Brett Hinchliffe (born July 21, 1974) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. He was born with a genetic defect called syndactylism, a condition wherein two or more digits are fused together. As a result, the middle finger of his left hand was amputated as a child, and the bone was inserted into his thumb.

Seattle Mariners

Hinchliffe was drafted by the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

straight out of

Bishop Gallagher High School A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

in the 16th round of the 1992 Major League Baseball draft, and spent most of his ten-year career in their

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. He made his

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

debut on April 5, against the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

at the

Kingdome The Kingdome (officially the King County Stadium) was a multi-purpose stadium located in the Industrial District, Seattle, Industrial District (later SoDo, Seattle, SoDo) neighborhood of Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. O ...

, pitching three

inning In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other team ...

s and allowing two

earned run In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an erro ...

s. His first major league start came on April 18 against the

Anaheim Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team h ...

. After Hinchliffe hit Angels

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

Troy Glaus Troy Edward Glaus (; born August 3, 1976) is an American former professional baseball first baseman and third baseman. Glaus played in Major League Baseball with the Anaheim Angels (–), Arizona Diamondbacks (), Toronto Blue Jays (–), St. Lou ...

with a pitch in the first inning, Angels starter Steve Sparks retaliated on Ken Griffey Jr. in the third. When Glaus led off the fourth with a

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

, Hinchliffe hit the following batter, Todd Greene, with a pitch, inciting a bench clearing brawl. Hinchliffe & Greene would be ejected from the game. He made seven appearances, as both a starter and

reliever In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weather ...

, compiling a 0-2 record and 11.29

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

before being demoted to the Mariners'

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

affiliate, the

Tacoma Rainiers The Tacoma Rainiers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. They are located in Tacoma, Washington, and play their home games at Cheney Stadium, which opened in 1960 ...

mid-May. Hinchliffe went 9-7 with a 5.15 ERA as a

starting pitcher In baseball (hardball or softball), a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent's first batter of a game. Starting pit ...

at Tacoma to earn a call back up to Seattle that September. He made four appearances upon his return, going 0-2 with a 5.11 ERA.

Anaheim Angels

He was released in January, and somewhat ironically became teammates with Glaus on the Anaheim Angels shortly afterwards. He appeared in back-to-back games against the Kansas City Royals on May 20 and May 21, but spent most of the season in the Pacific Coast League. He went 2-3 with a 3.80 ERA mostly out of the

bullpen In baseball, the bullpen (or simply the pen) is the area where relief pitchers warm up before entering a game. A team's roster of relief pitchers is also metonymically referred to as "the bullpen". These pitchers usually wait in the bullpen if t ...

with the

Edmonton Trappers The Edmonton Trappers were a minor league baseball team in Edmonton, Alberta. They were a part of the Triple-A level in the Pacific Coast League, ending with the 2004 season. Their home games were played at Telus Field in downtown Edmonton. T ...

before being dealt with

Keith Luuloa Keith H. M. Luuloa (born December 24, 1974) is an American former professional baseball player who played one season for the Anaheim Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played at Modesto Junior College Modesto Junior College (MJC) is ...

to the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

for Chris Hatcher,

Mike Heathcott Michael Joseph Heathcott (born May 16, 1969) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played during one season at the Major League Baseball for the Chicago White Sox. He was drafted by the White Sox in the 13th round of the 1991 Ma ...

and Brett King. Assigned to the Cubs' Pacific Coast League franchise in

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

, Hinchliffe went 2-0 with a 2.81 ERA.

New York Mets

He was released that winter, and signed with the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

. He made one emergency start with the Mets in place of an injured

Al Leiter Alois Terry Leiter (; born October 23, 1965) is an American former professional baseball player and current television sports commentator. He played in Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher from to for the New York Yankees, Toronto Blu ...

. He surrendered a third inning

grand slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

to the Milwaukee Brewers' Tyler Houston. Houston's

was followed by a solo shot by

Angel Echevarria Angel Santos Echevarria (May 25, 1971 – February 7, 2020) was an American professional baseball player who played outfield in the Major Leagues from 1996 to 2002. He also played in the Japanese Pacific League, from 2003 to 2004. Amateur caree ...

. Following a

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Henry Blanco Henry Ramón Blanco (born August 29, 1971) is a Venezuelan professional baseball coach and former player. He is currently the catching and strategy coach for the Washington Nationals. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball from 1997 to ...

, he was lifted in the third without recording an out.

References

External links

. o
Baseball Almanac
o
The Ultimate Mets Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hinchliffe, Brett 1974 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Anaheim Angels players Appleton Foxes players Arizona League Mariners players Baseball players from Detroit Edmonton Trappers players Iowa Cubs players Lancaster JetHawks players Major League Baseball pitchers Memphis Chicks players New York Mets players Norfolk Tides players Riverside Pilots players Seattle Mariners players Tacoma Rainiers players