Thanks to “Field Of Dreams” and “Shoeless Joe” (the W. P. Kinsella novel upon which the film was based) we’ve all heard of Archibald “Moonlight” Graham’s one-game career. And I’m sure some of you know about Larry Yount, Robin’s brother who was a pitching prospect for the Astros. Larry came into a game, hurt him arm during warm-ups, and never played again. Since he was technically announced into the game, his bizarre career line reads: 1 G 0 IP 0 H 0 BB. These are special cases, it’s pretty rare for a player to play just the one game in the majors.
To date, there have been only 961 times its happened, if you only count only players who have been to the plate, going back to 1871. Add a couple dozen more when you consider pitchers who didn’t last out there long enough to get their hacks. Rather than the one game, a player will typically stay a few days or weeks, usually at the end of a bad season, or to fill in for an injury or two. Most players who never made it swear they’d give their right arm for a “cup of coffee,” as such a short visit is called.