Phantom ballplayer

Phantoms who never were

• Edward L. Thayer supposedly played one game for the 1876 New York Mutuals; he was listed in The Official Encyclopedia of Baseball as having been born in Mechanic Falls, Maine. The player was actually George Fair, who adopted a pseudonym that, coincidentally, resembled the name of then-12-year-old Ernest Lawrence Thayer, who went on to become a poet and write "Casey at the Bat."
• An outfielder named Turbot was listed in The Official Encyclopedia of Baseball as playing one game for the 1902 St. Louis Cardinals. In the 1971 anthology This Great Game, writer and humorist Roy Blount Jr. included him on his "all-time fish team" and bemoaned that Turbot had been dropped from the encyclopedia; "I don't know what happened to him, but we need him in the outfield."
• Lou Proctor was listed as playing one game for the 1912 St. Louis Browns, drawing a walk in his only plate appearance. He appeared in The Official Encyclopedia of Baseball as a pinch hitter named "L. Proctor". Research in the 1980s, however, revealed that the appearance belonged to the Browns' Pete Compton. According to legend, Proctor was a Western Union operator who inserted his name into the box score as a prank. However, whether Proctor existed—even as a prankish telegraph operator—is unknown.
• A catcher named Deniens was listed in The Official Encyclopedia of Baseball as having played one game for the 1914 Chicago Chi-Feds of the Federal League. Later research showed that the game was caught by the Chi-Feds third-string catcher Clem Clemens — historians reading a handwritten scorecard of the game had incorrectly deciphered "Clemens" as "Deniens".

  Real players who never played

Pre-1950

• Pitcher Bill Stewart was with the 1919 Chicago White Sox, having been signed in December 1918, but he suffered an arm injury falling down a flight of stairs while working as a census taker, and was sent to the minor leagues in May 1919. It is unclear whether he was on the team's active roster. Stewart went on to be an umpire in the National League and an ice hockey referee in the NHL.
• First baseman Jeff Jones of Harvard was briefly with the 1920 Philadelphia Athletics in early July, but did not play before being assigned to the minor leagues. He was recalled by the A's in late July, but again did not make a major-league appearance. As with several other players of this era, it is not established if Jones was on the A's active roster during the season.
• Outfielder Lou Almada made the major league roster of the 1927 New York Giants out of spring training, but the Giants did not use him before they optioned him to the minor leagues. In 1933, his brother Mel Almada became the first Mexican to play in the majors.
• Minor league pitching legend Jake Levy was reported in at least one contemporary account to have signed with the 1927 New York Giants in mid-September, without getting into a game. Peter and Joachim Horvitz's The Big Book of Jewish Baseball list Levy's stint on the Giants bench as having occurred in 1932. However, whether Levy spent any time at all on a Giants' active roster is a matter of dispute.
• Al Olsen is an unusual example of a verifiable real-life person who did not play in the major leagues, but was included in official major league records for many years. Olsen, a career minor league pitcher, was credited as appearing in the first game of a doubleheader on May 16, 1943, as a pinch hitter for the Boston Red Sox against the Chicago White Sox. However, research by SABR in the 1980s showed that while Olsen had been with the 1943 Boston Red Sox during spring training, he was sent to San Diego of the Pacific Coast League before the 1943 season began. Olsen pitched on May 15 for San Diego, and given wartime travel restrictions, could not have arrived in Chicago for the game the following day. Olsen himself said, "It wasn't me. I was a left-handed pitcher. I couldn't hit my hat. Besides, I never played a game in the major leagues." The pinch hitting appearance probably, but not definitely, belongs to Leon Culberson; it also could have been Johnny Lazor, who wore uniform number 14, the same number Olsen wore in spring training. Official records now credit Culberson with the walk and stolen base—though Culberson himself swore he did not play in what would have been his major league debut game.

  1950s

• Outfielder Bill Sharman spent time on the roster of the 1951 Brooklyn Dodgers when he was called up in mid-September; he did not appear in a game. Sharman is often cited as the only player to be ejected from an MLB game without playing in one, when umpire Frank Dascoli cleared the entire Dodgers bench for arguing with a call at home plate on September 27, 1951. However, Sharman was not ejected; those who had to leave the bench were still eligible to be brought into the game. Sharman is far more notable as a professional basketball player and coach than as a baseball player; he is one of the few individuals to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach.
• Bruce Swango was a high school pitcher signed by Paul Richards for the Baltimore Orioles for $36,000 in 1955. He was required to be placed on the Orioles' 25-player active roster because of the bonus rule at the time. He never appeared in an MLB game during his two months with the ballclub before being released. He spent the remainder of his professional baseball career in the minors.

  1960s

• The 1964 New York Yankees named middle infielder Chet Trail their "designated player" for the season under baseball's pre-draft era bonus rule, which allowed him to be assigned to a minor league club while still counting against the team's 25-man active roster. Additionally, Commissioner of Baseball Ford Frick ruled that Trail was eligible for the Yankees' 1964 World Series roster. However, Trail never played in an MLB game. Trail is the only player to have appeared on a World Series eligibility list without ever appearing in a major league game.
• Infielder Ike Futch was added to the active roster of the 1966 Houston Astros, after Joe Morgan suffered a broken kneecap on June 25—however, Futch himself sustained a knee injury in a Triple-A game on June 26, which ended his season.
• Pitcher Maurice "Moe" Ogier was on the Opening Day roster for the 1968 Minnesota Twins, but he did not get into a game and was optioned to the Twins' farm team in Charlotte in late April to make room for Jim Kaat, who had injured his elbow in his final start of the 1967 season and was coming off the disabled list. Ogier had an ailing shoulder, which may have been the reason he did not get into a game.

  1970s

• Catcher-outfielder Lee Robinson did not appear in an MLB game, despite spending nearly two months on the roster of the 1974 Los Angeles Dodgers. He was recalled from the Triple-A Albuquerque Dukes on May 11 to replace pitcher Greg Shanahan, and was returned to Albuquerque on July 3 when the Dodgers called up Rick Rhoden. Robinson was later voted $2,000 in World Series money by his teammates.
• First baseman Ed Kurpiel was a September call-up for the 1974 St. Louis Cardinals, but did not appear in a game.
• Pitcher Davis May was called up from Tacoma by the 1977 Minnesota Twins, along with fellow pitcher Jeff Holly, on April 25 to replace Mike Pazik and Don Carrithers, who had been seriously injured in a car accident early that morning. Holly pitched for the Twins, but May was sent back to Tacoma on May 16 to make room for Glenn Adams, who was returning from the disabled list. May was not used by Twins manager Gene Mauch during the time he was on the active roster.
• In September 1977, no fewer than three ballplayers who never played in a major league game served a couple of weeks' time on major league rosters, all of them pitchers: Tom McGough of the Cleveland Indians, Pat Cristelli of the California Angels, and Ed Ricks of the New York Yankees.
• Catcher Harry Saferight was a September call-up for the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates, but he failed to appear in a game. He was the on-deck batter on three different occasions, but, each time, the batter ahead of him made the final out of the inning. Fellow call-up Gary Hargis narrowly avoided phantom status by making a single MLB appearance.

  1980s

• The 1983 Kansas City Royals briefly called up two catchers to back up regular backstop John Wathan; Duane Dewey was on the roster from May 16 to June 1, while Russ Stephans spent time on the roster from June 29 to July 5; neither made an MLB appearance.
• Pitcher Mark Leonette was called up by the 1987 Chicago Cubs on July 2, and was sent down on July 6 without making an appearance in a game. He wore number 32 while with the club.
• Infielder Bill Merrifield spent two days on the roster of the 1987 Pittsburgh Pirates in September, but did not appear in a game before being sent to the Florida Instructional League. His son Whit Merrifield made his major league debut with the 2016 Kansas City Royals.
• Pitcher Joe Law spent four days on the active roster of the 1988 Oakland Athletics without making an appearance. He was first called up on July 4, and deactivated after the first game of a doubleheader on July 5. He subsequently was called up on August 8, and sent back down on August 10. His son Derek Law made his major-league debut with the 2016 San Francisco Giants.