John Hardin Oldham (born November 6, 1932) is a former

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), ...

player. Although he was a

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 ...

during all of his professional career, Oldham's only MLB appearance came as a

pinch runner In baseball, a pinch runner is a player substituted for the specific purpose of replacing another player on base. The pinch runner may be faster or otherwise more skilled at base-running than the player for whom the pinch runner has been sub ...

for the

Cincinnati Redlegs Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

in the

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

season; he is one of only two pitchers (the other being

Larry Yount Lawrence King Yount (born February 15, 1950) is a former professional baseball player. Yount (whose younger brother is Hall of Famer Robin Yount) shares the unique distinction of being one of two pitchers in Major League Baseball (MLB) history t ...

) who appeared in a major league game without throwing a single pitch.

College

Oldham was a three-year letterwinner at

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sys ...

, from 1952 through 1954. A member of the school's Hall of Fame, Oldham still holds the Spartans' career and single-season records for strikeouts and walks; he also ranks among the school's top ten for career wins, and career and single-season innings pitched. He was the first

Humboldt Crabs The Humboldt Crabs are a collegiate summer baseball team located in Arcata, California. Playing in every season since they were founded in 1945 by Lou Bonomini, later joined by Ned Barsuglia, the Crabs are the oldest continually-operated summer co ...

player to play in the Major Leagues.

Professional

Oldham was signed by the Redlegs out of San Jose State in as a pitcher. He spent that season with the

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

Columbia Reds Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

of the

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its ...

. In , he pitched for the

Seattle Rainiers The Seattle Rainiers, originally named the Seattle Indians and also known as the Seattle Angels, were a Minor League Baseball team in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, that played in the Pacific Coast League from 1903 to 1906 and 1919 to 19 ...

of the

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 ...

, where he had a record of 9–6 and an

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 ...

of 3.84. Despite not appearing in a single minor league game in 1956 (due to an injury), the Redlegs called Oldham up in September. On September 2, 1956, he entered the game against 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 ...

in the third inning at Crosley Field in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

as a

for

Ted Kluszewski Theodore Bernard Kluszewski (September 10, 1924 – March 29, 1988), also known as "Big Klu", was an American professional baseball player known for his bulging biceps and mammoth home runs in the 1950s decade. He played from 1947 through 1961 wit ...

, who himself had

pinch-hit In baseball, a pinch hitter is a substitute Batting (baseball), batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the dead ball (baseball), ball is dead (not in active play); the manager (baseball), manager may use any player who has not yet ...

for

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 ...

Alex Grammas Alexander Peter Grammas (April 3, 1926 – September 13, 2019) was an American professional baseball infielder, manager and coach. A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Grammas played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals, Cinci ...

. The next batter popped out and Oldham was replaced on defense by

Rocky Bridges Everett Lamar "Rocky" Bridges (August 7, 1927 – January 27, 2015) was a middle infielder and third baseman with an 11-year career in Major League Baseball from 1951 to 1961. Bridges played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Cincinnati Redlegs and St. L ...

.Box score for Oldham's MLB appearance
/ref> Although he pitched for three more seasons in the minors, his MLB career was over. Oldham batted right and threw left-handed, which was itself unusual: as of 2015, only 553 players in MLB history (about 3% of all players) hit right and threw left, with Hall of Famer

Rickey Henderson Rickey Nelson Henley Henderson (born December 25, 1958) is an American retired professional baseball left fielder who played his 24 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for nine teams from 1979 to 2003, including four separate tenures with hi ...

probably the best known.

Coaching

From 1970 to 1984, Oldham coached baseball at

San Jose City College San José City College (SJCC) is a public community college in San Jose, California. Founded in 1921, SJCC is located in the West San Jose neighborhood of Fruitdale. History The college was founded in 1921, opening its doors to students in Sep ...

. From 1985 to 1997, Oldham coached the Broncos of

Santa Clara University Santa Clara University is a private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university's campus surrounds the historic Mis ...

, leading them to four NCAA appearances and three

West Coast Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting of ...

championships. His final record at Santa Clara was 433–324–6, a .571 winning percentage.

References

External links

1932 births Living people Asheville Tourists players Baseball coaches from California Baseball players from California Cincinnati Redlegs players Columbia Reds players Columbus/Gastonia Pirates players Nashville Vols players San Jose State Spartans baseball players Santa Clara Broncos baseball coaches Savannah Redlegs players Seattle Rainiers players Sportspeople from Salinas, California Yakima Braves players {{US-baseball-bio-stub