Originally Published: December 29, 2003

The wild and wacky

From Juan Pierre's lack of power to Roy Halladay's O-for-April, it was truly a bizarre season.

Print Share
Stark By Jayson Stark
ESPN.com
Archive

There's no better proof than baseball that truth is stranger than fiction, stranger than a Steve Bartman Halloween costume, stranger even than Michael Jackson. And the 2003 season provided us with about eight billion examples of that.

Fortunately, we were somehow able to boil them down to just our favorites. So as we check our 2003 rear-view mirror one last time, here they come -- the Strange But True Feats of the Year:

  • How old is Luis Sojo? He played for the Yankees in a regular-season game and their Old Timers Game.

    Stark of the Year
    Denny Stark
    Stark

  • Rockies pitcher Denny Stark went 0 for 22 this season -- but still drove in four runs.
    		•

  • Rand McNally's Player of the Year: Dan Miceli became the first pitcher in history to pitch in four different divisions in the same season (NL West, AL East, AL Central, NL Central).

  • Life begins on May Day for some people. Roy Halladay won zero games in April -- and still led the American League in wins.

  • Speaking of league leaders ... Russ Ortiz led the National League in wins -- and walks.

  • Slow Starters Dept.: Juan Pierre, Cristian Guzman and Cesar Izturis hit exactly zero home runs in their first 500 at-bats of the year -- and then all of them homered in September.

  • Big EEE Dept.: In a Sept. 10 Tigers-Yankees game, both first baseman (Carlos Pena and Nick Johnson) committed three errors in the same game.

  • How They Didn't Score Dept.: In an Aug. 21 game in Milwaukee, the Phillies managed to get five straight hits without scoring a run. (They had one runner thrown out at the plate, another nailed at second trying to stretch a single and a third turn the wrong way after crossing first base and get tagged out.)

  • Was it the Curse of Cy Young? Pedro Martinez, Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson combined to make the week of April 9-15 the first week in history in which three Cy Young winners gave up 10 runs or more in one game.

  • A Tale of Two Baseball Cities: Alan Trammell had more losing streaks of six games or more in his first 30 games as Tigers manager (three) than Joe Torre had in his first 1,162 games as Yankees manager (two).

  • All wins are not created equal. In a 12-inning Sept. 2 game in which 11 pitchers threw a combined 380 pitches for the Orioles and A's, the winning pitcher (Ricardo Rincon) was a guy who threw exactly one pitch.

    Strange But True Interleague Feats of the Year
  • Who says there was no allure to that much-awaited Tigers-Padres interleague duel? In a June 4 game between those two juggernauts, they each sent a pitcher (Adam Eaton and Steve Avery) to the plate to get two pitchers to get a pinch hit -- in the same inning.

  • It was bound to happen one of these years. In a June 20 Giants-A's game, Barry Bonds and Miguel Tejada became the first reigning MVPs ever to homer in the same game (regular season or postseason).

  • He was the Babe Ruth of the 21st Century. The sensational Brooks Kieschnick's first three homers of the year came as a pinch hitter, as a pitcher and as a DH.

  • Babe Continued Dept: And in the same three-game series in Baltimore, Kieschnick served as the Brewers' DH in one game, and pitched in the other two.

  • Maybe the Indians should have gotten C.C. Sabathia more at-bats. In their June 20-22 visit to Pittsburgh, Sabathia became the first American League pitcher in the DH era to get a hit in two different games of the same series.
    		•

  • As we were saying ... But Cubs reliever Kyle Farnsworth topped that feat. He got a win July 2 in a game in which he threw one pitch -- and never retired a hitter. (Paul Bako threw out Bobby Abreu stealing to end the inning.)

  • Kevin Heaven it wasn't: When Kevin Millwood no-hit the Giants in April, it meant the Giants' last three no-hitters had all come at the hands of pitchers named Kevin (Millwood, Brown, Gross). And they're still trying to figure out why no other team has ever been no-hit by a pitcher named Kevin.

  • They can call their book "Ball Forty": On May 15, Jesse Orosco, age 46, walked Julio Franco, age 41 (or thereabouts).

  • One thing you couldn't call the Blue Jays was sacrificial. On their way to a record for fewest sacrifice bunts, they made it all the way from Opening Day to Memorial Day without laying down even one sacrifice.

  • Wish You Weren't Here Dept.: In a May 21 start against the Brewers, San Diego's Jake Peavy gave up more home runs to Geoff Jenkins (three) than he gave up hits to all the other Brewers (two).

  • At Least He Got the Hang of It Dept.: After hitting no grand slams in 2,999 consecutive at-bats, Boston's Bill Mueller switch-hit grand slams from each side of the plate in back-to-back innings, July 29 in Texas. The Rangers, of course, had allowed no slams all year before that.

  • Look Ma, No Swings: In a June 20 game in Arizona, Reds closer Scott Williamson blew a save without a bat touching a ball -- on a walk, wild pickoff and wild pitch.

  • Variety was obviously the spice of Johnny Damon's life. In that crazy June 27 game in which the Red Sox scored 10 runs before the Marlins recorded an out and put up 14 runs in the first inning, Damon became the first player in history to get three different kinds of hits (single, double, triple) in one inning.

  • Even in this age of specialization, this was a little ridiculous: In a June 11 start against the Braves, Oakland's Ted Lilly gave up five homers -- and no other hits.

  • So much for the Dynamic Duo. In June and July, the Diamondbacks won 26 consecutive games (including 12 in a row at one point) in which the winning pitcher wasn't Randy Johnson or Curt Schilling.

  • Mr. Consistency: Over three straight starts in April, the Brewers' Glendon Rusch gave up 11 hits, then one hit, then 11 hits.

  • They should have just given the scoreboard guy the week off: From July 12-20, the Indians scored exactly four runs (never more, never less) in seven straight games.

  • Nobody Claimed the Ball Was Juiced Dept.: In five straight games starting July 24, the Dodgers played games in which the final scores were 1-0, 2-1, 1-0, 1-0 and 2-0. Last team to play five games in which that few runs were scored: the 1906 Cubs.

  • The Dodgers Couldn't Make It Dept.: The Expos won two games in which they gave up exactly 17 hits in the same series (July 25-28, against the Braves in San Juan).

    Strange But True Sweepers
    of the Year
  • Buy this team an electric broom: The Twins' first seven series of the year were all sweeps. They swept three of them, but got swept themselves in the other four.

  • Sweep of the Year: Gotta love those Tigers. When they got swept in a May 1 doubleheader by the Orioles, the Game 1 winning pitcher (B.J. Ryan) never threw a pitch. (He came in and picked off Omar Infante to end the seventh inning). Then their own Mike Maroth took a no-hitter into the eighth inning of Game 2 -- but still found a way to become the losing pitcher.

  • Let's Not Play Two Dept.: The Expos became the first team since the 1975 Twins to get swept in three different doubleheaders on the same road trip.
    		•

  • Somebody buy the Pirates a case of Mr. Clean. It took them 44 games and an unbelievable 191 trips to the plate, but finally, on May 18, the Pirates became the last team in baseball to get a home run from their cleanup hitter.

  • We bet Reds pitcher Jeff Austin doesn't sing "Start Me Up" out loud in his car. On May 23, he became the first pitcher since 1974 to get knocked out of back-to-back starts in the first inning -- without getting hurt. (It took him 11 hitters, over two starts, just to get an out.)

  • Pitcher's Very Best Friend Dept.: The Twins turned a bases-loaded double play, on Aug. 21 against Kansas City, in which they got both outs at home. (Doug Mientkiewicz caught a Brent Mayne ground ball and went home for the force. A.J. Pierzynski's throw back to first hit the runner. Luis Rivas picked up the ball and threw out Ken Harvey at home.)

  • They Shop at K-Mart Dept. Those resourceful Twins also scored two runs on a strikeout Aug. 12. (Strikeout, wild pitch, wild throw home by the first baseman.)

  • Dr. Hank and Mr. Blalock: Texas third baseman Hank Blalock had maybe the most bizarre game of the season May 16. He drove in six runs and struck out four times -- in the same game.

  • Déjà vu: Thanks to his midseason release by the Angels, Kevin Appier faced the Yankees three times in four starts -- in three different ballparks (in Anaheim on July 29 in his final start as an Angel, in Kansas City on Aug. 13 and in Yankee Stadium on Aug. 19).

  • Who says the Rangers had no pitching? Texas' R.A. Dickey had a save and a complete-game shutout in the same series (Aug. 18-20 in Detroit).

  • I Don't Love New York Dept.: In Tom Glavine's last 282 starts as a Brave, they never got blown out in a game he started by 13 runs or more. So naturally, his first start as a Met was a 15-2 loss.

  • Why They Have Customs: Mike Bordick committed no errors in his final 110 games as an Oriole. So of course, he committed an error in his first game as a Blue Jay.

  • Where's the DH when you need one? Steve Trachsel threw a complete-game one-hitter Aug. 18 in which the only hit was by the opposing pitcher (Chin-Hui Tsao) -- who, of course, had gotten no other hits in his career before that.

  • Nice debut: The first two homers of Reds rookie Ryan Freel's career came against Randy Johnson and Billy Wagner. At the time, Wagner hadn't allowed a run in nearly six weeks.

  • Anybody have a full-moon chart? In the same game, Phillies pitcher Vicente Padilla batted left-handed, then right-handed, then left-handed again in his first three at-bats -- all against the same pitcher (Carl Pavano).

    Strange But True Minor League Feats of the Year
  • Strange But True Minor League Inning of the Year: On May 1, the ever-innovative Trenton Thunder batted around against Norwich -- without an official at-bat. How? Easy. Seven straight walks, a hit batter and a sacrifice fly.

  • Minor League Coco-nuts of the Year: In a May 19 Indianapolis-Buffalo game, Indianapolis pitcher Pasqual Coco was ejected for exchanging several angry, unprintable words with (who else?) Buffalo outfielder Coco Crisp. Since we never get tired of this line, we'll fire it out one more time: That'll be two hot Cocos to go.

  • Strange But True Minor League Streak of the Year: Albuquerque's legendary Rob Stratton (175 strikeouts, 79 hits in 2003) struck out in 16 consecutive trips to the plate from Aug. 11-16 -- and then homered (of course).
    		•

  • Nah, they didn't need any September call-ups: In a nine-inning game on Sept. 6, the Expos got pinch hits from two different relief pitchers (T.J. Tucker and Joey Eischen) in the same game.

  • Rainout of the year: In a May 11 non-game at Wrigley, the Cubs' Matt Clement allowed 11 runs and the Cardinals' Brett Tomko gave up nine in the same game -- only to have none of them count.

  • And their favorite station is WKRP: Twice in 2003, the Phillies scored at least 10 runs in an inning -- both in the same road park (April 13 and June 14, in Cincinnati).

  • You can't say Blue Jays rookie Reed Johnson couldn't finish what he started. On June 21, he hit a leadoff and a walkoff home run in the same game (and got so hot, he then hit a total of one homer in July and August).

  • The True Meaning of Stardom Dept.: Armando Benitez became the first player in history to make an All-Star team, and then get traded twice in the next month.

  • It wasn't enough for the Yankees to attempt to collect the entire American League All-Star team. In July, they became the first American League team ever to have two members of that year's National League All-Star team on their roster at the same time (Benitez and Aaron Boone).

  • Back To Back To Back To Back To Back To Back Dept.: Boston's Jason Varitek was part of back-to-back homers six times this year -- with six different hitters.

  • When is a complete game the most misleading stat of the day? On Aug. 28, Devil Rays pitcher Jeremi Gonzalez threw a complete game against the A's -- and still got ejected from it (for grumbling about umpire Joe Brinkman on the way to the dugout, then tossing a bunch of bags of sunflower seeds onto the field).

  • Collect the Whole Set Dept.: In the same Yankees-Red Sox series in July, Byung Hyun-Kim had a win, a loss, a save and a blown save.

  • Bobblehead of the Year: Torii Hunter got ejected on his own Bobblehead Night in July.

  • Math Major of the Year: In his big-league debut, Diamondbacks rookie Oscar Villareal threw one pitch -- and racked up a strikeout. (He came in after an injury to Bret Prinz, threw a third strike to Hideo Nomo and got a whiff out of it.)

  • Finally, nothing Jack McKeon did in October would have surprised you if you'd seen this: In a Sept. 16 game in Philadelphia, McKeon pinch-hit-for his Nos. 3-4-5 hitters in a row.

    Jayson Stark is a senior writer for ESPN.com. Click here to send Jayson a question for possible use on ESPNEWS.

    • ALSO SEE

    MORE MLB HEADLINES

    Insider

    MOST SENT STORIES ON ESPN.COM

    Most Sent »

    TOP STORIES FROM ABC NEWS