We might have seen the last of pitchers batting in Major League Baseball, as the universal designated hitter will be used for 2020 and might just be adopted permanently thereafter.
If that’s the case, then we’ll never get a chance to see another Tony Cloninger. Fifty-four years ago this week, Cloninger had the greatest hitting day any Atlanta Braves pitcher — maybe any pitcher period — ever had.
On July 3, 1966, Cloninger hit two grand slams and drove in a total of nine runs in a 17-3 rout of the Giants at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.