John Lynch made 9 Pro Bowls and won a Super Bowl during his career as a strong safety in the NFL, and he now does some broadcasting on FOX. But he does hold a unique spot in baseball history as well: He threw the first pitch in the history of the Florida (now Miami) Marlins.
Well, sort of. You see, in order to let expansion teams get a farm system up and running, it’s not uncommon for them to have farm teams that play even before the parent club does. They also are able to draft players as well.
The Marlins’ first farm team was the 1992 Erie Sailors (remember, the Marlins started play in 1993). And the pitcher who threw out the first pitch for the Sailors in 1992 was… John Lynch. YouTube has video of the event here.
Like most individuals in “Famous for Something Else”, Lynch’s career was short on the diamond, and he probably made a good choice by going into football (although he did do pretty well in his short career).
| Year | Age | Tm | Lg | Lev | Aff | W | L | G | GS | GF | CG | SHO | SV | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | IBB | SO | HBP | BK | WP | BF | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 20 | Erie | NYPL | A- | 0 | 3 | .000 | 2.15 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29.1 | 24 | 15 | 7 | 1 | 17 | 0 | 16 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 128 | 1.398 | 7.4 | 0.3 | 5.2 | 4.9 | 0.94 | |
| 1993 | 21 | Kane County | MIDW | A | FLA | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 3.00 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.0 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 1.778 | 4.0 | 1.0 | 12.0 | 3.0 | 0.25 |
| 2 Seasons | 1 | 3 | .250 | 2.35 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38.1 | 28 | 19 | 10 | 2 | 29 | 0 | 19 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 171 | 1.487 | 6.6 | 0.5 | 6.8 | 4.5 | 0.66 | |||||
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