The Anagrammatic Battery

@SamMillerBP how was @dianagram not on top of this?

Chris Reeves @TheBBingDead

ATTN: @dianagram RT @SamMillerBP holy cow via @suss2hyphens Cosart and his catcher Castro are anagrams

Mark Simon @msimonespn

Oh @dianagram …help! RT @lrsigman:noticed that Cosart & Castro are anagrams. Any other anagram batteries ever? #RidiculousQuestionOfTheDay

I was shocked and a bit flummoxed that I had missed this:

dianagram @dianagram

@TheBBingDead @SamMillerBP @suss2hyphens oh my ….. this one is gonna be a bear to research …. but a fun bear!

Now, as it turns out, Castro DID NOT catch Cosart’s first Major League start, but it DID bring up the big question of whether there had been a starting pitcher/catcher combo whose last names were anagrams of each other.

After delving into my spreadsheet of gamelogs and batteries from 1871-2012, and alphagramming the pitcher and catcher names to help facilitate the anagram matching, I can state with reasonable certainty that there has been only one such battery, and they got together only two times.

Randy Nosek was a first-round pick of the Tigers in 1985, and made his big league pitching debut on May 27, 1989. His catcher that day was Matt Nokes. Eight walks in 4.2 innings later, Nosek’s day was done. Five days later, they teamed up again, with Nosek getting knocked out in less than one inning.

That was the last time those two were together on the field. Nosek’s time in the bigs was short . . . he made three more appearances (two starts) in 1990, and was out of baseball after 1991. Nokes was traded to the Yankees during the 1990 season.

Now . . . we sit and wait for Cosart to get called back up, and for Jason Castro to be his batterymate at least once.