Baseball puzzler question
 

Here is this weeks puzzler from Car Talk. I don't know the answer, but I figure that someone on the board who actually knows the rules of baseball better than I do may get a kick out of it.

(FYI: Most of the time, the Car Talk puzzler has a "legitimate" answer. Every so often, they resort to a pun or a "zinger," but they are generally on the level. In other words, if the answer turns out to be bogus, don't come crying to me.)



hXXp://www.cartalk.com/content/puzzler/transcripts/200414/index.html

RAY: Lefty McDougal, star pitcher of the Kenosha Ramblers, had an incentive clause in his contract that guaranteed him an extra thousand bucks if he won 20 games during the season.

TOM: This sounds like 1925!

RAY: It's last game of the season. Lefty has 19 victories, and is scheduled to be that day's starting pitcher. The opponent is a lousy team. They've got a terrible record, and Lefty knows he's going to get the bonus.

As luck would have it, an hour before the game his manager approaches him and says, "You ain't starting, Lefty."

Lefty asks, "Why not?"

The manager says, "The owner of the team came and said, 'If you start this bum... if he throws even one pitch, you're losing your job!'"

Lefty's dejected. He says, "Jeez, I was going buy a new house in the Hamptons with that thousand bucks!"

Lefty's discouraged, and the manager is discouraged too, because he has great regard for Lefty. The manager wonders, "How can I get Lefty to win his 20th game and collect his bonus-- and not throw a single pitch?"

And that's what happens. Lefty wins the game without throwing a single pitch.

How did he do it?

Not sure how the manager could arrange it, but you can win a game without throwing a pitch by being the pitcher of record when your team gets the winning run. That could happen if you came into the game and picked off a player for the last out of an inning, for example.

Didn't something like this happen a few years back? If I recall correctly, then-O's pitcher Kerry Lightenberg got the W in a game without throwing a single pitch. (he picked the runner on 1st off for the final out of the inning)

I would say thats the answer

That, (I'm curious here, not totally up on my NL rules), if he were to pinch hit for the previous pitcher, and for example be the eventual game winning run, then not pitch the next inning, would he be considered the pitcher of record, or simply a pinch hitter?

I dont believe so.

If he got in the game with 2 out in the 4th with his team being ahead(or any inning for that matter before the 5th) and picked someone off, i believe it would have been the way to do it.

This is a fictional scenario, right?

Yes, by the current CBA that bonus wouldn't even be allowed.

I believe for pitchers the only current allowed are
Appearances
Innings Pitched

Yeah, you're right. There might be more creative ways to figure a bonus that doesn't violate the current CBA (such as days on active roster), but generally this is correct. The CBA prohibits a performance based bonus (with the exception of if you make the All-Star team or win some award) but allows a bonus based on criteria such as appearances or innings pitched.

The same is true for hitters. For example, you can give them a bonus based on at bats, but not on the number of homeruns they hit.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=230501206

Looks like getting the third out of an inning via the pick off or CS by stepping off the rubber is the way to go.

it doesn't have to be before the 5th inning, you can get a win anytime you enter the game as long as your team took the lead in the same inning as you became pitcher of record....

Ah, true.