Remember Craig Kimbrel's ghostly home run?

Craig Kimbrel's 2015 Topps baseball card was his last in a Braves uniform. Saves were not a priority for the rebuilding Braves, so they traded him to the Padres on Opening Day.

 When Craig Kimbrel was a hot-shot kid and I was a rookie blogger, I posted that he might become the first Hall of Famer who never batted in a big-league game.
 Despite the inglorious way he was defenistrated by the Atlanta Braves in June, Kimbrel might yet make the Hall of Fame. He ranks fifth all-time with 440 career saves. Three of the men ahead of him have plaques in Cooperstown: Mariano Rivera with 652 saves, Trevor Hoffman with 601, and Lee Smith with 478. The only active player with more saves is Kenley Jansen, 461. Kimbrel does have more saves than six Hall of Fame relievers: Billy Wagner, Dennis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers, Goose Gossage, Bruce Sutter, and Hoyt Wilhelm.

 As a closer—a game-ending relief pitcher—Kimbrel's job description did not require him ever to come to bat. But he actually batted twice in his career, missing his opportunity to be Cooperstown's version of Moonlight Graham, who played only half an inning in 1905. Dr. Graham, the sage of the movie Field of Dreams, never fulfilled his dream to stare down a big-league pitcher, nor to "feel the tingle in your arms as you hit the ball."

 Kimbrel batted for the Padres in 2015 and for the Cubs in 2021 (the year before the National League instituted the designated hitter). Both times, he entered the game in the next-to-last inning, and then took his turn at bat so he could finish the game in the bottom of the inning. (Whatever happened to the double switch?) 

 As I researched this, I googled "Craig Kimbrel" "plate appearance" and look what AI came up with: 

 What in the name of Rick Camp? or Bartolo Colon? 

 AI's source was a Red Sox notebook story from the 2018 World Series. The lead item was an accounting of Kimbrel's gloomy season, and the second section discussed Mookie Betts' first home run in 98 post-season plate appearances. 

 Whiff! AI can't read subheads, nor tell Mookie from Craig. 

 I googled "Hall of Fame pitcher with fewest at-bats" and discovered that the record-holder is actually Jack Morris, who batted just once in a DH swap-out in 1987. At least, rather than striking out, he hit a foul ball that was caught by the right fielder. 

 Morris (elected to the Hall of Fame in 2017, 23 years after his retirement) and Rivera (who went 0-for-3) are tied for the lowest batting average in the Hall of Fame. Colon was a lifetime .084 hitter who hit his first home run at age 42. 

 Morris did make his mark in some box scores as a pinch runner. Though he never made a hit, he scored four runs over the course of his career.