Games played 1 Role Baseball player Name Fred Dusen | Hit by pitch 1 Plate appearances 1 | |
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Frederick William Van Dusen (born July 31, 1937) is a former Major League Baseball player. Van Dusen played for Philadelphia Phillies in the 1955 season. He played just one game in his career, had one plate appearance, and was hit by a pitch on an 0-2 count. He is the only major league player in history who was hit by a pitch in his only ML appearance, and who never took to the field defensively. Despite only playing in one game, he holds the all time record for "hit by pitch percentage", with 100%.
An outfielder by trade, Van Dusen was signed by the Phillies in August 1955 as a bonus baby, meaning he had to be kept on the Phillies' 40-man roster for two years. During his first month with the team, he appeared just once, pinch hitting in the second game of a doubleheader against the Milwaukee Braves on September 11, 1955. In the 9th inning, with the Phillies down 9-1, he pinch hit for pitcher Lynn Lovenguth against Humberto Robinson and was hit by a pitch.
While Van Dusen never appeared in another major league game, he did continue to play in the Phillies minor league organization until 1961 before retiring.
For a time between 2005 and 2012, Van Dusen was joined by Adam Greenberg as one of only two players who were hit by a pitch in their only ML appearance, and who also never appeared defensively. (Four other players who did take to the field were hit by a pitch in their only Major League plate appearance: Ham Wade in 1907, Charlie Faust in 1911, Harvey Grubb in 1912, and Cy Malis in 1934.) However, on October 2, 2012, Greenberg was recalled by the Miami Marlins for one day, seven years after being hit with a pitched ball in his first major league plate appearance. Greenberg struck out in his only at bat. Van Dusen traveled to Miami to throw out the ceremonial first pitch in Greenberg's return game.