Andrew Romine Plays All 9 Positions in One Game

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: On September 30th, 2017 Detroit Tigers Utility Player Andrew Romine does something that

[00:00:09] [SPEAKER_00]: had only been done ever by five players in Major League Baseball history. He played all 9 positions

[00:00:16] [SPEAKER_00]: in One Game and led to his nickname All 9 Romine. Even though his versatility can be an asset

[00:00:25] [SPEAKER_00]: it also showed a detriment to his playing career. We're going to dive into how this all happened

[00:00:31] [SPEAKER_00]: and what made him so unique today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History.

[00:00:44] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm Ethan Reese, your guide as you daily learn more about sports history increasing your sports

[00:00:51] [SPEAKER_00]: knowledge. Today's trivia question, what is the one position that Andrew Romine did not play

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_00]: prior to the game where he played all 9 positions? Now baseball throughout its history

[00:01:07] [SPEAKER_00]: has specialized positions more and more. We don't normally see players playing a lot of different

[00:01:13] [SPEAKER_00]: positions, especially at pitcher and catcher. These are two positions that are so unique

[00:01:18] [SPEAKER_00]: they actually report to the team earlier than any other position because they are so specialized.

[00:01:25] [SPEAKER_00]: But that doesn't mean there's not versatility in the sport, especially growing up in little

[00:01:30] [SPEAKER_00]: league or high school. A lot of times you see players playing a lot of different positions as you

[00:01:35] [SPEAKER_00]: just want to get your best players on the field at the best positions but there is a certain

[00:01:40] [SPEAKER_00]: position that lent itself to being able to play several positions and it's called a utility player

[00:01:48] [SPEAKER_00]: and this is a player that many teams use to fill out their roster. It's usually a back-up player

[00:01:55] [SPEAKER_00]: that has skills to play multiple positions. So they put it outfield in field, maybe catch

[00:02:00] [SPEAKER_00]: in that way if there's an injury or someone needs a break for a day or there's a double header

[00:02:06] [SPEAKER_00]: and you need to rest a player. This guy can come in and play any position instead of having a

[00:02:12] [SPEAKER_00]: backup at every single position. It's a great way to fill out the roster and have even more space

[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_00]: for specialized players that you might need during the season and it wasn't until 1965 when

[00:02:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Bert Kippinaris of the Oakland Athletics became the first player, immediately baseball to play

[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_00]: all nine positions in one game and Bert wasn't just a utility player. He was a six-time

[00:02:39] [SPEAKER_00]: all-star and this was actually more of a stunt which has self-tick its good people into it

[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_00]: into the game as the Hays were struggling at the time and the game actually went into extra

[00:02:50] [SPEAKER_00]: innings but Bert wasn't able to finish as he actually hurt his shoulder during the game

[00:02:56] [SPEAKER_00]: probably because he was doing so much. Three years later, Caesar tovar of the Minnesota twins

[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_00]: actually accomplished the feat as well. Then it was another 32 years before someone did it again

[00:03:09] [SPEAKER_00]: in 2000 Scott Sheldon of the Texas Rangers who had played eight positions during a spring training

[00:03:15] [SPEAKER_00]: game where they're trying to figure out where to play him. They decided towards the end of season.

[00:03:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Hey, let's try this out at the major league level. Then lesson a month later, Shane Hulter

[00:03:26] [SPEAKER_00]: did the same thing for the Detroit Tigers but most recently was Andrew Romain of the Detroit Tigers

[00:03:33] [SPEAKER_00]: who did it in September 2017. Now every single time this was done, it was done at September

[00:03:39] [SPEAKER_00]: or later. It was always been in the season usually the team was out of it or had already clinched.

[00:03:46] [SPEAKER_00]: It was just a game trying to make the end of the season a fun time for the fans and the players.

[00:03:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Now Andrew was born into baseball. His father Kevin Romain was an outfielder for the Boston

[00:04:00] [SPEAKER_00]: and his brother Austin also made it to the major leagues. Now they both played high school

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_00]: ball in California and Andrew wasn't just a baseball player. He actually led it in baseball,

[00:04:13] [SPEAKER_00]: football and track and field and after his senior year he was actually drafted by the Philadelphia

[00:04:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Phillies in the 36th round but opted to go to Arizona State on a baseball scholarship where

[00:04:24] [SPEAKER_00]: took them to the college world series in 2005 and 2009 and in 2007 he entered the major league

[00:04:31] [SPEAKER_00]: baseball draft and was drafted in the fifth round by the Los Angeles Angels and he led the Midwest

[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_00]: minor league in stolen bases his first year while working his way up through the miners. In in 2010

[00:04:43] [SPEAKER_00]: he would get promoted to the major leagues on September 24th making his major league play making

[00:04:49] [SPEAKER_00]: his major league debut but struggled in his first four games batting just one for 11 that first year

[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_00]: and he would get sent back down to the miners to start the next year but we'll get called up again

[00:05:00] [SPEAKER_00]: in June and again struggle at the plate when he was called up hitting just 125 in the 10 games he played

[00:05:07] [SPEAKER_00]: and be sent down to the miners but be called up again the following year for 12 games but this time

[00:05:13] [SPEAKER_00]: his bat came along with him hitting for 12 hitting his first RBI during the season and in 2013

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_00]: he started to be with the team more regularly he played in 47 games had a batting average of 259

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_00]: but in March 2014 Andrew would be traded to the Detroit Tigers where he would really ingrained himself

[00:05:34] [SPEAKER_00]: in the team and he hit his first home run that year and he came into the Detroit Tigers knowing

[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_00]: he was going to be a utility man and he spent the next four years really mastering every position

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_00]: he could play and he actually was able to pitch for the first time in August of 2014 when they were

[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_00]: you know when they were getting destroyed by the Minnesota twins 20 to six. He didn't have a whole

[00:05:55] [SPEAKER_00]: lot of success he gave up three runs on four hits including back to back home runs but Andrew really did

[00:06:01] [SPEAKER_00]: take to playing all of the different kinds of positions after 2016 he was given the bill McCadams

[00:06:07] [SPEAKER_00]: tenth man of the year award and the following year he would go on to sign a one year 1.3 million

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_00]: dollar contract and really show his worth to the team as a utility man that's during this season

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_00]: he would play 27 games at second base 24 games at center field 23 games at third base 22 games

[00:06:27] [SPEAKER_00]: at first base 18 at left field and 11 at right field 10 games at shortstop two games at

[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_00]: pitcher in one game a pitcher now one game was a special game it's where he played every single

[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_00]: position and how this happened was actually a two year journey to the manager Brad Osmiss really liked

[00:06:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Andrew and Andrew had been talking to him for two years about hey I can do that he knew about

[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_00]: it had been done before and he had been playing so many different positions for them he knew he could

[00:07:00] [SPEAKER_00]: do it in one game and they were struggling that year as they only won 64 games and finished a

[00:07:07] [SPEAKER_00]: last in their division so at the end of the year his manager finally gave him the opportunity

[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_00]: in all happened on September 30th 2017 and a game versus the Minnesota twins and Osmiss had actually

[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_00]: wanted to do it a day later but the weather didn't look good so he wouldn't make sure it was a good

[00:07:25] [SPEAKER_00]: day so there would be less chance of injury so in the first inning Andrew started in left field

[00:07:30] [SPEAKER_00]: where he caught a sacrifice fly in the second inning he shifted to center field and he was

[00:07:35] [SPEAKER_00]: able to get a hit at the top of the inning as well then in the third inning he shifted to

[00:07:40] [SPEAKER_00]: right field and in the fourth he went into the infield at third base we were able to catch a

[00:07:46] [SPEAKER_00]: ball and in the fifth inning he came in to play shortstop where he actually was able to turn a double play

[00:07:51] [SPEAKER_00]: in the sixth inning he was able to move the second base and then the seventh inning is when

[00:07:57] [SPEAKER_00]: he did something he had never done before he came in to be the catcher now one reason he may not

[00:08:02] [SPEAKER_00]: have this skill is that his brother Austin was a catcher and he was always the catcher and Andrew

[00:08:07] [SPEAKER_00]: was always the pitcher and this is what Andrew said was the scariest part because he didn't have the

[00:08:13] [SPEAKER_00]: knowledge that a regular catcher has as a catcher does so much but he was able to make it through

[00:08:18] [SPEAKER_00]: the inning and in the eighth inning he came in to pitch where he was able to get the better to hit

[00:08:23] [SPEAKER_00]: a ground ball and get out of the inning they any moved to first base where he finished off the game

[00:08:28] [SPEAKER_00]: catching the last out after a grounder was thrown to first base giving them the win three to two

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_00]: in this unique experience we was able to play all positions in one game but this was the highlight

[00:08:40] [SPEAKER_00]: in the high point of his career and he would get weighed after this season and get claimed by the

[00:08:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Mariners and then he would sign with the Philadelphia Phillies the following season to a one year

[00:08:50] [SPEAKER_00]: deal and then after this he wasn't able to sign with the majorly clubs we had to sign a minorly

[00:08:55] [SPEAKER_00]: contact with the Chicago white socks and he bounced around in the minor leagues for another few years

[00:09:01] [SPEAKER_00]: until 2021 when he would actually come up and start a game for the Chicago club's at shortstop

[00:09:08] [SPEAKER_00]: of in December to 2021 he would announce he was retiring from baseball but will always go down

[00:09:14] [SPEAKER_00]: in history as the fifth player all time immediately baseball history to play all five positions in

[00:09:20] [SPEAKER_00]: one game and if you want to learn more about the Detroit Tigers check out the Detroit Tigers

[00:09:28] [SPEAKER_00]: dugout podcast to podcast for Detroit Tiger fans where host Jimmy and Laudon talk you through

[00:09:34] [SPEAKER_00]: everything going on with the Detroit Tigers giving you all the information you need to become

[00:09:39] [SPEAKER_00]: the best Tigers fan you can be and there'll be a link in the description to check out the show

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[00:09:48] [SPEAKER_00]: not miss a single episode and come back tomorrow for more day of these board history and did you

[00:09:56] [SPEAKER_00]: catch the answer to today's trivia question and the answer is what is the one position that

[00:10:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Andrew Romain did not play prior to the game where he played all nine positions.

[00:10:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Catcher prior this was his first and only major league game at catcher and he had played

[00:10:14] [SPEAKER_00]: previously every other position.