Balk Talk
Posted by Raphy on May 18, 2009
Last night Mike Pelfrey became the first pitcher in 15 years to balk 3 times in one game. Pelfrey's game came one day before the 21st anniversary of Dave Stewart breaking the record for balks in a single season . Of course, Stewart's feat came during 1988, "the year of the balk" in which a minor rule change and strict umpire enforcement lead to a ridiculous number of balks being called (.22 per game). Keep that in mind when looking at the following list of players with 3 or more balks in a game (since 1954) :
Cnt Player Date Tm Opp GmReslt App,Dec IP H R ER BB SO HR Pit Str GmSc IR IS BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk **BK** WP ERA +----+-----------------+-------------+---+----+-------+---------+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+--+--+--+------+--+------+ 1 Bob Shaw 1963-05-04 MLN CHC L 5-7 GS-5 ,L 4.1 5 6 6 6 6 0 29 25 19 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 5 0 12.46 2 John Dopson 1989-06-13 BOS DET W 8-7 GS-4 3.2 6 5 5 5 3 0 95 44 27 22 17 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1 12.27 3 Gene Walter 1988-07-18 SEA DET L 3-12 6-8 2.1 3 3 2 1 1 0 54 34 2 2 13 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 4 0 7.71 4 Joe Magrane 1988-06-17 STL @PIT W 7-3 GS-8 ,W 8 5 2 2 3 6 0 119 73 67 35 30 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1 2.25 5 Rick Honeycutt 1988-04-13 OAK @SEA W 12-7 6-9f ,S 4 7 4 2 0 1 0 57 40 0 0 19 17 2 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 4 0 4.50 6 Bobby Witt 1988-04-12 TEX @DET L 1-4 CG 8 ,L 8 5 4 4 6 5 0 135 71 55 36 29 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 4 0 4.50 7 Bob Friend 1963-04-13 PIT @CIN W 12-4 CG 9 ,W 9 6 4 3 3 5 1 63 38 33 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 4 0 3.00 8 Mike Pelfrey 2009-05-17 NYM @SFG L 0-2 GS-6 ,L 6 6 2 2 2 2 0 78 48 52 25 23 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 3.00 9 Al Leiter 1994-04-23 TOR MIN W 8-6 GS-7 ,W 6.2 8 5 5 5 7 1 120 71 40 32 27 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 6.75 10 Tim Layana 1990-04-18 CIN SDP W 11-7 4-5 ,W 2 1 2 2 3 1 0 36 17 0 0 10 7 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 9.00 11 Fernando Valenzue 1989-08-22 LAD @MON L 2-4 GS-6 ,L 6 7 4 3 3 6 1 99 56 47 27 24 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 4.50 12 Eric Plunk 1988-08-07 OAK SEA L 7-12 6-8 ,L 3 6 5 5 2 1 1 63 35 0 0 16 14 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 15.00 13 Jim Gott 1988-08-06 PIT NYM L 3-5 8-8 ,BL 0.2 1 3 3 3 1 0 28 14 0 0 7 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 40.50 14 Todd Burns 1988-08-01 OAK @CHW W 10-2 GS-6 ,W 6 6 2 2 0 3 0 89 61 55 23 23 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 3.00 15 Mark Eichhorn 1988-06-06 TOR @CLE L 3-6 6-8f 2.2 1 1 1 1 0 0 31 15 2 2 11 9 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 3.38 16 Bob Welch 1988-05-20 OAK @NYY W 11-3 GS-7 ,W 7 7 3 3 3 6 0 108 69 54 29 26 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 3.86 17 Jeff Sellers 1988-05-06 BOS @MIN L 0-5 GS-7 ,L 6 5 5 5 5 8 0 120 68 45 28 23 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 1 7.50 18 Don Heinkel 1988-05-03 DET OAK L 2-8 5-8 4 5 3 3 3 3 1 88 49 2 1 20 16 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 6.75 19 Jose Guzman 1988-05-02 TEX @BAL L 4-9 GS-6 ,L 5.1 9 9 8 6 8 1 117 67 18 31 25 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 13.50 20 Joe Niekro 1988-04-19 MIN NYY L 6-7 GS-2 ,L 1.2 7 7 7 2 1 1 47 24 12 13 11 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 37.80 21 Dave Stewart 1988-04-19 OAK CAL W 8-3 GS-7 ,W 7 7 3 2 2 6 0 108 71 57 30 26 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 3 1 2.57 22 Steve Trout 1988-04-17 SEA CAL L 4-7 GS-4 ,L 4 7 5 4 3 2 0 82 47 29 25 18 0 0 0 3 0 1 1 2 0 0 3 2 9.00 23 Mike Birkbeck 1988-04-15 MIL NYY L 1-7 GS-2 ,L 1.1 5 6 6 3 0 0 49 25 17 12 8 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 40.50 24 Jose Segura 1988-04-12 CHW @CAL L 6-15 3-4 1.1 5 5 5 3 0 1 48 22 1 0 12 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 33.75 25 Bob Welch 1988-04-10 OAK @CAL L 4-6 GS-6 ,L 5.1 6 5 5 2 6 0 90 49 40 23 20 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 3 0 8.44 26 Teddy Higuera 1988-04-10 MIL @NYY L 6-7 GS-6 6 7 3 3 1 5 0 105 71 50 25 24 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 3 0 4.50 27 Jack Morris 1988-04-09 DET @KCR W 11-4 GS-8 ,W 8 6 4 4 1 6 1 107 68 59 30 29 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 3 0 4.50 28 Dave Stewart 1988-04-09 OAK @CAL W 8-6 GS-8 ,W 8 7 6 6 5 4 1 112 64 43 37 29 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 6.75 29 Roger Clemens 1988-04-04 BOS DET L 3-5 GS-9 9 6 3 3 4 11 1 135 89 70 36 31 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 3.00 30 Les Lancaster 1987-07-05 CHC SFG L 5-7 GS-5 5 7 4 4 2 6 2 41 25 23 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 7.20 31 Charlie Hough 1987-06-10 TEX @SEA W 9-5 GS-6 6 5 5 4 5 2 0 41 30 22 1 1 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 3 0 6.00 32 Dave LaPoint 1986-09-02 SDP @PHI W 6-2 GS-7 ,W 7 6 2 2 2 7 0 66 30 28 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 2.57 33 Bob Walk 1985-08-15(2) PIT @STL L 3-4 GS-6 6 9 3 3 2 4 1 44 26 24 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 3 0 4.50 34 Dave Smith 1982-06-25 HOU LAD W 7-5 GS-2 2 4 3 3 2 0 0 34 12 9 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 3 0 13.50 35 Phil Niekro 1974-09-07 ATL SFG L 0-6 GS-6 ,L 6 6 3 2 2 4 0 52 24 21 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 1 1 1 3 0 3.00 36 Jim Owens 1963-04-24 CIN @LAD L 0-7 GS-2 ,L 1.1 1 2 2 3 0 0 30 11 41 8 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 13.50 37 Don Rowe 1963-04-22 NYM @PHI L 6-8 GS-5 4.2 7 3 3 1 1 0 73 48 38 21 19 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 3 0 5.79 38 Camilo Pascual 1959-05-22 WSH @BOS L 3-4 CG 8 ,L 8 11 4 4 2 8 1 50 36 32 4 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 3 0 4.50
For more about the balks of 1988 and about balks in general there is an excellent article on the Recondite Baseball website.
May 18th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
was i the only one that laughed out loud when i read this about a spring training game?: "Rangers knuckleballer Charlie Hough had a rough day, being called for seven balks in the second inning.."