Baseball's Lifetime 1.000 Hitters
More than two dozen cup-of-coffee major league players sport 1.000-lifetime batting averages.
Since the beginning of time, thousands of men have worn the uniforms of America’s major league baseball teams. But fewer than 100 of them left a career batting average of 1.000 in the record books.
Although 90 percent of them had only one opportunity to swing a bat in a big league game, a few left impressive footprints in the diamond dust for their brief appearances.
Baseball writer Norman L. Macht tells the story of baseball’s lifetime 1.000 hitters including John Paciorek, Chuck Lindstrom and more
John Paciorek
The most productive one-game wonder was John Paciorek. Signed by the year-old Houston Colt 45s in 1963, the 18-year-old right fielder broke in with Modesto in the California League.
In the final game of the season on September 19, Houston started eight first-year players, half of them just called up from the minors.
Lifetime 1.000 hitter John Paciorek
Paciorek was one of them. In five at-bats, the right fielder produced three singles and two walks, scored four runs and had three RBIs in a 13-4 win over the Mets’ Larry Bearnarth and three other hurlers.
He is the only 1.000 hitter with three hits. (His brother Tom lasted 18 years and batted .282. Another brother, Jim, had one year in the big leagues and batted .229.)
Esteban Yan
The longest career of a 2-for-2 1.000 batter was that of Esteban Yan. For 11 years (1991-2001) with seven teams, the 6-foot-four, 230-pound right-hand pitcher from the Dominican Republic was primarily a closer. But in 2000 he started 20 games for Tampa Bay.
On June 4 he started against the Mets at Shea Stadium.
In the second inning he stood at home plate for the first time in the big leagues, swung at the first pitch from right-hander Bobby Jones and hit it into the left field seats for a home run.
On June 30, 2003, with the Cardinals, he beat out a bunt for a single.
Fred Schemanski
Two of the perfectionists played in five games. Fred Schemanski had one chance on the mound, but three at the plate with the 1923 Washington Senators.
In his one inning as a pitcher, the 20-year-old right-hander gave up three runs on three hits. But as a pinch hitter, he drew a walk and hit two singles, driving in two runs.
William “Tige” Stone
That same year William “Tige” Stone of the Cardinals also had more success as a batter than a pitcher. In a three-inning stint, he gave up four runs on five hits and three walks.
As a fill-in outfielder, he drew two walks and hit a single in three at-bats.
Chuck Lindstrom
One player batted 1.000 with a 3.000 slugging average: catcher Chuck Lindstrom (who, with his father, Hall of Famer Fred Lindstrom, is the subject of another story on this website), batted twice in the last game of the 1958 season with the Chicago White Sox.
His first time up he walked and scored a run. Next time up he tripled, driving in a run. That was his only big league game.
In August 2012 catcher Eddy Rodriguez was called up by the San Diego Padres.
Although not a 1.000 hitter, his lone big league hit was notable: a home run on August 2 in Cincinnati off Reds’ 19-game winner Johnny Cueto. The Reds had originally drafted him in 2006.
Here are the other 1.000 batters who were 2 for 2:
Hal Deviney, 1920 Red Sox pitcher, singled and tripled in one game
Mike Hopkins, 1902 Pirates catcher, singled and doubled in one game
Chet Kehn, 1942 Dodgers pitcher, singled twice and walked once in three games
Frank O’Connor, 1893 Phillies pitcher, single and home run in three games
Jason Roach, 2003 Mets pitcher, two singles in two games
Doc Tonkin, 1907 Washington pitcher, two singles in one game
