September 28, 1995: The Cincinnati Reds beat the Montreal Expos, 9-7 at the Olympic Stadium Montreal. Former Met Pete Schourek is the winning pitcher, Pedro Martínez the loser. But neither has the most notable pitching feat in this game.
Greg Harris, who had debuted with the New York Mets in 1981, reached the postseason with the 1984 San Diego Padres and the 1990 Boston Red Sox, had never been especially remarkable, aside from having pitched in the majors at the same time as a pitcher with the same name. That one tended to be identified as "Greg W. Harris," while the subject of this post was called "Greg A. Harris."
(It could have been worse: At least they were never teammates. In their expansion year of 1962, the New York Mets had 2 pitchers named Bob Miller, and they roomed together. When the phone would ring, whoever picked up would say, "Hello, Bob Miller here.")
On this day, approaching his 40th birthday, Greg A. Harris closed his career with something he'd wanted to try for a while. Naturally a righthanded pitcher, he had a special glove made so that he could switch hands, and try pitching lefthanded. With the Expos out of the race, he was allowed to try.
In the 9th inning, throwing righthanded, he retired Reggie Sanders. Then, lefthanded, he walked Hal Morris, and got Ed Taubensee to ground out. Finally, righthanded, he got Bret Boone to ground back to him. Thus did he become the 1st switch-pitcher in a regular-season game since Tony Mullane in 1894, 101 years earlier. He donated the glove to the Baseball Hall of Fame, which now has it on display.
Greg A. Harris finished with a record of 74-90, 54 saves, and a 3.69 ERA.
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September 28, 1995 was a Thursday. These 6 other games were played in Major League Baseball:
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Houston Astros, 12-11 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Each team scored a run in the 10th inning. The Astros scored a run in the top of the 11th, but singles by Scott Bullett and Mark Parent won it for the Cubs in the bottom of the 11th.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 11-6 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Roger Clemens was the winning pitcher.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-0 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Mark Gubicza pitched a 4-hit shutout.
* The San Franscisco Giants beat the Colorado Rockies, 12-4 at Coors Field in Denver. Barry Bonds, Matt Williams and Rich Aurilia hit home runs.
* The Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers, 6-2 at The Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Ken Griffey Jr. hit a grand slam, and Jay Buhner also homered.
* And the California Angels beat the Oakland Athletics, 4-1 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).
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