Phillies 1957: Round Ron Northey Delivers in the Pinch

Northey in his first stint with the Phillies

By the time Ron Northey arrived in the Phillies clubhouse for his second tour of duty with the team, on July 30, 1957, his build, which had always been on the stocky side, had progressed to what many pundits were calling "roly-poly." Philadelphia Inquirer sportswriter, Dan Daniels said "his shape....is reminiscent of a fire hydrant in tweeds by Hart, Shaffner, and Marx." At 37-years-old, 5'10" and somewhere north of 240 pounds, Northey was a liability in the field and on the bases, but he could still hit. That ability to "swish the bat", as Edgar Munzel of The Sporting News put it, kept Northey in the major leagues. Released by the Chicago White Sox on July 29th, the pennant contending Phillies were quick to scoop him up.

On the morning of July 30, "Round Ron" signed his contract with the Phillies. That evening he was on the bench as the Phillies played the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field in Cincinnati, wearing his specially fitted red pinstriped Phillies uniform, number 26. In the eighth inning with the Phillies behind, 5-4, two out, and Rip Repulski on first, Phillies manager, Mayo Smith called on Northey to pinch-hit for Chico Fernandez. The pitcher was the Red's ace reliever, Hersh Freeman. Northey stepped into the left-handed batter's box, hung his "bay window" over the plate, and took a couple of practice cuts. Northey worked the count to 2-1 and then deposited a high fastball deep into the right field bleachers. Phillies 6, Cincinnati 5.

From there relief pitcher Bob Miller held the Reds in check and the Phillies added a couple of unearned insurance runs to take the game, 8-5. Northey's pinch hit dinger was the big blow of the game. The blow was the ninth pinch-homer of Northey's major league career, tying the record set by the Phillies' Cy Williams and the New York Giants' Bobby Hoffman. "That was a record I've been after a long time. It felt good, real good. I don't know what kind of pitch it was, but I hit it on the fat,” said Northey without irony.

Northey appeared in 33 games for the Phillies that year. He appeared in 40 games for the White Sox before his release. That's 73 games. In all of those 73 appearances he was used as a pinch hitter. He never started a game. He never appeared in the field. At the time, it was a major league record for games played without appearing on defense. Northey set another record that year. Whenever he did manage to get on base, by hit, walk, or fielder's choice, he was replaced by a pinch runner, so Northey was never driven in for a run. The only run he scored all season was the one on July 30 when he drove himself in. Twenty-nine times on base without being driven in for a run was another major league record. That record was broken by the St. Louis Cardinal's Bob Nieman in 1961.

On August 26, Northey struck again. The Phillies were tied 3-3 in the ninth inning of a game against the league-leading Milwaukee Braves. The Phillies managed to get the bases loaded on walks to Ted Kazanski and Harry Anderson around a single by Fernandez. Northey batted for Phils reliever Turk Farrell and lashed a single to right off Braves pitcher Ernie Johnson, scoring Kazanski for the walk-off win. By that time, however, the Phillies pennant hopes had faded in the summer sun as a poor August record saw them tumble out of contention.

As mentioned above, this short stint with the Phillies at the end of his career was his second go-round with the team. Northey had been a regular in the World War II era Phillies outfield. In 1939, as a youngster, he had been signed out of the coal mining town of Frackville, PA, by the Philadelphia Athletics. Connie Mack sold Northey to the Phillies in 1941. Northey became the Phillies regular right fielder in 1942 and established himself as a fine hitter. His best season was 1944, when he slashed .288/.367/.496 with 22 home runs and 104 RBIs. He got some MVP votes that year. Northey missed the 1945 season due to military service, but returned to right field for the Phillies in 1946.

Northey was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1947 for Harry (The Hat) Walker. Walker became the National League batting champion with the Phillies, while Northey became a regular in the St. Louis outfield and continued to put up good offensive numbers. By the late 1940s, Northey was playing less and less in the field and being relegated more and more to pinch hitting duty. His battle with weight, which made him a liability in the field, contributed to the trend. He played for Cincinnati Reds, briefly for the Chicago Cubs, and then the Chicago White Sox before landing back with the Phillies. If they had had the designated hitter during his heyday, Northey might have been one of the all-time greats.

After 1957, Northey served as a hitting coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates. His son Scott, who was born in Philadelphia during Northey's first stop in town, had a cup of coffee with the Kansas City Royals in 1969. Ron Northey died April 16, 1971, at the age of 50. He still shares, with Willie McCovey, Ben Broussard, and Rich Reese, the major league record for most pinch-hit grand slams in a career at three.