The All-Time LA Dodger Team: Lefty Pinch-Hitter

All-Time Lineup:  #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 | #7 | #8
All-Time Starting Pitchers:  #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5
All-Time Bullpen:  Closer | Fireman | RHP Setup | LHP Setup
All-Time Bench:  Catcher | Utility

Lee Lacy won the coveted utility spot on our all-time team.  We only have two more spots left, pinch hitters from each side of the plate.

To qualify for this, each player had to appear in at least 200 games as a LA Dodger as a sub.  Here is the full list of lefty-hitting subs, ranked by games played as a sub.  There were only two switch hitters to qualify using the 200 game criteria, Mitch Webster and Derrel Thomas.  Rather than add another spot on our bench, I'm lumping in Thomas with the lefties and Webster with the righties since they were respectively stronger at those sides at the plate.

Here are their stats as LA Dodgers (stats include all games with the Dodgers, not just their numbers off the bench):

Eric's Pick

There are an awful lot of good choices here.  We have the all-time leader in pinch hits (Harris) as well as the #6 man (Hansen).  Dave Hansen really dominates here in terms of quantity; he has more than twice as many appearances as a lefty pinch-hitter than anyone else on the list.   I don't hold Chris Gwynn's final regular season game against him or anything, but he just didn't hit well enough overall for me to pick him.  Ditto Von Joshua.

The smart money is with Dave Hansen, the only one here with improved numbers as a PH, but I'm going with Rick Monday here.  He was primarily a starter in both 1977 and 1978 -- his first two years as a Dodger -- but injuries relegated him to part-time duty for the final six years of his career.  He is the best hitter among this group, but there are two more key points to having him on the club:

1) Good luck burning a flag against this team

2) Nobody sitting on the bench will ever know the score of the game unless they look at the scoreboard.

Phil's Pick

Dave Hansen was a professional  pinch hitter so I'm going with Dave Hansen. Most of the other players were part time players because they were platoon players. Harris is the other real choice as a left handed pinch hitter. These were Rick Monday's triple stat numbers as a pinch hitter - 195/ .327/ .293. This is not going to make it for this team. Dave Hansen has to be the pick here because he's the best pinch hitter and because we share the same birthday.

I was at the burning flag game with my Dad and I've been surprised how big a moment people have made that out to be. The interesting part is that Rick had to run in from center field to make the save while the left fielder to my recollection just stood there until the flag was snagged, then he ran over to talk to the attempted flag burners. It happened so fast that I doubt anyone actually knew what was happening until  Rick had the flag in his hand.