Pitchers At The Bat

This short-printed Bartolo Colon card from 2015 Topps Gypsy Queen showing him in all his rotund glory swinging at what I assume is a fastball down the middle. Depending on how good a season CC Sabathia has he and Colon will probably go back and forth in being the active pitcher with the second most wins behind Tim Hudson.

I love cards featuring pitcher batting and especially bat relics for pitchers. The Colon card also reminded me that I've got some more Spring Training photos to share, specifically of a pitcher batting. If you remember I attended a Cardinals/Mets game with John Lackey pitching for the Cardinals.

Lackey is a 13-year veteran of the Angels and Red Sox and won World Series with both teams before being traded to the Cardinals in 2014.

When Lackey came to bat the couple times he did before being pulled he, shall we say, put in about as much effort as you think a 36-year old pitcher would make in the Florida sun during Spring Training.

This photo does seem to prove that Lackey did get his bat off his shoulder but I would have testified in court that it didn't happen during the game.

Sometimes you've got to adjust things to be ready to watch a pitch fly by.

But at the last moment Lackey hacked at a pitch and fouled a ball off into the stands. The Cardinals fans erupted and cheered for him and I think Lackey got a kick out of it.