- Phil Hennigan
Infobox MLB retired
bgcolor1=darkblue
bgcolor2=maroon
textcolor1=white
textcolor2=white
name=Phil Hennigan
position=Relief Pitcher
bats=Right
throws=Right
birthdate=birth date and age|1946|4|10|
debutdate=September 2
debutyear=by|1969
debutteam=Cleveland Indians
finaldate=July 7
finalyear=by|1973
finalteam=New York Mets
stat1label=ERA
stat1value=4.26
stat2label=Record
stat2value=17-14
stat3label=Strikeouts
stat3value=188
teams=
*Cleveland Indians (1969-1972)
*New York Mets (1973)
highlights=
*nonePhillip Winston Hennigan (Born:
April 10 ,1946 inJasper, Texas ) is a former right-handed Major League Baseball pitcher who played from 1969 to 1973 with theCleveland Indians andNew York Mets . He attended Jasper High School inJasper, Texas and thenSam Houston State University .Drafted by the
Cleveland Indians in the fourth round of the 1966 draft, Hennigan began his professional career that same year. Pitching for the Reno Silver Sox, Hennigan went 3-8 with a 4.03 ERA and 82 strikeouts in 96 innings of work.He missed all of 1967 due to military service. In 1968, he pitched for Reno again, going 5-7 with a 3.26 ERA in 80 innings. He struck out 76 batters and walked 32.
In 1969, he mostly pitched for the
Waterbury Indians although he saw a few games in the majors. With the Waterbury Indians, he went 10-10 with a 3.39 ERA and 114 strikeouts in 154 innings of work. He made his big league debut onSeptember 2 of that year, pitching a third of an inning against theMinnesota Twins . The single batter he faced in that game (and the first batter he ever faced in the majors) was Hall of FamerRod Carew . Carew flew out to center. Overall, he went 2-1 with a 3.31 ERA in nine relief appearances in his rookie season.Hennigan made 41 relief appearances and one start for the Indians in 1970, going 6-3 with a 4.02 ERA, 43 strikeouts and 44 walks in 71 2/3 innings of work. He spent seven games with the
Wichita Aeros that year as well, going 2-2 with an 8.00 ERA in 27 innings of work.In 1971, Hennigan went 4-3 with a 4.94 ERA in 57 relief appearances. His 57 appearances led the team, and were fifth overall in the league. He was also eighth in the league with 14 saves and fourth with 38 games finished. He also appeared in seven games for Wichita that year, going 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA in 15 innings.
Although 1972 was arguably Hennigan’s best season, it would also be his last as an Indian. In 38 games, he went 5-3 with a 2.67 ERA. In 67 1/3 innings of work, he struck out 44 batters, walking only 18. He also saved five games.
Following the 1972 season, he was traded to the Mets for pitchers
Bob Rauch andBrent Strom . He appeared in 30 games with the Mets in 1973, going 0-4 with a 6.23 ERA. He played his final big league game onJuly 7 , 1973.Overall, Hennigan went 17-14 with a 4.26 ERA over five big league seasons. In 176 games, he pitched 280 2/3 innings, walking 133 batters and striking out 188. He saved 25 games and finished exactly 100. As a batter, he collected three hits in 30 at-bats for a .100 average. His first hit was the only extra base hit of his career – a double off of
Bob Locker . He committed two errors for a .980 fielding percentage.In the minors, he went 21-27 with a 3.80 ERA.
According to the similarity scores at Baseball-Reference.com, Hennigan is most similar statistically to
Matt Karchner (through May, 2008).References
* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/h/henniph01.shtml Baseball-Reference.com]
* [http://thebaseballcube.com/players/H/Phil-Hennigan.shtml The Baseball Cube.com]
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