Sliders: A Triple-A pitcher's unusual place in MLB history, plus the most creative Immaculate Grid yet

New York Times

04-04-2025

Welcome to Sliders, a weekly in-season MLB column that focuses on both the timely and timeless elements of baseball.
The first is a club of fewer than 23,500 people, less than half of the capacity of the Seattle Mariners' home ballpark. Hagen Danner joined that club when he made his major-league debut. He will be a big leaguer forever.
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Alas — for the moment, anyway — Danner is also part of a club of four. That is the total, out of all those major-league players, whose entire career consisted of no more than one official batter faced.
The record shows that Danner pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays in the top of the ninth inning on Aug. 11, 2023, getting Seiya Suzuki of the Chicago Cubs to fly out to right field. As a Triple-A pitcher now, he still has time to remove himself from the second list.
'Part of me is like, 'Hey, you did it. You faced a batter, you got an out, you've been up there,'' Danner said in spring training, before a workout with the Mariners. 'That's what people will tell me. 'Dude, you're a big leaguer' — and, hey, I am. That's what I've got to remember, is that I did something that I dreamed of doing my entire life. But in my head, I want to get out there really badly and actually make myself proud up there.'
By making his debut at the start of an inning, Danner's first appearance should have lasted a little longer. But the three batter minimum rule is nullified if a pitcher gets hurt and that is what happened, landing Danner in an eclectic group with just three other non-position players who faced fewer than two batters.
The others with one game pitched and one (or no) batters faced are Rufus Meadows, an 18-year-old lefty for the 1926 Cincinnati Reds; W.H. Kelly of the 1941 Jacksonville Red Caps in the Negro American League; and Larry Yount, who was announced as a reliever for the 1971 Houston Astros but hurt his elbow warming up and never returned. (Larry's younger brother Robin had a longer career.)
Here is how Danner described his whirlwind experience in the majors:
'I got called up the night before, when we were in Worcester,' said Danner, who was then pitching for the Blue Jays' affiliate in Buffalo. 'I went to the Boston airport, spent the night at a hotel and had a flight at 6 a.m. to Buffalo. I grabbed my car, drove up to Toronto — it was like a two-hour drive — but I couldn't go to the stadium because they hadn't made the roster change yet, so I sat in my hotel room for an hour.
'So I came in and, I mean, I was exhausted. I don't know if that played into it. I know my stress levels were probably high, energy was up, probably moving a little faster than usual. And then on my third pitch, I felt like a knife just stabbed me in my oblique.'

Suzuki, who lined out on his second pitch, is credited as Danner's one batter faced. But Danner doesn't get credit for the pain of facing the next batter, Yan Gomes. The excruciating first pitch to Gomes was a strike, so Danner tried to continue. He got strike two. His first strikeout was so close; just one more strike couldn't hurt too much, right?
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'No shot,' Danner said. 'Three balls. I couldn't get over my front side. I was trying to throw and had a dead front side.'
The Blue Jays' bench could tell something was wrong, that Danner's shining achievement — in his third season as a pitcher after three in the minors as an overwhelmed catcher — was turning dark.
'The moment that debut happens, you're just so proud of that person and their family and the people who supported them — the organization, the coaches, everybody, you're almost out there willing them to success,' said Gil Kim, then a Toronto coach who was farm director when the Blue Jays drafted Danner in the second round in 2017.
'You could tell that there was some laboring going on, but it's the first outing, so you're thinking there's probably some nerves and excitement and some extra effort. But then it was obvious that something was off, and at that moment, your heart sinks. You're thinking about the game and giving yourself the best chance to win, but you're also thinking about the human being.'
As a human, Danner felt awkward after the outing, accruing major-league service time on the injured list but mainly just trying to stay out of the way. When the Blue Jays left for a trip, he reported to the team's Dunedin, Fla., complex for rehab. He's remained in the minors since.
After a solid showing last year (a 3.15 ERA in 33 outings for Buffalo), Danner was claimed off waivers in January by the Mariners. They put him on the 40-man roster, though his position there is tenuous, as it is for so many pitchers in this era of constant roster shuffling.
As a former high pick with a solid track record in Triple A, Danner, 26, may well get another chance. He described himself as a strike thrower with no fear, and teams can always use pitchers like that.
But Danner knows that the toughest part of his journey remains.
'It's more for my younger self to get up there, grind your way back up there,' he said. 'It's not easy. They always say it's way easier to get there, and the hardest thing is to stick. The hardest thing is to get back up there.'
The title was minimalist and the cover had all the flair of a grocery-store paper bag. But a little book called 'Batting,' with its plain brown cover, found its way to the Minnesota Twins' clubhouse this spring training, 100 years after publication.
The Twins' pitching coach, Pete Maki, had brought the book, by F.C. Lane, from his home collection in case any players wanted a history lesson. If any of them opened to page 30, they'd have found a century-old take on the topic that would dominate the first week of the regular season.
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'No doubt the most curious of all bats was that of Heinie Groh,' wrote Lane, who went on to describe a specially designed bat that looked not like a torpedo, but a bottle. Groh's 45-ounce bat, Lane wrote, was 'best suited to his needs' (sound familiar?) and a couple of inches shorter than most bats.
Heinie Groh with his early 'torpedo bat' pic.twitter.com/mUsSYPIsOS
— OldTimeHardball (@OleTimeHardball) April 2, 2025
Groh, a Deadball-era third baseman with four .300 seasons for the Cincinnati Reds, explained that it 'is almost like a paddle with the weight on the hitting end. I don't swing it very much but punch with it, and can place hits pretty accurately…. Ordinarily I choke up on the bat, but sometimes I will slide one hand down to the end of the handle and swing more like a slugger. It's designed specifically for a chop hitter, and I am convinced that many other chop hitters would find this peculiar bat much better for them than the ordinary club.'
Groh somehow punched his way to an NL-best .823 OPS in 1919, when the Reds beat the Chicago White Sox in the infamous eight men out World Series. And while he swatted just 26 homers in his 16 seasons, the 5-foot-8, 158-pound Groh must have been quite strong: At 45 ounces, his bat was 12 ounces heavier than the typical model today.
Jeff Conine took an instant liking to baseball in Miami. In the first game in Marlins history, on April 5, 1993, he got four hits. He played every game of that season, and four years later helped the Marlins win a championship. In 2003, Conine and the Marlins did it again. He's the only player who played in both World Series, which means he has his choice of rings.
'It's quite a stark contrast — literally, the 2003 ring is double the size of the '97 ring,' Conine said. 'I like to wear the '03 ring just because of that. It's a great conversation piece, and a lot of people have never seen a world championship ring. And the '97 ring is a nice ring, but it might go unnoticed — whereas you cannot unnotice the 2003.'
Fittingly, the Marlins made Conine the first person enshrined in their team's new Hall of Fame last Sunday — and his son, Griffin, celebrated by hitting the game-tying homer that day in a 3-2 victory. Embracing the past is an encouraging sign for the organization, which cut ties with parts of its history as part of an ownership changeover in 2017 and has averaged fewer than 15,000 fans per home game ever since.
Conine's nickname, after all, is Mr. Marlin, and he's a regular presence again at the ballpark in his adopted hometown. He helps coach in spring training, represents the team in the community and advises owner Bruce Sherman, who authorized a comprehensive rebuild — and an accompanying MLB-low payroll — with the hiring of Peter Bendix as president of baseball operations in November 2023.
Here are five insights from Conine about life as a Marlins Hall of Famer:
How he returned to the organization in 2023: 'I just got a phone call from Bruce Sherman directly one morning and he said he'd like to have breakfast with me and just basically meet face to face. He'd heard my name a lot around circles of the people that were still around from the old regime. So we met for breakfast and a lot of changes were going on through the organization for that season, and as soon as the season was over with, he said, 'I'd like to have you come back and be involved.' '
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How Griffin's game compares to his: 'There's nothing that can describe having your son excel at the highest level in a sport that you made a career out of, regardless of what sport it is or what field it is. To see him out there is just absolute — well, one, it's nerve-wracking because I know exactly what he's going through and you want him to succeed every single at-bat, every single game.
'But it's just pride and joy to see him out there and doing what he's doing. And if you want to compare games, he's got more talent than I did at that age, all the way around. He's got a better arm. He runs just as well. He's got way more power than I do, hitting from the left side. I think it's (about) the mental game. When that clicks for him, he's gonna be a beast.'
The origins of the Conine Clubhouse in Hollywood, Fla.: 'The Marlins, when we first started the community relations department, wanted to get us out there and try to get into the community. So they asked everybody, 'What would you like to be involved with?' My wife and I didn't really have any ties to anything down here, so we said something that involves children. And I was invited to the Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital for a luncheon. It was early on (in 1993) and the Dodgers were in town. So I go over there and I'm having lunch with Tommy Lasorda and Joe DiMaggio! So the baseball tie was obvious, but when I met the CEO and got to know the people, it was just a remarkable place.
We started having a golf tournament for the children's hospital that we're going to donate all the money to, and then after our first two years, it was called the Visitors Clubhouse, and it was built to house families that could stay there free of charge while their kids were being treated at the hospital.' (The hospital changed the name to honor Conine after the 2003 title.)
How the Marlins can attract more fans: 'It's Miami, they want to win. They want a winner. And I think winning is going to be the biggest way to put more fans in the seats, because our marketing department tries everything they possibly can to make it a fun atmosphere. If you go to a Marlins game at LoanDepot, it's definitely a fun experience for families, and they do that well. But Miami likes the winners, and I think that'll be the biggest cure for any subpar attendance is to just get in the race.'
His plans for that snazzy Hall of Fame teal sports coat: 'It's very cool; turned out really nice. I thought I'm gonna hang it at home for now and then I'll probably wear it when the other inductees come into the Hall. We've got three of them this year with Jim Leyland, Jack McKeon and Luis Castillo going in at different times. So I get to don that jacket at their induction ceremonies.' (Not around town?) 'I'm going to reserve it for ballpark only.'
April Fool's Day was a treat for fans of the Immaculate Grid: Every player in history was eligible for every square. This made it easy to get a rarity score of 0, but the fun part was being creative with the choices. For our first 'Off The Grid' segment of 2025 — and in honor of the Grid's nine squares — we asked nine of our favorite Grid enthusiasts for their themes. Here's what they sent:
Steve Buckley, The Athletic columnist, former Maine Guides beat writer: Players from the Maine Guides (Class AAA, 1984-88)
Mike Cameron, Mariners special assignment coach, former All-Star center fielder: Hall of Fame pitchers (first two rows), pitcher who gave up his first career HR (Jacome), pitcher who falsely claimed he could never take him deep (Hernández), pitcher who gave up his last career HR (Herndon)
Jerry Dipoto, Mariners president of baseball operations, former pitcher: Nine players he's acquired in trades
Todd Greene, Diamondbacks scout, former catcher: Alums of Georgia Southern University
Sweeny Murti, Senior Contributor, MLB Media: Coaches (and a future coach) from the 1980 Phillies
Mike Myers, MLBPA special assistant, former pitcher: Detroit Tigers bullpen teammates
Dan Shulman, Blue Jays broadcaster: Canadians
Steve Sparks, Astros broadcaster, former pitcher: Comedians ('Daisuke,' Sparks explained, is for Andrew 'Dice Clay')
Mike Teevan, MLB's VP Communications: International pioneers
The Yankees haven't posted a losing record since 1992, when they struggled at both the ballpark and the box office. That April featured the release of 'The Babe,' which was gone in a few weeks after tepid ticket sales and withering reviews. Here's a one-star dandy from Roger Ebert:
After the magical innocence of baseball as painted in 'Field of Dreams,' after the life-affirming 'Bull Durham,' here is a baseball trading card that looks like it was found in the gutter.
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John Goodman's Ruth was a superficial lout, and the film was littered with historical inaccuracies. Then again, 1948's 'The Babe Ruth Story,' starring William Bendix, may have been no better — the great Ted Williams, in an interview with the Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy, called it the worst movie he'd ever seen.
Maybe it's just hard to capture the essence of an outsized character like Ruth. Heck, even SCTV depicted him wearing Lou Gehrig's No. 4; although perhaps that was a wink to the absurdities of the Bendix film.
In any case, this 1977 sketch is a winner, with John Candy as the Babe and his frequent collaborator, Catherine O'Hara, as the mother of a sick child making increasingly bold demands. (I love the basket of 50 hot dogs, all ready to go.)
(Top photo of Hagen Danner in spring training last month: Rob Leiter / MLB Photos via Getty Images)