In an episode of Cheers where Carla willingly gives up one of her five kids to Nich Tortelli, the boys (Cliffy and Norm) ask Sam what he batted to which he replied “I dunno, .370?” Is this a blatant oversight by the writers? Sam allegedly was a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, an American League team that follows the DH rule such that a pitcher would never bat in the regular season (under the MBL rules of the 1980s, prior to inter-league play).
Could the writers have been so blind to reality regarding a well-known rule in baseball?
For the record, the last season pitchers batted in the American League was 1972. They also batted in the minor leagues. I’m not sure if they ever mentioned when Sam broken into the majors but he was old enough to have pitched–and batted–for the Red Sox in 1972. It could also be said that Sam was including his at-bats in the minors as well.
Incidentally, did the writers really have Sam say he hit around .370? That’s an high average for anybody (for comparison, Ty Cobb’s .367 is the highest career batting average). Usually, a pitcher is lucky if he hits around .170.
According to Sam Malone’s page on baseball-reference.com, he pitched for the Red Sox from 1972 through 1978. The DH rule started in 1973, so he had one season where he had to bat.
His claimed average of .370 is B.S. anyway. Even the best hitters rarely have averages that high. I suppose a pitcher with very few at-bats might have an average this high just through luck, but it’s very unlikely. Sam just made up the number to impress his buddies.
The canon is that Sam was a good reliever until the booze got to him. Maybe he racked up the good numbers early on and went way downhill in his last season or two.
I think he mentioned in one episode that if Coach hadn’t given him a pep talk during one game his career could have ended right there “instead of a couple of weeks later like it actually did.”
There was an episode where he was trying to play tennis with Frasier, I think, and he was flopping around the court with completely uncoordinated goofy swings. Frasier looks at him and says, Weren’t you a professional athlete, Sam. Sam says, Yeah I was a pitcher in the American league, but I never actually hit anything.
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Are you old enough to remember the Sox in the 70s? With the exception of the '75 team, they sucked.
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Let’s check the season records for the Red Sox from 1972 to 1976 (courtesy Baseball-Reference):
Year
1972 85 70 2nd Place 0.5 GB Detroit
1973 89 73 2nd Place 8 GB Baltimore
1974 84 78 3rd Place 7 GB Baltimore
1975 95 65 1st Place (Beat Oakland in ALCS, Lost to Cincinnati in WS)
1976 83 79 3rd Place 15.5 GB New York
1977 97 64 2nd Place 2.5 GB New York
1978 99 64 2nd Place 1 GB New York (Lost extra-game play-off)
If there were a pitcher who hit .370, he would bat, DH rule or none. Especially since it, unlike, say, 1.000, looks like an average that could not be reached precisely without a significant number of at-bats.
