this day in ...

it's the ninth inning, two outs and with one man on, the phils are only one down. pat burell is up, but the phils need more than burrell's .223 average and in goes pinch hitter greg dobbs. who knows what the outcome of this scenerio is with the back-and-forth play the phils have had this year, but having dobbs as an option was not always an option for professional teams. in fact, it was in 1892 that the first pinch hitter, john joseph doyle, was used in a game when he played for the Cleveland Spiders, a team that was active in the late 1800s.

so next time dobbs steps up to the plate, you can thank doyle and the spiders for starting that practice.