John Oldham

Who is John Oldham?

John Hardin Oldham is a former Major League Baseball player who had one of the shortest baseball careers in the history of the game. Oldham batted right and threw left-handed. Although he was a pitcher during all of his professional career, Oldham's only MLB appearance came as a pinch runner for the Cincinnati Redlegs in the 1956 season.

Oldham was signed by the Redlegs out of San Jose State University in 1954 as a pitcher. He spent that season with the minor league Columbia Reds of the South Atlantic League. In 1955, he pitched for the Seattle Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League, where he had a record of 9-6 and an earned run average of 3.84.

He entered a game on September 2, 1956 against the Chicago Cubs in the third inning at Crosley Field in Cincinnati as a pinch runner for Ted Kluszewski, who himself had pinch-hit for third baseman Alex Grammas. The next batter popped out and Oldham was replaced on defense by Rocky Bridges. Although he pitched for three more seasons in the minor leagues, his MLB career was over.