For the longest time baseball had two kinds of players: Hitters and pitchers. Eventually, the pitching category was further split between starters and relievers. That distinction was further clarified when relievers began being classified across middle relief, late relief, and closer roles. Tampa Bay’s experimental bullpen even flirted with having “openers” on their roster.
Left out from all these titles is that belonging to one of the oldest pitching duties of all: The mop-up guy. The mop-up guy doesn’t start games and he doesn’t finish them. His job is to pitch through innings irrelevant to the outcome of the game without getting hurt.
Bob Mahoney, after 4 attempts as a starting pitcher, became a mop-up guy. He never earned a save despite appearing in almost 90% of his games as a reliever. All but three innings of his career took place in 1951, and it was in an insane mop-up assignment that he earned his first career win.
The Browns were down 5-3 against the Tigers in the top half of the 4th inning when they called to the bullpen. Mahoney entered the game and promptly gave up a 2 run, first-pitch home run to Vic Wertz. After limiting the damage to the wrong side of a 7-3 score, Mahoney’s turn to bat came up in the bottom half of the inning. He drew a walk and scored on a Matt Batts single to narrow the gap to 7-4. A St. Louis rally ensued in the fifth, wherein the score was tied 7-7 with Mahoney recording one of 4 career hits.
The tie didn’t last long. Jerry Priddy, the first Detroit batter in the sixth, led off with a solo home run. This continued in the seventh, with Detroit’s Pat Mullin hitting another homer to put the Tigers ahead by a score of 9-7. Mahoney was once again left in the game to bat, making it clear St. Louis intended to keep him on the mound, and promptly struck out. The Browns then figured things out, scoring 11 runs in the inning and batting around the lineup. With the bases loaded Mahoney was finally pulled for a pinch hitter, his second time at the plate that inning and in a situation where the team was no longer behind.
Frank Saucier, the pinch hitter, had a crazy story as well. Saucier had an even shorter career than Mahoney with 18 MLB games and 14 plate appearances. He had batted .446 in the minor leagues, held out for more money in a rookie contract dispute, and soon suffered a career-ending injury. Before he messed up his arm, he recorded a single RBI. That run? It came about when he replaced Mahoney with the bases loaded. Did he hit a grand slam? No, he already recorded the solitary hit of his big league career. Saucier drew a bases loaded walk. His next claim to fame would be when he was slated to lead off the Eddie Gaedel game with his arm in a sling, bringing about another adventure in Browns pinch hitting.
Card #58 in the 1952 Topps set was the only mainstream one to feature Mahoney during his brief career. That doesn’t mean its his only playing days card, as it comes in red back, black back, and salesman sample versions. While not usually the case, the black back has the best colors. None of these varieties address a photo that wasn’t treated very well by the flexichrome coloring process. Everything about Mahoney’s face and the coloring seems off, including his cap which was changed from the dark Browns model used in the original photograph (right) to the team’s white hat.
Mahoney playing the role of baseball player comes across like Steve Buscemi’s attempt at portraying a high school student. Screenshots from this 30 Rock episode are usually accompanied by his line, “How do you do, fellow kids?”
Mahoney and Buscemi have something else in common. Would you believe the St. Louis Browns’ mop-up guy was only 23 years old on his baseball card? Every time I look at this card and its terrible coloring job, I can’t help but imagine Mahoney stepping into the checklist and asking, “How do you do, fellow big leaguers?”
