Andrew Romine Plays All 9 Positions in One Game

Join us on Daily Sports History as we recount the incredible game where Andrew Romine played all nine positions for the Detroit Tigers on September 30, 2017. Discover how this rare achievement unfolded, the challenges of switching roles inning after inning, and the significance of this unique accomplishment in MLB history. Relive a moment of versatility that left baseball fans in awe.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
On September thirtieth, twenty seventeen, Detroit Tiger's utility player Andrew
Romine does something that had only been done ever by
five players in Major League Baseball history. He played all
nine positions in one game and led to his nickname

(00:20):
All nine Romaine. And even though his versatility can be
an asset, it also showed a detriment to his playing career.
We're going to dive into how this all happened from
what made him so unique today on Daily Sports History.

(00:41):
Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reees, your guide
as you daily learn more about sports history, increasing your
sports knowledge. To today's trivia question, what is the one
position that Andrew Romine did not play prior to the
where he played all nine positions. Now, Baseball, throughout its

(01:07):
history has specialized positions more and more. We don't normally
see players playing a lot of different positions, especially at
pitcher and catcher. These are two positions that are so
unique they actually report to the team earlier than any
other position because they are so specialized. But that doesn't
mean there's not versatility in the sport. Especially growing up

(01:29):
in little league or high school. A lot of times
you see players playing a lot of different positions as
you just want to get your best players on the
field at the best positions. But there is a certain
position that lent itself to being able to play several positions,
and it's called a utility player, and this is a
player that many teams use to fill out their roster.

(01:53):
It's usually a backup player that has skills to play
multiple positions, so they play outfield, infield, maybe catch in
that way, if there's an injury, or someone needs a
break for a day, or there's a double header and
you need to rest a player, this guy can come
in and play any position instead of having a backup
at every single position. It's a great way to fill

(02:14):
out the roster and have even more space for specialized
players that you might need during the season. And it
wasn't until nineteen sixty five when Bert Caipanaris of the
Oakland Athletics became the first player in Major League Baseball
to play all nine positions in one game. And Burt

(02:35):
wasn't just a utility player. He was a six time
All Star. And this was actually more of a stunt
to a celtickets get people into the game as the
Ayes were struggling at the time, and the game actually
went into extra innings, but Burt wasn't able to finish,
as he actually hurt his shoulder during the game, probably

(02:56):
because he was doing so much. Three years later, Trevar
of the Minnesota Twins actually accomplished the feat as well.
Then it was another thirty two years before someone did
it again. In two thousand, Scott Sheldon of the Texas Rangers,
who had played eight positions during a spring training game
where they were trying to figure out where to play him,

(03:18):
They decided towards the end of the season, hey let's
try and let's try this out at the major league level.
And then less than a month later, Shane Halter did
the same thing for the Detroit Tigers. But most recently
was Andrew Romaine of the Detroit Tigers, who did it
in September twenty seventeen. Now, every single time this was done,

(03:38):
it was done at September or later. It was always
done at the end of the season. Usually the team
was out of it or had already clinched. It was
just a game. Try to make the end of the
season a fun time for the fans and the players.
Now Andrew was born into baseball. His father, Kevin Romine,
was an outfielder for the Boston Red Sox, and his

(04:01):
brother Austin also made it to the Major leagues. Now
they both played high school ball in California. And Andrew
wasn't just a baseball player. He actually a lettered in baseball, football,
and track and field, and after his senior year, he
was actually drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the thirty
sixth round, but opted to go to Arizona State on

(04:23):
a baseball scholarship, where he took them to the College
World Series in two thousand and five. In two thousand
and nine, and in two thousand and seven, he entered
the Major League Baseball Draft and was drafted in the
fifth round by the Los Angeles Angels. And he led
the Midwest Minor League in stolen bases his first year
while working his way up through the miners and in
twenty ten, he would get promoted to the major leagues

(04:46):
on September twenty fourth, making his making his major league debut,
but struggled in his first four games, batting just one
for eleven that first year, and he would get sent
back down to the miners to start the next year,
but would get called up again in June and again
struggle at the plate when he was called up, hitting
just one to twenty five in the ten games he

(05:07):
played and be sent down to the Miners, but be
called up again the following year for twelve games, but
this time his bat came along with him hitting four twelve,
hitting his first RBI during the season, and in twenty
thirteen he started to be with the team more regularly.
He played in forty seven games had a batting average
of two fifty nine. But in March twenty fourteen, Andrew

(05:30):
would be traded to the Detroit Tigers, where he would
really ingrain himself in the team and he would hit
his first home run that year. And he came into
the Detroit Tigers knowing he was going to be a
utility man, and he'd spent the next four years really
mastering every position he could play. And he actually was
able to pitch for the first time in August of
twenty fourteen when they were you know, when they were

(05:51):
getting destroyed by the Minnesota Twins twenty to six. He
didn't have a whole lot of success. He gave up
three runs on four hits, including back to back home run,
but Andrew really did take to playing all different kinds
of positions. After twenty sixteen, he was given the Bill
McAdams tenth Man of the Year award. In the following year,
he would go on to sign a one year, one

(06:12):
point three million dollar contract and really show his worth
to the team as a utility man, as during the
season he would play twenty seven games at second base,
twenty four games at centerfield, twenty three games at third base,
twenty two games at first base, eighteen at left field,
and eleven at right field, ten games at shortstop, two

(06:34):
games at pitcher, and one game at pitcher. Now one
game was a special game. It's where he played every
single position, and how this happened was actually a two
year journey. The manager, Brad Austmas, really liked Andrew, and
Andrew had been talking to him for two years about, hey,
I can do that. He knew about that, it had

(06:55):
been done before, and he had been playing so many
different positions for them. He knew he could do it
in one game. And they were struggling that year as
they only won sixty four games and finished last in
their division. So at the end of the year. His
manager finally gave him the opportunity, and it all happened
on September thirtieth, twenty seventeen, in a game versus the

(07:18):
Minnesota Twins. And Ausmus had actually wanted to do it
a day later, but the weather didn't look good, so
he wouldn't make sure it was a good day so
there would be less chance of injury. So in the
first inning, Andrews started in left field, where he caught
a sacrifice fly. In the second inning, he shifted to
center field and he was able to get a hit
at the top of the inning as well. Then in

(07:38):
the third inning he shifted to right field, and in
the fourth he went into the infield at third base,
where he was able to catch a foul ball, And
in the fifth inning he came in to play shortstop,
where he actually was able to turn a double play.
In the sixth inning, he was able to move to
second base, and in the seventh inning is when he
did something he had never done before. He came in

(07:59):
to be the catcher. Now, one reason he may not
have this skill is that his brother Austin was a
catcher and he was always the catcher. And Andrew was
always the pitcher, and this is what Andrew said was
the scariest part, because he didn't have the skills and
the knowledge that a regular catcher has as a catcher
does so much, but he'd be able to make it
through that inning, and in the eighth inning he came

(08:20):
in to pitch where he was able to get the
better to hit a ground ball and get out of
the inning. Then he moved to first base where he
finished off the game catching the last out after a
grounder was thrown to first base, giving them the win
three to two. In this unique experience where he was
able to play all positions in one game. But this

(08:40):
was the highlight in the high point of his career,
as he would get waived after the season and get
claimed by the Mariners, and then he would sign with
the Philadelphia Phillies the following season to a one year deal,
and then after this he wasn't able to sign with
the major league club, so we had to sign a
minor league contract with the Chicago White Sox and he
would bounce around in the minor leagues for other few

(09:00):
years until twenty twenty one, when he would actually come
up and start a game for the Chicago Cubs at shortstop.
In December to the twenty twenty one, he would announce
he was retiring from baseball, but will always go down
in history as the fifth player all time in Major
League Baseball history to play all five positions in one game.

(09:24):
And if you want to learn more about the Detroit Tigers,
check out the Detroit Tigers Dugout podcast to podcast for
Detroit Tiger fans where hosts Jimmy and Lawden talk you
through everything going on with the Detroit Tigers, giving you
all the information you need to become the best Tigers
fan you can be. And there'll be a link in
the description to check out the show. And if you

(09:45):
enjoyed this show, go ahead and subscribe wherever you're listening.
That way you do not miss a single episode, and
come back tomorrow for more daily sports history. And did
you catch the answer to today's trivia question? And the
answer is what is the one position that Andrew Romin
did not play prior to the game where he played

(10:07):
all nine positions? Catcher prior. This was his first and
only major league game at catcher, and he had played
previously every other position