Jack Harshman, 1991 Crown/Coca-Cola All-Time Orioles #184

Tonight the Orioles kick off their first road interleague series of the season, and you know what that means...pitchers batting! Given Baltimore's recent spate of offensive futility, the last thing they need is a guaranteed out anchored to the bottom of their batting order (hold your Ryan Flaherty jokes until the end of the post). It's probably best not to hold out hope for any Jack Harshman-type performances, since the team's probable best-hitting pitcher is Zach Britton, and he's currently holding up the back end of the bullpen.

If Jack Harshman doesn't ring a bell, here's a refresher. He was a 6'2" first baseman who converted to pitching full-time at age 26 with the 1954 White Sox. He was pretty good on the mound, with a 69-65 record and a 3.50 ERA (109 ERA+) in parts of eight seasons in the majors. Jack spent a year-plus with the O's in 1958 and 1959, and in the former season he became the first Oriole pitcher to hit two homers in a game, doing it twice. The only other Birds' pitcher to have a multi-homer game in the ensuing years was Milt Pappas, who did it against Minnesota in 1960. As for tonight's starter, Miguel Gonzalez, I'd probably be satisfied if he could scratch out a single...or reach on an error. I'm not picky.