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Gerald Thomas Lynch (July 17, 1930 – March 31, 2012), nicknamed "the Hat", "Lynch the Pinch" and "the Allison Park Sweeper", was an American professional
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...
who ranked among the most prolific
pinch hitter In baseball, a pinch hitter (PH) is a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead (not in active play); the manager may use any player who has not yet entered the game as a substitute. Unlike basketball, A ...
s in
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
(MLB) history. He played 13 seasons (1954-1966) with the
Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...
and
Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...
. Lynch was a central figure for the Reds in the 1961 season, which saw them capture their first
National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...
pennant in 21 years. He finished 22nd in the NL Most Valuable Player vote despite a mere 181 at-bats that season. In 1988, he was inducted into the
Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame The Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum is an entity established by Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds franchise that pays homage to the team's past through displays, photographs and multimedia. It was instituted in 1958 to recognize th ...
. In his career, Lynch hit .277 on 798 hits, 123 doubles, 34 triples and 115 home runs in 1,184 games. He had 470 RBI, 364 runs scored and 224 walks along with .329 on-base and .463 slugging percentages.


Lynch in a pinch

Because of limited range in the field and an inability to hit left-handed pitchers consistently at the plate, Lynch never played more than 122 games in any season. But especially versus righties in pressure situations, he was one of the most feared lefty
pinch hitter In baseball, a pinch hitter (PH) is a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead (not in active play); the manager may use any player who has not yet entered the game as a substitute. Unlike basketball, A ...
s of his era. His 116 hits off the bench rank 10th in MLB history. Lynch owned the most career pinch-hit home runs (18) at the time of his retirement and still ranks third overall. "The best pinch hitter I ever saw, by far, no question, has to be
Smoky Burgess Forrest Harrill "Smoky" Burgess (February 6, 1927 – September 15, 1991) was an American professional baseball catcher, pinch hitter, coach, and scout, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from to . Burgess was selected as an All-Star in ...
," Lynch said of his former Reds and Pirates teammate in a 1994
Baseball Digest ''Baseball Digest'' is a baseball magazine resource, published in Orlando, Florida, by Grandstand Publishing, LLC. It is the longest running baseball magazine in the United States. History and profile The magazine was created in 1942 by Herbert ...
story. "He was gifted. But I was the best clutch hitter because I hit 18 dingers. I rang the bell 18 times. Hey, if you don't think you're the best, who will?" In a 10-year period (1957–66), Lynch hit at least one pinch-hit homer in all except the 1960 season, when he had a then MLB-record 76 appearances off the bench. Overall, he amassed 90 RBI in 435 at-bats in that role, a rate of one per 4.8 attempts along with 18 home runs. Overall, Lynch batted .264 (115-for-435) as a pinch-hitter in his MLB career. "The good pinch-hitter is the guy who can relax enough to get the pitch he can hit," Lynch was quoted as saying. "You almost always do get one pitch to hit every time you bat. So you have to have the patience to wait. And then you've got to be able to handle the pitch when you get it."


Early years

Lynch was born on July 17, 1930, in
Bay City, Michigan Bay City is a city in Bay County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The population was 32,661 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is located just upriver from the Saginaw Bay on the Saginaw River. It is the princip ...
, where he attended Bay City Central High School. He began his pro career as a 19-year-old with the Class C Greenville (Miss.) Bucks of the Cotton States League in 1950 before the
New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...
acquired his contract. After two years in the military, he returned to lead the Class B Piedmont League in batting average (.333), slugging percentage (.592), hits (180), triples (22) and RBI (133). Despite his obvious potential, there was little chance for advancement to the veteran-laden Yankees parent club, and the Pirates selected him in the Rule 5 Draft after the season. Lynch made his MLB debut with the Pirates on April 15, 1954, in a 7–4 loss to the
Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1883 as the Brooklyn Grays. In 1884, it became a member of the American Association as the Brooklyn Atlantics before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brook ...
at
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. Starting in right field and batting third, he had one hit in four trips to the plate. His first hit came off pitcher
Russ Meyer Russell Albion Meyer (March 21, 1922 – September 18, 2004) was an American filmmaker. He was primarily known for writing and directing a successful series of sexploitation films featuring campy humor, sly satire and large-breasted women, wh ...
, a two-run single in the ninth inning. A semi-regular in his first two seasons, Lynch was held back by injuries that resulted in a late start to the 1956 campaign, when he appeared in only 19 games. The Reds claimed him in the Rule 5 Draft in the off-season. Lynch returned to the Pirates in 1963 in a trade that sent outfielder
Bob Skinner Robert Ralph Skinner (born October 3, 1931) is an American former professional baseball outfielder / first baseman, manager, coach, and scout, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for three National League (NL) teams. In all, Skinner spen ...
to the Reds. It was there that team broadcaster
Jim Woods James McCarthy Woods (October 22, 1916 – February 20, 1988) was an American sportscaster, best known for his play-by-play work on Major League Baseball broadcasts. Biography Early life Woods was born in Kansas City, Missouri. When only ...
referred to him as The Allison Park Sweeper because of his suburban Pittsburgh residence and machine-like efficiency at the plate. Lynch struck his final homer on August 12, 1966, a pinch-hit solo blast against the Reds that tied the score in the ninth inning of an eventual 14-11 victory in Cincinnati. It marked his final at-bat at
Crosley Field Crosley Field was a Major League Baseball park in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was the home field of the National League's Cincinnati Reds from 1912 through June 24, 1970, and the original Cincinnati Bengals football team, members of the second (1937) a ...
, where he hit more homers (46) than any other ballpark. The Pirates released him after the season.


Career season

Lynch had a remarkable 1961 season, when his timely hits repeatedly bailed out the Reds in a tight NL pennant race. He finished with a .315 batting average, .407 on-base percentage and .624 slugging percentage – all of which would be the highest of his career. He was never better as a pinch-hitter, a role in which he hit .404 and five home runs in 59 plate appearances. His 25 RBI tied a major league record that
Joe Cronin Joseph Edward Cronin (October 12, 1906 – September 7, 1984) was an American professional baseball player, Manager (baseball), manager and executive. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a shortstop, most notably as a member of the Bost ...
(
Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...
) had set in the 1943 season and
Rusty Staub Daniel Joseph "Rusty" Staub (April 1, 1944 – March 29, 2018) was an American professional baseball player and television color commentator. He played in Major League Baseball for 23 seasons as a right fielder, designated hitter, and first base ...
(
New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...
) equalled in the 1983 campaign. On September 26 in Chicago, Lynch propelled the Reds into the World Series with a two-run home run off Cubs pitcher Bob Anderson, scoring teammate
Vada Pinson Vada Edward Pinson Jr. (August 11, 1938 – October 21, 1995) was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played as a center fielder in Major League Baseball for 18 years (1958–1975), most notably for the Cincinnati Reds, for wh ...
ahead of him. The blow snapped a 3–3 tie in the seventh inning and turned out to be the game-winner in a 5–3 victory. Lynch did not start any of the World Series games against New York, however, even though Yankee Stadium was an easy mark for left-handed power hitters. He was hitless in three official
at bats In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens upon completion of his turn at bat, b ...
(four
plate appearances In baseball, a player is credited with a plate appearance (denoted by PA) each time he completes a turn batting. Under Rule 5.04(c) of the Official Baseball Rules, a player completes a turn batting when he is put out or becomes a runner. This ha ...
), all of them as a pinch-hitter, as the Reds lost the series in five games.


Post-MLB career

In 1964, near the conclusion of their baseball careers, Lynch and Pirates teammate
Dick Groat Richard Morrow Groat (November 4, 1930 – April 27, 2023) was an American professional baseball and basketball player who was an eight-time All-Star shortstop and two-time World Series champion in Major League Baseball. He rates as one of the ...
broke ground on Champion Lakes Golf Course in Ligonier, one of three public courses to receive a 4-star rating in Western Pennsylvania. Lynch was in line to become Point Park College baseball coach, according to a 1978 ''
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving Greater Pittsburgh, metropolitan Pittsburgh in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the fi ...
'' story. Two days later, however, ''
The Pittsburgh Press ''The Pittsburgh Press'', formerly ''The Pittsburg Press'' and originally ''The Evening Penny Press'', was a major afternoon daily newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for over a century, from 1884 to 1992. At the height of its popul ...
'' reported that Lynch and athletic director Jerry Conboy could not agree to contract terms. Lynch retired to the
Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
, area in the late 1980s. He died on March 31, 2012, at age 81 in
Austell, Georgia Austell is a city in Cobb County in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 7,713. History Game hunters and trappers frequently went through the area that is ...
, and his ashes were scattered on a golf course. He was survived by his wife Alice, sons Mark, Keith and Gerald and daughter Kimberly. "There will be no questions or discussions -- he goes straight to heaven," Groat told the ''Post-Gazette''. "He was one of the finest people to have ever walked the earth."


References


External links

"WPA, Jerry Lynch, and the Amazing Summer of 1961." https://www.redlegnation.com/2015/08/02/wpa-jerry-lynch-and-the-amazing-summer-of-1961/. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lynch, Jerry 1930 births 2012 deaths Águilas Cibaeñas players American expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic Baseball players from Bay City, Michigan Cincinnati Redlegs players Cincinnati Reds players Greenville Bucks players Major League Baseball outfielders Norfolk Tars players Pittsburgh Pirates players