubs rotation was thin. In the midst of a long road trip, Chicago needed help.

The call came earlier than expected, when on Aug. 1 the Boston Doves exploded for seven first-inning runs and manager Chance inserted Spongberg, fresh of a cross-country train, to begin the second inning. He got pounded, yielding eight hits, seven walks, two hits-by-pitch and seven earned runs in seven innings of the Chicago defeat. The Cubs, ultimately to repeat as World Series champs, gave Spongberg his unconditional release three days later. He would never play pro ball again.

What remains is a sharp reminder of the way early teams often acquired players. In the days prior to large scouting departments and video footage, teams often relied on first-hand reports of pitchers they had never seen perform–pitchers, indeed, whose debuts were essentially auditions.

In 1906, the Senators sent second baseman Larry Schlafly home to Ohio to recuperate from malaria. There, Schlafly took in a few Canton Chinamen games and came away impressed by pitcher Willy Wilson. Acting on Schlafly’s endorsement, manager Jake Stahl added Wilson to his late-season collection of mound prospects, and on Oct. 6, Wilson got the nod in the second game of the season-ending doubleheader. The righty pitched well in his trial, as much an audition for 1907 as a capper for 1906, by yielding two earned runs in a game called after seven innings. Despite his showing, however, Wilson never returned to the majors, less a victim of injury and wildness than of his chronic bout with the bottle.

Auditions also took the form of casting calls. Endeavoring to balance their books, many early-20th-century teams spared no dime for player development. Instead, they scoured amateur and semipro leagues for talent and invited players to try out. In 1922, the Indians conducted a group audition by bringing in 19 local players for a series of exhibitions. Then on Sept. 21, versus the Red Sox, one of the newcomers, Doc Hamann, got his big league opportunity. He failed, yielding six runs without recording an out.

A half-century later, in 1976, the Braves gave 24-year-old Al Autry a chance following a rare double rain-out in Los Angeles, which necessitated consecutive doubleheaders. Autry pitched okay, yielding four hits and three earned runs in five innings, but after manager Dave Bristol removed him, Autry never returned to a major league mound.

Joe Cleary? He got his shot, in 1945, due to five straight doubleheaders.

A Hardball Times Update by Rachael McDaniel Goodbye for now.

Still, consecutive twin bills are rare, and one upshot is that injury and overuse have remained the primary drivers of short-term pitching deficiencies. In 1885, the Grays’ John Foley got his chance because Charley “Old Hoss” Radbourn had thrown 678.2 innings the previous season. Larry Hesterfer got his chance, in 1901, because overworked Giants ace Christy Mathewson had an ailing shoulder–and, yes, because of consecutive doubleheaders.

When it came to overworking pitchers, late-19th- and early-20th-century teams hardly helped themselves. In 1902, after filling two open dates with exhibition games that went 15 and 13 innings, the Cleveland Bronchos invited five area pitchers for tryouts. One, Ginger Clark, earned a roster spot, and on Aug. 10 he got his shot, pitching six relief innings and surrendering four earned runs. Not bad, but it wasn’t good enough. When the Bronchos departed for a 12-game trip, they left Ginger in Cleveland.

Though abandoned, Clark would have the company of 525 men.

…

Some were September call-ups. Several had token appearances in the final week. Some remained on the roster after their lone showing but never pitched for the team again. Others, for all intents and purposes, were left on the station platform. Whatever the circumstances of his one appearance, each fits squarely in the rank of Coffee Sipper. But each, no doubt, has a tale all his own. In the most cynical view, he was a warm body with a functioning arm. In the most optimistic, he had a chance to continue his major league career.

In Numbers

Among the 526 pitchers, 182 were starters.

Seventy-seven pitched complete games.

Twenty-eight earned victories. Eleven posted saves.

Fourteen faced two batters, one faced one, and one faced zero.

Seventeen posted ERAs of infinity.

Four posted ERAs below infinity but above 100.

Six finished without an official ERA.

Unknown Lewis—not his given name, mind you—yielded a Sipper-high 20 earned runs in his three innings in 1890. In 1912, Allan Travers yielded 24 total runs, the all-time Sipper high. Travers, who got the start in Detroit’s notorious replacement-player game, also yielded the most hits, 26.

No Sipper has thrown a complete-game shutout.

Two reached double digits in innings pitched. In 1913, Hal Schwenk pitched his Browns to an 11-inning victory over the White Sox. And in Cincinnati’s final game of 1920, Monty Swartz suffered a 12-inning loss to the Cardinals.

Two managed a high of eight strikeouts, but both—Washington’s Art Thompson in 1884 and Boston’s Bob Dresser in 1902—lost their starts.

Two issued 10 walks. For Chris Haughey, it came on his 18th birthday.

At least four Sippers—Dave Bennett, Mike Darr, Tom Fletcher and Clarence Heise—fathered big leaguers. The sons—Erik Bennett, Mike Darr, Darrin Fletcher and Jim Heise—played 1,443 more games than their fathers.

At least two were multisport stars. The 6-foot-4 Shorty Desjardien played professional football and basketball. In addition to his game for baseball’s Browns, Bob Fitzke played for the NFL’s Frankford Yellow Jackets in 1925.

New Ulm, Minn., spawned two Sippers—Fred Bruckbauer and Doc Hamann—who ended their careers with infinite ERAs.

Two Sippers were named Mike Schultz. They pitched their games exactly 60 years apart to the day, the first Mike Schultz yielding two earned runs in two innings on April 20, 1947, the second Mike Schultzzero runs in one inning on April 20, 2007.

Among the 526 pitchers, seven were named Red, four Doc, three Lefty, two Harley, two Slim, and one each of Tink, Twink, Babe, Goat, Buck, Buckshot, Farmer, Rusty, Razor, Skip, Cy, Katsy, Axel, Chief, Heinie, Woody, Shorty, Dusty, Dizzy, Dixie, Squire, Con, Ginger, Flame and Steamboat.

And one more thing: If you want your offspring to avoid becoming a Sipper, do not name the child Rufus. The only two players in major league history named Rufus—Meadows, in 1926; and Rufus Smith, in 1927—pitched just one game.

Remember that one pitcher who faced one batter? Yep, Rufus Meadows.

In Words

On April 23, 1926, at Cubs Park in Chicago, 18-year-old Rufus Meadows retired the only batter he faced in his Reds’ eventual 18-1 loss to the Cubs. And that was it for his major league career: one game, one batter.

Yet even in his brief action, he forged permanent connections to the big leagues. He shared a field with future Hall of Famers Edd Roush and Hack Wilson. He shared a dugout with Wally Pipp, a year after the former Yankee had left New York to make room for Lou Gehrig. And he shared a locker room that featured some all-time great names: Babe Pinelli, Rube Bressler, Red Lucas, Bubbles Hargrave, Pea Ridge Day and Cuckoo Christensen.

Meadows is alone in his bio, of course, but no Sipper is alone on the field. Some have shared a mound with baseball’s greatest pitchers. On Aug. 13, 1918, the Athletics’ Lou Bauer entered his lone game in relief and walked the only two batters he faced. Both later scored. Sharing the mound was Walter Johnson, who, for the Senators, yielded two earned runs in pitching a complete-game victory, his 20th. Johnson left the park with a season ERA of 1.38. Bauer left with a lifetime ERA of infinity. But there they were then, on the same mound. And here they are now, in the same box score.

Likewise, Goat Cochran shared a mound with Pete Alexander, yielding two earned runs in two innings of relief while the future Hall of Famer pitched a complete-game shutout to go to 24-9 on the 1915 season, with a 1.29 ERA. In terms of famous names, it bears mentioning that Goat relieved King Lear.

On April 27, 1969, Pilots pitcher Dick Bates walked the first batter he faced and yielded a homer to the second. Bates shared the mound that afternoon with future Hall of Fame reliever Rollie Fingers, who started for the A’s.

In 1972, Clint Compton spelled reliever Larry Gura in a Cubs-Phillies game and surrendered two earned runs in two innings. On the mound for the Phillies was Steve Carlton, who yielded one earned run in a complete-game victory to go to 27-10 en route to the Cy Young Award.

On June 7, 1998, Baltimore’s Radhames Dykhoff pitched the final inning of the Orioles’ 9-0 loss to the Braves. He allowed one walk, as did the opposing pitcher. The sameness of their stats ended there. Dykhoff yielded two earned runs in his one inning. Greg Maddux yielded none in his nine.

Replacing Greatness

Unlike Goat Cochran, Ray Hartranft made his lone appearance in relief of Pete Alexander, who had entered the 1913 Phillies-Cubs contest with a 10-0 record but departed after yielding five earned runs in five innings. Like Hartranft, other Sippers appeared in replacement of greatness. On July 17, 1995, Scott Baker entered the Athletics-Brewers game in relief of Dave Stewart after the A’s starter had allowed eight earned runs in two innings. For each, the game would mark his final appearance on a major league mound.

In 1957, Detroit’s Chuck Daniel entered in relief after the starter had yielded a single, homer, homer, single, wild pitch and triple, consecutively. That starter: Jim Bunning. Daniel pitched 1.2 scoreless innings before yielding a two-run homer in the fifth. But, hey, he had outperformed a future Hall of Famer.

On June 10, 1944, Jake Eisenhart relieved for Cincinnati with two outs in the ninth inning and St. Louis leading, 18-0. He yielded a walk and then coaxed a popup to end the frame. His big league career had ended. Still, he could lay claim to having replaced the youngest pitcher in major league history, 15-year-old Joe Nuxhall, who had been brutalized for five earned runs in .2 inning of work.

John Courtright pitched one inning, for Atlanta, in 1995. Though his major league career had ended, he could say he replaced a Hall of Famer—a Football Hall of Famer—after entering for Deion Sanders in a double switch. It wasn’t Courtright’s first interaction with a two-sport star. A year earlier, Courtright had been the first pitcher to face minor leaguer and onetime basketball player Michael Jordan.

Facing Greatness

Charlie Butler made his lone appearance on May 1, 1933, for the Phillies. Four of the first five batters he faced—Lloyd Waner, Freddie Lindstrom, Paul Waner and Pie Traynor—would reach the Hall of Fame.

Others, too, have drawn the black bean.

In 1955, Cuban pitcher Vince Gonzalez made his major league debut against a Yankees team that would win the American League pennant. The second batter he faced: Mickey Mantle. The third: Yogi Berra. The fourth and fifth: Bill Skowron and Hank Bauer.

In Phil Mudrock’s lone major league inning, as a Cubs reliever, he faced Jim Davenport, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda and Felipe Alou. That’s three Hall of Famers sandwiched by two All-Stars.

On Sept. 17, 1982, Yankees starter Stefan Wever began the bottom of the first inning by yielding a single to future Hall of Fame member Paul Molitor, a run-scoring double to future Hall of Famer Robin Yount and a run-scoring double to All-Star Cecil Cooper. After All-Star Ted Simmons reached on an error and All-Star Ben Ogilvie flied out, All-Star Gorman Thomas hit a three-run home run.

Welcome to the Big Leagues

Some are greeted more rudely. In 1997, Kansas City’s Roland de la Maza yielded a homer to his first batter, Ray Durham. In 2015, the Yankees’ Jose De Paula yielded a homer to Detroit’s Andrew Romine on his first pitch.

In 1952, Washington’s Harley Grossman yielded a run-scoring single to his first batter, Vern Stephens, and a three-run homer to his second, Walt Dropo.

The fourth batter Kris Keller faced, Magglio Ordonez, hit a three-run homer. The runs were all Keller’s. He’d walked his first and third batters.

Against Seattle in 1999, Oakland’s Ramon Fermin spelled reliever Steve Phoenix and yielded a run-scoring single to each of his first three batters.

The first batter Jeff Stember faced, Terry Puhl, hit a leadoff homer.

The second batter Irv Stein faced, Luke Appling, hit a two-run homer.

In 1956, Bill Bradford yielded homers to the first and fourth batters he faced.

In 1960, Cal Browning yielded a three-run jack to his first batter.

Um … Yikes

Some endure a crushingly bad time. In 1895, Bill Childers faced seven batters and retired none. His career line: six earned runs, an ERA of infinity.

After yielding three walks, two hits and four runs without posting an out, on Sept. 30, 1928, Marty Walker left the park with an infinite ERA.

In 1901, Pete Loos threw 18 consecutive balls to begin his lone start.

The sixth batter Mike Darr faced, Carlton Fisk, hit a grand slam. The final batter, Fred Lynn, walked— the fourth walk Darr had allowed in 1.1 inning.

On Aug. 18, 1939, Senators reliever Mike Palagyi started the ninth inning versus Boston and issued a walk, a hit batter and a walk. He then walked Joe Cronin to force in a run. After leaving the mound, he watched two more runners score. His final line: zero innings, three earned runs, infinite ERA.

Gordie Sundin, 18, walked both batters he faced. After being removed, he watched Al Kaline’s sac fly score the first runner he walked, starter Frank Lary. And so a pitcher and a future Hall of Famer had given a teenager an infinite ERA.

Reality Checks

Even the worst Sippers show talent. In the end, they also show why they’re Sippers. In 1999, Detroit starter Beiker Graterol retired Chuck Knoblauch to begin the game and then induced a groundout from Derek Jeter. After walking Paul O’Neill, he whiffed Bernie Williams. He had gone through four All-Stars without surrendering a run. In the second inning, however, reality arrived. Following Tino Martinez’s leadoff homer, Scott Brosius clubbed a two-run blast. In the third, Graterol surrendered a grand slam to Chili Davis.

On May 1, 2013, Zach Clark got his shot after eight minor league seasons. He started well, coaxing two groundouts and a strikeout around a walk in his first inning of relief. Then in the sixth, he went single, single, run-scoring double, sacrifice fly, run-scoring sacrifice fly and walk before being removed.

The final two batters Rex Hudson faced, Hank Aaron and Dusty Baker, both homered. Following two scoreless innings of relief, the 20-year-old Dodger had begun the seventh by yielding three hits prior to the back-to-back jacks.

Versus the Twins on April 19, 1964, Detroit’s Fritz Fisher struck out the first batter he faced, Harmon Killebrew. He then failed to record another out, yielding two walks, a single and a double. The double came off the bat of Twins starter Camilo Pascual. That’s right: Fisher whiffed a future Hall of Famer to begin his career but allowed a run-scoring double to a pitcher to finish it.

After pitching scoreless third and fourth innings of his major league debut, Boston’s Charlie Zink entered the fifth with a 12-2 lead. Piece of cake! Following Ian Kinsler’s double, he retired Michael Young. Easy-peasy! He then went wild pitch, single, single, double, double and double before being yanked. Texas would score eight runs in the inning.

Ill Fortune

Some are victims of rotten luck. On June 7, 1996, Carlos Crawford gave up 10 runs in 3.2 innings, but, due to three errors, just two were earned. His final pitch went for an infield single, driving in the sixth unearned run. He then yielded to reliever Toby Borland, who gave up two more unearned runs, both on the starter’s ledger. Crawford took the loss.

Dennis Konuszewski’s line: walk, bloop single, seeing-eye single, seeing-eye single. His lifetime ledger: .1 inning pitched, 54.00 ERA.

On Sept. 30, 1979, Baltimore’s Jeff Rineer relieved Dennis Martinez versus Cleveland and coaxed a flyout and a double play to end the frame. In the seventh, the O’s took a one-run lead to put Rineer in place for the win. With Baltimore leading, 5-4, with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Don Stanhouse gave up the tying run to deprive Rineer of his victory.

In his first big league at-bat, on Sept. 5, 1901, pitcher Larry Hesterfer lined a hard shot to Pirates shortstop Honus Wagner, who turned it into a triple play. Today, Hesterfer remains the only major leaguer to hit into a triple play in his first at-bat. He would also yield 15 runs in the Giants’ loss, all but five unearned.

On Sept. 15, 1971, Astros manager Harry Walker summoned 21-year-old Larry Yount to make his debut by pitching the ninth inning against Atlanta. While warming on the mound, however, Yount felt elbow pain and left the field. MLB rules stipulate that if a pitcher is announced, he must face at least one batter unless he is injured. Because he was announced, Yount was given credit for one game. His ERA reflects his reality: It doesn’t exist.

In 1974, Philadelphia’s Erskine Thomason made his major league debut—and denouement—by whiffing the first batter he faced and inducing groundouts from the second and third. A film crew had been following Thomason for months, chronicling his climb from the minors to the majors, and his first inning had made for an exciting coda. Sadly, however, the film crew had not reached Veterans Stadium in time to capture Thomason’s performance.

Good Fortune

On Aug. 16, 1923, Haddie Gill pitched the final inning of the Reds’ 7-1 loss to the Giants. Though he never pitched another inning, his teammates later voted him a full share of their earnings for finishing second in the National League. Given his signing bonus of $15,000 and his salary, Gill made nearly $20,000 for his one inning, the equivalent of $285,718 today.

After whiffing the first batter he faced, Flame Delhi gave up a single to future Hall of Famer Sam Crawford en route to yielding six runs in the White Sox loss. In the end, he won. As vice president of Western Pipe and Steel, he made an annual salary of $80,000 during the Depression—about $1.1 million today.

Entering the season-ending doubleheader versus the Reds, the 1899 Cleveland Spiders had posted a record of 20-132. At a Cincinnati hotel, cigar boy Eddie Kolb asked manager Joe Quinn to let him pitch the back end of the twin bill. Quinn consented. The 18-year-old Kolb yielded 18 hits, five walks and 19 runs in taking the loss, Cleveland’s 134th. Kolb would never throw another professional pitch but would go on to develop oil fields in Canada.

Firsts And Lasts

Some have faced famous players as their first or last batter. The first batter Larry Colton faced: Pete Rose. He doubled. The last batter Loyd Colson faced: Norm Cash. He popped out.

Larry Foster’s final batter: Harmon Killebrew. He retired him.

George Werley’s final batter: Harmon Killebrew. He retired him.

Carl Howe’s final batter: Stan Musial. He retired him.

Bill Webb’s final batter: Stan Musial. He retired him. Unfortunately, his first batter — pitcher Mort Cooper — homered.

The last batter Earl Huckleberry faced, Luke Appling, hit an RBI single.

The last batter Art Jones faced, Rabbit Maranville, lined into a double play.

The first batter Harley Hisner faced: Mickey Mantle. Hisner whiffed him. The last batter Hisner faced: Mickey Mantle. He coaxed him into a double play. In between, he yielded the last regular season hit of Joe DiMaggio’s career.

The final pitch of John Pyecha’s career? It resulted in a two-out, three-run, game-winning home run off the bat of Wally Post.

Pat Tobin yielded four hits in his one frame, the last off the bat of future General Hospital star John Beradino, known then as Johnny Berardino.

George Washburn’s final pitch: ball four to Charlie Gehringer.

Don Leshnock’s final pitch: strike three to Nolan Ryan.

Coincidences and Oddities

The Dodgers’ Greg Heydeman had his one-and-done on Sept 2, 1973. His manager? Walter Alston, a fellow Sipper who had one major league at-bat in 1936. Heydeman’s center fielder? Tom Paciorek, brother of John, who in 1963 went 3-for-3 with three RBI and four runs in his lone major league contest.

In 1894, 20-year-old Al Burris made his major league debut soon after his season at Washington College ended. After returning to the college as head baseball coach, he managed a 1902 summer amateur team that competed against semipro teams. His star pitcher: Hanson Horsey, a future Sipper.

Dave Bennett’s lone big league appearance, on June 12, 1964, at age 18, came in the ninth inning of a game that his older brother, Dennis, started.

Drafted into the Army Air Force in 1943, Rugger Ardizoia joined the 7th Air Force baseball team and in 1944 played games against other military teams on the islands of Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima. After the war, Ardizoia made his lone major league appearance on April 30, 1947. In the eighth, he yielded a solo homer to Wally Judnich. Judnich had been his teammate on Iwo Jima.

On April 19, 1990, Texas reliever Ramon Manon threw his 40th and final major league pitch. It turned into a comebacker off the bat of Milwaukee’s Mike Felder. Upon fielding the ball, Manon ran to first base for the unassisted out to end the inning. The out stranded pinch-runner Terry Francona at third base. For both Manon and Francona, it marked the end of their time in the majors.

Sad Endings

Like Lou Bauer, Bun Troy faced Walter Johnson in his only major league appearance. Six years later, while serving in the 80th Division of the American Expeditionary Force, the German-born Troy died from wounds suffered in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive during World War I.

On Sept. 16, 1924, Boston reliever John Woods retired the first batter he faced, then issued three straight walks before retiring future Hall of Famers Harry Hooper and Eddie Collins. And that was it. He went on to become chief of police in Norfolk, Va. Answering a call in 1946, he crashed his car and died.

Giants reliever John Carden appeared in his lone major league game on May 18, 1946, yielding five earned runs in two innings against the reigning NL champion Cubs. Prior to leaving his home for spring training in 1949, Carden climbed a power pole to repair a phone line and was electrocuted.

After retiring the Mets in order in the first inning of his first start, in 1963, 17-year-old Astros pitcher Jay Dahl faltered, allowing seven runs in two innings before being removed. After an injury, he returned to the mound in 1965, starting seven games for the Durham Bulls before moving to Class A Salisbury. There, on June 20, he notched his fifth victory. Later that night, the 19-year-old died when the car in which he was riding broadsided a tree.

On April 27, 1938, with the Dodgers leading Boston, 10-1, Bees skipper Casey Stengel summoned Mike Balas with two outs in the eighth inning. Four years later, having claimed conscientious objector status, Balas was sentenced to three years in a federal penitentiary for violating the Selective Service Act following his failure to report to conscientious objectors’ camp.

Upon entering a 1923 game, Cleveland’s Johnson Fry walked Washington’s Goose Goslin and retired Sam Rice before yielding a bases-clearing double to Joe Judge and a two-bagger to Bucky Harris. His major league career soon ended. His law-enforcement career ended eight years later, when Fry plead guilty to embezzlement as a West Virginia deputy and was imprisoned.

Tales

In 1968, Jophery Brown made his lone major league appearance. Twenty-one years later, he would suffer the rare misfortune of being mauled by a velociraptor.

On a Saturday afternoon at Forbes Field, Cubs manager Leo Durocher summoned 23-year-old Brown to begin the bottom of the fourth inning, with Pittsburgh up, 4-1. Maury Wills singled to begin the frame. Following a sac bunt and flyout, Brown intentionally walked Roberto Clemente. Donn Clendenon then singled to score Wills before Brown got out of the inning. In the sixth, he set the Pirates down in order, getting pitcher Dock Ellis to line back to the mound for the third out. He had thrown his last big league pitch.

In 1993, appearing in the opening scene of Jurassic Park, Brown heard the words “Jophery, raise the gate.” To his eponymous character’s prompt chagrin, he did, allowing the raptor to grab his legs and pull him into the cage. The last thing to disappear, after a fierce struggle, was his one-time pitching hand.

Brown had entered the movie business as a stuntman. Among his films were Lethal Weapon, Die Hard and Speed. In 1978’s Convoy, he flipped an 18-wheeler. Onscreen, he even got to play ball, starring as third baseman Champ Chambers in The Bingo Long Travelling All-Stars & Motor Kings.

When considering players who missed time to military service, thoughts typically turn to major leaguers like Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio. But what about minor leaguers? Following his age-21 season with Class D Martinsburg, in which he pitched to a 17-9 record, Lefty Clarke missed two seasons due in part to service in World War I. Upon his return, he went a combined 39-15 for two minor league teams before getting his call-up to the Reds. He started the 1921 finale, yielding three earned runs in a game shortened by darkness to five innings. And that was it for his major league career.

Would Clarke have performed better, and lasted longer, had he not missed two seasons of refinement? Obviously, no one can say. But he certainly had talent. In a 1917 minor league game, Clarke entered in relief in the 10th inning and pitched nine innings of no-hit ball. Later that season, he pitched a doubleheader shutout, winning 6-0 and 1-0.

As it stood, his career went full circle. At age 30 he returned to Martinsburg.

In 1966, wide receiver Jesse Hudson became the favored target of the quarterback on his high school football team, with 17 touchdown receptions. Three years later, Hudson made his first big league appearance. Entering in the seventh inning of the Mets’ Sept. 19, 1969, game against the Pirates, the 21-year-old southpaw issued a walk and a single around a pair of groundouts to open the inning. Dave Cash then doubled to score Luke Walker and send Matty Alou to third base. Hudson whiffed Willie Stargell to end the frame.

A week later, the Mets clinched their improbable division title. Owing to his September call-up, Hudson remained ineligible for the postseason roster. The Miracle Mets went on to become World Series champions. A year later, Hudson pitched in 26 games at Triple-A and then left baseball. That same year, his former quarterback, Vida Blue, posted a 24-8 record and 1.82 ERA for Oakland en route to winning the AL MVP and Cy Young awards.

Dan Bickham pitched in only one game as a professional—not just as a major leaguer, but as a paid employee. Like a lot of pitchers of his time, however, he had faced major league batters on numerous occasions.

In the late 1800s, big league teams often played exhibition games against semipro and college squads. Starting for Princeton in its 1885 season opener, Bickham, a junior righty, pitched poorly against the Philadelphia Athletics, and his Tigers lost, 21-2. The following year, Bickham squared off against New York Nationals star Tim Keefe and lost, 9-0.

Later that year, after graduating, Bickham got his one pro start, for Cincinnati, and avenged his 21-2 loss by defeating the Athletics. Afterward, he left baseball and assumed leadership of the newspaper his father restarted in 1863 after its facilities had been torched by opponents of the Civil War.

Crouched in a foxhole near Monte Cassino in spring of 1944, Frank Wurm felt the concussion of a German shell. Upon gathering himself, he reached to help a fellow U.S. soldier. It was too late. The man died in Wurm’s arms.

In June, Wurm began the return trip to America on an Army hospital ship. Ignoring advice to rest, he left a hospital and returned to the ballfield. Wurm quickly joined the Dodgers, and on Sept 4, less than three months after his foxhole ordeal, he took the mound in the second game of a Labor Day doubleheader. Unsteady, the southpaw walked the first two batters. Following a strikeout, he yielded a run-scoring double, a walk, and then a pair of bases-loaded run-scoring walks before being removed. Reliever Rube Melton walked in another run to put Wurm’s ERA at 108.00.

Afterward, observers blamed his nervous demeanor and poor performance on “frontline shock”—what we now call post-traumatic stress disorder—and claimed he had not taken enough time to recover from his wartime tribulation. 1945, Wurm pitched a partial season for Brooklyn’s Class B and Double-A squads, issuing 44 walks in 55 innings, before leaving baseball at age 21.

Joe Cleary

If you had attended a semipro Metropolitan Baseball Association game in New York City in the early 1930s, you might never have known that a teenage hurler for the Puerto Rican All-Stars had come from the land of Eire. Indeed, while also pitching for Commerce High School, Joe Cleary helped support his immigrant family with money he received for pitching for the squad of Puerto Rican nationals. The Irishman’s nom de pitcher? Jose Hernandez.

Nearly a decade later, Cleary stepped to the Griffith Stadium mound in the fourth inning of a game versus Boston and promptly yielded a run-scoring single, walk, run-scoring single, wild pitch, run-scoring single, strikeout, run-scoring single, walk and bases-clearing double before being removed. His 189.00 ERA is the highest non-infinity mark in major league history.

The pitcher who replaced him, Bert Shepard, fared better, going 5.1 innings and allowing one earned run. Upon leaving the mound, Shepard, too, would become a Sipper, making the Cleary-Shepard combo one of the few consecutive-Sippers tandems in major league history. Among the others: Herb Cobb and Oscar Estrada, in 1929. Where was Estrada born? Cuba.

Bert Shepard

Following an attack on a German airfield on May 21, 1944, U.S. Army Air Force pilot Bert Shepard felt an enemy shell rip through his right leg and foot. Another hit his chin and knocked him unconscious. Moments later, his plane hit the ground at nearly 400 mph.

Shepard was taken into custody. German doctors amputated his right leg 11 inches below the knee. After eight months as a P.O.W., he participated in a prisoner exchange and began playing ball. On March 10, 1945, he received a new prosthesis. Four days later he reported to the Senators training camp.

On Aug. 4, just 14 months after crashing into a German field, he took the mound against the Red Sox and struck out the first batter he faced.

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What all Sippers share is what none had a way to avoid: playing one game, and one game only, at the sport’s highest grade. Some look back in sadness; they never got one more chance. Some look back in gladness; they got that one chance. The rest, like Tayron Guerrero, look now to the future, with hopes of erasing their names from this history.

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