3 Pitch Inning

3 Pitch Inning

Pitch counts. A relatively modern baseball "invention" designed specifically to protect the pitcher. Completely unofficial and no record books have ever been kept. The following pitchers had no problem with their pitch count, at least for one inning, as they started the inning, threw exactly three pitches and recorded three outs.

Important note: The list below is far from being comprehensive. As mentioned above, pitch counts are not officially recorded so each of these instances has been found because it was mentioned in the article accompanying the box score. Current sites do record pitch counts and fans who see an instance where this list should be expanded should contact us as soon as it happens.

"The first time I faced him (Walter Johnson), I watched him take that easy windup — and then something went past me that made me flinch. I hardly saw the pitch, but I heard it... Every one of us knew we'd met the most powerful arm ever turned loose in a ballpark." - Ty Cobb

3 Pitch Inning
American League

Name^(Quantity) Date / Box Team / Roster Inning

Addie Joss⁽¹⁾

08-22-1903

Cleveland

2^nd

Hippo Vaughn⁽¹⁾

04-14-1910

New York

10^th

Walter Johnson⁽¹⁾

06-27-1911

Washington

6^th

Walter Johnson⁽²⁾

05-26-1913

Washington

6^th

Fritz Coumbe⁽¹⁾

08-19-1915

Cleveland

6^th

Walter Johnson⁽³⁾

08-29-1915

Washington

4^th

Walter Johnson⁽⁴⁾

06-01-1917

Washington

2^nd

Ed Klepfer⁽¹⁾

06-27-1917

Cleveland

1^st

Molly Craft⁽¹⁾

09-21-1917

Washington

6^th

Hooks Dauss⁽¹⁾

06-03-1919

Detroit

6^th

Sam Jones⁽¹⁾

08-11-1923

New York

6^th

Rube Walberg⁽¹⁾

10-14-1929

Philadelphia

7^th

Tiny Bonham⁽¹⁾

10-06-1941

New York

7^th

Sonny Siebert⁽¹⁾

05-11-1969

Boston

2^nd

Jerry Terrell⁽¹⁾

08-20-1979

Kansas City

9^th

Jimmy Key⁽¹⁾

07-21-1987

Toronto

2^nd

Floyd Bannister⁽¹⁾

05-15-1989

Kansas City

2^nd

Tony Fossas⁽¹⁾

04-09-1990

Milwaukee

6^th

Scott Sanderson⁽¹⁾

08-12-1992

New York

5^th

Jack McDowell⁽¹⁾

09-11-1995

New York

9^th

Brad Radke⁽¹⁾

06-09-1998

Minnesota

3^rd

Jay Witasick⁽¹⁾

06-28-2000

Kansas City

2^nd

Mariano Rivera⁽¹⁾

10-21-2001

New York

9^th

Name^(Quantity)
Date / Box Team / Roster Inning

3 Pitch Inning
National League

Name^(Quantity)
Date / Box Team / Roster Inning

Duke Esper⁽¹⁾

06-05-1884

Washington

2^nd

George Hodson⁽¹⁾

05-22-1895

Boston

7^th

Vic Willis⁽¹⁾

08-07-1899

Boston

2^nd

Mordecai Brown⁽¹⁾

10-08-1908

Chicago

9^th

Christy Mathewson⁽¹⁾

10-09-1912

New York

11^th

Christy Mathewson⁽²⁾

10-16-1912

New York

5^th

Slim Sallee⁽¹⁾

09-21-1919

Cincinnati

9^th

Joe Oeschger⁽¹⁾

05-01-1920

Boston

7^th

Joe Niekro⁽¹⁾

05-25-1969

Chicago

8^th

Burt Hooton⁽¹⁾

06-25-1972

Chicago

4^th

Bruce Hurst⁽¹⁾

07-26-1992

San Diego

8^th

Al Leiter⁽¹⁾

05-11-1996

Florida

8^th

Randy Johnson⁽¹⁾

04-14-2000

Arizona

5^th

Randy Johnson⁽²⁾

04-20-2000

Arizona

7^th

Kazuhisa Ishii⁽¹⁾

06-08-2002

Los Angeles

6^th

Wayne Franklin⁽¹⁾

06-26-2003

Milwaukee

6^th

Taylor Buchholz⁽¹⁾

05-21-2006

Houston

9^th

Kyle Lohse⁽¹⁾

06-23-2007 *

Cincinnati

2^nd

Doug Brocail⁽¹⁾

04-30-2008

Houston

2^nd

Name^(Quantity)
Date / Box Team / Roster Inning

3 Pitch Inning | * = Interleague Game

The following three pitch innings all took place during a World Series game: Christy Mathewson (Game 2 & Game 8 of the 1912 World Series), Rube Walberg (Game 5 of the 1929 World Series), Tiny Bonham (Game 5 of the 1941 World Series).

One of the most interesting three pitch instances took place on August 20, 1979, when six-year veteran infielder Jerry Terrell took the mound in the ninth inning for his first career pitching appearance and joined the 3 pitch inning club!

Did you know that the Al Leiter 3 pitch inning in the eighth inning on May 11, 1996, took place during his no hit contest?

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