Everyone knows you can’t be in two places at the same time. Those are the rules — the immutable rules of physics.
Ah, but who knew you can play for two teams in the same baseball game? Those are also the rules — the wacky suspended-game rules of baseball.
So next Monday, if all the forces in the universe line up right, Boston Red Sox catcher Danny Jansen will go where no baseball-playing human has ever gone before. Not in the big leagues anyway.
In a week, he could become the first player in major-league history to appear in a box score for both teams in the same game. And here’s our plea to the forces in the universe: This needs to happen!
“Oh, man,” Jansen told The Athletic the other day. “It’s going to be nuts.”
For the last 54 days, since June 26, he has been stuck in the batter’s box at Fenway Park, frozen in baseball time. Not literally, of course. But this is baseball. So even as everything else around him has swirled in a million different directions, the box score of that game tells us he is still batting.
It was the second inning. He was hitting for the Toronto Blue Jays in Boston, with one out and a runner on first. He had just fouled off a first-pitch cutter. And that was when the weather gods decided it was time to mess with the baseball gods.
UPDATE: We are now in a rain delay pic.twitter.com/M1BNJ2l3xF
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) June 26, 2024
So those raindrops turned into a rain delay. That rain delay turned into a suspended game. The resumption of that game was scheduled for Aug. 26. And then …
The trade deadline happened. And Jansen got traded, for the first time in his career — to the team the Blue Jays were playing that night, the Red Sox. So friends, history beckons. And also wackiness. We’re big fans of both.
So where could this be leading? What does it all mean? And are you sure this has never happened before? (Spoiler alert: Don’t be!) Let’s take a look.
So what happens next?
When this game resumes, we can guarantee one thing: Danny Jansen will not get to finish his at-bat. The suspended-game rule may be a little zany at times, but it isn’t that zany — not enough to allow a player wearing a Red Sox uniform to bat for the Blue Jays.
But here is where this could get fun — and historic. The Red Sox also need to change catchers. Reese McGuire, who was catching for them at the time, is on their Triple-A roster now, not their big-league roster. So if Red Sox manager Alex Cora is as astute as we think he is, we’re headed for one of the greatest P.A. announcements ever:
“Now catching for the Red Sox, Danny Jansen. Now pinch-hitting for Danny Jansen … fill in the blank, but who the heck cares!”
“Oh, man,” Jansen said, when we ran that scenario by him. “Such an oddity.”
It’s an oddity, all right. But it’s only possible because …
The suspended-game rule is the gift that keeps on giving
Of all the 14 gazillion rules in the baseball rulebook, the suspended-game rule has to be the most awesome. It makes so much weird and wild nuttiness possible, it’s the best rule ever.
It makes time travel possible. Thanks to this rule, Juan Soto managed to debut before his debut back in 2018. He arrived in the big leagues, with the Washington Nationals, on May 20. But he later played in a game that had been suspended on May 15 — and homered. Which means he debuted before he debuted and also homered before his first homer.
Juan Soto homers in the sixth inning of a resumed game on June 18, 2018, that had been suspended five days before his MLB debut the month earlier. (2018 Diamond Images via Getty Images)
It makes team travel possible. Thanks to this rule, reliever Joel Hanrahan won a game for the Nationals while he was playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 2009, he pitched a scoreless top of the 11th inning for the Nats on May 5. Then that game got a little slippery, in more ways than one.
It got delayed, suspended and finished two months later. But he’d been traded to the Pirates by then. So … yep. While he was hanging out in the Pirates’ bullpen in Miami, the Nationals rallied to win in Washington, so their winning pitcher was — who else? — Joel Hanrahan. What a magic trick.
It makes cloning possible. Thanks to this rule, Adam Duvall and Daniel Hudson once faced each other with two different teams, in two different games, on the same day. And now that we’re this deep into this section, that doesn’t even seem strange anymore, does it?
On July 21, 2021, the Miami Marlins were playing the Nationals. Duvall went 1 for 4 for Miami. Hudson pitched a scoreless eighth for Washington. But …
Meanwhile, in an alternate universe, the Braves played the Padres that same day, in another game that would get suspended. By the time they resumed it in September, guess what had changed?
Duvall was a Brave … and Hudson was a Padre … and in the sixth inning of that game, Adam Duvall, the Brave, hit a home run off Daniel Hudson, the Padre … on the same day the box scores tell us they were also playing against each other in Washington. It’s right there in Duvall’s game log on Baseball Reference. Classic!
(screenshot from Baseball Reference)
So now that we have that fun preamble out of the way, back to Danny Jansen. It makes no logical sense that a player could get taken out of a game, and then, at the same exact moment, get subbed into that game for the other team. But have we mentioned that the suspended-game rule is inventive like that? Here’s what it says, right there in Rule 7.02:
A player who was not with the Club when the game was suspended may be used as a substitute, even if he has taken the place of a player no longer with the Club who would not have been eligible …
Yes!
Not that Jansen was intricately familiar with any of that when he got traded to Boston on July 27. But all it took was one day in his new clubhouse before he realized he was going to have to bone up on this thing — because those Boston writers had a lot of questions, about a feat he didn’t even know was possible.
“I didn’t know (much about this) at first,” he said. “I was like, ‘What — am I going to have to go on the other team?’ I didn’t know what was going to happen. It just kind of caught me off guard about the whole situation. Because when I got traded, it was just a whirlwind at first, and I didn’t think about it. But then, once that stuff settled, I heard about (the suspended-game scenario). And I was like, ‘Oh, that’s cool. That’s a unique thing that’s going to happen.’”
Ah, but how unique is it? Don’t answer too quickly, because there is, in fact …
Another living human who actually did this
Unless you were a big fan of International League baseball in the 1980s, you probably don’t recognize the name Dale Holman. But did you know he has several artifacts from his career that are currently housed inside the Baseball Hall of Fame?
True story. And why is that? Because in 1986, Holman did something that might sound familiar if you’ve read this far:
He played for both teams in the same game.
He started that game in June, playing right field for Syracuse. He finished that game on Aug. 16, playing left field for Richmond. Yes, we even dug up the box score.
But unlike the saga of Danny Jansen, who merely got traded from one team to the other, a bunch of stars had to line up for Holman to pull off his feat. He didn’t get traded. He got released. So that isn’t usually a surefire ticket to making history.
At age 27 and stuck in his fifth season in Triple A, he wasn’t even sure he’d get another job. Instead, he hooked on with the Braves’ Double-A team in Greenville, SC. He was still there a month later when the Braves’ Triple-A club in Richmond needed to find an outfielder in a hurry. Guess who got called up?
Naturally, just two days later, Holman’s new team was about to resume a suspended game with his old team, Syracuse. It’s safe to say there was a lot less buzzing about that momentous event than what Danny Jansen is experiencing. In fact, it almost went unnoticed, except …
That afternoon, a fortuitous lightning bolt suddenly hit Richmond infielder Paul Runge. Wait, he thought. Wasn’t the new outfielder in town playing for the other team when this game began?
“Until then, nobody had remembered it, even myself,” Holman told The Athletic when we tracked him down at his home in Miramar Beach, Fla. “But then Paul Runge did. I remember we were sitting in the clubhouse, and he said something about it. He said: ‘You’ve got to get in there!’”
So next thing he knew, Holman was in the lineup — and singled in his next two at-bats … against a team he was playing for as recently as the third inning. But that wasn’t even his biggest claim to fame.
In the second inning, when he was still in the Syracuse lineup, he’d smoked a two-run double … against Richmond. So not only had he played for both teams, he’d gotten a hit for both teams in the same game. And even nuttier, he got credit for driving in the winning run against the team he was playing for when that game ended.
This sounds more like a Brockmire script than something that unfolded in real life. But nearly 40 years later, it’s keeping the legend of Dale Holman alive. And even he’s amazed that anyone is remotely aware of any of this.
“It’s just one of those crazy things,” he said. “It could have happened to anybody, but it happened to me. I was in the wrong place at the right time, or whatever.”
If it happened today, he’d probably have turned into a TikTok folk hero pretty much instantly. But this was 1986 — a time without Tik-ing, Tok-ing or tweeting. So it’s a miracle that word of this incredible feat made it beyond the Richmond city limits.
“I really don’t think anything would ever have been known about that, if not for a woman in our office (in Richmond), and she sent something in to USA Today,” Holman said. “On the front page of their sports, they used to have a little column that was something like ‘Today in Sports.’ So they had a little paragraph about it.
“Then the next Saturday, one of my old roommates called me and said: ‘I’m watching the (NBC) Game of the Week. And I just heard Joe Garagiola mention your name about playing in a game for both teams.’”
That was about as viral as Holman’s spectacular feat got at the time. But luckily, along came Jansen to inspire hard-working media outlets like us to dust off the archives and bring it back to life. So no wonder the first words out of Holman’s mouth, once we connected, were: “I got your message. I was excited to talk to you.”
So here’s an idea. Let’s try the first-ever…
Danny Jansen vs. Dale Holman Tale of the Tape
For nearly 40 years, Holman has had this space all to himself. As best as even longtime minor-league historians can tell, the Two Teams in the Same Game Club consisted of only one man — him. So we were curious: Was he rooting for Jansen to join him or not?
“Well, he can’t join me,” Holman said, cheerfully. “He didn’t get a hit (before changing teams). You know, that’s the deal. So he can go ahead and play for three or four teams in a day. It doesn’t matter.”
We relayed those words to Jansen. He found them pretty amusing.
“He’s not wrong,” Jansen said, laughing. “I mean, I ended my day with the Blue Jays 0 for 1 — no, wait. I’m 0 for 0, and down, 0-1, in the count. So I didn’t get a hit for both sides.”
Yes, if that’s the big category — getting a hit for both teams in the same game — Holman has that niche wrapped up. But now let’s make the case for Jansen, assuming he gets put in the lineup as the catcher when this game resumes.
First off, he’s doing it in the big leagues. So that’s one massive checkmark on Jansen’s side.
Second, Jansen started this at-bat as the hitter — and he has a chance to finish it as the catcher. So who the heck has ever batted and caught in the same at-bat in a game? Nobody. Obviously. So what’s the cool factor in doing that?
“Ooh,” Jansen said. “That would be very cool.”
Then he had a question for us: If the pinch-hitter goes in for him and strikes out, “does that go on my stats? … Because if it did, I was thinking we’re going to have to get that guy to roll one over to third base.”
But the answer to that is: Nope. Since there was only one strike, whatever happens in this at-bat will get credited to the pinch-hitter. Jansen seemed relieved to hear that.
Except what if he’d seen one more pitch in that game before the rain hit? What if there had been two strikes on him instead of one? Then he would have had a chance to do some really weird stuff. He could have caught the third strike of a strikeout of himself.
“Wow,” Jansen said. “That would be wild.”
Or what about this even wilder thing that could have happened. (Hat tip to loyal reader Frank Mercogliano for this one.) If there were two strikes instead of one, and then Danny Jansen the catcher wasn’t able to hold onto the pitch that struck out Danny Jansen the hitter, he could have theoretically tagged himself out. Or that’s how the official play-by-play annals of baseball would have described it, anyhow.
“That’s so funny to think about,” Jansen said, laughing again. “Good thing it’s all theoretical, right?”
Wait. There’s more. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Jansen would get credit for playing one game for the Blue Jays and also one game for the Red Sox in the same game. But he would only get credit for one total game played. So when does one plus one equal one? Only in baseball!
And maybe even more strange, here we have video evidence that Jansen set foot in the batter’s box for the Blue Jays in this game … and has been stuck there for the last seven weeks, technically speaking. But he will not get credit for a plate appearance for the Blue Jays. Don’t believe your eyes, friends. It’s baseball!
It’s as strange but cool as it gets, all right. But just when we thought we had Jansen convinced his feat would be way bigger than Holman’s, Jansen actually leapt to the defense of Dale Holman, Mr. 3-for-3 himself (for two different teams).
“Yeah, but three knocks, though,” Jansen said. “It’s going to be tough to top that.”
All right. Props to them both. Because what everyone needs to contemplate here is that …
Moments like this reverberate through baseball history
Holman is the first to admit he’s not the most luminant star in the baseball cosmos. But you should know that he did have his moments. He once hit .344, with a .908 OPS, in the Texas League. He was once on a Syracuse team that played a 27-inning game and a 23-inning game in back-to-back weeks, leading shortly thereafter to his pro pitching debut. He’s in the Louisiana Tech Hall of Fame. But also …
“You’re a baseball guy,” he told us. “Research this one.”
He then told a tale from his time as a roving instructor in the Braves’ system. He was visiting their South Atlantic League team when all sorts of bizarre stuff began to happen. So in a span of four games, he had to step in as a manager, a coach, an umpire and even a player, thanks to various ejections, illnesses and emergencies.
Has anyone else ever done that? he asked. Hard to say. But at least Danny Jansen hasn’t.
Still, Holman understands that nothing about his career is remembered as vividly as that fabled game in Richmond where he was so mixed up in the exploits of both teams that when it was over, “I didn’t know whose hand to shake.” It’s almost four decades later. And here we are, still talking about this. Amazing.
So what would Dale Holman like to tell Danny Jansen as his two-team moment approaches?
“I don’t know how his career will play out. You know what I mean?” Holman said. “But it kept my name in the news for a few decades. And I wouldn’t be known otherwise. I started out my baseball career as a prospect with the Dodgers. But then everything faded after that. So (this game) kept me in the news.
“So with him,” Holman said of Jansen, “with the way the internet is now, it’ll be all over the world. So even if he doesn’t start that game for Boston, I’m sure they’ll figure out a way to get him in there for an at-bat or to catch an inning, or whatever. I mean, they’d be crazy not to.”
But is that what’s going to happen? Alex Cora hasn’t tipped his hand. So we may not know until the lineup gets posted.
For most of his time with Boston, Jansen has had a lot more to focus on than becoming the answer to one of baseball’s greatest future trivia questions: Who’s the only guy to play for both teams in the same game? But would he love to wind up as that answer? Who wouldn’t?
“It’s pretty cool,” he said. “It’s a cool thing to be part of something that lives on and is just a rarity, something that does not happen very often at all. That would be awesome. You know, I try to be in the moment as much as possible. But one day, if this happens, it’s going to be a cool thing regardless … but especially later on. It’s going to be a cool thing to look back on.”
And how would he explain to his grandkids someday how it’s even possible to play for both teams in the same game … in the major leagues?
“Baseball is incredible,” he said. “It’s always incredible. You can’t expect that anything in baseball can’t happen. Anything’s possible.
“This game,” said Danny Jansen, “is nuts.”
(Photo: Getty Images / Danielle Parhizkaran/The Boston Globe)
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5705168/2024/08/19/danny-jansen-blue-jays-red-sox-same-game-catcher/
