Other Players
Graham is not the only player to appear in a major league game without getting an at-bat or throwing a pitch. However, due to his introduction to popular culture via Field of Dreams, he is the best-known. Thus, his name is often invoked when discussing similar players, such as Brian Esposito, whose appearance came with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2007, or fellow University of North Carolina graduate Adam Greenberg, whose debut MLB appearance with the Chicago Cubs in 2005 ended with him being hit by the first pitch he faced. Esposito came to bat in a September 18, 2010 game against the Reds and no longer belongs to this group, while Greenberg recorded his first major league at bat with the Miami Marlins on October 2, 2012. Pedro Santana of the Detroit Tigers entered a game as a late-inning defensive replacement in 2001. He played one inning in the field, and did not register a plate appearance in his only major league game.
A pitching equivalent to Graham is Larry Yount, who is credited with an official game pitched in the majors despite never throwing a pitch. Yount, the older brother of future Hall of Famer Robin Yount, was injured while warming up.
Read more about this topic: Moonlight Graham
Famous quotes containing the word players:
“People stress the violence. That’s the smallest part of it. Football is brutal only from a distance. In the middle of it there’s a calm, a tranquility. The players accept pain. There’s a sense of order even at the end of a running play with bodies stewn everywhere. When the systems interlock, there’s a satisfaction to the game that can’t be duplicated. There’s a harmony.”
—Don Delillo (b. 1926)
“Will you see the players well bestowed? Do you hear, let them
be well used, for they are the abstracts and brief chronicles of the time. After your death you were better have a bad epitaph than their ill report while you live.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)