7th inning stretch: "The Treatment" - intentional walks given by pitchers when the bases are loaded

Baseball Digest, Nov, 2003 by Bill Deane

AS A TEENAGER IN 1944, EVERETT "ACE" Parker--now a retired New York City cop living in Napa, California--was at the Polo Grounds when Bill Nicholson was intentionally walked with the bases loaded. In later years, Parker often wondered how rare this phenomena, which he calls "The Treatment," was. Over the past decade, I have been working with him in documenting and mostly debunking stories of such occurrences. Parker wrote up our findings in "The Supreme Compliment," an article in the Society for American Baseball Research, 1997 The National Pastime. The ink was hardly dry on it when Parker turned on the TV to watch his local team, just in time to see Barry Bonds receive The Treatment from Arizona.

Parker and I, with help from others, have examined numerous other tales involving bases-loaded intentional passes, including alleged ones to Hugh Duffy (1893), Jimmy Ryan (1896), Babe Ruth (1919 and 1923), Mel Ott (1929), Joe Medwick (1937), Ted Williams (1939), and Willie McCovey. Each was either debunked or thrown out for lack of evidence. As far as we can determine, there have been only four instances of a batter being intentionally walked with the bases loaded:

Napoleon Lajoie, May 23, 1901--the Philadelphia Athletics were batting against the White Sex in the top of the ninth inning. They were behind, 11-7, but had the bases loaded and none out with Lajoie--on his way to a Triple Crown--at bat. Manager Clark Griffith inserted himself as relief pitcher and "calmly sent four wide ones across" to deliberately force in a run, bringing future home run champs Socks Seybold and Harry Davis up with the bases still full. Griffith then disposed of Seybold, Davis, and Morgan Murphy on infield grounders, saving the 11-9 win.

Del Bissonette, May 2, 1928--the Giants held a 2-0 lead over the Robins, 2-0, in the top of the ninth, but Brooklyn loaded the bases with two out. Giants, manager John McGraw ordered pitcher Larry Benton to walk rookie slugger Bissonette, in just his 16th major league game, purposely ending the shutout. Benton then struck out Harry Riconda to end the game.

Bill Nicholson, July 23, 1944 (2nd game)--The Giants led the Cubs, 10-7, in the top of the eighth with the bases loaded, none out, and Nicholson--who had homered four times already that day--at the plate. Giants, manager Mel Ott (who was probably sitting next to McGraw at the above game) ordered Ewald Pyle to walk Nicholson, bringing up Ival Goodman, Andy Pafko, and Don Johnson. The Cubs tied the game up by the time the inning was over, but New York went on to win, 12-10.

Barry Bonds, May 28, 1998--The Diamondbacks led the Giants, 8-6 in the bottom of the ninth, with two out, the bases loaded, and Bonds up. Arizona manager Buck Showalter ordered Gregg Olson to issue the intentional pass, putting the tying run on third and the winning run on second. Brent Mayne then lined out to end the game.

The way they pitch to Bonds these days, it may be only a matter of time before he makes this list again.