Andy Oyler
| Andy Oyler | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Outfielder | |
| Born: May 5, 1880 Newville, Pennsylvania | |
| Died: October 24, 1970 (aged 90) East Pennsboro Township, Pennsylvania | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| May 8, 1902, for the Baltimore Orioles | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| July 21, 1902, for the Baltimore Orioles | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .221 |
| Home runs | 1 |
| Runs batted in | 6 |
| Teams | |
Andrew Paul (Pepper) Oyler (May 5, 1880 – October 24, 1970) was a Major League Baseball third baseman. He was born in Newville, Pennsylvania and attended Washington & Jefferson College.[1] He played professionally for the Baltimore Orioles in the 1902 season. In 27 professional games that year, he had 77 at-bats with 17 hits and one home run.
He batted and threw right-handed. He was small in stature and was an excellent fielder, but not a good hitter.[2] Even so, he was difficult to pitch to, since he would crouch "pretzel-like" in the batter's box to make his strike zone smaller.[2] He died in East Pennsboro Township, Pennsylvania.
Shortest home run in history
In 1953, sportswriter Jocko Maxwell published an article in Baseball Digest describing the shortest home run in baseball history.[2] Maxwell described a baseball game where Oyler, as a shortstop for the Minneapolis Millers, was crouched in the batters' box in the bottom of the 9th and ducked to avoid a pitch thrown at his head.[2] The ball hit off of Oyler's bat, which was still resting on his shoulder, and became stuck in the mud in front of home plate.[2] Oyler was able to complete an inside-the-park home run before any opposing players were able to find the ball.[2] Maxwell's article indicated that the story was originally told by WWRL radio station in Woodside, New York.[2] This story was repeated by sportswriter Bill Bryson, Sr. in Baseball Digest in 1958.[3] Another version of the story, as told by Halsey Hall, had Oyler chopping at a low pitch and sticking the ball into the mud 51⁄2 feet from home plate.[4]
Baseball historian Stew Thornley is skeptical of the story of Oyler's home run, pointing out that no contemporary news reports described the incident.[5] Other modern reference sources recount the story without caveat.[6]
The story was the subject of a book of baseball lore by Michael G. Bryson called The Twenty-Four-Inch Home Run.[7] It was also the inspiration for the children's book, Mudball by Matt Tavares, which won the 2005 Parents' Choice Awards Gold Award.[8] In the "Author's Note" Tavares describes the story of Oyler's home run as being folklore.[8]
See also
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs
References
- ^ "Andy Oyler". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved May 18, 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g Maxwell, Jocko (April 1953). "Inch-hit Homer!". Baseball Digest. pp. 29–30.
- ^ Bryson, Bill (October 1958). "The World's Shortest Home Runs". Baseball Digest. pp. 67–68.
- ^ Thornley, Stew (September 1991). "Halsey Hall: Baseball's Consummate Story Teller". Baseball Digest. p. 77.
- ^ Thornley, Stew (2006). Short Home Runs: Mythical and Real. Minnesota Historical Society. p. 51.
{{cite book}}:|newspaper=ignored (help) - ^ Stewart, Mark; Mike Kennedy (2006). Long ball: the Legend and Lore of the Home Run. Milbrook Press. p. 49.
- ^ Bryson, Michael G. (1990). The Twenty-Four-Inch Home Run. Contemporary Books.
- ^ a b Tavares, Matt (2005). Mudball. Candlewick Press.