Amazine's Virtual Hall of Fame

Greatest Pitchers Versus the Home Run

2006-09-26T15:30:00.000-07:00

The Home Run Average (aka The "Kiss It Goodbye" Average)
copyright c 1998 by Evan Pritchard

In Sondheim’s classic musical-drama “Into the Woods,” we are treated to myths, fairy tales, and legends of Europe, pretty much intact, but all mixed together, as if all the characters were neighbors. That’s the first act. In the second act, he shows you the other side of heroism, the stories of the slain giants and their bereaved families, the shattered lives of banished witches, the low self esteem of defeated villains. It was a lesson in mytho-ecology. In the same way, we can’t just talk about the great heroic home run hitters, we have to pause and reflect on the shattered lives of the pitchers these blasts were launched off of, their wrecked ERA,s, their broken self-esteem.

At the same time, we can see that the mythic stature of a home run cannot be fully calculated without assessing the true anti-home run stature of the pitcher, and the amount of damage done to that pitcher’s reputation by the blast. While talking with my son David about the significance of the home run in baseball history, it became clear to me that mythobasebologically speaking, one of the most important questions we must ask in assessing the heroic quality of a home run is basically “who threw it?”

To use an analogy, if I tell you I won a boxing match in a knock out, you would be somewhat impressed, if you like boxing. If, however, I then told you that my opponent was an eighty-two year old grandmother, you might not only be less impressed, you might be very upset with me, especially if it was your grandma. However, if I told you my opponent was Mike Tyson, you would be all the more impressed with my victory. The same thing goes for chess. If I win a chess game, you may say, “good for you,” and then ask, ‘Who did you defeat?” If I say, “Oh, some guy named Boris Spaskey,” you would be very impressed. That guy is good. He seldom loses. If I say, “my babysitter’s kid brother’s friend,” you might wonder how good he could possibly be.

In the average pitcher-slugger confrontation, most of the people in the stands have no idea whether the pitcher standing on the mound is a gopher-ball magnet or a long-ball terminator. When the player hits a magnificent home run and rounds the bases, we don’t know if this is an unusual state of affairs for that pitcher, or the same-old story. Therefore, most of us never know the true greatness of a particular home run, because we don’t know what odds the batter was up against.

Oh, occasionally you find an astute announcer on the radio who can tell you stats on the pitcher, like “This lefty has only given up ten home runs so far this season,” but often don’t tell you how many innings, or even how many starts. You have to guess.

Without the help of such an announcer, you may foolishly assume that all good pitchers give up few home runs, whereas bad ones give them up all the time, but nothing could be further from the truth. Even a pitcher’s ERA is no basis for prediction. For example, Sandy Koufax won a lot of games, and had a great ERA, but gave up an average of just under .8 home runs per nine innings pitched. That means that after ten complete games, he would have given up eight homers in that same stretch, on the average.

A pitcher named J.R. Richard had a home run average of about half that from 1971 to 1980. Why? Maybe Koufax’s fastball was so lively that anyone who connected with it solidly was likely to give it a good ride. So when Mickey Mantle hit a home run off of Koufax in the 1963 series, you have to take that into consideration. It wasn’t as impossible as people think. But a home run off of J.R. Richard, that’s something to brag about! However in all his years at Houston, J.R. never got into a World Series, and therefore never achieved the superstar status of a Koufax. Another reason why you don’t hear much about J.R. Richard was that he walked people. He led the league in walks in 1975, 1976 and 1978. In 1976, he threw a career high of 151 bases on balls. (Koufax gave up over 100 walks only once in his career. Koufax’s base on balls average was 3.16 per nine innings, not a bad mark, whereas J.R. Richard’s was 4.31. Getting a walk off of Koufax was something to brag about.)

Every statistic has its magic number, 40 homers, .300 batting average, 3.0 ERA, 30 stolen bases. These are the championship level marks that potential hall of famers shoot for. There are usually no more than ten guys in each league, depending on the liveliness of the ball, who achieve these golden benchmarks during the course of one season. What is the golden benchmark for home run average? An easy-to-remember number would be .500 HRA. In the old days, a league would produce a handful of these wonder boys, but nowadays, I don’t think there are ever more than ten guys in a league who pitch under .750 for the season. Therefore, I have included on this list only those who have bested this mark, with the exception of Koufax, for comparison. He just missed.

Greg Maddux is a great pitcher against sluggers. His HRA to 1997 was only .513 lifetime. That means that he only gave up one home run per two complete games pitched, on the average. But if you know baseball, you probably figured something like that. He’s a great pitcher in all categories.

But some of the great giant slayers of the mound, those with shockingly low HRA’s are people you don’t always hear about. A guy named Bruce Berenyi maintained a terrific HRA of .369 between 1980 and 1986, but had a dismal won-loss average of 44 and 55 in spite of all that. I know how he must have felt.

Some low HRA pitchers don’t last very long, for some reason. Joe Berry had a lovely .428 HRA but only pitched 294 innings before being kicked out of the bigs for good. Ernie Camacho had a .645 HRA in the 1980’s but only lasted 262 innings in the majors. Bob McGraw pitched in the 1920s with a .482 HRA but only pitched 579 innings. Mickey Haefner earned a sparkling .467 HRA but only pitched 76 innings over a span of 17 years. All under .500, all destined for oblivion.

The only way to know how tough a given pitcher is on home run hitters is to do the math. The information you need is right in the baseball encyclopedia, or in his season stats. (Note: Some baseball encyclopedias don’t list the number of homers allowed, some do). You take the number of home runs he gave up, then divide it by the number of innings he pitched during the period in question, then multiply times nine. My whiney-butt kid figured out how to do it at 12 years old, that’s how come I know to tell you. You can use the same formula to figure out walks per nine innings, earned runs per nine innings, strike outs per nine innings, or the average number of times he scratched himself per nine inning game if you like. All you need is that data.

The thing that messes up the beauty of the HRA, or “home run average” is that baseball goes through “home run eras,” and “home run droughts.” There were so few home runs hit before 1920, that even bad pitchers walk away without a scratch in terms of their HRA, but pitchers who begin after 1930 have HRA’s comparable to the 1980s. The 1960’s were also a low point for homers, and so the pitchers HRAs dip slightly. As you may realize, the generation of home runs skyrocketed after 1997, and pitcher’s HRAs went through the roof, or sky high, or out of sight, depending on your style of lingo.

Early pitchers who were nearly impossible to hit home runs off of include Chief Bender, the A’s Ojibway pitching star who maintained a lifetime HRA of only .119 between 1913 and 1925, great even for his era. His main competitor, Christy Matthewson could only manage .192. Another impressive stat comes from, not surprisingly, Cy Young. He gave up only .168 homers per nine inning game.

Babe Ruth pitched 1221 innings and gave up only 10 home runs lifetime, leaving him with an unbelievable .074 HRA before retiring to the outfield. On good days, the Yankees could hit that many in a single game. Gorgeous George Sisler, who like Babe Ruth switched from pitching to fielding in order to hit more homers, did even better. He never gave up a single home run in his 111 innings. He was also a better base stealer than his rival from New York.

The roaring 20’s were kind of funny. Some pitchers pitched as if they didn’t know the homer had arrived, and some gave them away as if they were going out of style. Bobby Burke pitched from 1927 to 1937 and gave up only 35 homers, for an HRA of .343. Kent Greenfield, a name you don’t hear that much any more, gave up only 36 dingers between 1924 and 1929, keeping a .418 HRA pace. Milt Gaston kept a .487 HRA from 1924 to 1934. Kurt Fullerton gave up only 19 homers between 1921 and 1939, with a .404 HRA. But some of those Roaring Twenties guys were unhittable when it came to long balls, especially those who got started before 1920. Of course, they had an unfair statistical advantage, pitching in the homerless teens. Try these HRAs on for size: Stan Coveleski 1912-28, .192 HRA, Wilbur Cooper 1912-26, .266 HRA, Sarge Connally 1921-34, .290 HRA, Rip Collins 1921-31, .384 HRA, Hal Carlson 1917-30, .328 HRA. Red Faber 1914-33, .244 HRA, Howard Ehmke 1915-1930, .329 HRA, Pete Donohue, 1921-32 .290 HRA, Bill Doak 1912-1929, .230 HRA, Burleigh Grimes, 1916-34, .318 HRA. Earl Hamilton 1911-24, .165 HRA, Jesse Haines 1918-37 .413 HRA, Sam Jones 1914-1935 .352 HRA. These are amazing stats compared to today, but were merely excellent in their day, when home run fences were so far away from home plate, you needed binoculars to see the fans behind center field.

Not too surprisingly, one of the greatest anti-home run weapons of the teens and twenties was Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators. From 1907 to 1927, a period spanning three decades, he only gave up 97 home runs and kept an HRA of .148.

In the 1930’s some pitchers did very well, while others got bombed. It wasn’t unheard of for a pitcher’s HRA to be over 1.00 per complete game. But Clay Bryant who pitched from 1935 to 1940 kept his HRA down to .215. Mace Three Finger Brown kept his down to .368, while Lloyd Brown kept his HRA in the fridge, with a .441 ERA. Dizzy Dean had an HRA of only .434. Al Hollingsworth pitched from 1935 to 1946, a time of a big home run boom, but only had a .278 HRA nonetheless! Waite Hoyt was great insurance against a home run, and only gave up 154 between 1918 and 1938 for a .368 HRA. The great Lefty Gomez, who pitched from 1930 to 1943, had an HRA of .496. Other great pitchers of the thirties include Larry French (.468) Fred Frankhouse (.529), Wes Ferrell (.503), George Earnshaw (.667), Bill Dietrich (.575), Paul Derringer (.390) Curt Davis (.550) Alvin Crowder (.522) Dick Coffman (.567), Watty Clark (.443), Joe Cascarella (.417) and Ben Cantwell (.528). Again, great pitchers don’t always have the lock on ground balls. Carl Hubbell was one of the best pitchers of the thirties, and struck out Ruth, Gehrig and Foxx in the 1934 All Star game, but from 1928 to 1943 he gave up 227 homers. It left him with a respectable .569 HRA at the end of his long career, which was not amazing, but respectable for those days.

Many of the most famous home run balls were hit off of the toughest pitchers HRA-wise. Guy Bush, who is famous for giving Babe Ruth three fat gopher balls in Ruth’s last game on this earth, was actually a master in preventing the long ball most of the time. He gave up only 149 other homers lifetime, and maintained a .503 HRA. Charlie Root, one of the other pitchers that Ruth made immortal with a kiss of the bat, held a .526 HRA lifetime. He was the one that Ruth hit his “called shot” off of in the World Series versus the Cubs. Claude Passeau gave up a famous homer to Ted Williams in the All Star game, in spite of his .348 HRA. Tom Zachary was yet another Ruth made immortal with a swing of the bat, his famed 60th homer, yet Zachary rarely gave up homers, with a stunning .342 lifetime HRA at the height of the home run era. Part of the reason was that soon after that historic 60th shot, he joined the Yankees for several seaons, which meant he never had to pitch to the best home run hitters--who were all Yankees, during that stint. Clever strategy!

Nowhere have I found a published listing of lifetime HRAs to help baseball fans gain a true understanding of what a truly great home run would be. I thought this book might be a good vehicle for carrying such a useful table, and perhaps introducing a new stat into the Hall of Fame. Ideally, there should be three versions; one by pitcher’s name alphabetically, one by HRA numerically, and one by chronology. This will have to do for the moment.

The Hall of Fame of Home Run Average

This is an alphabetical listing of only the best, the toughest pitchers to hit homers off of. Each of these players maintained less than a .750 HRA per nine innings, lifetime. Each pitched more than 500 innings (with several exceptions), and each started playing in this century. As a matter of fact, except for Walter Johnson, each started playing after 1910, when home runs started to mean something. These statistics only extend to 1997 for active players; some of these players’ HRAs have gone down since then, some stayed the same, but most have gone way up, due to the juicing up of the ball. Those are the criteria for this top HRA pitchers’ list. Many big name players are not on this list because they gave up too many home runs.

Player Name Seasons Home runs Innings HRA

Aase, Don 77-90 89 1109 .722
Abernathy, Ted 55-72 70 1147 .549
Alexander, Pete 11-30 164 5190 .284
Allen, Johnny 32-44 104 1950 .480
Anderson, Larry 75-94 58 995 .525
Andrews, Ivy 31-38 59 1041 .510
Andrews, Nate 37-46 40 773 .466
Andujar, Joaquin 76-88 155 2153 .648
Appleton, Pete 27-45 76 1141 .599
Aquino, Luis 86-95 45 678 .597
Assenmacher, Paul 86-96 57 726 .706
Auker, Elden 33-42 129 1963 .591
Bagby, Jim 38-47 98 1666 .529
Barber, Steve 60-74 125 1999 .781
Barker, Len 76-87 96 1323 .653
Barlow, Mike 75-81 16 246 .585
Barnes, Jesse 15-27 88 2569 .308
Barnes, Virgil 19-28 46 1094 .380
Barr, Jim 71-83 161 2065 .702
Barnett, Red 37-49 78 1263 .556
Beattie, Jim 78-86 88 1148 .690
Beck, Boom Boom 24-45 63 1034 .548
Bell, Hi 24-34 34 663 .507
Bender, “Chief” Charles 13-25 40 3017 .119
Benton, Al 34-52 106 1688 .565
Benton, Larry 23-35 109 2297 .427
Berenyi, Bruce 80-86 32 781 .369
Berge, Ray 25-38 132 1875 .633
Berry, Joe 42-46 14 294 .428
Bibby, Jim 72-84 131 1722 .684
Bickford, Vern 48-54 76 1076 .636
Billingham, Jack 68-80 176 2230 .710
Blackwell, Ewall 42-55 67 1321 .456
Blankenship, Ted 22-30 63 1330 .426
Blanton, Cy 34-42 64 1218 .473
Blass, Steve 64-74 128 1597 .721
Blue, Vida 69-86 263 3343 .708
Bonham, Bill 71-80 98 1487 .593
Bonham, Tiny 40-49 117 1551 .679
Borbon, Pedro 69-80 63 1026 .553
Borowy, Hank 42-51 108 1717 .566
Bowman, Joe 32-45 102 1465 .627
Brandt, Ed 28-38 134 2268 .532
Braxton, Garland 21-33 38 938 .365
Brecheen, Harry 40-53 117 1907 .552
Bridge, Tommy 30-46 181 2826 .576
Briles, Nelson 65-78 186 2111 .793
Brown, Clint 28-42 84 1485 .509
Brown, Kevin 86-02 178 2840 .564
Brown, Lloyd 25-40 83 1693 .441
Brown, Mace 35-46 44 1075 .368
Brown, Mordecai 3 finger 03-16 43 3172.3 .121
Brusstar, Warren 77-85 28 484 .573
Bryant, Clay 35-40 13 543 .215
Burdette, Lew 50-67 289 3067 .848
Burke, Bobby 27-37 35 918 .343
Burkhart, Ken 45-49 35 519 .607
Bush, Guy 23-45 152 2722 .503
Bush, Joe 12-28 96 3087 .280
Bush, Steve 72-80 73 1060 .620
Butcher, Max 36-45 100 1786 .503
Buzhardt, John 58-68 130 1490 .785
Byrne, Tommy 43-57 98 1362 .647
Byerly, Bud 43-60 34 491 .623
Campbell, Bill 73-87 82 1229 .600
Camacho, Ernie 80-90 16 262 .645
Cantwell, Ben 27-37 90 1534 .528
Carlson, Hal 17-30 43 2002 .328
Carlton, Steve 65-88 414 5217 .714
Carrasquel, Alex 39-49 42 861 .439
Carroll, Clay 64-78 67 1353 .446
Cascarella, Joe 34-38 25 540 .417
Casey, Hugh 35-49 58 939 .556
Caster, George 34-46 121 1377 .791
Chance, Dean 61-71 122 2147 .511
Chandler, Spud 37-47 64 1485 .388
Chapman, Ben 44-46 7 141 .447
Chase, Ken 36-43 55 1165 .424
Christopher, Russ 42-48 38 999 .342
Clark, Watty 24-37 86 1747 .443
Clements, Pat 85-92 17 360 .425
Clemens, Roger 84-02 297 4067 .657
Coffman, Dick 27-45 92 1460 .567
Collins, Rip 20-31 73 1712 .384
Cone, David 86-01 254 2880.6 .794
Connally, Sarge 21-34 32 994 .290
Consegra, Sandy 50-57 43 809 .480
Cooper, Wilbur 12-26 103 3480 .266
Cooper, Mort 38-49 85 1840 .416
Coveleski, Stan 12-28 66 3082 .192
Crowder, Alvin 26-36 136 2344 .522
Cuellar, Mike 59-77 222 2808 .711
Culver, George 66-74 42 789 .479
DalCantor, Bruce 67-77 48 931 .464
Davis, Curt 34-46 142 2325 .550
Davis, Storm 82-94 136 1780 .688
Dean, Dizzy 30-47 95 1967 .434
DeLeon, Jose 83-95 153 1897 .726
Denny, John 74-86 137 2148 .574
Derringer, Paul 31-45 158 3645 .390
Dierker, Larry 64-77 184 2333 .710
Dietrich, Bill 33-48 128 2003 .575
Doak, Bill 12-29 71 2782 .230
Donohue, Pete 21-32 68 2112 .290
Dorish, Harry 47-56 57 834 .615
Downing, Al 61-77 177 2268 .702
Drabek, Doug 86-96 196 2257 .749
Drago, Dick 69-81 157 1875 .754
Drysdale, Don 56-69 280 3432 .734
Earnshaw, George 28-36 142 1915 .667
Ehmke, Howard 15-30 103 2820 .329
Eichhorn, Mark 82-96 49 885 .498
Elliott, Jumbo 23-34 70 1206 .522
Ellis, Dock 68-79 140 2127 .592
Ellsworth, Dick 58-71 194 2155 .810
Erickson, Paul 41-48 41 814 .453
Faber, Red 14-33 111 4086 .244
Feller, Bob 36-56 224 3827 .527
Ferrell, Wes 27-41 132 2623 .503
Fidriych, Mark 76-80 23 412 .502
Figueroa, Ed 74-81 90 1309 .619
Fingers, Rollie 68-85 123 1701.3 .651
Fitzsimmons, Freddie 25-43 186 3223 .519
Ford, Whitey 50-67 228 3170 .647
Forsch, Ken 70-86 155 2127 .656
Forster, Terry 71-86 51 1105 .415
Fowler, Dick 41-52 96 1303 .691
Fox, Howie 44-54 71 1108 .576
Frankhouse, Fred 27-39 111 1888 .529
Franco, John 84-02 70 1150.3 .547
French, Larry 29-42 164 3152 .468
Friend, Bob 51-66 286 3611 .713
Fryman, Woody 66-83 87 2411 .698
Fullerton, Curt 21-39 19 423 .404
Galehouse, Denny 34-49 104 2004 .467
Garcia, Mike 48-61 122 2174 .505
Gaston, Milt 24-34 114 2105 .487
Genewich, Joe 22-30 77 1401 .495
Gentry, Rufe 43-48 11 243 .407
Gibbon, Joe 60-72 74 1119 .322
Gibson, Bob 59-75 257 3884 .596
Gladding, Fred 61-73 38 601 .569
Giusti, Dave 62-77 126 1716 .661
Glavine, Tom 87-02 247 3344 .665
Goltz, Dave 72-83 149 2039 .658
Gomez, Lefty 30-43 138 2503 .496
Gooden, Dwight 84-01 210 2800.7 .675
Gossage, Rich 72-94 119 1809.3 .592.
Gorska, Johnny 40-47 44 723 .548
Greenfield, Kent 24-29 36 775 .418
Gregg, Hal 43-52 41 827 .446
Grimes, Burleigh 16-34 148 4179 .318
Grove, Lefty 25-41 162 3940 .370
Gubicza, Mark 84-96 153 2218 .621
Hadley, Bump 26-41 167 2945 .510
Haefner, Mickey 43-50 76 1466 .467
Haines, Jesse 18-37 165 3208 .463
Hallahan, Bill 25-38 71 1740 .367
Hamilton, Earl 11-24 43 2342 .165
Harder, Mel 28-47 161 3426 .422
Hargan, Steve 65-77 125 1632 .689
Harris, Mickey 40-52 79 1050 .677
Hassler, Andy 71-85 67 1123 .537
Haynes, Joe 39-52 95 1581 .541
Heintzelman, ken 37-52 100 1501 .600
Henke, Tom 82-95 64 789.7 .730
Henneman, Mike 87-96 47 732 .578
Hernandez, Roberto 91-02 62 775 .720
Hershieser, Orel 83-96 168 2529 .633
Heusser, Ed 35-48 66 1087 .607
Hering, Joe 30-45 64 1038 .555
Hildebrand, Oral 31-40 99 1430 .623
Higbe, Kirby 37-50 117 1952 .539
Hollingsworth, Al 35-46 47 1520 .278
Honeycutt, Rick 77-96 185 2158 .772
Horlen, Joe 61-72 145 2002 .652
Hooton, Burt 71-85 193 2656 .655
Hoyt, Waite 18-35 154 3762 .368
Hudson, Sid 40-54 136 2181 .561
Hubbell, Carl 28-43 227 3590 .569
Hudlin, Willis 26-44 118 2613 .406
Hume, Tom 77-87 88 1086 .729
Humphries, Johnny 38-46 50 1002 .449
Jackson, Larry 55-68 259 3262 .715
John, Tommy 63-89 302 4710.1 .577
Johnson, Si 28-47 120 2281 .473
Johnson, Walter 07-27 97 5914 .148
Jones, Doug 82-96 49 785 .562
Jones, Randy 73-82 129 1933 .600
Jones, Sam 14-35 152 3883 .352
Judd, Oscar 41-48 24 771 .280
Kern, Jim 74-86 35 793 .397
Knowles, Darold 65-80 65 1092 .536
Koosman, Jerry 67-85 290 3839 .680
Koufax, Sandy 55-66 204 2324 .790
Lamp, Dennis 77-92 122 1830.2 .600
Leibrandt, Charlie 79-93 172 2308 .671
Leiter, Al 87-02 154 1894.3 .732
Lemon, Bob 46-58 181 2850 .572
Leonard, Dutch 33-53 158 3218 .442
Lopat, Ed 44-55 179 2439 .661
Lucas, Red 23-38 136 2542 .482
Lyle, Sparky 67-82 84 1390 .544
MacFayden, Danny 26-43 112 2706 .333
Marshall, Mike 67-81 79 1386 .513
Martinez, Tippy 74-86 53 834 .572
Maddux, Greg 86-02 210 3750.3 .504 .
Marquard, Rube 08-25 107 3306 .291
Martinez, Pedro 92-02 142 1892.3 .675
Matthewson, Christy 00-16 91 4780 .192
Matlack, John 71-83 161 2363 .613
Mays, Carl 15-27 73 3021 .217
McDaniel, Lindy 55-75 172 2138 .379
McGinnity, Joe 99-08 52 3441 .136
McGraw, Bob 17-29 31 579 .482
Mc Dowell, Roger 85-96 50 1050 .428
McGraw, Tug 65-84 108 1514 .642
Messersmith, Andy 68-79 174 2230 .702
Miller, Bob 57-74 101 1551 .586
Mogridge, George 11-27 77 2265 .305
Murray, Dale 74-85 40 902 .399
Myers, Randy 85-98 64 884.7 .702
Nen, Robb 93-02 51 715 .641
Newsome, Bobo 29-53 206 3759 .493
Nichols, Kid 90-06 156 5056 .278
Niekro, Joe 67-87 276 3584 .693
Niekro, Phil 64-87 442 5404.3 .736
Orosco, Jesse 74-02 109 1261.3 .777
Osteen, Claude 57-75 249 3460 .648
Palmer, Jim 65-84 303 3948 .691
Passeau, Claude 35-47 105 2719 .348
Pena, Alejandro 81-96 75 1057.2 .638
Pennock, Herb 12-34 128 3571 .323
Perranowski, Ron 61-73 50 1174 .383
Perry, Gaylord 62-83 399 5350 .671
Peterson, Fritz 66-76 173 2218 .702
Phillippe, Deacon 1899-11 41 2607 .392
Plank, Eddie 01-17 41 4495.7 .082
Quisenberry, Dan 79-90 59 1043.3 .508
Reed, Ron 66-84 182 2477 .661
Reynolds, Allie 42-54 133 2492 .480
Richard, J.R. 71-80 73 1606 .409
Righetti, Dave 79-95 95 1403 .609
Rijo, Jose 84-02 147 1880 .703
Ring, Jimmy 17-28 104 2354 .398
Rivera, Mariano 95-02 34 597 .528
Rixey, Eppa 12-33 92 4494 .184
Root, Charlie 23-41 187 3197 .526
Rowe, Schoolboy 33-49 132 2219 .535
Ruffing, Red 24-47 254 4344 .526
Ruth, Babe 14-33 10 1221 .074
Ruthven, Dick 73-86 165 2109 .704
Ryan, Nolan 66-93 321 5386 .536.
Saberhagen, Bret 84-95 33 881 .337
Sain, Johnny 42-55 180 2125 .762
Seaver, Tom 67-86 380 4782 .715
Sewell, Rip 32-49 116 2119 .492
Shantz, Bobby 49-64 151 1935 .702
Simmons, Curt 47-67 255 3348 .685
Sisler, George 15-28 0 111 .000
Smith, Lee 80-97 89 1289.3 .621
Smoltz, John 88-02 206 2553.6 .726
Spahn, Warren 42-65 434 5243 .745
Stanley, Bob 77-89 113 1707 .596
Stottlemeyer, Mel 64-74 171 2661 .578
Sutton, Don 66-88 470 5282 .800
Thomas, Tommy 26-37 144 2176 .596
Thompson, Junior 39-47 35 686 .459
Torrez, Mike 67-84 223 3044 .660
Trout, Dizzy 34-57 112 2725 .370
Trout, Steve 78-89 90 1501 .540
Uhle, George 19-36 119 3119 .343
Valenzuela, Fernando 80-97 226 2930 .694
Vance, Dazzy 15-35 132 2966 .400
Van Der Meer, Johnny 37-51 100 2104 .428
Vaughn, Hippo 08-21 39 2730 .129
Vuckovitch, Pete 75-86 107 1455 661
Walters, Bucky 31-50 154 3104 .447
Warneke, Lon 30-36/45 175 2782 .566
Weiland, Bob 28-40 85 1388 .551
Wilhelm Hoyt 52-72 150 2254 .599
Wise, Rick 64-82 261 3127 .751
Wood, Smokey Joe 08-20 10 1434 .0627
Wynn, Early 39-63 338 4564 .667
Young, Cy 1890-11 138 7356 .160
Zachary, Tom 18-36 119 3126 .342

And if you want to list them best to worst by Home Run Average, go ahead, be my guest!

Balance of Power in Baseball; Rich Team, Poor Team

2006-09-26T15:28:00.000-07:00

The Invisible Hand of Baseball—
What Baseball Has to Say About Adam Smith’s Theory of Free Market Competition

When I was a kid growing up as a Senators’ fan in Washington, D.C. no one ever talked about the business of baseball. It wasn’t fashionable anywhere, but it certainly was the least fashionable in Washington. It was not a big baseball town by today’s standards, too many transient highly educated people. But even among baseball fans, the subject of baseball as business was never discussed, taboo even, because in fact baseball had no business in Washington. It was a patriotic gesture! The price of a baseball team was like the “cost of freedom;” All Americans should be willing to lay down our lives so that we can have baseball in the Nation’s Capitol. Like Democracy and the right to representation in Congress, there are certain inalienable rights. Since D.C. didn’t have either of these, it stands to reason they should at least have baseball, at any price. We were very warped in our values back then.

Then Nixon came, and our Constitutional right to baseball disappeared. It was part of the Watergate Scandal, in fact. Did you hear that E. Howard Hunt was seen in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, selling tickets months before the move of the team was announced? That rumor has never been confirmed or denied. But it was all very suspicious. We didn’t realize that the team could be bought and sold like..like a company or something! It seemed like slavery in those naïve by-gone days! Curt Flood, Don Lock, Ed Brinkman, Del Unser, on the trading block like slaves! Now we don’t think twice about it.

Today, the business of baseball is all people talk about. How many wins can 100 million dollars buy? Someone has a computer program to figure it out. If money buys wins, tell me why some teams pay a million dollars per win, some a half a million?

The principles mentioned in Adam Smith’s philosophical writings, especially the “invisible hand,” work in baseball regardless of economics. This is because there are many kinds of competition in baseball, and the kind we find on the field overrides all others.

While owners are busy competing with each others’ wallets, snipping off this player’s bonus, and that player’s raise, raising the price of parking, of cable TV, throwing money into pitching based on some formula for post-season success, the players themselves are busy competing on the field, where supposedly, money can’t buy wins, theoretically not even umpires. Games are still won by sweat, hard work and determination.

As long as players are free to compete in their hearts for the adoration of their fans, money will never guarantee success. Like happiness and love, there are certain things that money is always on the verge of being able to buy; but it never works out. Adam Smith wrote about the “Invisible Hand,” which, in my personal interpretation says that if all the different parties in a certain field are all free to compete with one another, there will be a healthy balance, and the strongest companies with the best products will thrive, to the benefit of all, whereas inefficient companies will do less well. Obviously, having a millionaire “backer” gives some companies the edge to get established; but according to Smith, that isn’t the most important factor.

The Smithian universe is not one of blind probability, but one of probability based on each human beings desire to succeed. Therefore, the standings in baseball should stay within a statistical boundary not likely according to blind probability. It should reflect a great overarching mythic principle of balance which Plato called Dikaion, or Universal Justice. In the early Vedas it is called Rta (pronounced err-tah) the underlying geometric blueprint behind all universal phenomenon, which evolved over time into the concept of Dharma, now a popular TV show. Then there were the Philadelphia teams of the early 20th Century, which were all over the map. Their results really did seem random.

Theoretically, if the invisible hand is allowed to move the players around by natural selection, there will never be a monopoly, and everyone will have a fair share. In a sense, baseball proves this principle. Even though the amount of money spent on teams has always varied greatly, with some teams (ie The Yankees) often spend three or four times the money other teams do (ie The Senators) the gap between wins and losses is never that great. Between 1910 and 1990, the gap between champions and last place teams in either league was seldom greater than .33% of the games played. This means that the best team seldom won more than 2/3 of their games, and the worst seldom lost more than 2/3. In another way of putting it, the best and worst in a league often were approximately the inverse of each other, but not more than a 2 to 1 ratio. In other words, season winners often average a win a three game series, but sweeps are balanced out by series match losses. This does not apply to football. There are too few games played; perhaps the checks and balances in football are less delicate. Baseball on the other hand, was forged long ago in Greek proportions.

For example, baseball writers now and then comment on the incredible beauty of the 90 foot distance to first base, truly a decision of genius. Given the diamond shape of the infield (with fielders stationed in an arc around the bases, roughly equidistant from the batter) most ground balls in the infield reach the fielder at about half or less the total time it takes the average professional athlete to run to first, which leaves the fielder the same amount of time to throw to first. That means that almost all plays are close at first. Even bunts can be picked up in that same amount of time by the pitcher or catcher. Only a few players in baseball history have been fast enough to upset this geometric balance between offense and defense, namely George Sisler, Ty Cobb, and for a while, Mickey Mantle. There have been few others who have overcome the principle of inertia which slows the runner coming out of the batter’s box as well, a principle baseball is designed to play with. Money can’t do that, only will power and determination.

There is a similar balance in most ballparks today between home runs and fly outs. Probably one ball out of four intended for the seats (or bullpen) actually makes it, the rest are caught on the warning track. During an average game at least twelve long balls (just to throw out a rough figure) out of an approximate 72 at bats, land in a narrow band between the front of the warning track and a space ten feet behind the wall, most of them in front of the wall. Therefore, most fly balls are unpredictable; with the bases loaded, and two out, will that fly be an out or four runs on the board? No one can tell, but the “invisible hand” principle says that sometimes it will be a grand slam, and for any given team. Again, only a few players have the muscle, the focus and will power to break through the laws of ballistics, in which the possible trajectories limit the distance of a hurled or batted object; Babe Ruth, Frank Howard, Mickey Mantle, Reggie Jackson, and Mark McGwire, for example, and now Barry Bonds. It’s harder than it looks, because the laws of gravity are very exact. What’s fun about baseball is that it plays with those laws. It is equally hard to throw from the warning track to home plate without a bounce, which is what makes the “tag up” rule so much fun. A good arm in the outfield versus an average runner, an average arm versus a slow runner, a great arm versus an excellent runner; it’s always going to be close, and therefore unpredictable.

This is one of the reasons why there is seldom a monopoly on wins: There are too many ways to lose. In a game of inches, even the best team in history will blow more than sixty games on their way to the pennant. When baseball teams played 156 games, seldom would a team win less than 52 games, 1/3 of the games, (.333) or more than 104, or 2/3rds. (.666). There have been occasional “losing” teams who for various reasons, threw the numbers out of whack for a few years, notably the Browns, (Boston and then St. Louis) and any team from Philadelphia. But overall the numbers are impressive. Let’s take a look.

National League: 1910
1911: Boston Braves .291, 44 wins
1913: St. Louis Cardinals .340, 51 wins (above .333; 150 games played)
1917: Pittsburgh Pirates .331, 41 wins

(In 1918, only 130 games were played, in 1919 only 137)

American League: 1910
1910: St. Louis Browns: .305 47 wins
1911: St. Louis Browns: .296 45 wins
1912: Boston Red Sox .691 105 wins (they won the Series)
New York Yankees .329 50 wins (borderline)
1914 Cleveland .333, 51 wins (borderline)
1915 Philadelphia .283 43 wins (the team had won the pennant the year before but ran into debt and sold off the entire team, leaving rookies)
1916 Philadelphia .235 36 wins (see above)
1919 Philadelphia .257 36 wins (see above)

National League: 1920s
(The Phils had a bad streak, throwing off the numbers, but they were generally close to .333)
1921: Philadelphia Phils . .331 51 wins
1923 Philadelphia Phils .325 50 wins
1927 Philadelphia Phils .331 51 wins
1928 Philadelphia Phils .283 43 wins

American League: 1920s
(The Red Sox owner traded away a number of their best players in order to invest in Broadway. It was a famous scandal at the time)
1920: Philadelphia A’s .312 48 wins (see above)
1925 Boston Red Sox .309 47 wins (see above)
1926 Boston Red Sox .301 46 wins (see above)
1927 Boston Red Sox .331 51 wins (see above)

National League: 1930s
1935 Boston Braves .248 38 wins
1938 Philadelphia Phils .300 45 wins
1939 Philadelphia Phils .298 45 wins

American League: 1930s
1931 Philadelphia A’s .704 107 wins
1932 New York Yankees .695 107 wins
1937 St. Louis Browns .299 46 wins
1939 New York Yankees .702 106 wins
St. Louis Browns .279 43 wins (one of the greatest discrepancies between losers and winners in the same league; the Browns lost five more games than the Yankees won, which was a lot of games!)

National League: 1940’s
1940 Philadelphia Phils .327 50 wins
1941 Philadelphia Phils .279 43 wins
1942 St. Louis Cardinals .688 106 wins
Philadelphia Phils .278 42 wins
1943 St. Louis Cardinals .682 105 wins
1944 St. Louis Cardinals .682 105 wins
1945 Philadelphia Phils .299 46 wins

American League 1940s
1942 New York Yankees .669 103 wins (154 games played)
1943 Philadelphia A’s .318 49 wins
1946 Philadelphia A’s .318 49 wins
1949 Washington Senators .325 50 wins (This was the only season the Senators fell back of the 1/3 mark)

National League 1950s
1952 Pittsburgh Pirates .273 42 wins
1953 Brooklyn Dodgers .682 105 wins
Pittsburgh Pirates .325 50 wins

American League 1950s
1952 Detroit Tigers .325 50 wins
1954 Cleveland Indians .721 111 wins
Philadelphia A’s .331 51 wins (borderline)

National League 1960s
1961 Philadelphia Phillies .305, 47 wins
1962 New York Mets .250 40 wins (120 losses, 160 games played; no one had ever lost that many before in a single seaon. But the Mets were famous for that!)
1963 New York Mets .315 50 wins
1964 New York Mets .327 53 wins
1965 New York Mets .309 50 wins
1969 Montreal Expos .321 52 wins
San Diego Padres .321 52 wins

American League 1960s
1961 New York Yankees .673, 109 wins
1969 Baltimore Orioles .673, 109 wins

National League 1970s
1975 Cincinnati .667 108 wins (borderline)

American League 1970s
1970 Baltimore .667, 108 wins
1979 Toronto Blue Jays .327 53 wins (the only team in the 1970s or 80s to end the season below .333, although the Oakland As bombed out at .333 and 54 wins in that same year.)

National League 1980s
1986 New York Mets .667 108 wins

American League 1980s

Detroit had 104 wins in 1984, as did the A’s in 1988, but that comes out to .642, not quite 2/3rds. In 1988 Baltimore had only 54 wins, which gave them a .335 win average. Very close!

56 “anomalies” in eighty seasons, 160 standings; both high and low. Ten of these involved New York teams, eighteen involved teams from Philadelphia. Including all teams, any league standings of any given year had a 35% chance of experiencing an anomaly, just over 1/3. In addition, no team has ever lost more than ¾ of their games, except the 1916 Athletics. (The Mets lost exact that fraction in 1962, but not more), and no team has ever won more than .721% of their games during that period, in other words, better than the Cleveland Indians of 1954. No team has ever reached the ¾ win mark either, the baseball equivalent of a monopoly.

What is remarkable is how New York, Philadelphia, and St. Louis, all cities with both American and National League teams most of this era, produce by far the most anomalies, both for most single season wins and losses.

Here’s how it stacks up:
New York Yankees: 1 losing 4 winning seasons out of the mean.
New York Mets: 1 winning 4 losing seasons out of the mean
Philadelphia Phils 0 winning, 11 losing seasons out of the mean
Philadelphia A’s 1 winning 7 losing seasons out of the mean
St. Louis Cardinals: 3 winning 1 losing season out of the mean
St. Louis Browns: 4 losing, 0 winning seasons out of the mean.

In most cases, the super-winners were well established organizations in major markets, the super-losers were newcomers to those markets, who may have experienced unfair competition in several ways. The story with Philadelphia is different; it seems that there were two established teams in a market big enough for only one, and they both suffered. The Philadelphia A’s left, and have never been replaced.

This means that other than these three bi-league cities, which account for 37 of the 56 anomalies, only 19 out of 160 finishes have experienced anomalies, outside of the 1/3 to 2/3 win range. That is a percentage of .118, which is certainly low indeed, lower than one in five finishes. Please also note that two of these involved expansion year teams other than the Mets, whose struggles were expected. That brings the number down to .106! Then factor in that the owner of the Boston Red Sox stripped the team of all serious players in 1920 to create three disastrous seasons, and the number reaches .0875%, 14 season finishes out of the norm during an 80 year period, or one anomaly in eleven finishes.

What we might conclude here, if anything, is that Smith’s “invisible hand” does work in baseball, most of the time, except when thrown out of whack by overwhelming cross-town competition, or by intentional self-destruction. This illustrates that in baseball, as in the world, as long as everyone gets a fair shake, things stay in balance, and that it is possible for a few powerful individuals to throw the numbers off once in a while.

But you knew that!

Great Hitters and Their Pitching Careers

2006-09-26T15:26:00.000-07:00

THE MOST SURPRISING PITCHING STATS
IN THE WORLD
Great Hitters You Didn’t Know Pitched in the Major Leagues

What do Honus Wagner, Stan Musial, Paul O”Neill, Cesar Tovar, Tris Speaker, Dave Kingman, Ted Williams, and Cookie Rojas have in common?

You say, “Well, that’s easy. They were all great hitters and fielders!”

Yes, but did you know that each of these men pitched in the major leagues?

I bet you knew that Babe Ruth pitched in the majors as did George Sisler, but few know that these other sluggers pitched as well. It just goes to show, there are many things in heaven and earth that are not accounted for in your average baseball fan’s philosophy!

Of course you knew that Babe Ruth was a great pitcher for the Red Sox before becoming a home run hitter. He made many records on the mound at Fenway Park that still stand in the Hall of Fame, including consecutive scoreless World Series innings for the Red Sox. But did you know that he pitched for the New York Yankees, and in four seasons of pitching was undefeated? Most Yankee fans don’t know that, heck I didn’t know that until I looked it up. Ruth was that amazing.

He had a 1-0 record in ’20, with a 4.5 ERA, (while batting .376) went 2-0 in ’21, with a 9.0 ERA (while batting.378), 1-0 in 1930, a complete game pitched with a 3.0 ERA and three strikeouts (.359 batting average), and a 1-0 season in 1933, with a complete game win and a 5.0 ERA (he batted .301 that year). In his years with the Yankees he was 5-0 in five starts with two complete games. So when people ask me who the greatest all-around player is, I say “Would you believe Babe Ruth?” His .342 lifetime batting average is nice, but I’ll take the pitching.

George Sisler was a contemporary of Ruth’s and converted from pitcher to first baseman because of his awesome batting average. In the major leagues, Sisler’s ERA was 2.35 lifetime in seven seasons pitched. He had 12 starts, pitching 111 innings in 23 games, with one shutout. Meanwhile, his lifetime batting average was .340, and in 1922 batted a stupendous .420, one of the greatest seasons at the plate in history. No wonder his teammates took the pitching rosin out of his hands in 1919 and gave him a first baseman’s glove.

There have been several highly versatile fielders over the years who could play many positions, but only a few who added pitching to their resume.

Cookie Rojas, recently a coach for the New York Mets, played major league ball for sixteen seasons. During all that time, he played every position ever invented, and fairly well; he played second base in 1449 games, outfield in 200 games, third base in 46 games, shortstop in 39 games, DH in 16 games, catcher in 7 games, first base in 2 games, and pitched in one game. In that game, he gave up one hit and no runs in one inning of ball in 1967 for the Phillies. Maybe he did it just to complete the cycle. People probably asked, “What position HAVEN’T you played?” And he answered honestly, “Pitcher.” So they let him pitch.

That is more impressive than Al Spalding, a Hall of Fame Manager, who in 1876, started 60 games as a pitcher for the Chicago team, with 53 complete games, batting .312, with 2 triples, and managed the team while also playing 10 games in the outfield, and 3 games at first base. His ERA that busy year was only 1.75. He won 47 games and lost 13. Little wonder he made it to the Hall of Fame. 47 wins is a Mendoza Line of excellence no one will ever get to enjoy again, not to mention the complete games.

But even these pitching stats are not the most amazing in baseball. What is remarkable is that many of the greatest hitters in the game tried to walk in Babe Ruth’s spiked shoes as it were, with varying degrees of success on the mound.

Tris Speaker, for example, pitched in a game for Boston in 1914, giving up two hits, and one run. He batted .338 that year. His fellow teammate, Babe Ruth was a rookie pitcher that same year, pitching in four games, batting only .200 in 10 at-bats. Ruth was 2-1, with a 3.91 ERA, in case you were curious, with only 3 strikeouts all year. Somehow they knew to send Tris back to the outfield, and to renew Ruth’s contract; both good moves. In any case, it is amazing to note that both Speaker and Ruth, two of the greatest names in hitting, both pitched for the same team the same season.

Stan Musial was certainly a great hitter for St. Louis, but did you know he pitched one inning in 1952, and pitched a “no hitter?” They should have tried him for nine innings at that rate. His lifetime average was .331, which is what people remember him for.

Cesar Tovar was a lifetime .278 hitter, but had 36 doubles in 1970, which is no small thing. However, it was in 1968 that he pulled off one of his most amazing feats, he started a game for the Twins. Tovar gave up one walk, got one strikeout, and gave up no runs.

The Yankees’ Paul O’Neill will always be remembered for his doubles and triples, not for his pitching, but did you know that in 1987, he pitched for the Cincinnati Reds? He survived on the mound for two innings, getting two strikeouts, but giving up two hits, four walks, and three runs in the process, to earn a 13.50 ERA. They sent him back to the outfield. Good idea!

Honus Wagner, “The Flying Dutchman,” was certainly one of the greatest hitters in baseball history, (.381 in 1900) and taught the young Ted Williams how to hit. Perhaps he taught him to pitch as well. Wagner pitched in two games for the St. Louis Cardinals, one in 1900, one in 1902, a total of 8.1 innings, and got six strikeouts without giving up a run. He gave up a total of 7 hits and 6 walks, but apparently stopped the rallies in time to save the day. His lifetime average was .329 at the plate.

His hitting protégé, Ted Williams, of all people, pitched in a game in 1940. Maybe that’s why they call him “Teddy Ballgame.” He pitched two innings, gave up one run, three hits, and struck out one man. How would it feel to be struck out by Ted Williams? Sure he had a .344 lifetime batting average, but to strike out against him as a pitcher is like being beaten in arm wrestling by your sister!

Dave (“King Kong”) Kingman, who homered 442 times in his career, pitched four glorious innings for his San Francisco Giants in 1973, and got four men to strike out. Interesting he led the league in strikeouts three times, but that was as an outfielder. He pitched in two games that year, giving up one run per inning, three hits and six walks total. Not bad for a slugger who was to hit 48 round-trippers (The Jimmy Foxx line) in a single season in 1979.

Bobby Veach was a .310 lifetime outfielder for Detroit, and played in the 1925 World Series. But few remember his pitching appearance in 1918, a year in which he led the league with 78 RBIs, but in which he also threw two innings giving up two hits, two walks, and one run, earning himself a save. On the big list of “most saves by a relief pitcher, lifetime,” he is last. But its amazing he’s on the list!

Some great fielders who weren’t great shakes as hitters were also sent to the mound to try their luck against their opposite numbers, with varying success.

Buck Martinez, who had a pitcher’s batting average anyway, .225 lifetime, but a great fielder, pitched one inning in 1979 for the Milwaukee Brewers, giving up one hit, one base on balls, no strikeouts, and no earned runs.

Mario Mendoza, a great fielder but poor hitter, after whom the ignominious “Mendoza Line” was named, pitched two innings in 1977 for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and was anything but great, with a 13.50 ERA, giving up 3 hits and 2 walks, with no strikeouts. It didn’t help his batting average either. His 13.50 ERA is another type of “Mendoza Line.” When you hit that mark at any point in the season, people generally tell you to sit down. His relative Mike Mendoza also pitched an inning for Houston in 1979, giving up no runs.

Gene Michael, a substitute shortstop with the 1968 Yankees, (43 games) came in to pitch 3 innings in one game. He gave up 5 hits, no walks, and no runs, with three strikeouts.

So the next time someone says, “Which pitcher had the highest lifetime batting average?” You can say Tris Speaker, .344 lifetime; Ted Williams .344 lifetime; Babe Ruth,.342 lifetime; George Sisler, .340 lifetime; Stan Musial, .331 lifetime; and Honus Wagner .329 lifetime. Any other questions?

Most Seasons Pitched Records

2006-09-26T15:23:00.000-07:00

The Rhyme of the Ancient Pitcher:
How Old is “Old” ?

Many Taoist philosophers in China developed a belief in immortality. Myths and legends around the world suggest it is possible to achieve a deathless state, for example the Babaji figure of the Himalayas, the Joseph of Aramathea character in Grail legends, Yoda, of the Star Wars neo-mythology looks pretty old to me. Then there’s the Wandering Jew, and Mel Brooks 2000 year old man. Methusula had it easy by comparison. But what about pitchers? Is it true that some pitchers can pitch forever? Or is it a myth?

To misquote the bard Bob Dylan, “How many years can a man pitch in the major leagues before he is washed out to the sea?” Well, I did a complete analysis of all pitchers in the 20th Century, and found that there is a line beyond which no pitcher has ever survived, a quarter century in the majors. Many have pitched 20 seasons, but it tapers off quickly above that, a curve, appropriately enough.

It seems that no matter how strong a man is, he cannot pitch for more than 25 seasons without losing the competitive edge. Only Jim Kaat reached his 25th season, while only Tommy John and Phil Niekro reached their 24th season, yet more reached 23 seasons, 22 and 21 respectively. Like wins in a season, 20 seasons seems to be a kind of Mendoza line for champions; any pitcher who pitches into a glorious twentieth season is probably headed for the Hall. He will at least get an honorable stat mention, for one reason or another, if only for most mornings at practice on time.

Here is the complete breakdown. So if you plan to pitch your way into the Hall of Fame, you’d better eat your Wheaties. Unless your name is Sandy Koufax, it takes about 20 seasons to collect enough victories, strikeouts, and saves, to make it. That’s how many years Babe Ruth was in the American League; you could call it “the Babe Ruth line.” Only 29 pitchers have hit or passed the 20 season mark, but almost all are Hall of Famers. (Eppa Rixey, you say; who was he? I don’t know! There’s an exception to every rule)

25 Seasons Pitched (The Unbreakable Line)
Jim Kaat

24 Seasons Pitched (The Tommy John Line)
Tommy John
Phil Niekro

23 Seasons Pitched (The Steve Carlton Line)
Steve Carlton
Jack Quinn
Early Wynn

22 Seasons Pitched (The Gaylord Perry Line)
Sad Sam Koons
Herb Pennock
Gaylord Perry
Red Ruffing
Nolan Ryan
Don Sutton
Cy Young

21 Seasons Pitched (The Walter Johnson Line)
Clark Griffith
Waite Hoyt
Walter Johnson
Ted Lyons
Lindy McDaniel
Joe Niekro
Eppa Rixey
Warren Spahn

20 Seasons Pitched (The Tom Seaver Line)
Grover Cleveland Alexander
Red Faber
Mel Harder
Dutch Leonard
Dolf Luque
Babe Ruth (pitched on and off from 1914 to 1933)
Tom Seaver
Curt Simmons

19 Seasons Pitched (the “Luis Tiant” Line)
Babe Adams
Nick Altrock
Freddie Fitzsimmons
John Franco
Burleigh Grimes
Jesse Haines
Dick Hall
Jerry Koosman
Tug McGraw
Jim Palmer
Ron Reed
Jerry Reuss
Luis Tiant
Bucky Walters
Tom Zachary

18 Seasons Pitched (The Bob Feller Line)
Burt Blyleven
Lew Burdett
Wild Bill Donovan
Bob Feller
Woody Fryman
Charlie Hough
Johnny Klippstein
Rube Marquand
Don McMahon
Claude Osteen
Camilo Pasqual
Ray Sedecki
Mike Torrez

17 Seasons Pitched (The Bob Gibson Line)
Vida Blue
Jim Bunning
Tom Burgmaier
Guy Bush
Al Downing
Moe Drabowski
Rollie Fingers
Bob Gibson
Steve Gromek
Lefty Grove
Ron Kline
Danny MacFayden
Christy Mathews
Bob Miller
Milt Pappas
Jim Perry
Eddie Plank
Charlie Root
Virgil Trucks
Wilbur Wood

16 Years Pitched (The Whitey Ford Line)
Chief Bender
Tommy Bridges
Bill Dietrich
Roy Face
Whitey Ford
Ken Forsch
Terry Forrster
Bob Friend
Goose Gossage
Larry Gura
Bill Henry
Carl Hubbell
Darold Knowles
Vernon Law
Thornton Lee
Mickey Lolitch
Sparky Lyle
Juan Marichal
Mike McCormick
Fred Norman
Jack Powell
Bobby Shantz

Satchel Paige pitched in 1965 at the age of 59 years old, however he did not pitch consecutive years in the majors. He pitched from 1948 to 1953, then again in 1965. If he had stayed in the majors in the interim years, he would have had 18 seasons in the big leagues.

Spotlight on Former Mets Manager, Frank Howard

2006-09-26T15:12:00.000-07:00

Frank Howard: Myth or Legend?
copyright c 1998 by Evan Pritchard

Back in the 1960’s when I was growing up, Frank Howard was a slugger of mythic proportions. Ted Williams once said of Frank; “Without question, he was the biggest, strongest guy who ever played the game of baseball...and a real nice guy.” He is a home run legend.

If a player’s mythological status can be measured by the number of nicknames he carries, Frank is a virtual Paul Bunyon. At six-foot-seven and with 250 pounds of bulging muscle, Frank Howard has accumulated nicknames like few players before or since. He is called “The Gentle Giant” (after a local TV show for kids) “Hondo,” (no one knows why) and The Capitol Punisher, (re: Our Nation’s Capitol where he played) among many others. However, he was addressed respectfully by umpires only as “Mister Howard.” (see Ron Luciano’s book The Fall of the Roman Umpire). I can’t imagine why! I guess it’s hard to argue over a called strike with a man who is blocking out the sun.

He possessed an incredible presence at the plate that has never been duplicated. Perhaps some younger hurlers today hope it won’t be any time soon. His bat, which was twice the size of some of those in use today, could accidentally hit check swing homers, one-handed homers, broken bat homers, and once in a while he would even connect with one of those annoying “intentional walk” pitches that Frank was so tired of seeing--the bat was that immense!

When he connected squarely with a serious fastball any pitcher had the nerve to throw, the ball could disappear right out of sight, or over the rooftops, and down the street, or splinter seats way up the upper deck.

If this sounds like a tall Paul Bunyon story, I agree, it does. But I grew up in D.C., watching all those “giant” homers leave his bat, and they were no mythology, except to the extent that baseball is living mythology, and home run sluggers her heroes.

Many of Frank Howard’s home runs were dramatic, just because of distance. But as with most great home run hitters, they came in batches. For example, in May of 1968 he hit ten homers in six games, shattering the seven mark once set by Maris, Mays and others for the same period of time. The last two were off Mickey Lolitch of theTigers (17 game winner and World Series hero that year) and put Frank so far ahead in the AL home run race that no one ever caught him.

But even in that amazing year, he only hit a total of 44. Today, we’re used to bigger numbers. The team he now works for, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, have four guys in the lineup who hit 30 swats or more in ‘99, Vinny Castilla, Fred McGriff, Jose Canseco, and Greg Vaughn.

Many of the ancient marks are being broken now by guys too young to remember the names of those who set the records. What’s different? How do you explain the home run craze that’s changed the way the game is played? Do these new players deserve to share the limelight with the pinstripe lineage of Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, or Mickey Mantle?

To find out the real story on what it is that makes a great home run hitter, and perhaps to get a perspective on the home run’s place in baseball’s great mythology, I made a pilgrimage southward to see the hero of my youth, one of the greatest home run champs to ever knock down fences, a Mr. Frank Howard. He has probably hit, watched, scored on, and even leaned over the railing and stolen away, more home runs in both the NL and the AL than most players ever will. His 40-year involvement with the major leagues has given him a long view of the long ball that is nothing if not a national treasure.

With the encouragement of his long-time family friend Loretta Coffield, he agreed to contribute his comments to this millennial look backward at the history of the home run ball. I hope you find his words as enlightening as I do. As we used to say in Washington, D.C. “Let’s go Hondo!”

My Dinner With Frank Howard:
The Long View On the Long Ball

“The home run as Babe Ruth popularized it, has always been a big deal for a lot of the fans. They like to see the “Mighty McGwires” and the Cansecos, and the big Juan Gonzalezes hit those blasts into the upper decks!

“I’ve seen Killebrew, Stargell, McCovey, Frankie Robinson—whoever you want to talk about--I’ve seen them hit baseballs unbelievable distances. But today’s athlete, with his year-round training facilities and programs, has a definite advantage. Overall, I’m not saying they’re any bigger or stronger than we were, but there are more of them that are in better shape.. These young power guys today are consistently hitting the ball further than we ever thought about hitting it. I think it’s due to better nutrition, better training facilities and better programs.

“None of us in the 1960’s ever made enough money not to work in the off-season. I’ve been working year-round for 44 years! I’ve developed real estate, I’ve worked for a paper company, I’ve worked for Jim Beam brands, and still do, in the off-season.

“Is the ball livelier than it was when I was playing? Oh, it’s probably wound a little tighter. There’s no question. I think that maybe the pitching is a little thinner nowadays as well, only because we have thirty clubs rather than sixteen.

“How much validity is there to that, I couldn’t tell you. I don’t really know if the ball is juiced up, I don’t really know if the pitching is thinner. I do know this. The athletes are faster and stronger through better conditioning.

“I saw Harmon Killebrew a month ago, out in Phoenix on business. Harmon and I were at the same function together. Now here’s a guy who hit 576 home runs lifetime and probably hit some of the longest tee-shots you’ve ever seen. And I said “Harmon, as many balls as I’ve seen you and many of these other great sluggers hit for distances, McGwire is consistently hitting the ball farther than any man who’s ever played this game.

“I said to Harmon, ‘How many did you ever hit? Did you ever hit 50 in one year?’

“’No, I hit 49 twice!” he said.

“I said, ‘48 was my best year. This guy hit 22 more home runs than I did, 21 more than you did.... in our best years!!! Geesh!’

“I’m not singling him out. There’s other great athletes. There’s Juan Gonzalez, Albert Bell, Sammy Sosa, and on and on.”

“Sammy Sosa can really “scald that seed.” And he’s only five foot ten and weighs 200 pounds, but what a great swing he’s got.

“But Mark McGwire is the epitome of today’s power hitter. I said, ‘Harmon, this man hit 22 more home runs than I ever thought about hitting. And the balls he’s hitting...I mean.... incredible power!’

“Bobby Wine, the advance scout for the Atlanta Braves called me from Coors Field in Denver. He said, ‘Frank, you oughta be out here.’

“I said, ‘Why’s that, Bobby?’

“He said,”There’s 35,000 to 40,000 in this ball park to see McGwire take batting practice.’

“Back of those bleachers in left and center field, up 150 feet 200 feet are your hot dog stands.’ He said, ‘Frank, he’s knocking beers and hot dogs out of those guys’ hands up there!’ It’s 358 down the left field line, 400 to left, 420 in left center, and 440 to center field in that park. Now I know the air’s a little lighter in Denver, a mile high, but that is amazing!

“He must be hitting those baseballs at least 600 feet. He’s six foot five, about 260 pounds, and he’s got his body fat under 10%. What a magnificent specimen, and what great physical physique. They say he works really hard in the off season. I have no doubt that’s the reason why he’s able to hit them so consistently.

“I sometimes debate with my peers over this very subject. The old sluggers were great, but I’m not taking away anything away from today’s ball players. I can see that we have as many great ballplayers playing the game today as we’ve ever had in my lifetime. They’re just spread out over more teams.

“I don’t live in the past. I believe in playing today’s game today. I had my run in the sun, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

“I tell all the young instructors, young managers, coaches, and instructors, who come to ask me about some aspect of baseball; it doesn’t make me smarter, it just makes me older. I’ve experienced things that they will experience, but haven’t yet.

“I’m completely honest with my bosses. I say, ‘Let me tell you something, I’m not smarter, just older. I’ve made every mistake that a ball player can make on that field. I’ve made every mistake that a coach can make on the field, and I know every time I managed I made every mistake they can make.’

“But its still been a fun game for me. I look back at the people I’ve played with, played against, the friendships that I’ve formed, not only with my own teammates, but the competitors I’ve teed up against, the John Boog Powells, and I say, ‘How lucky can one guy be?’

“I had the good fortune to play under the great Ted Williams. I played five years, 68 through 72, for one of the great all-time magnetic human beings you’ll ever meet--Ted Williams. He helped me manage my strike zone a lot better. He made me a little more disciplined at the plate. He took a completely undisciplined hitter, tightened up my strike zone and made me more selective at the plate. He’s just an amazing man, he really is.

“After he retired, I played in Detroit in 73, and then went to Japan in 74. While playing in the Japanese League, I tore up my knee and had to come home and have surgery. I was done. After that I couldn’t play any more. 1974 turned out to be my last year.

“Everybody says, well, Ted Williams knows hitting. Let me tell you something. Ted Williams knows as much about pitching as any pitching coach in the big leagues, knows as much about good quality outfield play as any outfield instructor. Hitting, he’s unparalleled; light years ahead of the rest of us. The one area he didn’t know a whole heck of a lot about was infield play, but had the great Nellie Fox as his coach to help him. He’s a marvelous man, a marvelous man.

“We’d all like to call ourselves our own man, but that’s a fallacy. We have to answer to somebody, our wives, our mothers, girlfriends, our bosses, somebody. Ted Williams is the only human being I ever met that can truly call himself his own man. He answered to nobody but himself.

“He was a great home run hitter, of course. The longest home run I ever hit may have been the one I hit over the light tower at the 407 mark in the old Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. It was just going up when it went over the tower. Or maybe the ball I hit through the light towers over the left field roof at Tiger Stadium was the longest.

“There’s been several hit over the right field roof. There’s only been three hit over the left field roof in the whole history of that great stadium, one by Cecil Fielder, one by Harmon Killebrew, and one by myself. That was in 1968, one of my best years.
“Now, in terms of my most memorable or most emotionally satisfying homers; that’s something else.

“Probably the home run I hit off Whitey Ford in the fourth game of the ‘63 World Series stands out, because it put us up one to nothing in a four game sweep of the Yankees.
“When you’re competing at the major league level, and in that case in a World Championship game, naturally it’s a thrill to make that contribution, especially off of a Hall of Famer, Whitey Ford, one of the all-time great pitchers.

“I’ll never forget that game. I hit a double off the monuments in the first game (at Yankee Stadium) off one of his high fastballs. I knew he was going to spin a breaking ball to me this time. I hit that curve ball off him far up in the third deck at Dodger Stadium to put the Dodgers ahead one to nothing in the fifth inning of a pitchers’ duel between Ford and Koufax. Mantle tied it later on a home run off of Koufax, and we won the game on account of a freak play when Pepitone didn’t pick up the throw from third which turned out to be a three-base error.

“Then you can go back to the home run I hit in the ‘69 All Star Game off of Steve Carlton, another Hall of Famer, another outstanding great pitcher. I guess that one was memorable because it was played in Washington, D.C. in front of our home town fans. I had my best years in that city, I lived in that area--my home is still in Northern Virginia, just south of Leesburgh--so of course I’ve always considered myself a Washingtonian. To do that in front of my home town people, to give them something they came out to the ballpark to see--one of their local boys hit a home run--stands out.

“Probably the most emotional home run I ever hit was the last home run ever hit in RFK Stadium with the Senators, only because the ball club was leaving to move to Texas. I’d had my best years there in Washington. I love the city, love the people in it. And to hit that home run that last night, knowing I’d probably never be back there was a great thrill.

“By the way, I not only hit the last home run in Washington D.C.’s history, but also the first home run in Texas Rangers’ history as well. A lot of Texans remember that!

“This is my 42nd year in the big leagues. I had 16 years as an active player. Forget the 25 that I’ve been coaching. This is my 37th year as a player or coach in the big leagues, and these are the four homers that stand out. You could talk about the ten home runs I hit in six games, but I can’t remember any of them being an emotional type of experience. I’d have to say probably maybe the one that meant the most to me was the one hit off Ford in the fourth game of the ‘63 series, and the home run off of Carlton in the All Star game, because we were playing it at home."

Note: It was only after this interview was recorded that the news about McGwire and steroids was revealed. But it is certain that Frank Howard never used steroids, and his homers travelled much further than McGwire's ever did.
At a future time, we will post photos of the "white seats" that still grace RFK stadium, some near the roof of the upper deck, far from the field of play. In fact, Frank Howard hit a ball during his days at Ohio State in Columbus that rolled up to the stairs of the anthropology department on the other side of campus. McGwire never did anything like that.

Let us not denegrate the home run hero just because of the steroid scandal. It will always be a sacred part of baseball.

Spotlight on "Chief" Charles Bender

2006-09-26T15:09:00.000-07:00

The Man Who Invented The Slider

Not all ancient mythobaseballogical heroes were batters. Not by any means. Just as many were pitchers. Forged of steel, these men faced constant danger, stress, injury, sudden defeat, and the short tempers of pitching coaches, in whose hands their fates rested. Although batters can rest through much of a game (especially bad ones who never have to run past first) pitchers never get much rest (especially bad ones who never get anyone out). What’s interesting to me is that several of these pitchers were Native American. Charlie Yellow Horse was the only full-blood major leaguer known to history, and his story is recorded in 60 feet 6 inches, and a long way from home.” Allie Reynolds, who pitched a no hitter for the Yankees, was another of Native American descent. But my favorite Native American pitcher will probably always be Charles Bender, who (along with people like Louis Sockalexis) helped break the color line in baseball in 1903, thirty years before Hank Greenberg and half a century before Jackie Robinson. He took some heat, but he also dished out some heat from the mound, the temperature of which has been compared to Walter Johnson’s. Although he considered the nickname the whole world called him; “Chief,” unflattering, he would respond by saying quietly, “My name is Charles.”

Born in Crow Wing County, Minnesota in 1884, this early 20th Century Chippewa baseball player, Charles Bender, pitched his way into the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, and is easily considered one of the all-time greats. As a league leading pitcher who was not bad at the plate, he may well have been a sports hero to the young Babe Ruth. (Bender had 6 homers lifetime in the dead ball era plus 40 doubles, 10 triples, and smacked 243 total hits) Many teams at that time scouted the reservation diamonds for great athletes even before they went to college. Lots of them made it into the majors; and in many cases, their native origins were hidden from the public, but not Bender. He was proud to be Chippewa and America loved him.

How popular was he? When he faced off with Christy Mathewson in the first seven-game World Series in 1905 it established a crowd attendance record at a whopping 24,187. He pitched a five hitter but lost 2 to 0 in that one. He faced Mathewson once again in the opening game of the 1911 World Series, and established yet another attendance record, a historic 38,281. (Both were at the Giants’ Polo Grounds. Mathewson facing anyone else always drew less) Again he pitched a five hitter but lost, this time 2 to 1. That attendance figure was only broken once before 1922, and that was the day Ruth started for Boston in the 1916 World Series, at home. It was broken again, but just barely in ‘22 (38,551) in the “no-subway” series where both teams called the Polo Grounds their home. The next year, Yankee Stadium was opened as the first big “stadium,” and a whole new era began, starring Babe Ruth. But Ruth grew up following pitching masterpieces by Charles Bender on the radio.

He started out at the Carlisle Indian School in 1898 to 1901, playing football and baseball in the Jim Thorpe days. As a college kid at Dickinson College he played semi-pro ball under the name Charles Albert with the Harrisburg Athletic Club to pay his bills. The Chicago Cubs faced his ragtag club in an exhibition game in 1902, and when the 18 year old “Indianboy” beat them soundly, it sent shock waves throughout baseball. He signed with the hot-pitching Philadelphia A’s at 19 (1903) and started 33 games. He won 17 and pitched 270 innings. He went on to win over 200 games and led the A’s to five World Series contests, contributing to four World Series championships, and winning six World Series games.

Charles Bender did not get angry when people called ridiculed him or used racist taunts. He just called them “foreigners.” The outspoken and tough Connie Mack, who described Bender as the best “must-win” pitcher he’d ever managed, (he managed Lefty Grove, I might add, and a lot of other Hall of Famers) respectfully called him “Albert,” his middle name. Eddie Collins believed Bender, on a good day, to be just as fast as Walter Johnson. Ty Cobb called Bender “the brainiest pitcher he’d ever faced.” History knows him as the inventor of the slider, which is a combination curve and fastball, used by every top pitcher today--most of them learned it from someone who learned it from Bender--who was also one of baseball’s greatest pitching coaches for 35 years.

The slider is one of the greatest gifts to baseball any individual ever offered, perhaps the greatest besides Ruth and the long ball. Today it is part of an esoteric oral tradition among pitchers, a difficult pitch to throw correctly, or to control, but which can change the outcome of a game or even a season when mastered.

In the annals of history, there is from time to time a moment when a new invention upsets the delicate balance of power in the world, such as the bow and arrow, the stirrup, the crossbow, the Gatlin gun, the atomic bomb, etc. Baseball has always been a game that thrived on these delicate balances. The day Bender first used the slider on an opposing team, it threw all baseball a curve which it has never recovered from. Bender first tried it in a game against the Cleveland Indians May on 12th, 1910, and the results were historic. He was unhittable! It turned out to be his only no-hitter, but it was probably one of the most historic games ever pitched, kind of like The Little Big Horn, like Hiroshima, or any battle where a new weapon is unveiled. Some called it ‘The Nickel Curve,” due to the fact that the face on the nickel at that time bore a resemblance to Sitting Bull, not the worst insult under the circumstances. That day changed the face of baseball, and that’s no bull. Some believe the tradition of platooning lefties and righties against pitchers of opposite “hands” stems from the aftermath of that day on the mound. The slider seems to give unequal trouble to opposite-handed hitters. Today, fully half of most team’s rosters can hit left handed, even though lefties make up 10% of the general population.

Bender kept his ERA under 2.00 for three straight years, from 1908 to 1910. In 1910, 1911,. and 1914, he led the league in win-loss percentage in an era of great pitching, 23-5, 17-5, and 17-3 respectively.

1910 was his greatest season, winning 23 games (including the no-hitter) and allowing only 182 hits and 47 walks in 250 inning, with a 1.58 ERA. The aspiring pitcher Babe Ruth was 15 years old at that time and had to have seen Bender play. Ruth followed in his footsteps but never got his ERA that low) He won the opening game of the World Series that year, throwing a one-hitter through 8 innings against the 104-win Cubs. (They’d actually won 530 games in five years) The stunned Cubs managed two more singles in the ninth, but the A’s won, and went on to win the Series.

In 1911, he pitched a five-hitter to open the Series, but lost to Mathewson. Bender won 4-2 in game four, and then pitched a four-hitter to win the final game for the A’s, 13-2, and their second straight World Championship.

In 1913, the A’s other veteran starters were injured, so Bender pioneered in the art of relief pitching to help the subs out, a science still in its infancy then. He won 6 out of the bullpen, 21 games in all, and lost only 10, marking up 13 saves. The 34 victories he contributed to helped the A’s to the pennant in a tight three way race. Bender won two World Series games that year against the Giants, who went down in five. To give you a rough idea of how unusual relief pitching was in those days, of the 112 starting pitchers in all 56 of the World Series games played up to that point in history, a total of only 33 had needed relief pitchers. Bender was a starter again in the Series, but fortunately, the A’s didn’t need any relief, winning in five games. (The use of relievers didn’t really become popular until the 1940’s.)

In 1914, he had another great year, and pitched in the World Series against the Braves, but the A’s were swept in four games. It turned out to be his last year in the American League.

He pitched the only American League win in the first regulation World Series, a masterful 4 hit shutout over the famed McGinnity of the Giants. His 20 strikeouts in a World Series record in 1911 was unbroken until 1945,when Newhauser hurled 22 for Detroit, but in a full seven games. (His six game record still stands as far as I know) Interestingly, Bender pitched against the Giants in the 1913 World Series, the year that Native American and fellow Algonkian speaker, Jim Thorpe, played outfield for the Giants, but Thorpe never appeared at the plate. Apparently he had other things to do...like professional football.

Bender became an oil painter and lived until 1954, just long enough to see his inevitable entry into the Hall of Fame in 1953. Like most of his victories on the field, his life seemed to come to completion with a satisfying resolution, a standing ovation, and a fulfilling sense of accomplishment for a job well done.

Pre-Historic World Series Homers; The First Post Season Sluggers

2006-09-26T15:07:00.000-07:00

PRE-HISTORIC WORLD SERIES HOMERS

Like baseball itself, home runs have evolved over time. Although some still have trouble imagining the human being evolving out of an ape, I hope that some scientifically objective readers will be able to visualize a time in baseball history where home runs were not central to the game, and were not even well documented. If home run history begins with the famous “Home Run Baker,” these early homers can truly be called “pre-historic.” Fortunately for baseball philosophers, a few years ago, a clay vessel was dug up under a rock inside a treasure chest at the bottom of a lake deep inside a cave in the middle of Idaho. Inside the vessel was a record, lamentably brief, of all the world series home runs hit before Home Run Baker. It was through the inspiration of God that some baseball monk foresaw the importance of World Series homers, and thought to inscribe them onto a sheet for posterity. He (or she) couldn’t have possibly known the importance that such homers would take on years later, especially at Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium.

Yes, human beings were capable of hitting World Series home runs before the famous ones by Home Run Baker; it’s just that no one seemed to pay that much attention. “The ball went over the fence, big deal!” seemed to be the view of most sports writers. Accurate records weren’t even published in some cases, but these forgotten homers were dramatic moments, none-the-less.

Let’s take a nostalgic look back at these forgotten triumphs of a bygone day, when World Series games were afterthoughts, and homers just a ball lost in the stands--Actually, it was called “The World’s Series” in those days.

Here’s a comprehensive list of all of the homers ever hit since the first experimental Series of Nineteen-ought-three, through the first ten “regulation” series as well.

The first World Series (excuse me, Worlds’ Series) homer was hit by the left handed James Dennison Sebring for the National League’s Pittsburgh Pirates in that experimental nine-game marathon in 1903. In that year, the upstart “protestant” American League was founded as a challenge to the Holy Mother “catholic” League of the Nationals. The American League claimed its authority from The People rather than Abner Doubleday, and dared to challenge the Nationals to a best of nine contest of skill to prove who had the greatest players, or to see who was the most righteous, baseball-wise.

Perhaps it was also believed that if the Americans had truly blasphemed as it seemed, and was believed by pious NL fans around the globe, that God would smite them and make them to blow the Series match in five.

This was an earlier time in our nation’s history, when an person’s innocence would be acknowledged only if they were flameproof at the stake, and a good starting pitcher could pitch 14 innings without relief and come out unscathed, if he was “right with God.”

In 1903 it was “our best versus your best,” and the National League had some firebrand pitchers at the pulpit. The “one true” National League took up the gauntlet and won that first game 7 to 4. It looked as if this minor heresy would be crushed before it spread.

Unfortunately for the bishops of the National League hierarchy, the first American League World Series homer was hit for the Boston Pilgrims (soon to be once again Red Sox) the next day, October 2nd, by “Patrick Henry” Dougherty, and he hit two, to help the Pilgrims sink the Pirates 3-0.

RBI’s (Runs Batted In) were not to be invented for many years to come, and people didn’t use expressions like “three run homer,” “two run homer,” or “grand slam,” so it’s not clear who knocked in that other run. The thought was, “That batter didn’t put those guys on base, why should he get credit for someone else’s hard work?” (see “grand slam”) Today, baseball scholars use computers to retroactively calculate RBI and ERA stats the way TNT releases “full color” versions of classic old black and white movies.

The plucky Pilgrims not only escaped persecution from the National League, they survived a perditious autumn and won the series in nine games. The Americans were soon established as a major world power.

The following year, the Giants won the National League pennant, but refused to play the once-again victorious Pilgrims (some say Red Sox) in a series because the Americans “were a minor operation.” They didn’t count. They’d just go away sooner or later. That horrendous snub fired up rivalries between New York and Boston teams which continued to this day.

However, the AL and NL came to the table together to sign a peace agreement, the terms were worked out, and a series was played in 1905, between the Philadelphia A’s of the American League and the Giants of the National League, according to the rules invented by the tough guy, John McGraw, the Giants’ owner-manager, who thought that seven games were a good number. But no homers were hit.

The next World Series home run, believe it or not, wasn’t hit until October 11th, 1908 by shortstop Joseph Bert Tinker of literary fame. The poem, “Tinker, to Evers to Chance” was one of my favorite poems as a kid, a salute to the double play. It was the bottom of the 8th inning at Waterfront Stadium (near where Wrigley is now) in a scoreless game. Tinker was 0 for 2 against “Wild Bill” Donovan, who had barely allowed anyone on base the whole game. Tinker hit a homer as the Cubs exploded for 6 runs and held on to beat the Tigers 6-1 in the second game. Chicago won the series.

In 1909, the post-season homer started to play a larger role than before. In the opening game, Fred Clarke hit one for Pittsburgh to help them win the game 4-1. Perhaps by then someone had noticed that the team that hit the home run in a World Series game always won, so on October 13th of that year, Detroit hit two, one by left fielder David “Kangaroo” Jones and one by “Wahoo Sam” Crawford, who went 3 for 4. Unfortunately for them, Fred Clarke came up and hit one more out of the park to help the Pirates win the slug-fest anyway, 8 to 4. It had been three all in the bottom of the seventh, when Pittsburgh scored 4 times to break it open, and went on to win the series.

In 1910, A’s right fielder Dan Murphy hit the only homer of the series, which helped the A’s win the third game of the match-up 12 to 5 over the Cubs. Murphy scored a total of eight runs and the A’s were victorious as usual with the help of Charles “Chief” Bender, the Ojibway who invented the “slider,” by the way.

In 1911, Frank “Home Run” Baker brought the terms “World Series” and “Home Run” together in the minds of the public for the first time, and his timely two-run blast off Giants’ pitcher Rube Marquard in the 6th inning of game two broke a 1-1 tie and gave the A’s a 3-1 victory. That was the first “historic” home run that made everyone want to see one. That was when the nickname was bestowed upon him. That’s when the home run came into its own. It was like Ben Franklin and lightning, like Newton and his apple, like David and his slingshot. It got press.

Even more dramatic was his game-tying ninth inning shot off of Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson in the third game of that same series, making it 1 to 1. Mathewson was the patron saint of the National League, who had won an all-time record 38 games back in 1908. The A’s came back to win 3-2 in the 11th, as Hall of Famer Jack Coombs held the Giants to just 3 hits through 11 innings. You don’t see that any more--a starter going 14 innings! But Coombs was used to that. His mark of 13 complete shutouts in a season still stood as of 1993. Most team pitching staffs (staves?) don’t match that today.

No one remembers the home run hit in the 5th game by the young center fielder Ruben Oldring for the A’s, but it was terribly, terribly historic, if you’re into trivia. It marked the first time a team had hit the only home run in a World Series game and lost, and only the second time that a team had hit any homers at all in a series game and lost.

The 1912 series was the first real meeting between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Giants, the same October match-up that was canceled in 1904, due to childish bickering between the leagues. Tensions mounted high.

“Laughin’ Larry” Doyle hit a home run in the seventh game of the World Series to give the Giants an 11-7 win. He was called Larry “Laughin’ all the way to the bank” Doyle because he was hired as a rookie for the obscene sum of $4,000, and never produced, but it didn’t help his luck in that series: Although it was the seventh game, it wasn’t the end. It only brought the series to an exciting 3-3-1 tie. In those days, before lighted stadiums and night games, you could actually “tie” in baseball, which makes a mess of all of our statistics. The 3rd game had been called on account of darkness in the 11th inning, tied 6-6, with the indefatigable starter Christy Mathewson still on the mound for New York. (Larry Gardner had hit one for Boston in the same game.)

It was only in the eighth game (sounds funny, doesn’t it?) that the Red Sox finally put the Giants in their place, to end “once and for all” (NOT!) the New York-Boston rivalry that started in 1903 at the birth of modern baseball.

1913’s series saw a homer in the first game by “Home Run” Baker which helped the A’s win 6 to 4. In the third game Shang hit one for the A’s which helped them win again, 8-2. Fred Merkle (of “Merkle’s Boner” fame of 1908) hit one for the Giants, in the 4th game but they lost anyway, 6-5. Merkle was not known for good luck.

In 1914, Home Run Baker led the league again in homers with nine, but didn’t hit any in post season play. The “nobody” Boston Braves won the NL pennant and swept the mighty A’s in four games, one of the greatest upsets of all time. The “Miracle Braves” were the early forerunners of the “Miracle Mets,” coming from nowhere at mid-season to go 68-19 for the last half. Catcher Hank Gowdy went 3 for 4 with one homer to assist Boston in a 5-4 victory in game three.

So that’s it. Only seventeen home runs were hit during the first dozen years of World Series competition between the best two teams in baseball. All that was about to change. By 1928, the New York Yankees were hitting 9 in only four games. In 1956 they hit 12 in a seven game contest, more than were hit by both leagues combined in regulation World Series play before 1913.

And that’s how the Post-Season Home Run evolved. In case you wanted to know.

Did Baseball Evolve? A Look at Baseball's Early Years

2006-09-26T15:06:00.000-07:00

Did Baseball Evolve?
The Great Theo-basebological Debate Continues

Evan Pritchard is a professor of comparitive religions, and a baseball enthusiast and sometimes gets confused between the two subjects. He has made pilgrimmages to Fenway Park, the Himalayas, Tiger Stadium, Bear Butte, Wrigley Field, and to Assisi, Italy. By comparing baseball and religion he means no offense to baseball fans.

When I was a young baseball monk back in 1966, I thought that major league baseball teams were fixed reference points in the cosmic order of things like the earth itself, around which the whole universe revolved. God had created baseball on the sixth day to give him something to watch on TV on his day of rest...and that was it. He had set the All Star Game in the firmament,and parted the NL from the AL and night games from day games, right from the beginning. No monkeying around.

I was a Senators fan, and I was sure that George Washington had been a Senators fan as well. Then my 6th grade teacher, Miss Marilyn Simmons, mentioned in passing that the Twins were an offshoot of the Washington Senators. That meant they were a species of Nats Washingtonius, and I was left flattened. When they played each other, who would I cheer for? (Or against!) She explained that the old Senators had left town and a new team reappeared miraculously to take their place. How could they have left? I felt like an adoptee who’s just been told his real parents live in Minneapolis/St.Paul in a geodesic dome, selling scorecards for a living.

About that same time, 1966, the Milwaukee Braves were moving to Atlanta, leaving Milwaukee-ites without a team to root for, to care for and call their own. It was like watching Venus and Mars switch orbits, as far as I was concerned.

Then in 1969, the KC A’s left KC for Oakland, and a new species of team appeared on the baseball horizon, the Royals. Broadcasters let it slip that the A’s were really from Philadelphia. I didn’t know that! It made it somehow okay for them to go to California.
Then the Seattle Pilots moved to Milwaukee and metamorphized into the Brewers in 1970. It was like watching a chimp evolve into a parrot, very confusing.

God was preparing me for the coming holocaust, the advent of the star Wormwood, the Day of Judgement on the corruption in Washington. Ever since Richard Nixon started throwing out the first ball on Opening Days at RFK Stadium, named after his dead rival, there were talks of moving the team. Would the benevolent spirit of baseball abandon the Nation’s Capitol? Impossible. Then one day in 1971, around the time of the Watergate Break-in, Bob Short sold the Senators for a mess of pottage, ie Texas oil money. The name of the Senators was erased from the firmament, and a new team, The Texas Rangers, arose from the desert of central Texas to become one of the dominant teams in baseball, something the Senators were not.

It was the curse of Roosevelt. He came into office in 1933 just as the Senators won their last pennant. He proclaimed the New Deal and the Nats haven’t been close since. It must be his fault. When the Senators moved to Minnesota, they soon became pennant-winners. Texas ends up in first or second every other year. It’s all part of the curse.

One can’t help but note a series of conspiracies connecting the White House with the Washington baseball team. In 1961, the Washington team was stolen from Griffith Stadium, and were smuggled out to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Within two years, Kennedy was dead (assasinated in Texas) and Johnson became President, a Texas oil man. He immediately named as his Vice President, the top man in Minneapolis, Hubert H. Humphrey. It was obviously Johnson’s intention to get Humphrey into the White House so that the center of power would be moved to Minnesota until Texas was ready to take over. It didn’t work.

Humphrey and Johnson parted ways over conflicting feelings about the Vietnam war, and Humphrey’s Democratic support was splintered. Apparently, Johnson decided it was time that Texas begin to take over. Minnesotans were just too liberal.
Those who are erudite students of poli-sci-mytho-baseballogy know that this power struggle was foreshadowed in the fall of 1963 by the struggle between Minnesota and Boston. The Red Sox was, after all, the President’s team, and Carl Yastzremski had every right to expect to win the home run title. Nonetheless, Minnesota’s Harmon Killebrew ended up with more homers, and the Twins ended up 15 games ahead of the Red Sox in the American League. The idealistic Senators were dead last, and so was Texas. Six weeks later, Kennedy was killed in Dallas, and Texas began its ascent in the standings. Meanwhile the Dallas Cowboys were doing great guns against the Redskins. But that’s another story.

The new Senators were sold to Texas after the 1971 season, about the time that Nixon was secretly undermining Humphrey’s Presidential hopes through Watergate and other actions. After presumably fixing the NL race to have his hometown San Francisco Giants win the pennant in 1971, Nixon was re-elected in ‘72, with VP Agnew of Maryland, who had obvious connections with the Baltimore Orioles, the new site of Opening Day games, and host city to the American League Playoffs every year from 1969 to 1974 (with the exception of 1972 itself, that would have been too suspicious!). Agnew even threw out the first ball...in Baltimore! Nixon resigned in ‘74 (following closely on the heels of his hometown Giants star Willie Mays, who retired in ‘73) and within six years we had a Texas oil man as Vice President. That man, a former second baseman, later became President George Herbert Walker Bush, and his son wound up owning a large part of the Texas Rangers. Among poli-sci-mytho-baseballogists, this is easily recognizable as a foreshadowing of things to come: Some day, maybe years down the road, Texas will host our nation’s Capitol, and the Senators can regain their rightful name in Texas. After 1971, the shift of power to Texas must have seemed so imminent, that no one bothered to replace the D.C. team with a new one. After the big move of the U.S. Senate to Texas, and the elimination of the useless District of Columbia, who would root for a “Senators” team on the Anacostia River in mostly-black Southern Maryland?

Texas, still angry over not being allowed succession from the US, may feel it necessary to gradually move the Nation’s Capitol to Texas. It could happen. No wonder God has been trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored as far as Washington is concerned! However, all these behind the scenes power struggles were just a part of a bigger evolutionary scheme. God knows all, and bides His time. Over the years, since that first discovery that baseball has evolved, I have learned of many such evolutionary twists. Having a son has awakened me to many new realities, including some about baseball. Our trip together to Cooperstown confronted me with questions such as, “Who were the Boston Browns?” “Who were the New York Highlanders?” “The Boston Braves?”

These are questions that have baffled many baseball fans before me. One theory is that aliens from Planet X have picked up whole baseball stadiums and moved them to other places, perhaps indicating that these stadiums were placed there by aliens to begin with. This would explain why RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., The Vet in Philadelphia, Synergy Field in Cincinnati, and old Riverfront Stadium in Pittsburgh, not to mention the Oakland Coluseum, all look like pods from the same mother ship, and not very convivial to human beings, either. How would they know what we like?

My son and I later discovered (with the help of Paul Dickson’s wonderful book, The New Dickson Baseball Dictionary) that about half of the teams now playing are related to one another through a complex evolutionary process of franchise evolution. During our trip to 14 baseball cities, we created a family tree to help us understand the stages of baseball evolution, but even now, the truth boggles my mind. (see chart)

What usually happens is that when a team leaves their city, they either take their name with them, or start with a new name appropriate to the new city. In the first case, they are replaced by a team bearing a new name. In the second case, they are replaced by a new team with the same name. With the Senators, it was by necessity the second case, since they would have otherwise become the Minnesota Senators (which would have then made it obvious that Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey was behind it.)

In either case, whenever this happens, one team splits into two, a kind of franchise mitosis. A good example is the Brooklyn Athletics. (The “Who?” you say?) They moved to Philadelphia in 1876, taking their name with them. I’m sure you’ve heard of them! They were replaced by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1890 (after several evolutionary attempts). Then the Athletics moved in 1955 to Kansas City, again taking their name with them, and were never replaced in Philadelphia, although there is a memorial to all Philadelphia baseball stars of the past on a wall at The Vet in Philadelphia. Then the Athletics moved to Oakland, California in 1969, and were replaced by the Kansas City Royals. To curse them, God made their heads turn green and yellow like canaries, and at one point made their feet turn white. Then he sent them that earthquake in the middle of a World Series. Don’t mess with evolution!

The Brooklyn Dodgers, the A’s replacements from the 1800’s, had by then already moved to California, as had the New York Giants who were their new cross-town rivals. All of this moving and shuffling around leads to some very interesting and confusing relationships, as you can see.

The New York Metropolitans had appeared in 1883 and changed their name to the New York Giants in 1888. So when the Dodgers appeared in 1890, an instant cross-town rivalry was formed. All three teams ended up in California with the former Brooklyn A’s cross the bay from the former New York Giants who were replaced in 1962 by a new team calling themselves The New York Metropolitans (AKA “Mets” for short) in honor of the original Giants’ name.

Although the Mets and Giants never met in post-season play, (until the 2000 playoffs, after the writing of this article) two of the greatest Giant players of all time, Willie Mays and Casey Stengel, both joined the Mets at the end of their careers. However the A’s played their 1880’s replacements, the Dodgers several times in post-season play, including the 1974 World Series in which the A’s won in five games. The (formerly Brooklyn) A’s had defeated the (fomerly NY) Giants replacements the year before, the Mets, in seven games. The Mets played the (formerly Brooklyn) Dodgers in the 1988 playoffs. The Dodgers won, and went on to play the A’s (also formerly of Brooklyn) and beat them in five games. Call it “family feud,” but all of these teams are descendants of New York!

As most baseball fans know, the Big Red Machine, Cincinnati Reds, played the Red Sox in 1975, and Cincinnati won in seven games in spite of Fisk’s famous foul pole homer. But most don’t know that the two teams are brothers. Both teams split off from the Cincinnati Red Stockings a long time ago. The Cinci team moved to Boston in 1871 and weren’t replaced by the Cincinnati Reds until 1875.

In Franchise terms, the Red Sox date back to the creation of the Red Stockings in 1869, practically the Garden of Eden, in terms of baseball history. However they are not the oldest. The Baltimore Orioles, in franchise terms, date back to baseball Genesis itself, 1865, back to the Civil War. (The Civil War was the forerunner of the Yankees/Braves rivalry, for those who are weak in US history. The “Yankees” won that one too!)

How could the Orioles be the oldest of teams when the franchise of that name was just a minor league club until 1952? To understand it, you have to comprehend the principles of baseball evolution. The Boston Browns were formed in 1865, (about the time of Genesis, Chapter One, according to Mythobaseballogists) out of the rib of the Brooklyn Athletics who were Created by God earlier that year. The Browns were driven from the Garden of Baseball Paradise, Boston, and were sent to the cold barren reaches of Milwaukee, intact, in 1876 (or thereabouts). Then they wandered to St. Louis in 1902, and then to Baltimore in 1952, all without a break in continuity, except for the name change to Orioles after 89 years as “The Browns.” They replaced the missing Baltimore Orioles who had become the New York Highlanders in 1903, forerunner of the Yankees.

Of course, new baseball relationships sprung up in the vacuums left behind each “divorce.” You know how multiple divorces make family trees so complicated; the baseball family is no different. The Braves immediately filled the hole in Boston baseball left by the Browns in 1876. A Boston team appeared in 1871 called The Red Sox, but went through various name changes, and with the creation of the American League in 1903, officially became the Red Sox. In that same year, the Browns moved to St. Louis, (to play a clumsy Ginger Rogers to the Cardinals NL Fred Astaire) and the gap in Milwaukee was not filled until the Boston Braves moved to Milwaukee in 1953. To mythobaseballogists this phenomenon is highly reminiscent of the tribal custom where a widow marries the brother of her deceased husband; Milwaukee lost its beloved Boston Browns, and then remarried the Boston Braves as soon as he became available. The Browns ran up a 54 and 100 tab in St. Louis in 1953 then skipped town and became the Orioles and racked up the same bill in Baltimore in 1954. The AL slot in St. Louis, like that in Philadelphia, and the NL slot in Boston, has never been replaced.

But Milwaukee’s tribulations were not over. The Braves walked out and moved to greener pastures, Atlanta, in 1966. The undaunted Milwaukee replaced their pictures on the mantle with those of the American League Seattle Pilots, who became the AL Milwaukee Brewers in 1970. It was not the first time a bride-to-be changed religions for the sake of love! In 1969, baseball had even changed citizenship and moved the first of two teams to Canada, with the birth of the Montreal Expos in 1969. So as you see, baseball has gone through many transfigurations, long before “contraction” was conceived by Milwaukee as a way of getting back at Minnesota.

There are many anti-evolutionists who choose to ignore these hard facts and rely instead on the religious belief that baseball was created in its present form in the year 3000 BC, along with Adam and Eve and Babe Ruth. It is, like Babe Ruth’s “called shot,” an article of faith. Given the evidence I’ve seen, I’d say diplomatically speaking, that baseball did evolve, but that “the hand of God was in it.”

The Family Tree of Baseball Evolution

Boston Browns 1865 Cincinatti Red Stockings 1869 Brooklyn A’s 1865

Boston Red Sox 1871

Milwaukee Browns 1876 Cincinatti Reds 1875 Phila. A’s 1876

Boston Braves 1876

St. Louis Browns 1902 Brooklyn Dodgers 1890

Milwaukee Braves 1953

Baltimore Orioles 1954 K.C. A’s 1955

LA Dodgers 1958
Atlanta Braves 1966

Seattle Pilots 1969 K.C. Royals 1969

Milwaukee Brewers 1970 Oakland A’s 1969

Seattle Mariners 1977

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New York Metropolitans1883 Baltimore Orioles 1900 Wash. Senators 1885

New York Giants 1888 NY Highlanders 1903
NY Yankees 1909

San Fran. Giants 1958 Minn. Twins 1961
Wash. Senators 1961

New York Mets 1962
Texas Rangers 1971

Note: These teams were only marginally involved in the evolution of baseball:
Houston Colt .45’s formed 1962 became the Houston Astros in 1965; The St. Louis Cards were formed in 1899 and never moved. The Philadelphia Phillies were formed in 1883 and never moved.

Top Slugging Lineups In Baseball History

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Top Slugging Lineups In Baseball History,
The "Fearsome Foursomes" and Moresomes Through Time
copyright c 2006 Evan Pritchard

The M&M twins, Mantle and Maris, hit 54 and 61 respectively for a combined total of 115 back in 1961. But in addition to them, there was Moose Skowron who hit 28, Yogi Berra who hit 22, Elston Howard who hit 21 and Johnny Blanchard, who hit 21. Blanchard, a pinch-hitter and backup catcher to Elston Howard, was a surprising source for 20 homers, bringing the total to six hitters. That equals a total of 207 homers for the six players alone.

Since 2003, there has been an explosion of home run hitters coming out of the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry, as they go all out to try to outdo the other at any expense. In 2003, the Red Sox’ lineup included Manny Ramirez with 37 homers, Nomar Garciaparra with 28 homers, Kevin Millar with 25, Jason Varitek with 25, David Ortiz with 31, and Trot Nixon with 28; six players with 174 homers between them.

Then in 2004, the Yankees matched that record, with six 20+ home run hitters in their lineup as well. Alex Rodriguez hit 36 homers, Sheffield hit 36, Matsui hit 31, Deter Jeter hit 23, Bernie Williams hit 22 and Jorge Posada hit 21. These six players shared 169 homers between them.

In 1969, the Orioles had seven sluggers, and then last year, the Texas Rangers did the same thing. On that team, Teixeira hit 43, Soriano hit 36, Dellucci hit 29, Blalock hit 25, Mench hit 25, Michael Young hit 24 and Barajas hit 21. Given the circumstances, we can now talk about a “what if” scenario that would give Beltran 45, Delgado 40, Wright 34, Floyd 20, Valentin 20, and Reyes 20.

Even if Reyes doesn’t come out of nowhere to hit 20 homers he is on a pace to hit 20 triples this year, another yardstick by which sluggers are measured. By the way, catcher Paul Lo Duca, the Mets’ “Eighth Man,” home run-wise, leads the team in doubles right now with 25, on a pace to hit 40 doubles. He too is a kind of “slugger” that opposing pitchers learn to fear. So at least in that sense, the Mets will have power up and down the entire lineup. In this amazing year, it’s another statistic to dream on.

The Fearsome Foursomes (and Moresomes) of Baseball History…A Brief History of a Unique Home Run Phenomenon.

The New York Mets were certain to have four 20+ home run hitters at the end of the season. In fact, three of them made it before the All Star Break, a rare event in baseball history. However, with Nady gone, our chances are not as good to see a “fearsome foursome” at Shea. It’s a piece of baseball lingo that dates back to my childhood in Washington D.C.

THE WASHINGTON SENATORS
Way back in 1959, the chronically feeble-hitting Washington Senators somehow had the good fortune to host four 20+ home run hitters in their lineup; Harmon Killebrew with 42, Jim Lemon with 33, Bob Allison with 30 and Roy Sievers with 21. Some hambone sports journalist coined the phrase “fearsome foursome” in reference to these four Senators, and a great baseball phrase was born. The following year, Jim Lemon hit 38 dingers, Harmon Killebrew had 31, Bob Allison stroked 15 and Roy Sievers (who moved on to Chicago) had 28. The year after that, the entire team was traded to Minnesota and the Senators had to start over. They never again had a “fearsome foursome” combination, even the year Ken McMullen hit 20.

THE MINNESOTA TWINS
The new Minnesota team was called the Twins after the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and they carried the tradition onward for several years, using the Washington-grown term “fearsome foursome” liberally, to refer to their own hitters, many of them former Senators. In 1961 and 1962, Killebrew, Allison and Lemon stayed together as a combat unit, but were not able to generate the big homers. In 1963, the Twin Cities saw Killebrew hit 45, Allison hit 35, Jim Hall hit 33 and Earl Battey hit 26, certainly a “fearsome foursome,” which is what the media called them.

In 1964, the Twins matched the power of the six-way 1961 Yankees lineup with a fearsome sixsome, a rare occurrence in baseball, as we shall see. Harmon Killebrew led the pack with 49 homers, followed by Bob Allison with 32, both of them part of the original “fearsomes.” Tony Oliva matched Allison with 32 of his own, and Jim Hall hit 25. Don Mincher hit 23 homers and Zolio Versalles hit 20 to round out the six sluggers in that unforgettable lineup. It was only the second time that a team hosted six starting players with 20+ homers. Maris and Mantle had led the first team to do it, the 1961 Yankees.

The following year, 1965, the Twinkies had a fearsome foursome, but with much smaller numbers; Killebrew had 25 homers, Allison had 23, Mincher had 22 and Hall hit 20 home runs. Versalles fell an inch short with only 19 homers that year. Versalles was then traded to the new Senators in our Nation’s Capital, and never hit another homer as long as he lived. (Please note slight exaggeration from a former Senators fan!)

The Twins did not return to the “fearsome” category until 1986, when they started penciling a fearsome fivesome into the lineup at HHH Twindome. Gaetti had 34 homers that year, Kirby Puckett (now deceased) had 31, Hrbek had 29, Brunansky had 23 and Smalley had 20 homers. It was like old times. The following year, this same foursome continued: Hrbek with 34 homers, Brunansky with 32, Gaetti with 31, and Kirby Puckett with 28.

Unfortunately, the Twins have not been able to line up a “fearsome foursome” since. Although the “fearsome” term originated in Washington, it is now associated with Minnesota more than any other venue, and for good reason. They mastered the back to back homer like few teams since, in those golden years.

THE TEXAS RANGERS
What happened to those hapless Senators, the expansion team that had to start over from scratch when the finally-hot Senators left town at the start of the 1961 season? (This was roughly the same time the Mets were born as you recall) Those Senators lasted only 10 years. Other than Frank Howard and Willie Kirkland, Mike Epstein and a few others, they were not a team associated with the home run. They almost never broke .500, and when they did the entire town went out to the airport to greet them. I remember, I was there; they let us walk right out onto the tarmac. The team was then again sent to another part of the country, to become the Texas Rangers, but this time there was no expansion or replacement. We were “downsized” down to nothing.

Just as the old team only really flourished after being transplanted to a distant state, “Senators 2” as they are called by MLB stat sheets, suddenly flourished in the golden sunlight of central Texas, leaving a gaping black hole in the hearts of those who used to make the pilgrimage of absolute humility to DC Stadium every week to see the real Nats. In 1992, the expatriated Senators, now called the Texas Rangers began a belated “fearsome foursome” tradition of their own. Some suggest that they may have discovered some rare cactus in the desert that year and found that its juices gave them superhuman, though temporary, and possibly fatal powers, when ingested or rubbed on the joints and ligaments. But then, Texas is known for its tall tales, such as how hot their hot sauce really is.

That year, Juan Gonzalez hit 43 homers, noted author Jose Canseco hit 26, Palmer hit 26, and Raphael Palmiero hit 22. In 1999, Texas featured the fourth “fearsome sixsome” in history and with big numbers: Palmiero hit 47 big ones, Gonzalez hit 39, Ivan Rodriguez hit 35, Stevens hit 24, Todd Zeile, the future Mets star, hit 24, (he was probably pouring that secret formula Texas hot sauce on his ballpark wieners) and Greer hit 20, becoming the sixth player in the lineup to make 20 homers that year. In 2001, the somewhat juiced Texas team put forth Alex Rodriguez with 52 homers, Raphael Palmiero with 47, Ivan Rodriguez with 25, and Ruben Sierra with 23. Some of these names will be familiar to New York sports fans.

In 2003, good fortune and a little more secret Texas formula hot sauce helped the Texas Rangers yet again, and they found themselves sporting another “Fearsome fivesome” in their lineup. A-Rod had 47 homers, Palmiero had 38, Blalock had 29, Teixeira had 26, and Juan Gonzalez had 24. In 2004, Texas saw Teixiera hit 38 homers, Blalock hit 32, Soriano hit 28, Kevin Mench hit 26, and Young hit 22, another “fearsome fivesome.”

Last year, in 2005, Texas tied the 1996 Baltimore Orioles major league record with seven sluggers in a lineup with more than 20 homers. Teixeira had 43, Soriano had 36, Dellucci had 29, Blalock had 25, Mench had 25, Young had 24 and Barajas had 21 taters accordingly. These drawling new Senators of the south had managed to form a “fearsome seven-some,” something their eastern ancestors could not have imagined. They were only the second team to hit the seven mark, after the 1996 Orioles.

THE DETROIT TIGERS
Back in 1962, the year after the 1961 “M&M lineup” at Yankee Stadium made six the new number to beat, the Detroit Tigers put together a fearsome foursome of their own that started an amazing tradition in Detroit. During the 1960s, no other team came close to having as many “fantastic foursomes,” as did the Detroit Tigers, putting together four in a row, between 1966 and 1969.

In ’62 the Motor City saw Norm Cash hit 39, Rocky Colovito hit 37, Al Kaline hit 29 and C. Fernandez hit 20 homers. In 1966, Norm Cash hit 32, Al Kaline hit 29, Willie Horton hit 27 and Dick McAuliffe hit 23. In 1967, Cash hit 22, Kaline hit 25, McAuliffe hit 22 and Bill Freehan hit 20. In 1968, Willie Horton hit 36, Norm Cash hit 25, Bill Freehan hit 25 and Jim Northrup hit 21. In 1969, Willie Horton hit 28, Northrup hit 25, Cash hit 22 and Kaline hit 21. That was the last four track hit from Motown until 1985. In that year, Evans hit 40 homers, Kirk Gibson hit 29, Lance Parrish hit 28 and Whitaker hit 21 home runs respectively. The following year, 1986, the Tigers became the third team in baseball history to host six sluggers in one lineup; Evans hit 29 homers, Kirk Gibson hit 28, Lance Parrish hit 22, Alan Trammel hit 21, Coles hit 20 and Whitaker hit 20 respectively.

In 1987, the Tigers had their first “fearsome fivesome” with Evans hitting 34 homers, M. Nokes hitting 32, Trammel hitting 28, Gibson hitting 24 and Chet Lemon hitting 20. In 1991, Detroit returned again with yet another “fearsome fivesome,” with Cecil Fielder’s 44, Tettleton’s 31, Deer’s 25, Whitaker’s 23, and Fryman’s 21 home runs on the year respectively. Then in 1992, the Tigers put together their last “fearsome foursome” led by Cecil Fielder. Fielder had 35 homers, Deer had 32, Tettleton had 32, and Fryman had 20 homers. The slugging Tigers, the team of Hank Greenberg, went into decline in the long ball department, culminating in the closing of Tiger Stadium in 1998 and its demolition this year. The new stadium, CoAmerica Park opened the following year, and the Tigers began a long steady revival, including a return to the long ball.

THE BALTIMORE ORIOLES
For a long time, the Yankees, Twins, and Tigers were alone in their “fearsomeness,” hosting six back to back sluggers in a lineup. Then, in 1996, the Baltimore Orioles quietly broke the slugger barrier, and broke the old record held by the 1961 Yankees, the 1964 Twins, and the 1986 Tigers. That 1996 Orioles team starred (1.) Brady Anderson with 50 moon shots, (2.) Raphael Palmiero with 39 taters, (3.) Bobby Bonilla with 28 long balls, (4.) Cal Ripken, Jr. with 26 rockets, (5.) Hoiles with 25, (6.) Robbie Alomar, future Met 2nd baseman with 22 and (7.) B. J. Surhoff with 21 home runs. That’s seven men in a row likely to hurt a pitcher with the long ball, an amazing thing to see.

Baltimore had long been rivals of the Senators, only 40 miles away and in the same league. In the old days they were never much for “fearsome foursomes,” but in 1966, they got into the act in a big way, blowing away the meek and humble Senators down the street with their awesome power. They had Frank Robinson with 49 homers that year, followed by Boog Powell with 34, Curt Blefary with 23 and Brooks Robinson with 23. Just to rub it in, the Baltimore press called them “The Fearsome Foursome.” It was a Chesapeake phenomenon that tended to happen emerge in ten year cycles, like bumper crop clam years. In 1978, the Boo Birds struck again with Decinces who had 28, Eddie Murray with 27, Lee May with 25, and Ken Singleton with 20, a new fearsome foursome.

In 1985, the Orioles were led by Eddie Murray into another fearsome foursome; Eddie had 31 homers, Young had 28, Cal Ripken, Jr. had 26 and Fred Lynn (did you remember him as an Oriole?) hit 23.

In 1996, the Orioles had a bumper crop that busted all previous records, with seven hitters in a row with 20 or more homers. Although tied last year by Texas, that record still stands.

Since ’96, the 2000 White Sox, the 2001 Cleveland Indians, the 2004 Yankees, and the 2003 Red Sox have all had fearsome sixsomes, but rolled no sevens. That record of seven sluggers may occasionally be tied, but it will probably never be broken.

THE NEW YORK METS
One of the interesting things about this new Mets lineup, is that several of the players have been in “fearsome foursomes” before. You probably already noted that Robbie Alomar was a member of the Baltimore Seven, but coach Rickey Henderson was part of the 1990 Oakland Athletics foursome that included Mark McGuire with 39 homers, Jose Canseco with 37, Henderson with 28 and D. Henderson with 20 homers.

Not too surprisingly, Carlos Delgado has been in a sextet of swat before. In 2000, while playing on the Toronto Blue Jays, he led the team with 41 homers, along with Batista also with 41, followed by Fullmer with 32, then Jose Cruz with 31, then Raul Mondesi with 24, then S. Stewart with 21. While often in a three-way homer constellation with the Blue Jays, that was his only previous experience with a six-pack of sluggers…that is until this year, we hope.

Former Met star (and former husband to Holly Berry) David Justice was on the 1997 Cleveland Indians’ fivesome, with Jim Thome hitting 40, Justice whacking 33, M. Williams hitting 32, Manny Ramirez hitting 26, and (Mets 1st base coach) Sandy Alomar hitting 21. Former Met Darryl Strawberry was on the 1998 Yankees “foursome” including Tino Martinez with 28, Bernie Williams with 26, Paul O’Neill with 24 and Strawberry with 24 home runs for that team, one of the best Yankee teams of all time.

But most Mets fans will be surprised to learn that Jose Valentin, the Met Most Likely To Get Us A “Fearsome Fivesome” rating, has been on numerous legendary “foursomes” and “fivesomes” in the past.

In 1998 he was a member of the Boston “fivesome” that included former Met Mo Vaughn. Mo hit 40 that year (not that he ever did that for us…) Garciaparra hit 35, Stanley hit 29, O’Leary hit 23 and Jose Valentin hit 23 that year, just making it into the group. In 2000, he became part of a sensational sixsome with the Chicago White Sox, in which Frank Thomas hit 43 homers, Magglio Ordonez hit 32, C. Johnson hit 31, Jose Valentin hit 25, Carlos Lee hit 25, and Paul Konerko hit 21 home runs respectively.

In 2001, Valentin became part of history again as the White Sox gave birth to a quintuplet of quality. Paul Konerko hit 32 dingers, Magglio Ordonez hit 31, Valentin hit 28, Carlos Lee hit 24, and Ray Durham hit 20 homers. In 2002, the White Sox repeated the quintuplet trick as Ordonez hit 38 homers, Frank Thomas hit 28, Paul Konerko hit 27, Carlos Lee hit 26 and Jose Valentin hit 25. This guy is everywhere! In 2003, Frank Thomas hit 42 whoppers, while Carlos Lee his 31, M. Ordonez hit 29, Carl Everett hit 28 and Jose Valentin hit 28 as well, adding up to a fivesome of note. They repeated the trick again in 2004, and again Jose Valentin was right there in the middle of it. Konerko hit 41 homers, Carlos Lee hit 31, Jose Valentin hit 30, Aaron Rowand hit 24, Jason Uribe hit 23 and J. Crede hit 21, for a total of five back to back sluggers in the lineup. By the way, the White Sox only managed a foursome in 2005 without Jose Valentin’s home run prowess to guide the way. Last year Konerko hit 40, Jermain Dye hit 31, Carl Everett hit 23, and J. Crede his 22 homers respectively, a mere fourway slugfest, which nonetheless managed to win them the World Championship.

Valentin has been part of five fivesomes and one six-way slugclub during his still expanding baseball career, including a streak of five consecutive years as part of this home run phenomenon with the Chicago White Sox. Last year was an off year for him, but I suspect that he will want to hit at least 20 whacks this year so that he can keep to his personal habits and be part of a Mets five-or-moresome this year.

THE BOSTON RED SOX
There are several other teams that have entered into the “fearsome” contest, (surprisingly, most have not, at least not since the term was coined) but few with as much consistency as the Boston Red Sox, fueled not so much by “juice” as by that infernal green wall that stands in left field, a stumbling block to baseball logic and to all pitchers who hate the long ball.

It all started in 1969 when Carl Yazstremski and Rico Petrocelli both hit 40 homers, followed by Reggie Smith with 25 and Tony Conigliaro with 20. That was a quartet as legendary that year as the Beatles. The following year, the band got back together, so to speak, and the “fab four” of Boston returned in full force. Yaz ripped 40, Conigliero hit 36, Petrocelli chalked up a less insane 29 while Reggie Smith went with 22.

Then in 1976, the year of the World Series against the Reds and the “Carlton Fisk Home Run,” the Sox surged again. Jim Rice hit 39 homers, George Scott hit 33, Butch Hobson hammered 30, Yazstremski knocked 28 and Carlton Fisk walloped 26, a five-way fireworks display.

In 1978, Boston returned to the four-cornered format with Rice hitting 46, Dwight Evans hitting 24, Fred Lynn hitting 22 and Carlton Fisk hitting 20. In 1979, in the twilight years of Carl Yazstremski, they managed another fearsome five, with Fred Lynn and Jim Rice leading the way with 39 homers each, Butch Hobson with 28, Dwight Evans with 21 and an aging Carl Yazstremski with 21 as well. In 1984, another Red Sox dynasty began, and Tony Armas led the team with 43 homers, Dwight Evans next with 32, Jim Rice with 28, Mike Easler with 27 and Rich Gedman with 24, another fivesome to remember.

In 1998, the Red Sox finally returned to old form, led by now-retired Met Mo Vaughn, who slugged 40 whoppers, followed by Nomar with 35, Stanley with 29, O’Leary with 23 and Jose Valentin, also with 23, mentioned earlier. In 1999, the Sox had a fivesome featuring O’Leary with 28, Garciaparra with 27, B. Huskey with 22, B. Daubach with 21 and Jason Varitek with 20 homers. In 2002, Boston returned to power, with another fivesome; Manny Ramirez had 33 homers, Garciaparra had 29, Trot Nixon had 24, B. Daubach had 20 and little David Ortiz had 20 as well, that year.

In 2003, the Red Sox tied the 1961 Yankees mark with six consecutive sluggers in the lineup. It was an awe-inspiring crew led by Manny Ramirez in one of his greatest roles. He hit 37 homers, while Garciaparra hit 28, Ortiz hit 31, Trot Nixon hit 28, Kevin Millar hit 25 and Jason Varitek hit 25. Surprisingly, the power mad 2004 and 2005 teams did not have more than three players with more than 20 homers, but overall, to date, few teams have lined up sluggers like the Boston Red Sox have since 1959.

OTHER SLUGGING LINEUPS
The only other American League teams that have made the grade since 1959 are the 1974 and 1975 Oakland Athletics (4) the 1979 and 1980 Milwaukee Brewers (4) the 1982 Milwaukee Brewers (5) the 1982 California Angles (5) 1995 Cleveland Indians (5) 1991 Seattle Mariners (5) the 1997 and 1978 Seattle Mariners (5/4) the 1998 Seattle Mariners (4) the 1998 Yankees (4) the 1999 Cleveland Indians (6) the 2000 Los Angeles Angels (5) the 2001 Cleveland Indians (6) the 2001 and 2002 Yankees (5) (2002 including Ventura of the Mets) the 2004 Cleveland Indians (5) and the National League which I’ll get to in a later post.

Given the above, the “fearsome foursome, fivesome, or sixsome” is still a relatively rare phenomenon in baseball. There have only been two teams with a lineup of seven sluggers so far in history. If the Mets can get Reyes to whack a few more out of the park along with all those triples, if Cliff Floyd can overcome his aches and pains, finding his famous home run swing in the process, and if Valentin can catch up from his two lost months, I think that we will see a lineup that will be remembered as one of the 2006 Mets finest accomplishments. It won’t have seven superheroes, but five would be pretty cool.

Great Rivalries: Yankees and Red Sox

2006-09-21T20:01:00.000-07:00

How’s Your RQ? (Rivalry Quotient)
Copyright c 2006 by Evan Pritchard
PART TWO OF A REALLY LONG SERIES

How’s your RQ? (That’s your “Rivalry Quotient.”) How well do you know the military history between the Red Sox and Yankees? As the Yankees haggard and injured troops march north after being beaten (for the most part) by their other rivals, the Mets, to face one of history’s greatest teams, the Red Sox, it seems like a great time to dig up old animosities between these two hostile groups of individuals.

In and around New York, (such as most Mets fans try to be) all you hear about is the “curse” and how often ttthhheeeeee Yankees win. But Boston has been a worthy adversary since 1903, and if your father didn’t tell you, it’s time you knew just how fierce a rivalry it was before you were born—before HE was born—running right up into tonight when the Yankees will face one of the best starters in baseball today, Josh Beckett, and a hot Red Sox team at Fenway Park, a team eager to win, a team eager to prove themselves worthy, a team eager to rescue the captive center fielder Johnny Damon and bring him back to his people.

Yankee fans don’t always know their history. It’s easier to say, “We always win. Any questions?” But if you are a Red Sox fan, I assume you have memorized every play of every game since 1903, which is expected of you, as you will have to spend your life defending your team’s reputation against large crowds of belligerent rowdies as you wander the face of the earth in search of the Bucky Dent home run ball.

The following is a short RQ quiz that even some Red Sox fans will find truly amazing. That’s why we’re here, to amaze you with unbelievable stats which have nothing to do with winning ballgames.

THE RQ QUIZ
1. How many World Series have the Boston Red Sox (or “Pilgrims”) played in?
2. How many times have the Red Sox and Yankees (or “Highlanders”) tied for first place at the
end of the regular season?
3. How many times have the Red Sox won the AL or Eastern Division rather than the Yankees?
4. How many times have the Red Sox ended the season in second place close behind the Yankees? How many times have the Yankees ended the season in second behind the Red Sox?
5. What was the worst era for the Red Sox in comparison to the Yankees?
6. What was the best era for the Red Sox in comparison to the Yankees?
7. How many times have the Red Sox and Yankees ended the regular season with the same team batting average?
8. How many times have the Red Sox ended the season with a higher team batting average than the Yankees?
9. How many times have the Yankees ended the season with a higher team batting average than the Red Sox?
10. How many times have the Red Sox led the Eastern Division in batting average in recent years since the three division system was introduced? How many times have the Yankees?

In the following study, we will compile some basic stats concerning this long-standing rivalry between Boston and New York baseball teams, and then crunch those numbers so that we can see how the teams really compare.

In the first part of this article, we will see a comparison of the batting averages of the earliest American League Boston and New York teams, up to the tragic moment when Babe Ruth was sold for cash to the Red Sox’ own rivals, shifting the balance of power over to the Bronx.

In the first phase, the “Babe In Scarlet Hose” days, we see the Boston team edge out the New York team in terms of batting average 10 times out of 17.

Early Days

Yr Team BA NY Team BA winner
1903 Pilgrims .272 Highlanders .249 P
1904 Red Sox .247 Highlanders .259 H
1905 Red Sox .247 Highlanders .248 H
1906 Red Sox .237 Highlanders .266 H
1907 Red Sox .234 Highlanders .249 H
1908 Red Sox .245 Highlanders .236 RS
1909 Red Sox .263 Highlanders .248 RS
1910 Red Sox .256 Highlanders .248 RS
1911 Red Sox .275 Highlanders .272 RS
1912 Red Sox .277 Highlanders . 259 RS
1913 Red Sox .269 Yankees .237 RS
1914 Red Sox .250 Yankees .229 RS
1915 Red Sox .240 Yankees .251 Y
1916 Red Sox .248 Yankees .246 RS
1917 Red Sox .246 Yankees . 239 RS
1918 Red Sox .249 Yankees .257 Y
1919 Red Sox .261 Yankees .267 Y

During this first phase of the rivalry, the “pre-curse” era, the Boston team leads in batting 10 times out of 17, the New York team leads in batting only 7 times. The Sox won 5 pennants and won all five World Series they played in.

Curse Phase

In the next phase, (see below) the “Curse of the Bambino” period of Red Sox history, we see the Yankees dominate in an overpowering manner, behind Babe Ruth.

1920 Red Sox .269 Yankees .280 Y
1921 Red Sox .277 Yankees .300 Y
1922 Red Sox .263 Yankees 287 Y
1923 Red Sox .261 Yankees .282 Y
1924 Red Sox .277 Yankees .289 Y
1925 Red Sox .266 Yankees .275 Y
1926 Red Sox .256 Yankees .289 Y
1927 Red Sox .259 Yankees .301 Y
1928 Red Sox .264 Yankees .296 Y
1929 Red Sox .267 Yankees .296 Y
1930 Red Sox .264 Yankees .309 Y
1931 Red Sox .262 Yankees .297 Y
1932 Red Sox .251 Yankees .286 Y
1933 Red Sox .253 Yankees .283 Y
1934 Red Sox .287 Yankees 278 RS

During the second phase of the rivalry, the “totally one-sided Curse of the Babe” phase, the Yankees did well under Babe Ruth and the Sox got the shaft. The Red Sox out-hit the Yankees only once, in 1934, during that 15 year period. In fact, few teams other than the Detroit Tigers out-hit the Yankees during that stretch.

The “Battle of the Joes” Phase

The following is the third phase, what we will call “The Battle of the Joes,” Joe Cronin versus The Yankee Clipper Joe DiMaggio phase. (At the end of this era, it was actually Joe versus his brother Dom DiMaggio) In this phase the Red Sox led the Yankees in batting average 10 seasons out of 16, almost exactly the tally from the first era, (10 out of 17) before Babe Ruth was traded. Unfortunately, the Red Sox only won the AL pennant once during this highly competitive phase, and that was in 1946, when the Sox led the Yanks in batting average by .23 points.

The Red Sox tied with the Yankees in wins in 1949, but lost the one game tie breaker, however they won the battle for batting average that year .282 to .269. At the end of this stage, the New York teams lead the Boston teams 27 to 21 in season batting average since their inceptions. However, not including the time that Babe Ruth was with the Yankees, the Red Sox led the Yankees in batting average 20 seasons to 13 up to this point.

1935 Red Sox .276 Yankees .280 Y
1936 Red Sox .276 Yankees .300 Y
1937 Red Sox 281 Yankees .283 Y
1938 Red Sox .299 Yankees .274 RS
1939 Red Sox .291 Yankees .287 RS
1940 Red Sox .286 Yankees .259 RS
1941 Red Sox .283 Yankees .269 RS
1942 Red Sox.276 Yankees .269 RS
1943 Red Sox .244 Yankees .256 Y
1944 Red Sox .270 Yankees .264 RS
1945 Red Sox .260 Yankees .259 RS
1946 Red Sox .271 Yankees .248 RS
1947 Red Sox .265 Yankees .271 Y
1948 Red Sox .274 Yankees .278 Y
1949 Red Sox .282 Yankees .269 RS
1950 Red Sox .302 Yankees .282 RS

The 1950s Era

The 1950s were a sad time for the Red Sox, and during that decade, the Yankees led in season batting average, 7 seasons to 3. Between 1947 and 1957, there was always at least one New York team in the World Series, and often two, while Boston was never invited.

1951 Red Sox .266 Yankees .269 Y
1952 Red Sox .255 Yankees .267 Y
1953 Red Sox .264 Yankees .273 Y
1954 Red Sox .266 Yankees .268 Y
1955 Red Sox .264 Yankees .260 RS
1956 Red Sox .275 Yankees .270 RS
1957 Red Sox .262 Yankees .268 Y
1958 Red Sox .256 Yankees .268 Y
1959 Red Sox .256 Yankees .260 Y
1960 Red Sox .261 Yankees .260 RS
Up to and including 1960, the season team batting totals are Yankees 34, Red Sox 24.

The Carl Yastrzemski Era

Then in 1961 came the dawning of the Carl Yastrzemski era, marking the rise of the heavy-hitting Red Sox outfielders who really gave the Yankees a run for the money, but only twice winning the pennant, in 1967, the year of Bob Gibson, and in 1975, the year of the Carlton Fisk homer. They also tied for first with the Yankees in 1978, leading to a one game playoff, leading to the Bucky Dent home run.

1961 Red Sox .254 Yankees .263 Y
1962 Red Sox .258 Yankees .267 Y
1963 Red Sox .252 Yankees .252 T
1964 Red Sox .258 Yankees .253 RS
1965 Red Sox .251 Yankees .235 RS
1966 Red Sox .240 Yankees .235 RS
1967 Red Sox .255 Yankees .225 RS
1968 Red Sox .236 Yankees .214 RS
1969 Red Sox .251 Yankees .235 RS
1970 Red Sox .262 Yankees .251 RS
1971 Red Sox .252 Yankees .254 Y
1972 Red Sox .248 Yankees .249 Y
1973 Red Sox .267 Yankees .261 RS
1974 Red Sox .264 Yankees .263 RS
1975 Red Sox .275 Yankees .264 RS
1976 Red Sox .263 Yankees .269 Y
1977 Red Sox .281 Yankees .281 T
1978 Red Sox .267 Yankees .267 T
1979 Red Sox .283 Yankees .266 RS
1980 Red Sox .283 Yankees .267 RS
1981 Red Sox .275 Yankees .252 RS
1982 Red Sox .274 Yankees .256 RS
1983 Red Sox .270 Yankees .273 Y

During the Carl Yastrzemski era, the two teams finished tied in batting average three times, a remarkable statistic. The other 20 years, the Yankees batters outdid the Red Sox hitters only 6 times during Yastrzemski’s career. The Red Sox beat the Yankees in this category14 times. The Red Sox were able lead the hit parade as often as Lennon and McCartney in the ‘60s. In fact, they beat out the Yankees in “hit records” every year consecutively between 1964 and 1970, the heyday of the Beatles exactly. In 1967, the year of Sgt. Peppers’ release, the Sox had their most memorable year and came within a game of winning the World Series.

In spite of the 14 to 6 score, it was a heated battle during the Yaz administration. The Sox led the league in hitting in 1964, 1967, 1970, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977, and 1980. The Yankees led the league in hitting in 1972, 1976, and 1977 (tie). Yastrzemski’s efforts helped the Sox come within two on the century’s batting contest; the totals for the century up to this point were Red Sox 38, Yankees 40.

After Yastrzemski faded into the shadow of the green monster, other great young sluggers such as Wade Boggs (1982-1992) continued the legacy of their mentor. In fact they crushed the Yankees in batting average each of the following 8 years. In further fact the Red Sox led the AL in hitting in 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988 and 1990. They landed in first place in 1986, 1988 and 1990, while the Yankees won the pennant zero times between 1984 and 1991. As the smoke from the 1980s cleared, the Red Sox had come out ahead 45 to 40 in the yearly batting average “spitting contest” with the Yankees.

1984 Red Sox ..283 Yankees .276 RS
1985 Red Sox .282 Yankees .267 RS
1986 Red Sox .271 Yankees .271 T
1987 Red Sox .278 Yankees .262 RS
1988 Red Sox .283 Yankees .263 RS
1989 Red Sox .277 Yankees .269 RS
1990 Red Sox .272 Yankees .241 RS
1991 Red Sox .269 Yankees .264 RS

The twisting tides of fortune, as Howard Cosell would have said, turning again in favor of the Yankees in 1992. In 1994, the American League was divided into three divisions. From this point, the “league leading” bold type now means “division leading.”

1992 Red Sox ..246 Yankees .261 Y
1993 Red Sox .264 Yankees .279 Y

MULTIPLE DIVISION PLAY
1994 Red Sox .263 Yankees .290 Y
1995 Red Sox .280 Yankees .276 RS
1996 Red Sox .283 Yankees .288 Y
1997 Red Sox .291 Yankees .287 RS
1998 Red Sox .280 Yankees .288 Y
1999 Red Sox .278 Yankees .282 Y
2000 Red Sox .269 Yankees .277 Y
2001 Red Sox .266 Yankees .267 Y
2002 Red Sox .277 Yankees .275 RS
2003 Red Sox 289 Yankees .267 RS
2004 Red Sox .282 Yankees .268 RS
2005 Red Sox .281 Yankees .276 RS

During this last 14 year period, the Red Sox led the division in hitting for five years, in 1995, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005. The Yankees also led in five years, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998, and 1999. For those who haven’t been reading the news, the Red Sox finally won the World Series in 2004, entering the post season as a wild card. They tied the Yankees for first place in 2005, but were not allowed the pleasure of a last figurative cigarette, a one game tie-breaker, because they had not won the season series with the Yankees. The Yankees and Red Sox have ended the season in first and second nine times during the last 12 years.

In this most recent phase, 1992 through 2005, the Yankees led in hitting 8 years out of 14 years, leaving the Sox with 6. At the end of the 2002 season, the Yankees and Red Sox were tied 48 to 48 in seasons leading the other in team batting average. However, during the last three years, the Sox have had the advantage, driving their number of seasons on top to 51. So after all the ups and downs, over the course of over a century, when it comes to season team batting average, the Red Sox come out ahead of the Yankees, 51 to 48, with a total of four ties between the two rivals.

From 1903 through 1995, the Red Sox landed in first place 11 times, and finished second 10 times, with fiveWorld Series wins. Since then the Sox have finished second behind the Yankees seven times and first one more time. This gives us a grand total of 12 first place finishes and 17 second place finishes behind the Yankees for the Red Sox in their team history.

But here is what is perhaps the most telling statistic of all in terms of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry: The Red Sox finished a close second behind the Yankees in 1938, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1949, *1978,* 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005*. (In 1949 the two teams tied, and the Red Sox lost the tie breaker; again in 1978, the same thing happened. In 2005 the Sox tied the Yankees again, but were reckoned to have ended in second place, because they had lost more games to the Yankees during the season series.) In 1986, and 1995, the Yankees ended up in second place behind the Red Sox. That’s 16 times the two teams ended in a close race for first; 14 times with the Red Sox in second (three of those after losing a tie breaker), 2 times with the Yankees in second. That my friends, is a true rivalry.

Before you scroll down further, go back to that RQ quiz again and see if you know the answers. The answers are given below.

1. How many World Series have the Boston Red Sox (or “Pilgrims”) played in? 10 World Series: 1903 (W) 1912 (W) 1915 (W) 1916 (W) 1918 (W) 1946 (L), 1967 (L)1975(L), 1986, (L) 2004 (W). How many have they won? Six, and were 5-0 before 1946.
2. How many times have the Red Sox and Yankees (or “Highlanders”) tied for first place at the end of the regular season? Three times; 1949, 1978, 2005, each time, the Red Sox somehow ended up in second place. No two tie-breaking solutions were alike.
3. How many times have the Red Sox won the AL or Eastern Division rather than the Yankees? 12 times
4. How many times have the Red Sox ended the season in second place close behind the Yankees? 17 times. How many times have the Yankees ended the season in second behind the Red Sox? 2 times.
5. What was the worst era for the Red Sox in comparison to the Yankees? During Babe Ruth’s tenure with the Yankees, the Red Sox only out-batted the Yanks once, and never posed a challenge in the standings.
6. What was the best era for the Red Sox in comparison to the Yankees? 1984 to 1991, what I call the “Wade Boggs” era. They never had a lower team average than the Yankees during that time. They led the division in hitting five times, and ended in first place three times. The 23-year Yastrzemski era was also good, with the Yankees out-hitting the Sox only 6 times.
7. How many times have the Red Sox and Yankees ended the regular season with the same team batting average? 4 times
8. How many times have the Red Sox ended the season with a higher team batting average than the Yankees? 51 times
9. How many times have the Yankees ended the season with a higher team batting average than the Red Sox? 48 times.
10. How many times have the Red Sox led the Eastern Division in batting average since the three division system was introduced? 5 times. How many times have the Yankees? 4 times. How many times has each led the other in batting average under 3-division play? 6 times each.

The HWA (Hit With Authority) Index

2006-09-21T19:58:00.000-07:00

The HWA Index, another Intangible Statistic from AMAZINE

Carlos Delgado hit home runs number 27 and 28 yesterday to help the Mets defeat the Phils 7-2. The 440 foot homer in the 3rd inning was said to have an intangible quality that experts and players struggled to put into words. That home run was not unusually long, but according to Billy Wagner, it was hit with more “authority” than most home runs. (“There’s been further homers at Citizens Bank Park but not with that much authority.” ) This leads us to speculate as to the criteria for reckoning degrees of “authority” in a home run, and so we created the “Hit With Authority” (HWA) index as a way of ranking this most intangible quality and making it a tangible stastic that can be tabulated. We welcome all sports broadcasters to use this criteria in future broadcasts. Please refer back to this chart for future articles about Met home runs that score highly on the “Hit With Authority” index, as we will not be explaining it to you guys over and over again.

The HWA “HIT WITH AUTHORITY” INDEX.

5. Any ball that is hit with the degree of authority that Babe Ruth achieved in his “called shot” homer at Wrigley Field in 1932 is worth 5 points. That was hit with “total determination,” the highest mark of HWA.

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4. Any ball that is hit with the same degree of authority that Mike Piazza employed in hitting the grand slam at Shea that put the Mets ahead of the Braves in 2000 will be worth four “HWA” points. This “frozen rope” was hit “with a vengeance,” a high degree of “authority.” That was not long in time or distance, but made it over the left field fence at Shea without a change in altitude. He spanked that baby. Delgado's 440 foot homer ranks a 4.5 in HWA terms.
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3. Any ball hit with the degree of authority comparable to Roger Maris’ 61st homer in 1961 into the right field stands at Yankee Stadium will score a 3. That was hit with “certainty,” a moderately impressive degree of authority.
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2. Any ball hit with the degree of authority of Bill Mazeroski’s walk off homer later that same year for the Pirates will score a 2 in the HWA category. That was hit with “an ineffable quality of inner strength,” a measurable degree of authority.
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1. And any ball hit with no authority whatsoever that gets picked up by the wind and goes over the fence to everyone’s surprise, like Bobby Thompson’s “Shot Heard Round the World”, Bucky Dent’s “Green Monster Fluke” or Bob Lemon’s “Chinese” Home Run, will be worth 1 point on the HWA index.

All American Team of 1934; the Birth of "World Baseball"

2006-09-21T19:52:00.000-07:00

The Birth of World Baseball

copyright c 2006 Evan Pritchard for Amazine1.blogspot.com

Bud Selig and friends might want to believe they invented the World Baseball Classic, but the World Thing really started way back in 1934. Babe Ruth led an “All American” team to Japan just as the 1934 Major League season was ending. He brought with him his old friend Lou Gehrig, plus Jimmy Foxx, Lefty Gomez, and Charlie Gehringer. They played games all over Japan and defeated most of the teams they faced. The Japanese were thrilled and came out in droves to see him play, and see him beat them soundly. It was a preview reel for Mothra and Godzilla. Everywhere people were erecting statues and plaques to The Bambino. Some say they revered him as a God. Ruth was quoted as saying, “At one time I had wanted to be a priest, now I am a God.” They also liked King Kong.

The Bambino had a fine tour, with 14 home runs, and won the “triple crown” of the exhibition tour, with a better average, more homers and more RBIs than the other members of his All-Star cast or the opposing teams. Going along with that august crowd was a former catcher and reporter named Moe Berg. It is now known today that he was a spy, gathering intelligence on Japan for the US but spurious rumor has it that he was a double agent also spying for the Nazis. It was Ruth’s last masterful performance. Though he was so great in Japan, he hit only two or three legit homers the following year, and quit in May due to health reasons. He died less than ten years later, of throat cancer. Nonetheless, he managed to leave yet another legacy, and I hope that some day those folks at MLB and

Cooperstown

give him some credit for helping to set the foundation for the World Baseball Classic.

The World Classic Today (written March 17th, 2006)

The World Classic, or “World Cup,” (not to be confused with the “Goblet of Fire”)as some call it, is a very different story today. Just like 1934, the Yankees are heavily represented on the American team, and just like 1934, the Mets are as hard to find on that American team as hen’s teeth in Japan. In fact, there were no Mets in 1934, and there are just as few Mets on this so-called American team. Present and former Yankees on the US team include Derek Jeter, ARod, Roger Clemens, and Johnny Damon. They have already been eliminated from competition, by Japan, Korea, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico.

Where are the present and former Mets players in the World Classic? On the winning teams! Those players who have been touched by Mets magic in the past include Dae Sung Koo, and Jae Seo, both of whom are now pitching for the invincible (undefeated) South Korean Team. Koo has a 1 and 0 record in five games with a 1.13 ERA in 8 innings. Jae Seo, always one of my favorites, and who always be a Met in my mind, has 2 wins and 0 losses in the World Cup, with a 1.0 ERA in nine innings, with seven strikeouts and 2 walks. (Chan Ho Park by the way has a 0.00 ERA in 10 innings with 8 strikeouts and no walks ) Korea’s pitching is spilling the world cup of baseball, and making headlines around the world.

But the Met magic doesn’t stop there. Another team that is doing rather nicely is the Dominican Republic team. Reyes is 1 for 5 with two stolen bases. He actually got a walk, which doesn’t happen every day. Duaner Sanchez, the newest Dominican Met pitcher, has a zero ERA in four innings pitched, with two strikeouts. That’s just about perfect. Team Puerto Rico is doing fine in the World Classic as well. Not surprising, as they have Mets first baseman Carlos Delgado batting 1.000 for them. Hey, I‘ll take half of that when he plays for the Mets this year. Jose Valentin is 7 for 24 with 2 stolen bases. Carlos Beltran is 6 for 21 with two home runs and 5 RBIs and 2 stolen bases, plus 5 walks. I’d say that’s world class. We’ll expect similar numbers this coming season. Jose Santiago, who made the Mets’ non-roster invitee list this spring, has an ERA of 1.13 in The World Baseball Classic, with 4 strikeouts in 8 innings pitched. Pedro Feliciano, another non-roster invitee to the Mets training camp, has not given up a hit in the World Baseball Tourney yet. Some guys will do anything to keep from having to do calisthenics. Together, these guys have beaten the Bambino’s modern day successors, who would not let them play on their elite Team America. It seems as if Team Queens is taking the world by storm in their own modest way, which is appropriate since Queens is the multi-cultural capitol of the United States. One thing is for sure, baseball is not a white man’s game any more! If Babe Ruth were alive today, he’d be faking Spanish. He’d also be 110 years old. I can see it now, the Babe is coming up to pinch hit in the ninth in that last game in Mexico, and he sees Clemens. The Rocket says, “Hey Babe, I think we’re surrounded!” And the Babe, who looks remarkably like Pancho Villa, would say, “What do you mean we, gringo?”

Japan Wins World Cup

Evan Pritchard

I can't believe I watched a game where no Mets were playing! (Just kidding!) What struck me most was how old some of the Cuban players were, and how young the Japanese were, they looked like rock stars, whereas the Cubans looked timeless, like they could be grandfathers. How do these Cuban players, and this includes those playing in the majors as well, stay in such great shape well into old age? (I'll look into this question, interview some experts on the subject, and get back to you.)

Of course, the oldest of the old, was Sadaharu Oh himself, manager of the Japanese team. He must be going on one hundred. He probably saw Babe Ruth hit a home run on his trip through Japan in 1934 and gotten inspired to beat Ruth's record.

The following is from Jim Albright's website baseball guru: It gives us an idea about Oh's accomplishments at the plate.

"For those who denigrate Oh’s accomplishments based upon the quality of play and/or the short fences, it is important to understand just how drastically one must discount Oh's actual performance to drop him below the level of certain HOFers. For instance, everybody in the majors who scored more than 1643 runs is in the Hall. Oh has more than 20% more than that. Everybody with 465 or more homers in the majors is in the Hall. Oh has 187% of that total. Everybody with more than 4787 total bases in the majors is in. Oh has 122% of that total. Everybody with more than 1628 RBI in the majors has a plaque. Oh has 133% of that total. In short, one must heavily discount Oh’s actual performance to get him out of HOF territory."

Even down 6 to 1, I felt that the Cubans had a shot. You could see the determination on their faces. In fact, they did score six runs, but too late; the Japanese had a four run rally in the top of the ninth to put it out of range, inspired by Oh's dominating presence. Both the Cuban and Japanese are worthy of the silver cup. We'll see what happens next time. Maybe next time I'll be selected to play on the United Algonkian-Speaking People's Team. All announcements will have to be bi-lingual.

Coming soon: another expose of the Yankees; a critical look at the Yankees/RedSox rivalry through the years. Who is really the better team?

March 21, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Spotlight on Mickey Lolich

2006-09-21T19:44:00.000-07:00

The Year of the Tiger: 1968
A Tribute to Mickey Lolich and Mad Anthony Wayne, Two Motown Heroes
By Evan Pritchard

Last summer I spent some time in Detroit with an old-time Tigers’ fan Bill Spaulding, (of Spaulding Electric and Wayne State fame) and we drove by the old stadium, watched a game at the new one, (which is next door to Ford Field, where this weekend's superbowl will be played) and talked about 1968 like it was yesterday. I was remembering McLain’s amazing run of wins that year, and said, “Who were the other starters in the series?” He looked at me surprised, and said, “Mickey Lolich! He did the impossible for the Tigers in the World Series. McLain was okay, but Lolich…now that was AMAZING!” That’s all he said.

He lent me a Tigers’ history book, such as one would only find in Detroit, but I got sidetracked with answering my own trivia question, which neither of us could remember: “Who was the third member of ‘The G Men?” (Greenberg, Gehringer, and Goose Goslin, in 1934) Most fans don’t remember that Goslin, who started with the old Senators in 1921, batted .344 in the 1924 Series, .308 in the 1925 series, and .250 in the 1933 series, all the Senators’ series in fact, and spent some time in St. Louis, was still in baseball then and was a G Man with the Tigers through 1937. Looking up Goslin, I forgot to look up Lolich’s stats in the 68 series.

Lolich was, in a nutshell, the “Mad Anthony Wayne” of baseball. Wayne was a man who had a lot to do with the establishment of the city of Detroit and the man for whom its largest college is named. Revolutionary War general Wayne won the battle of Stony Point in New York against impossible odds, marching all night without rest, storming an impenetrable British fortress, heavily armed, and taking the fort, and raising the colonial pennant above the parapet. It helped win the Revolution for the Americans. Lolich, on very little rest, stormed an impenetrable St. Louis Cardinals offense, a team that was heavily armed with Bob Gibson, Steve Carlton, and Nelson Briles, deep inside Cardinal Stadium, and it helped the American League win the World Series and the 1968 championship flag.

We all know 1969 was the year of the Amazing Mets, and the World Series was the clash of the Titans as far as pitching was concerned. Both teams had three great starters and great bullpens. The Mets had Koosman, Seaver, and Gentry, with Nolan Ryan in the pen. The O’s had Cuellar, McNally, and Palmer, with Dave Leonard (and Watt) in the pen. That story will be retold elsewhere.

But what about the year before? What World Series was fresh in the minds of the populace as the Fall Classic started in 1969? Another upset! The Tigers versus the Cards! 1968 was the Year of the Pitcher. It was amazing that the Tigers were able to break the three-starter rule, and went into St.Looie with only two, Denny McLain and Mickey Lolich. That season, McLain was pretty fabulous, leading the AL with 31 wins, .838 win percentage, 28 complete games, and 336 innings pitched, while coming in second with 1.69 walks per game, and 280 strikeouts. His season ERA was 1.96, but in the year of the pitcher, that was only good enough for fourth place behind Tiant, McDowell and McNally. To draw attention to himself, McLain fed the pitch to Mantle that became his 535th homer, placing Mantle 3rd on the all-time list. McLain won that game, his 31st, of the season, placing him on another list, and noone has matched it since.

Mickey Lolich was pretty good too. He was 17-9 with 8 complete games, 197 strike outs, and an ERA of 3.19, just an average year for him—in some ways below average, but typical stats for a number two World Series starter. As long as McLain could “Chicago” St. Louis for Detroit, they’d have a shot. They were counting on McLain to win three, and Lolich maybe one.

How good was the competition on the mound that year? The team ERAs for that year were like none other in modern history: Tied for first as the ERA leaders in the AL were Cleveland and Baltimore with an ERA of 2.66. Third best in pitching was Detroit with 2.71, next was Chicago with 2.75, then New York fifth with 2.79, then the Twins, sixth with 2.89, then Oakland seventh with 2.94. How Frank Howard (later manager of the Mets for a few months) hit 44 homers that year is amazing.

The NL pitching was just about as good, maybe better; St. Louis, with Gibson, Carlton, and Briles, as their three super starters, and Hoerner, their superlative reliever, were the best pitching unit in the majors with a 2.49 ERA (the best in modern history; since 1920, only the ’72 Orioles come closest with 2.53, then the Cardinals of 1942 with 2.55) Second best in ERA was the LA Dodgers with .269, then the Giants with a .271ERA, the New York Mets with .272, Pittsburgh Pirates fifth with .274, and Atlanta sixth with .292. By the way, the fifth best team ERAs in both leagues that year were better than those of any team since, with the exception of 1981, the strike-split season, and 1972, the Other Year of the Pitcher.

So how did the Tigers, with only two stellar starters, beat the best pitching fleet in modern baseball history? A regiment of Red Coats led by none other than Bob Gibson’s 1.12 ERA, best since 1914? According to McLain, it was all thanks to Pepsi. (no popups or banners please). In fact, Mickey Lolich, the southpaw that refreshes, won three starts when McClain’s Pepsi lost its fizz. McLain and Mickey Lolich started three games apiece, which is remarkable in itself, but Lolich won all three, and McLain only got through one. It isn’t unheard of for a #1 pitcher to get three wins, but for a #2 guy, that’s amazing. To do so, he had to become the fourth starter by pitching the seventh game (instead of Wilson) on three days’ rest, against Gibson in the Battle of Cardinal Stadium.

McLain had lost the first game 4-0 to Gibson’s shutout. Lolich won the second giving up only a run in the sixth. Briles gave up three homers, and the final score was 8-1. The third starter, for the game at Detroit, was a guy named Earl Wilson, who gave up 3 runs, plus 6 walks and was pulled in the fifth, a four run inning that blew a 2-0 Tigers lead, and the game. That one ended 7-3. The fourth game was again McLain versus Gibson and again Denny didn’t have that “pick-me-up taste” and was gone by the end of the third. Gibson had one of his greatest outings, striking out ten and hitting a home run. The Tigers fell behind 3 games to 1 and faced elimination.

In the first inning of the fifth game, matched against Nelson Briles (2.81 with 19 wins and 141 strikeouts for the Cards) Lolitch gave up a home run to Orland Cepeda and three runs, and it looked bad for the Tigers. If they didn’t score at least four off of Briles it was all over. There was no great closer in the bullpen (Pat Dobson was 5-8, in spite of a 2.66 ERA; Fred Lasher? Who’s that?) And if they did win, who would pitch the sixth game in St. Louis if not McClain, now 0 and 2? McLain had lasted only 2+ innings last time, (only 72 hours or so before) and it used up the bullpen. And then who would pitch the seventh game against the world’s most dominating pitcher Bob Gibson? 34 year old Robert Earl Wilson? Ouch! I don’t think so! The Tigers’ chances were about 100 to 1. In fact the Red Sox had been in a similar jam a year earlier, against this same pitching staff, and failed miserably in the seventh game trying to stretch Jim Lomborg’s arm out over 72 hours against Gibson.

Fortunately for the Tigers, they had a skipper named Mayo Smith, who had been managing in the bigs on and off since 1955, and knew his pitchers, and apparently knew something about Lolich no one else in the stadium knew. That this guy had bollocks the size of Spaulding autographed baseballs. He knew Lolich like George Washington knew the little-known Anthony Wayne, who gave him an unthinkable task on which the fate of the nation teetered. Mayo Smith kept Lolich in!

As it turned out, the odds were turned upside-down, when Lolich went on to pitch 16 consecutive scoreless World Series innings, a la Christie Mathewson, Babe Ruth, Nolan Ryan, Orel Hirshiser, and other Hall of Famers, but he did all that in just over 72 hours, and helped the Tigers win the championship, in pretty much the same situation that had ruined the Red Sox a year earlier. The only pitcher I can think of that got so many World Series outs in such a short time was back in 1905, when Christie Mathewson pitched 27 consecutive shutout innings between October 9th and October 14th, a span of 6 days. That was a different era; if that series had happened any longer ago, it might have been mentioned in the Old Testament!

How did it happen? The Tigers won that fifth game 5-3, knocking Briles out in the 7th, then went back to St. Louis and won the sixth behind McLain, 13 to 1, knocking Washburn out in the 10 run 3rd inning, taking the pressure off Denny and making the seventh game a necessity. The problem was that Smith had no more pitchers. Again he looked to Mad Mickey Lolich.

The seventh game was a thriller, forcing Lolich to pitch a complete game on October 10th on little rest after a complete game on October 7th. Both teams went scoreless through the sixth, but in the top of the seventh, the Tigers broke through the wall against Gibson with three, and then another in the top of the ninth, to make the score 4-0. Lolich was really exhausted, but he was working on a four hit shutout. Mike Shannon hit a solo cannon shot in the bottom of the ninth, and it stopped Lolitch’s scoreless streak and his shutout, but he closed the door and won his third series game, 4-1. That last out was celebrated in downtown Detroit for weeks.

In the annals of World Series pitching, there are very few examples where one man played so far above his season par that he reversed the probable outcome of a World Series. Lolich’s World Series ERA was 1.67 in 27 World Series innings, about half his season average of 3.19. Bob Gibson also pitched 1.67 in 27 World Series innings that year, exactly the same stats. For him, however, that was higher than his average, and the result was a pitching upset like few before or since, an upset comparable perhaps only to the battle of Stony Point, in 1778, where Mad Anthony Wayne’s suicide squeeze paid off with a routing of the Red Coats and a victory for the American League.

Greatest Games: Battle of the Flops

2006-09-21T19:38:00.000-07:00

The Battle of the Flops: An Historic Game In Spite of the Name

September 27th 1963 is a day that should be marked and circled in red in baseball history. It was intended by design to be the worst game ever played, an insult to the NY Mets "worst team in history," as the now defunct Colt 45s sent a bunch of children out to play the hapless Mets. (Most of them were 17 and 18 year old teenagers, just old enough to drive the Metmobile!) The Mets defended their honor by destroying those little tykes 10 to 3. Unfortunately it was one of only 42 wins for the 1963 Mets. As luck would have it, those children, and some of those Mets, turned out to be World Series heroes within twelve years, many of whom had their major league debut on that night. Alot of great players, Hall of Famers, never played in the Fall Classic due to circumstances and sheer luck. The odds against any given rookie ending up in a World Series game are probably at least 100 to one. But this was a day of destiny. Let's just say it was "amazing!"

Here is a summary. For all the details, see the long version in the archives.

HOUSTON
Jimmy Wynn CF A rookie for the 45s that year, gawky little Jimmy was later traded to the Dodgers in 1974 and batted .271 with 108 RBIs, and 32 homers, scoring 104 runs for L.A. that year. He had 17 doubles and 18 stolen bases, making it his best all-around year. He had a .992 fielding percentage to go with that. The Dodgers won the NL West Pennant that year with 102 wins and 60 losses under Walter Alston. He came to bat 16 times in the World Series and hit one double and one home run. He ended his career with an impressive 291 homers lifetime, earning the nickname, "The Toy Cannon."

Aaron Pointer RF: He came back to the majors to play for Houston in 1966 and batted .346 with a .500 slugging percentage. Not bad.

Rusty Staub was the name of the skinny, clown-haired 19 year old rookie first baseman for the 45s. When he was traded to the Montreal Expos in 1969, he exploded with 29 homers and a .302 average, knocking in 30 homers the following year. In 1971 he batted .311 with 97 RBIs, but that was not to be his best year. He was traded to a team called the Metse and in the 1973 league championship he hit all three Mets home runs, including two early in game three to help Koosman win and 5 RBIs in a five game series versus the Reds with 3 base on balls.
In the seven game match up versus the Oakland A’s he batted .423 with a .615 slugging percentage with one home run and two doubles and six RBIs. In the fourth game of that series, he had a perfect night, with a three run homer and three singles for a total of five of the Mets six ribbies. The A’s won. In 1975, still playing for the Mets, Staub had a career high of 105 RBIs., thanks to 19 homers and 30 doubles.

In 1976 he was traded to Detroit, and batted .299, and in 1977 had 34 doubles, 3 triples, 22 homers, 101 RBIs for the Tigers. In 1980 he went back to Texas and batted .300 for the Rangers. He rejoined the Mets again in 1981 and batted a career high .317. In 1983 he led the league with 24 pinch hits, and led the league again the following year with 18 pinch hits. He retired after 1985 season, with a lifetime total of 292 home runs, one more than former Houston teammate, Jimmy Wynn.

Joe Morgan, who had just had his twentieth birthday on the 19th of that month, had played his first game in the majors on the 21st, a nice birthday present. Now on the 27th of the same memorable month, he started at 2nd Base. He hit a triple! A skinny, undersized local boy, he had a lot to learn about baseball, but was brimming with talent and heart. Today, he is remembered as possibly the greatest second baseman ever to wear cleats. He came to the plate 8 times that year, batting .240 with no home runs, and one triple (which he hit that night facing the Mets, his first extra base hit in the bigs), one stolen base. In 1971, still with Houston, he led the league with 11 of those triples, but he still was an average hitter after nine years in the bigs. In his first year with the Reds, Joe Morgan scored a league leading 122 runs, with a league leading 115 walks, with a so-far career high .292 average and 16 home runs. The next year Joe hit 26 homers and 35 doubles. The following year, in 1974 Joe hit his so-far high average of .293, and had 31 doubles. In 1975 he batted an amazing .327 and led the league in walks again, with 132. That year he was 4th in batting average, 2nd in stolen bases. The following year, 1976, he led the league in slugging percentage, with .576, batting .320 that year with 27 homers. That year he was 5th in NL batting, 5th in home runs, 2nd in RBIs, 3rd in home run percentage, 2nd in walks, stolen bases, and runs scored. He was also tied for 5th in total bases. He batted .333 in the World Series that October, with a .733 slugging percentage and his first World Series homer. It was probably the best year any second baseman ever had. In 1983 he helped get the Phils to the World Series and hit two homers in that match-up.

He played in a total of seven league championships, and four World Series, (‘72, 75, 76, 83) His lifetime World Series mark of 7 stolen bases is 9th on the all-time list. His lifetime mark of 689 season stolen bases is 7th in history. His mark of 1865 walks is 3rd in history. Few players can match his 22 year record at any position, 2650 games. As a second baseman he is 2nd in games played, 4th in putouts, 3rd in assists, 3rd in chances, and 4th in double plays (1505).

Jerry Grote Catcher He played in the 1969 playoff series in which the Mets beat the Atlanta Braves 3 games to 0. Then he hit two doubles in the 1969 World Series versus the Orioles. The Mets won the 2nd game on two out singles in the ninth by Charles, Grote, and Weis. The Mets won game four on a tenth inning double by Grote, who scored on an error. In 1975 he put together a .295 batting average with 14 doubles and 5 triples for the Mets. In 1981 he played 22 games for the Kansas City Royals, and hit .304. What is interesting about Grote is that he played in four league championships, won four NL championship rings, and played in four World Series. Few players alive today have been in four World Series, not counting Yankees. In the 1973 World Series, he had 8 hits versus the A’s, playing alongside former Houston rookie teammate, Rusty Staub. He then played in two World Series for the Dodgers, in 1977 and 1978, playing a minor role in their back to back losses to the Yankees.

Bob Aspromote 3rd Base: The following year, he batted .280 with 12 home runs, 20 doubles, and 60 RBIs. He topped that in 1967, with a zingy .294 at the plate, with a solid .401 slugging average.
John Bateman Catcher. Bateman in 1966 he hit a respectable 17 homers for Houston, and then 15 for the Expos in 1970. That was in the pitching-heavy 60s!
Joe Hoerner Hoerner pitched 3 scoreless innings in his debut game for Houston that night, giving up two hits. It was his only appearance that year. He was part of the great 1968 St. Louis pitching staff, the best in modern history, and sported a 1.48 ERA and an 8-2 record out of the bullpen that year. In the World Series against the Tigers he pitched 4.7 innings and actually got a hit, striking out three but giving up three runs. He also appeared with the Cards in their classic World Series battle against the Boston Red Sox the year before, in 1967, a year in which he had an ERA of 2.59 with 50 strikeouts. His best year however, might have been 1966, also with the Cards. He went 5-1 in 76 innings, with 63 strikeouts against only 21 walks and a 1.54 ERA on the year.

In 1969 at the age of 32, he had a 2.87 ERA, then in 1970 lowered it to 2.65 then the following year (1971) to 1.97, with 57 strikeouts against 21 walks. He pitched 14 years overall with a 39-34 win loss record with 412 strikeouts versus 181 walks with an impressive lifetime 2.99 ERA. In short he was one of the best middle relievers of his era if not all time. Not exactly a flop.

The New York Mets
The “flop” New York Mets of 1963 had their share of future stars as well. It just took a little time in the sunlight to help them blossom into mature ballplayers.

Ron Hunt 2nd Base His biggest season was when he batted .309 for the fourth place Montreal Expos in 1973 with 10 stolen bases.

Charlie Neal had been in two World Series before joining the Mets. 1963 was his last year.

Duke Snyder: He hit 14 homers that year, but batted only .243. He was in many World Series games before becoming a Met.

Jim Hickman OF: In 1970 he batted .315 with 32 homers and 33 doubles for the Chicago Cubs under Leo Durocher, who finished second place behind the Pirates. Hickman went on to hit 159 career homers lifetime, with 560 RBIs and 25 triples, and retired after the 1974 season.

Ed Kranepool Kranepool went on to hit a home run in the legendary 1969 World Series and played in the Mets 1973 World Series as well. His peak seasons were 1974 through 1976. In 1974 he batted .300 with a league leading 17 pinch hits. In 1975 he batted .323. In 1976 he had 49 RBIs and batted .292 and 10 homers. Ed Kranepool became the living symbol of the Mets, raising his season average from .167 to .323 in his first 13 years. He played for 18 years with the Mets, and never worked for another team. He batted .286 in league championship play and hit 118 homers lifetime. He played in several All Star games as a Met.

Pitching
Roger Craig He was traded the following year to St. Louis where he had a low 3.25 ERA with 84 strikeouts and two relief wins batting .208 at the plate. He helped them win the pennant, and pitched in scoreless relief in five World Series innings versus the Yankees. He even won game four with 4.2 innings of scoreless relief in a 4-3 game against the Yankees, giving up two hits, and tying the series 2 wins apiece, helping the Cards to win the series in seven against the homer slugging Yanks.
Craig had a respectable 803 strikeouts lifetime, with 7 career shutouts.

Al Jackson Pitcher He was traded to St. Louis in 1966, and had his best year, with a sparkling 2.51 ERA and 11 complete games and a total of 90 strike outs and 3 shutouts. In 1967, he went 9 and 4 but did not play in the World Series against the Red Sox.

Duke Snyder was probably the oldest player in "The Battle of the Flops," but he too had been a World Series hero.

Spotlight on Fran Healy

2006-09-21T19:35:00.000-07:00

The Amazing Fran Healy: “The Voice of the Mets,”
More Than Just An Announcer, a Witness to History
This guy could play baseball! And so could his dad!
By Evan Pritchard

Mets fans, you remember Fran Healy announcing the playoffs against Houston and the World Series against Boston in 1986, and then the playoffs against the Giants and Subway Series in 2000, but did you know that Fran Healy used to play this game? In fact he was a Yankee for a while. But he played for other teams too, and had a lifetime batting average of .250, with a lifetime .980 fielding percentage as a catcher. Not bad for a play-by-play guy. What’s amazing is that between himself and his father and great uncle, the Healys have played for some of the finest managers in history. Connie Mack, John McGraw, Bill Terry, Frankie Frisch, Jack McKeon, Whitey Herzog, Charlie Fox, Billy Martin, Bob Lemon… Imagine the stories that must have been passed down to a young Fran Healy, and the stories he could tell! Those three men have a continuous memory of baseball that goes back to the 19th century. The family that plays together, stays together.

Fran, the Mets’ announcer, is six foot five, and his playing weight was 220 pounds. He was born September 6th, (Virgo) 1946 in Holyoke, Mass, and has his debut on September 3rd, 1969, just three days before his 23rd birthday, and played his first game just as the Mets were charging towards their first NL East pennant. Unfortunately, he was not on the Mets, not even in their league. He got his first “cup of coffee” in Kansas City, playing for the Royals. He was one of the first “third-generation” major league ballplayers to come along, a part of a family playing tradition dating back to 1915. It is fitting that he is with the Mets organization, for his family had ties with the Giants, originally called “The Metropolitans,” and also the Athletics, who had their start in Brooklyn, just one exit away from Queens.

His ancestor, (I assume his great-uncle) born October 30th, 1895, was Thomas Fitzgerald Healy of Altoona, PA. Thomas was on the Philadelphia Athletics under Connie Mack from 1915 to 1916. His hitting in 1916 was a respectable .261 and his fielding that year was .936, which was a good fielding percentage for those days—too many potholes, and such a dinky glove. In 1914, the A’s had won the pennant with 99 wins out of 158. The A’s had great pitching: Chief Charles Bender, Joe Bush, Herb Pennock, Eddie Plank and Bob Shawkey, but they lost the World Series to the “Miracle” Boston Braves that year who had 26 game winner Bill James, who had an ERA of 1.90, and who threw 11 scoreless innings, and Dick Rudoph, a 27 game winner. However, when Thomas was hired, it was after the great disaster of the 1914-15 off-season, and legal battles with the Federal League, and the A’s lost most of their players. They hired Thomas, who saw the defending champions lose 109 in ’15 and 117 the year after. It was like watching the Titanic go under. But at least he played under a great manager. Connie Mack managed 7,755 big league games, and won 3731. with 9 pennants. Thomas Healy retired after that year.

His nephew was Francis Xavier Paul Healy, also of Holyoke, born June 29, 1910, who spent three years as a catcher with the Giants, 1930-1932, under the great John McGraw (who managed 4,769 major league games, which is pretty much the record, winning 2,763 of them, with 12 pennants). The Giants finished third, (87 wins) second, (87 wins) and eighth, respectively in those years. The pitching coach on that team in 1931 was none other than Charles “Chief” Bender, the Ojibway Hall of Famer, Perfect Gamer, and inventor of the slider, and one of the pitchers Connie Mack lost in 1915 when Thomas Healy was hired. Small world! One of the pitchers Bender was coaching on that team was Carl Hubbell. It is not clear if Francis Healy ever caught a game for the great knuckle-baller, Carl Hubbell, but they played three years together, so one might suppose he did. Hubbell won 17, 14 and 18 games in those three seasons. (Healy caught 14 games in 1932, when Carl won 18.)

Francis Healy, Sr. was there on June 3rd of 1932 when McGraw retired as manager and was replaced by the star first baseman, Bill Terry. Francis was there on June 22nd, when the National League approved the introduction of numbers for the back of the Giants’ uniforms. (The AL had had them since 1929) Healy played under Terry for half a season. Sadly , the team finished 72 and 82, not the numbers they had hoped for. Francis did not play major league ball in 1933, when the Giants defeated the Senators in the World Series, 4 games to 1, with Gus Mancuso catching Carl Hubbel’s knuckleball for the Giants. New manager Bill Terry went on to earn a record of 823 wins and 661 losses, with 3 pennants as manager, all with the Giants, retiring as a player in 1934 with a lifetime average of .341. But Francis was not to be a part of that streak. He spent a year in the minors at a time when money was scarce.

Somehow, miraculously, he wound up as a backup catcher behind Bill DeLancey (.316 with 13 homers that year!) on the 1934 “Gas House Gang” St. Louis Cardinals, under the management of another immortal player-manager, first baseman, Frankie Frisch, (who managed 2246 major league games and won 1138, not bad!) Francis Healy batted.308 on the season. (13 at bats). He played in 15 games, and as far as I can figure, must have caught at least one of the Dean brothers, or perhaps Dazzy Vance, Bill Hallahan, Tex Carleton, or one of the other great St. Louis pitchers. That team, powered by Dizzy and Paul Dean, won the pennant with 95 wins (95-58) Francis did not actually play in the World Series for the Cards, but watched from the sidelines, as his team beat the “G Men,” Gosling, Gehringer, and Greenberg, and the rest of the Tigers in seven games, one of the greatest series ever played.

But that was it for Francis. He packed it in. He eventually settled down and had kids. One of them later became the voice of the Mets, Fran Healy, who was born 12 years after his father’s exit from major league baseball.

Fast forward through the 1940s and 1950s, and let’s see the videotape for 1969, and look in on son Fran. Though his forebears had short careers, plagued by misfortune in some respects, Fran had a long and interesting career, following in his father’s footsteps as a catcher.

Fran Jr. got his first shot with the 2-year old Royals in 1970, under rookie manager Bob Lemon. He went 4 for 10 that year, giving him a batting average of .400, and didn’t make an error in 6 games. He was then traded to the Giants, the team that his father had caught for when they were in New York.

Fran Healy played two years for the San Francisco Giants, batting .280 in 1971.The Giants, under the watchful eye of manager Charlie Fox,. won the division in 1971 with 90 wins and played against Roberto Clemente and the Pirates in the NLCS, but lost 3 games to 1. Fran did not have an at-bat in the post season, like his father before him. He and the Giants had an off year in 1972, although he had four doubles in 45 at-bats. Then he was traded back to the Kansas City Royals. In 1973, in Kansas City again, under rookie manager Jack McKeon, he was a .276 hitter with 6 homers. That year the Royals landed in second, with 88 wins, but six games behind the team they replaced in KC, the now Oakland Athletics. On April 27th, Royals’ pitcher Steve Busby threw a no-hitter, the first no-hit pitcher not to bat, as the DH rule had just been introduced. (I do not know if Healy caught it, but he caught 92 games that year, so the odds are in his favor.) Then in 1974, (also under McKeon) he was a .252 hitter with 9 homers in 139 games, with a career high 53 RBIs. As luck would have it, the Royals had a very unregal year. In 1975, the Royals under McKeon and then Whitey Herzog, had an excellent year, and won 91 games, going 41 and 25 under Herzog in the final months of the season. The bad news is that the Oakland A’s won 98, almost an exact repeat of 1973, leaving the Royals 7 games behind. Healy played his part, and hit a respectable .255 with 2 homers.

Herzog shook up the team, and in early 1976, Healy was traded to the New York Yankees, and did well as a backup catcher for the indestructible Thurmon Munson, who led the team to the World Series, batting .302 with 17 homers with a .981 fielding percentage. Healy, playing under Billy Martin, batted .267, with a .983 fielding percentage, catching Ed Figueroa, Dock Ellis, Catfish Hunter, Grant Jackson, Dick Tidrow, Ron Guidry, and Sparky Lyle, when Munson was off duty. In 1976, the Yankees won the division, and beat his former team the Royals, for the pennant. That was the ALCS that ended with Chris Chambliss’ famous walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth, after Brett’s 3 run homer had tied it in the eight. Imagine being in the dugout, knowing nearly all the players on both teams personally, as Fran Healy must have.

The team lost to the Reds in four straight in the World Series, and Munson played every game, so Healy didn’t get to play, again part of a family tradition. (Even Elrod Hendricks didn’t get to catch, but pinch-hit twice)

The following year, 1977, the Yanks did well, winning their division again, with Munson doing most of the catching, hitting 308 for the season with 18 homers. It was a big year for Cajun star, Ron Guidry, aka “Louisiana Lightning.”. Perhaps Fran Healy caught his hot sauce fastball once or twice. They called it “The “Blew-By-You!” in honor of Linda Ronstad and Guidry’s Cajun ancestors. And Mike Torrez pitched a good fastball as well. Billy Martin and the Yanks faced the Royals again in the ALCS, but once again Healy didn’t play. The Yankees beat the Royals, 3 games to 2, and then beat the Dodgers 4 games to 2. Healy’s average declined to .224 that year and his fielding declined as well as Munson played in 149 regular season games and all of the post-season games.

Healy had only one at-bat in 1978 for the Yanks, the year of the Bucky Dent Home Run, the year Bob Lemon took over as manager, the year the Yanks beat the Royals and Dodgers again, almost an exact repeat of the year before. That at bat, he struck out, and decided to call it quits. Munson died in a plane crash after 97 games in 1979. If Fran had stayed and worked on his swing in the minors, who knows? Maybe he would have been called up to fill in. We’ll never know.

Healy eventually became an announcer, and made more fame for himself as an announcer than a player, in part for his dramatic coverage of the famed Bill Buckner error. He is now retiring, more or less, as the play-by-play announcer for the Mets, at the age of 59. He will celebrate his 60th birthday on September 6th of this year, a witness to a remarkable slice of baseball history.

Note: This article is posted awaiting comment from Fran Healy and the Healy family regarding the relationship between Thomas and Francis, and other details. EP

Spotlight on Warren Spahn and Tom Glavine

2006-09-21T19:18:00.000-07:00

Spawn of the Spahn, Tom Glavine
Copyright © 2006 Evan Pritchard

Tom Glavine had a little trouble adjusting to New York, and had the misfortune of joining the Mets just as they were entering their worst years of the 21st century. He had trouble getting people out for a few seasons. He hung in their and toughed out the bad times. Now he’s once again a dominant force in the National League, and is still on his way to the Hall of Fame and possibly more post-season excitement with the Mets, who now lead the so-so .500 (22 and 22) Braves by 4 ½ games, led in part by his 7-2 pitching, and above-.400 hitting.

When he was a child growing up in Concord, MA. he heard about the Braves’ great hurler Warren Spahn from his father who grew up not far from Boston, home of the Boston Braves until they moved to Milwaukee in 1953. Glavine once said he learned all about baseball from Warren Spahn through his father. Young Tommy wanted to be just like Warren Spahn when he grew up, and that dream has become another amazing fact at AMAZINE. Let’s compare their lifetime records.

Warren Spahn 4/23/21 Buffalo NY BL TL 6 foot 175 lbs. Debut, 4/19/1942, at the age of 20. (He turned 21 a few days later, and played out the season as a 21 year old.
Tom Glavine 3/25/66 Concord MA, BL TL 6’ 1” 190 lbs. Debut 8/17/87. He was 21

Pre-Rookie Year
Warren Spahn had a short, premature pre-rookie season in the majors, with the team of his destiny, the Braves. In 1942 Spahn went 0-0 4 games, 2 starts 15 innings pitched 25 hits, 0 HR 11 BB 7 SO with an ERA of 5.47. He batted .167. For most of that year he was 21. He did not reach the majors again for four years.
In 1987, Glavine also had a premature pre-rookie season with the same team, the Braves, now of Atlanta. He had a 2-4 record in 9 games. In 50 innings, he gave up 55 hits, 5 HR, 33 BB and 20 SO, with an ERA of 5.54. He was also 21. He batted .125.

Rookie Year
In1946, at the age of 25, Spahn returned to the Boston Braves and went 8-5, appearing in 24 games, 8 complete games, pitching a total of 125 innings, giving up 107 hits 6 HR, 36 BB 67 SO with an ERA of 2.94, excellent numbers. He batted .163.
Unlike Spahn, Glavine came right back the following year (in 1988) at the age of 22. He went 7-17 appearing in 34 games with one complete game, 195 innings pitched, 201 hits, 12 HR, 63 BB 84 SO and a 4.56 ERA, not Hall of Fame numbers. He batted only .183.

Sophomore Year
In1947 at the age of 26, Spahn went 21-10 for the Boston Braves, appearing in 40 games with 22 complete games, 7 shutouts, 245 hits 15 HR 84 BB 123 SO. He had a lead leading ERA of 2.33. He batted .163.
In 1989, at the age of 23, Glavine went 14-8 for the Braves, appearing in 29 games, with 6 complete games and 4 shutouts. He pitched 186 innings, giving up 172 hits, 20 HR, 40 BB, 90 SO and a 3.68 ERA. Note that Glavine had a much better walks to strikeouts percentage. Not bad! Glavine batted .149. Glavine’s father reminded Tom that Spahn became a 20 game winner in his second complete year. Tom fell six wins short in his.

Junior Year
In 1948, at the age of 27, Spahn went 15-12 appearing in 36 games for the Braves, with 16 complete games, and 3 shutouts, in 237 innings pitched. He gave up 19 HR, 77 BB, and marked up 114 SO. He posted an ERA of 3.17. He batted .167. In the World Series against Cleveland, he went 1 and 1 with a 3.00 ERA. He pitched 12 innings, with 10 hits, 4 earned runs, 3 walks and 12 strikeouts. He got an RBI at the plate as well. This was the World Series that inspired the famous baseball saying, “Spahn and Sain and pray for rain.” Like the current Mets team, the Braves had two great starters in Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain, but no one else to start. Those two got the only two wins the Braves enjoyed in the series against Cleveland, who had Bob Feller, Satchel Paige, and Bob Lemon. Ironically, Lemon got two of Cleveland’s four wins, the other two were turned in by Gene Bearden and Steve Gromek, not exactly household names.
In 1990, at the age of 24, Glavine went 10-12 in 33 appearances for the Braves, (one complete game, no shutouts) with 214 innings pitched. He gave up 232 hits, 18 homers, 78 BB 129 SO, and a 4.28 ERA. He batted .113. Glavine was not to make his World Series debut until the following year.
Note that both pitchers had approximately the same number of losses, homers, bases on balls, strikeouts, and innings pitched. In fact, Glavine gave up one less homer, and 5 less hits.

Fourth Year
In 1949, aged 28, Spahn went 21-14 (the most wins on the year for a National Leaguer), appearing in 38 games, with 25 complete games (he led the league in this category too), and 4 shutouts. He pitched a remarkable league-leading 302 innings, giving up 283 hits, only 27 homers, 86 BB versus 151 SO, and sporting a 3.07 ERA. He batted .162. He was already one of the most dominant names in baseball.
In 1991, at the age of 25 Glavine went 20 and 11, (he led the league with 20 wins) appearing in 34 games, leading the league with 9 complete games, and also had 1 shutout. He pitched 246 innings with 201 hits, only 17 homers, 69 BB, 192 SO, and sporting a 2.55 ERA. He batted .230 at the plate. Glavine went 0-2 in the NLCS with a 3.21 ERA, pitching 14 innings with 12 hits, 5 earned runs, 6 walks and 11 strikeouts. The Braves beat the Pirates 4-3, and went on to play the Twins in the World Series, whom they also beat 4-3. In his first World Series, like Spahn, Tom went 1 and 1, and gave up 4 earned runs. However Tom posted a lower ERA (2.70) and one complete game. He gave up 8 hits (2 less than Spahn) in 13.1 innings (1 more), with 7 walks (4 more) and 8 strikeouts (4 less) in his first World Series as opposed to Spahn. He also batted .250 at the plate.
Please note that Glavine bested his father’s pitching hero in some respects during the regular season, giving up 82 less hits, 10 less homers, 17 less bases on balls, getting 41 more strikeouts, and maintaining an ERA that was .52 points lower than Warren’s. In this critical fourth year, both led the league as a twenty game winner, and both led the league in complete games as well. When Tom called to tell his father he had won 20 games, Mr. Glavine reminded him that Spahn didn’t need to wait until his 4th year. However Glavine became a 20 game winner when he was only 25. Spahn was still a rookie at 25 and the 20 win years were still a year away.

Fifth Year
In 1950, at the age of 29, Spahn gave the Boston Braves another 20 win season, going 21-17, leading the league in wins. He appeared in 41 games, with a remarkable 25 complete games, and 1 shutout. He pitched in 293 innings, giving up 248 hits, 22 HR, 111 BB, getting a league leading 191 SO, and hosting a 3.16 ERA. He batted a healthy .217
Glavine at the age of 26, in 1992, also gave the Braves a 20 win year, going 20 and 8, also leading the league in wins. He appeared in 33 games, with 7 complete games and a league leading 5 shutouts. He pitched 225 innings, giving up 197 hits, only 6 HR, 70 BB versus 129 SO and hosting an ERA of 2.76. He batted a healthy .247.
Note that Glavine had an ERA that was .35 points lower than Spahns’ during their respective fifth years, and gave up 51 less hits, 16 less homers, 41 less bases on balls. His walk to strike out ratio was also better than Spahn’s. Glavine pitched in the 1992 NLCS, but went 0-2 with a 12.27 ERA. In the 1992 World Series, he went 1 and 1 giving up 3 earned runs (again similar to Spahn’s first Series), posting a 1.59 ERA thorugh 17 innings, ie 2 complete games. He gave up 10 hits 4 walks and got 8 strikeouts in that series against the victorious Blue Jays, who won 4 games to 2.

Sixth Year
In1951, at the age of 30, Spahn went 22 and14 for the Braves, appearing in 39 games, leading the league with both 26 complete games and 7 shutouts. He pitched a remarkable 310 innings, giving up 278 hits 20 HR, 109 BB and chalking up a league leading 164 SO while hosting a 2.98 ERA His batting average fell to .190
In 1993, at the age of 27, Glavine went 22 and 6, appearing in 36 games with 4 complete games, and two shutouts. He pitched 239 innings, giving up 236 hits, 16 homers, 90 BB, 120 SO, and posting a 3.20 ERA. His batting average fell to .173
Note that both pitchers were 22 game winners in their sixth year. Glavine gave up 4 less homers, and 19 less walks. Glavine’s ERA was .22 points higher, but still similar numbers in many respects.
In the 1993 NLCS, Glavine went 1-0 with a 2.57 ERA with 7 walks and 11 strikeouts, but the Braves lost to the Phillies, 4 games to 2 and were eliminated.

Seventh Year
Spahn, at the age of 31 and pitching in his seventh full year for the Braves in1952, coming off one of his greatest years, went only 14-19 in 40 games, a disappointing year, win-wise. Nonetheless, he pitched19 complete games, with 5 shutouts, giving up 263 hits, 19 homers, and 73 BB while striking out a league leading 183 SO. His ERA was a chilling 2.98. His own batting average was was .161. It was to be his last year pitching in Boston, as the Braves decided to move west to the Great Lakes and take up residence in Milwaukee.
In 1994, Glavine, at the age of 28, also went down in wins, posting a 13 and 9 record, one less win that Spahn had in his seventh year, but a much better win-loss percentage. In 25 appearances, Glavine pitched 2 complete games. He pitched 165 innings, with 173 hits, only 10 homers, 70 BB, 140 SO, and a 3.97 ERA. He batted .179.
Note the similar number of wins, and bases on balls. Also, Glavine had 9 less homers dealt, although the 43 difference in strikeouts is hard to ignore.
No World Series was played in 1994.

Eighth Year
Warren Spahn adjusted to a new city in 1953 with gusto, posting a league leading 23 and 7 record in his 32nd year. He appeared in 35 games, with 24 complete games and 5 shutouts. In 265 innings, he gave up 211 hits, 14 HR, 70 BB 148 SO, and unleashed a league-leading 2.10 ERA, certainly one of the better ERAs of modern times. His batting average was a healthy .219.
Glavine,in his eighth year, 1995, at the age of 29, went 16 and 7 in 29 appearances, with 3 complete games and 1 shutout. In 198 innings, he gave up 182 hits, 9 HR, 66 BB, 127 SO and had a 3.08 ERA. He batted .222, pretty good for a pitcher, and 3 points ahead of Spahn for his eighth year.
Note that both pitchers had the same number of losses in their eighth year, and similar number of walks. Glavine gave up 5 less homers, 4 less walks, but 21 less strikeouts. Although never a 2.10 pitcher, Tom Glavine did fall within one whole run of Spahn’s best year ERA.
In the NLDS in 1995, Glavine went 0-0 with a 2.57 ERA in 7 innings against the Rockies, and batted .333 at the plate. In the NLCS, the Braves beat the Reds 4 games to nothing. Tom Glavine went 0-0 but posted a remarkable 1.29 ERA in 7 innings, 5 strikeouts to 2 walks. In the 1995 World Series, the Braves defeated the Indians 4 games to 2. Glavine had a great series, going 2-0, with a 1.29ERA, giving up 2 earned runs in 14 innings, with 11 strikeouts to 6 walks.

Ninth Year
Warren Spahn, at the age of 33, in 1954, went 21 and 12, appearing in 39 games with a remarkable 23 complete games, with one shutout. He pitched 283 innings, giving up 262 hits, 24 HR, 86 BB, 136 SO, and hosting a 3.14 ERA. He batted .208.
Glavine, in his ninth year, (1996) at the age of 30, went 15 and 10 in 36 appearances with one complete game. He pitched 235 innings, giving up 222 hits, 14 HR, 85 BB, getting 181 SO, and sporting a 2.98 ERA. He batted .289 on the season, earning a reputation as a great hitting pitcher.
Note that Glavine had less bases on balls but 45 more strikeouts than Spahn. Glavine also had 2 less losses in 3 less appearances. He gave up 40 less hits, 10 less homers, and achieved an ERA that was .16 points less than that of Spahn’s for the corresponding year.
In the NLDS, the Braves bested the Dodgers 3-0. Glavine went 1-0 with a 1.35 ERA, with 7 strikeouts to 3 walks, one earned run in 6.2 innings. He also batted .500 in 2 at bats. In the NLCS, the Braves beat the Cards 4 games to 3. Glavine went 1-1 with a 2.08 ERA, 3 earned runs in 13 innings, 10 hits 9 strikeouts to no walks. That led to the classic World Series between the Yankees and Braves, which the Yankees won 4 games to 2. Glavine went 0-1 with a 1.29 ERA over 7 innings, with one earned run, 4 hits and 8 strikeouts to 3 walks. Compare this series to Spahn’s 1958 post-season, where he had a 2.20 ERA in a losing effort to the Yankees, who won the Series, 4 games to 3.

Intermission
This ends part one of the comparisons between Warren Spahn and the “Spawn of Spahn, Tom Glavine,” covering the first 10 seasons. Watch for part two in an upcoming posting, when we will compare Spahn’s 1955 through 1965 seasons with Glavine’s 1997 through 2005 seasons. Spahn got to pitch again in the World Series as the Braves defeated the Yankees in 1957 (1 and 1, 4.70 ERA) and lost to the Yankees in 1958 (2 and 1, 2.20 ERA) Both pitchers are known for winning in a losing effort against the Yankees in World Series play. In 1958 Spahn helped his own cause immensely with 38 base hits on the year for an amazing .333 batting average, which carried over into his World Series play, going 4 for 12 (.333) against the Yankees’Whitey Ford. Interestingly, at the end of his career, Spahn left the Braves, his lifelong team, to join the New York Giants, the team that more than any other is the predecessor of today’s Metropolitans. He even wore the old Giants’ baseball cap with what is now the Mets logo on it. Interesting!

Greatest World Series Lineups

2006-09-21T18:49:00.000-07:00

1951 DODGERS (never made world series)

POS..........PLAYER …………AVE……….RBI…….HR
1st B .....Gil Hodges………...268………….103……….40
2nd B ...Jackie Robinson….338…………..88……….19
SS...... ...Pee Wee Reese …….286 ……...…84………10
3rd B .....Billy Cox ……….......279………...51 ……… 9
LF ........Andy Pafko………....255 …….…..93……. 30
CF ........Duke Snider …….....277…………101…...29
RF .......Carl Furilo ………....295……………91 …….16
C .........Roy Campanella ….325……………108………33

1967 CARDS (beat Red Sox 4-3)
POS PLAYER
SS …Dal Maxville
C… Tim McCarver
OF …Lou Brock
OF…Curt Flood
2nd B Julian Javier
OF Roger Maris
3rd Mike Shannon
2nd B Orlando Cepeda

1968 TIGERS (beat St. Louis, 4-3)
POS PLAYER
1st B Norm Cash
C..Bill Freehand
OF Willie Horton
RF Al Kaline
2nd B Dick McAuliffe
OF Jim Northrup
SS Ray Oyler(Mickey Stanley)
3rd Dick Tracewski(Don Wert)

1976 REDS (Beat Yankees 4-0)
POS PLAYER
C Johnny Bench
SS Dave Concepcion
OF George Foster
OF Ken Griffey
2nd B Joe Morgan
1st B Tony Perez
3rd B Pete Rose
OF Cesar Geronimo

1975 RED SOX (Reds beat them 4-3)
SS Rick Burleson
2nd Bernie Carbo/Denny Doyle
1st B Carl Yaztremski/Cecil Cooper
OF Dwight Evans
C Carlton Fisk
OF Fred Lynn
3rd Rico Petrocelli
OF Juan Beniquez

1932 YANKEES (Beat Cubs 4-0)
OF Ben Chapman
OF Earle Combs
SS .Frank Crosetti
C Bill Dickey
1st B Lou Gehrig
2nd B Tony Lazzeri
OF Babe Ruth
3rd B Joe Sewell

1934 CARDINALS (Beat Tigers 4-3)
1st B Ripper Colins
C Bill Delancy
SS Leo Durocher
2nd B Frankie Frisch
OF Chuck Fulis
3rd B Pepper Martin
OF Joe Medwick
OF Jack Rothrock

1935 TIGERS (Beat Cubs 4-2)
3rd B Flea Clifton
C Mickey Cochrane
OF Pete Fox
2nd B Charlie Gehringer
OF Goose Goslin
1st B Hank Greenberg
SS Billy Rogell
OF Jo-Jo White

Most Hits In a Season; 20th Century

2006-09-21T18:22:00.000-07:00

THE 200 HIT CLUB IN THE 20th CENTURY
In 1900, baseball was just emerging from the primordial ooze of 300 hit hitters and 400 inning pitchers. In 1900, Wee Willie Keeler of The Brooklyn Superbas got 209 hits. The same year, Jesse Burkett of the St. Louis Cardinals hit 203. Honus Wagner of the Pirates hit 201 and Elmer Flick of the Phillies hit an even 200. The American league was created on day one of the new century, in 1901 and things were beginning to settle down into recognizable life forms. The century that followed will always be the foundation of baseball history.
Here is a complete list as far as I know of all the 200+ hitters during the century. As you read through the names on this list, notice how many have the resonance of ancient heroes of mythology and stir the ancestral blood of the true baseball fan. There is an unforgettable quality about a 200 hit hitter, and I believe Reyes has that quality and that he will make it into the immortal band, God and the ghost of Charlie Shea willing.
In each case I’ve listed the National League first, high to low, then the American. In 1914, a Mr. Somebody Kauff hit 211 for some team in Indiana for the Federal League, but that league went the way of the dodo.
An asterisk means the player was inducted to the Hall of Fame. The names in caps are players that were Mets at some time in history. The number at the end is their historical numerical order. Instead of trying to determine who hit their 200th on what day, they are numbered high to low, National League to American, by year. For example in 1920 Rogers Hornsby became only the 16th player in the 20th century to hit 200; In 1923 Pie Traynor became only the 40th.

1901 Jesse Burkett, St. Louis Cards 226 * #1
1901 “Wee Willie” Keeler, Brooklyn Superbas 202 * #2
1901 “Nap” LaJoie, Cleveland (Naps) 232 * #3
1902 NOBODY
1903 “Ginger” (Clarence) Beaumont, Pittsburgh Pirates 209 #4
1904 “Nap” LaJoie, Cleveland (Naps) 208 *
1905 “Cy” Seymour, Cincinnati Reds 219 #5
1905 Mike Donlin, New York Giants 216 #6
1906 “Nap” LaJoie Cleveland Indians 214 *
1906 George Stone St. Louis Cards 208 #7
1907 Ty Cobb Detroit Tigers 212 * #8
1908 Honus “The Flying Dutchman” Wagner Pitts Pirates 201 * #9
1909 Ty Cobb Detroit Tigers 216 *
1910 “Nap” LaJoie Cleveland Indians 227 *
1911 Ty Cobb Detroit Tigers 248 *
1911 “Shoeless Joe” Jackson Cleveland Indians 233 * #10
1911 Sam “Wahoo” Crawford Detroit Tigers 217 * #11
1912 Heinie Zimmerman Chicago Cubs 207 #12
1912 Bill Sweeney Boston Braves 204 #13
1912 “Shoeless Joe” Jackson Cleveland Indians 226 *
1912 Ty Cobb Detroit Tigers 226 *
1912 Tris “Grey Eagle” Speaker Boston Red Sox 222 * #14
1912 Frank “Home Run” Baker Philadelphia Phillies 200 * #15
1913 NOBODY1914 NOBODY1915 Ty Cobb Detroit Tigers 208 *
1916 Tris Speaker Cleveland Indians 211 *
1916 “Shoeless” Joe Jackson Chicago White Sox 202 *
1916 Ty Cobb Detroit Tigers 201 *
1917 Ty Cobb Detroit Tigers 225 *
1918 NOBODY
1919 NOBODY
1920 Rogers “The Rajah” Hornsby St. Louis Cards 218 *
#161920 Ross Youngs New York Giants 204 * #17
1920 Milt Stock St. Louis Cards 204 #18(father in law of Eddie Stanky)
1920 Gorgious George Sisler St. Louis Browns 257 * #19
1920 Eddie “Cocky” Collins Chicago White Sox 224 * #20
1920 “Shoeless Joe” Jackson Chicago White Sox 218 *
1920 “Baby Doll” Jacobsen St. Louis Browns 216 #21
1920 Tris “Grey Eagle” Speaker Cleveland Indians 214 *
1920 Sam “Man O’War” Rice Washington Senators 211 * #22
1920 “Buck” Weaver Chicago White Sox 208 #23
1920 Jack Tobin St. Louis Browns 202 #24
1921 Rogers “The Rajah” Hornsby St. Louis Cards 235 *
1921 Frankie Frisch (The Fordham Flash) New York Giants 211 * #25
1921 “Skeeter” (Carson) Bigbee Pittsburgh Pirates 204 #26
1921 Jimmy Johnston Brooklyn Dodgers 203 #27
1921 Austin McHenry St. Louis Cards 201 #28
1921 Harry “Slug” Heilmann Detroit Tigers 237 * #29
1921 Jack Tobin St. Louis Browns 236
1921 Gorgeous George Sisler St. Louis Browns 216 *
1921 “Baby Doll” Jacobsen, St. Louis Browns 211 #30
1921 Bobby Veach Detroit Tigers 207 #31
1921 “Babe” Ruth New York Yankees 204 * #32
1922 Rogers Hornsby St. Louis Cards 250 *
1922 “Skeeter” Bigbee Pittsburgh Pirates 215
1922 Dave Bancroft New York Giants 209 * #33
1922 “Scoops” (Max) Carey Pittsburgh Pirates 207 * #34
1922 Jake Daubert Cincinnati Reds 205 #35
1922 “Zack” Wheat Brooklyn Dodgers 201 * #36
1922 “Irish” Meusel NY Giants 204 #37
1922 Charlie Hollocher Chicago Cubs 201 #38
1922 Gorgeous George Sisler St. Louis Browns 246 *
1922 Ty Cobb Detroit Tigers 211 *
1922 Jack Tobin St. Louis Browns 207
1922 Bobby Veach Detroit Tigers 202
1923 Frankie Frisch New York Giants 223 *
1923 “Jigger” Statz Chicago Cubs 209 #39
1923 “Pie” (Harold) Traynor Pittsburgh Pirates 208 * #40
1923 Jimmy Johnston Brooklyn Dodgers 203 #41
1923 Ross Youngs New York Giants 200 * #42
1923 Charlie Jamieson Cleveland Indians 222 #43
1923 Tris Speaker Cleveland Indians 218 *
1923 Harry “Slug” Heilmann Detroit Tigers 211 *
1923 “Babe” Ruth New York Yankees 205 *
1923 Jack Tobin St. Louis Browns 202
1924 Rogers Hornsby St. Louis Cards 227 *
1924 “Zack” Wheat Brooklyn Dodgers 212 *
1924 Sam “Man O’War” Rice Washington Senators 216 *
1924 Charlie Jamieson Cleveland Indians 213
1924 Ty Cobb Detroit Tigers 211 *
1924 Babe Ruth New York Yankees 200 *
1925 “Sunny Jim” Bottomley St. Louis Cards 227 * #44
1925 “Zack” Wheat Brooklyn Dodgers 221 *
1925 “Kiki” Cuyler Pittsburgh Pirates 220 *
#451925 Rogers “The Rajah” Hornsby St. Louis Cards 203 *
1925 Milt Stock Brooklyn Dodgers 202
1925 Bill Lamar Philadelphia Phillies 202 #46
1925 Dick Burrus Boston Braves 200 #47
1925 Al Simmons Philadelphia Athletics 253 * #48
1925 Sam “Man O’War” Rice Washington Senators 227 *
1925 George Sisler St. Louis Browns 224 *
1925 Harry “Slug” Heilmann Detroit Tigers 225 *
1925 “Goose” Goslin Washington Senators 201 * #49
1925 Joe Sewell Cleveland Indians 204 * #50
1925 Earle “The Kentucky Colonel” Combs NY Yankees 203 * # 51
1926 Eddie Brown Boston Braves 201 #52
1926 Sam “Man O’War” Rice Wasington Senators 216 *
1926 George Burns Cleveland Indians 216 #53
1926 “Goose” Goslin Washington Senators 201 *
1927 Paul “Big Poison” Waner Pittsburgh Pirates 237 * #54
1927 Lloyd “Little Poison” Waner Pittsburgh Pirates 223 * #55
1927 Frankie “Fordham Flash” Frisch St. Louis Cards 206 *
1927 Rogers “The Rajah” Hornsby New York Giants 205 *
1927 Earle “The Kentucky Colonel” Combs New York Yankees 231 *
1927 Lou Gehrig New York Yankees 218 * #56
1927 Gorgeous George Sisler St. Louis Browns 201 *
1927 Harry ‘Slug” Heilmann Detroit Tigers 201 *
1928 Freddy Lindstrom New York Giants 231 * #57
1928 Paul “Big Poison” Waner Pittsburgh Pirates 223 *
1928 Lloyd “Little Poison” Waner Pittsburgh Pirates 221 *
1928 Lance Richbourg Boston Braves 206 #58
1928 Heinie Manush St. Louis Browns 241 *
1928 Lou Gehrig New York Yankees 210 *
1928 Sam “Man O’War” Rice Washington Senators 202 *
1929 “Lefty” O’Doul Philadelphia Phillies 254 * #59
1929 Lloyd “Little Poison” Waner Pittsburgh Pirates 234 *
1929 Rogers “The Rajah” Hornsby Chicago Cubs 229 *
1929 Bill Terry New York Giants 226 * #60
1929 Chuck Klein Philadelphia Phillies 219 * #61
1929 Billy “Babe” Herman Brooklyn Dodgers 219 * #62
1929 Taylor Douthit St. Louis Cards 206 #63
1929 Johnny Frederick Brooklyn Dodgers 206 #64
1929 George Sisler St. Louis Browns 205 *
1929 “Fresco” Thompson Philadelphia Phillies 202 #65
1929 Paul “Big Poison” Waner Pittsburgh Pirates 200 *
1929 “Pinky” Whitney Philadelphia Phillies 200 #66
1929 Charlie Gehringer Detroit Tigers 215 * #67
1929 Dale Alexander Detroit Tigers 215 #68
1929 Al Simmons Philadelphia As, 212 *1929
Lew Fonseca Cleveland Indians 209 #69
1929 Heinie Manush St. Louis Browns 204*
1929 Earle Combs NY Yankees 202 *
1929 Roy Johnson Detroit Tigers 201 #70
1930 Bill Terry New York Giants 254 *
1930 Chuck Klein Philadelphia Phillies 250 *
1930 Billy “Babe” Herman Brooklyn Dodgers 241 *
1930 Freddy Lindstrom New York Giants 231 *
1930 “Kiki” Cuyler Chicago Cubs 228 *
1930 Paul “Big Poison” Waner Pittsburgh Pirates 217 *
1930 “Woody” English Chicago Cubs 214 #71
1930 “Hack” Wilson Chicago Cubs 208 * #72
1930 “Pinky” Whitney Philadelphia Phillies 207
1930 “Lefty” O’Doul Philadelphia Phillies 202 *
1930 Taylor Douthit St. Louis Cardinals 201 *
1930 Johnny Hodapp Cleveland Indians 225 #73
1930 Lou Gehrig New York Yankees 220 *
1930 Al Simmons Philadelphia Athletics 211 *
1930 Sam “Man O’War” Rice Washington Senators 207 *
1930 Ed Morgan Cleveland Indians 204 #74
1930 Joe Cronin Washington Senators 203 * #75
1930 Charlie Gehringer Detroit Tigers 201 *
1931 Lloyd “Little Poison” Waner Pittsburgh Pirates 214 *
1931 Bill Terry New York Giants 213 *
1931 Woody English Chicago Cubs 202
1931 “Kiki” Cuyler Chicago Cubs 202 *
1931 Chuck Klein Philadelphia Phillies 200 *
1931 Lou Gehrig New York Yankees 211*
1931 Earl Averil Cleveland Indians 209 * #76
1931 Al Simmons Philadelphia Athletics 200 *
1932 Chuck Klein Philadelphia Phillies 226 *
1932 Bill Terry New York Giants 225 *
1932 “Lefty” O’Doul Brooklyn Dodgers 219 *
1932 Paul “Big Poison” Waner Pittsburgh Pirates 215 *
1932 Billy “Babe” Herman Chicago Cubs 206 *
1932 Al Simmons Philadelphia Athletics 216 *
1932 Heinie Manush Washington Senators 214 *
1932 Jimmy “The Beast” Foxx Philadelphia Athletics 213 * #77
1932 Lou Gehrig New York Yankees 208 *
1933 Chuck Klein Philadelphia Phillies 223 *
1933 “Chick” Fullis Philadelpiha Phillies 200 #78
1933 Heinie Manush Washington Senators 221 *
1933 Charlie Gehringer Detroit Tigers 204 *
1933 Jimmy “The Beast” Foxx Philadelphia Athletics 204 *
1933 Al Simmons Philadelphia Athletics 200 *
1934 Paul “Big Poison” Waner Pittsburgh Pirates 217 *
1934 Bill Terry New York Giants 213 *
1934 “Ripper” Collins St. Louis 200 #79
1934 Charlie Gehringer Detroit Tigers 214 *
1934 Lou Gehrig New York Yankees 210 *
1934 Hal Trosky Cleveland Indians 206 #80
1934 “Doc” Cramer Philadelphia Athletics 202 #81
1934 “Hammerin” Hank Greenberg Detroit Tigers 201* #82
1934 Billy Werber Boston Red Sox 200 #83
1935 Billy “Babe” Herman Chicago Cubs 227 *
1935 “Ducky” Medwick St. Louis Cards 224 * #84
1935 Bill Terry New York Giants 203 *
1935 Hank Leiber New York Giants 203 #85
1935 Augie Galan Chicago Cubs 203 #86
1935 “Woody” Jensen Pittsburgh Pirates 203 #87
1935”Jo-Jo” Moore New York Giants 201 #88
1935 Joe Vosmik Cleveland Indians 216 #89
1935 “Buddy” Myer Washington Senators 215 #90
1935 “Doc” Cramer Philadelphia Athletics 214 #91
1935 “Hammerin’” Hank Greenberg Detroit Tigers 203 *
1935 Charlie Gehringer Detroit Tigers 201 *
1936 “Ducky” Medwick St. Louis Cards 235 *
1936 Paul Waner Pittsburgh Pirates 218 *
1936 Frank Demaree Chicago Cubs 212 #92
1936 “Babe” Herman Brooklyn Dodgers 211 *
1936 “Jo-Jo” Moore NY Giants 205
1936 Earl Averill Cleveland Indians 232 *
1936 Charlie Gehringer Detroit Tigers 227 *
1936 Hal Trosky Cleveland Indians 216 #93
1936 “Beau” Bell St. Louis Browns 212 #94
1936 “Rip” Radcliff Chicago White Sox 207 #95
1936 Lou Gehrig New York Yankees 205 *
1936 Wally Moses Philadelphia As 202 #96
1937 “Ducky” Medwick St. Louis Cards 237 *
1937 Paul “Big Poison” Waner Pittsburgh Pirates 219 *
1937 Johnny Mize St. Louis Cards 204 * #97
1937 “Beau” Bell St. Louis Browns 218
1937 “Joltin;” Joe DiMaggio New York Yankees 215 * #98
1937 “Gee” Walker Detroit Tigers 213 #99
1937 “Buddy” Lewis Washington Senators 210 #100
1937 Charlie Gehringer Detroit Tigers 209 *
1937 Wally Moses Philadelphia A’s 208
1937 Pete Fox Detroit Tigers 208 #101
1937 “Hammerin’”Hank Greenberg Detroit Tigers 200 *
1937 Lou Gehrig NY Yankees 200 *
1938 Frank McCormick Cincinnati 209 #102
1938 Joe Vosmick Boston Red Sox 201 #103
1939 Frank McCormick Cincinnati 209
1939 “Ducky” Medwick St. Louis Cards 201 *
1939 “Red” Rolfe New York Yankees 213 #104
1940 “Rip” Radcliff St. Louis Browns 200 #105
1940 Barney McKosky Detroit Tigers 200 #106
1940 “Doc” Cramer Boston Red Sox 200#107
1941 Cecil Travis Washington Senators 218 #108
1942 Johnny Pesky Boston Red Sox 205 1942
Stan Spence Washington Senators 203 #109
1943 Stan “The Man” Musial St. Louis Cards 220 *
1943 Dick Wakefield Detroit Tigers 200 #110
1944 “Snuffy” Stimweiss New York Yankees 205 #111
1945 Tommy Holmes Boston Braves 224 #112
1946 Stan “The Man” Musial St. Louis Cards 228 *
1946 Johnny Pesky Boston Red Sox 2008
1946 Mickey Vernon Washington Senators 207 #113
1947 Johnny Pesky Boston Red Sox 207
1948 Stan “The Man” Musial St. Louis Cards 230 *
1948 Bob Dillinger St. Louis Browns 207 #114
1948 Dale Mitchell Cleveland Indians 204 #115
1949 Stan “The Man” Musial St. Louis Cards 207 *
1949 Jackie Robinson Brooklyn Dodgers 203 * #116
1949 Dale Mitchell Cleveland Indians 203
1950 George Kell Detroit Tigers 218 * #117
1950 Phil “Scooter” Rizzuto New York Yankees 200 * 118
1951 Richie Ashburn Philadelphia Phillies 221 * #119
1951 Stan “The Man” Musial St. Louis Cards 205 *
1952 NOBODY
1953 Richie Ashburn Philadephia Phillies 205 *
1953 Stan “The Man” Musial St. Louis Cards 200 *
1953 Harvey Kuenn Detroit Tigers 209 #120
1953 Mickey Vernon Washington Senators 205
1953 Al Rosen Cleveland Indians 201 #121
1954 Don Mueller New York Giants 212 #122
1954 Harvey Kuenn Detroit Tigers 201
1954 Nellie Fox Chicago White Sox 201 * #123
1955 Al Kaline Detroit Tigers 200 * #124 (50th Hall of Famer to hit 200 plus hits)
1956 Hank Aaron Milwaukee Braves 200 * #125
1957 “Red” Shoendeist New York Giants 200 * #126
1958 Richie Ashburn Philadelphia Phillies 215 *
1958 WILLIE MAYS San Francisco Giants 208 * #127
1959 Hank Aaron Milwaukee Braves 223 * #128
1959 Vada Pinson Cincinnati Reds 205 #129
1960 NOBODY
LONGER SEASON
1961 Vada Pinson Cincinnati Reds 208
1961 Roberto Clemente Pittsburgh Pirates 201 * #130
1962 Tommy Davis LA Dodgers 246 #131
1962 Maury Wills LA Dodgers 208 #132
1962 Frank Robinson Cincinnati Reds 208 * #133
1962 Bobby Richardson New York Yankees 209 #134
1963 Vada Pinson Cincinnati Reds 204
1963 Dick Groat St. Louis Cards 201 #135
1963 Hank Aaron Milwaukee Braves 201 *
1963 Bill White St. Louis Cards 200 #136
1963 Curt Flood St. Louis Cards 200 #137
1964 Curt Flood St. Louis Cards 211
1964 Roberto Clemente Pittsburgh Pirates 211 *
1964 Billy Williams Chicago Cubs 201 * #138
1964 Richie Allen Philadelphia Phillies 201
1964 Lou Brock Chi-St. Louis Cards 200 * #139
1964 Tony Oliva Minnesota Twins 217 * #140
1965 Pete Rose Cincinnati Reds 209 ** #141
1965 Vada Pinson Cincinnati Reds 204
1965 Billy Williams Chicago Cubs 203 *
1966 Felipe Alou Atlanta Braves 218 #142
1966 Pete Rose Cincinnati Reds 205 **
1966 Roberto Clemente Pittsburgh Pirates 202 *
1967 Roberto Clemente Pittsburgh Pirates 209 *
1967 Lou Brock St. Louis Cards 206 *
1968 Pete Rose Cincinnati Reds 210 **
1968 Felipe Alou Atlanta Braves 210
1969 Matty Alou Pittsburgh Pirates 231 #143
1969 Pete Rose Cincinnati Reds 218 **
1970 Billy William Chicago Cubs 205 *
1970 Pete Rose Cincinnati Reds 205 **
1970 Joe Torre St. Louis Cards 203 #144
1970 Lou Brock St. Louis Cards 202 *
1970 Matty Alou Pittsburgh Pirates 201
1970 Bobby Bonds San Fran Giants 200 #145
1970 Tony Oliva Minnesota Twins 204 * #146
1970 Alex Johnson California Angels 202 #147
1971 Joe Torre St. Louis Cards 230
1971 Ralph Garr Atlanta Braves 219 #148
1971 Lou Brock St. Louis Cards 200 *
1971 Ceasar Tovar Minnesota Twins 204 #149th man, 300th time.
1972 NOBODY
1973 Pete Rose Cincinnati Reds 230 **
1973 Ralph Garr Atlanta Braves 200
1973 Rod Carew Minnesota Twins 203 * #150
1974 Ralph Garr Atlanta Braves 214
1974 Dave Cash Philadelphia Phillies 206 #151
1974 Steve Garvey LA Dodgers 200 #151
1974 Rod Carew Minnesota Twins 218 *
1975 Dave Cash Philadelphia Phillies 213
1975 Pete Rose Cincinnati Reds 210 **
1975 Steve Garvey LA Dodgers 210
1976 Pete Rose Cincinnati Reds 215 **
1976 Willie Montanez SF/Atlanta Braves 206 #152
1976 Steve Garvey LA Dodgers 200
1976 George Brett KC Royals 215 * #153
1976 Rod Carew Minnesota Twins 200 *
1977 Dave Parker Pittsburgh Pirates 215 #154
1977 Pete Rose Cincinnati Reds 204 **
1977 Gary Templeton St. Louis Cards 200 #155
1977 Rod Carew Minnesota Twins 239 *
1977 Ron Le Flore Detroit Tigers 212 #156
1977 Jim Rice Boston Red Sox 206 #157
1978 Steve Garvey LA Dodgers 202
1978 Jim Rice Boston Red Sox 213
1979 Gary Templeton St. Louis Cards 211
1979 KIETH HERNANDEZ St. Louis Cards 210 #158
1979 Pete Rose Cincinnati Reds 203 **
1979 Steve Garvey LA Dodgers 204
1979 George Brett KC Royals 212 *
1979 Jim Rice Boston Red Sox 201
1979 .Buddy Bell Texas Rangers 200 #159 (330th time)
1980 Steve Garvey LA Dodgers 200
1980 Willie Wilson KC Royals 230 #160
1980 Cecil Cooper Milwaukee Brewers 219 #161
1980 Mickey Rivers Toronto Blue Jays 210 #162
1980 Al Oliver Texas Rangers 209 #163
1980 Al Bumbry Baltimore Orioles #164
1981 NOBODY
1982 Al Oliver Montreal Expos 204
1982 Bill Buckner Chicago Cubs 201 #165
1982 Robin Yount Milwaukee Brewers 210 * #166
1982 Cecil Cooper Milwaukee Brewers 205
1982 Paul Molitor Milwaukee Brewers 201 * #167
1983 Cal Ripken Baltimore Orioles 211 #168
1983 Wade Boggs Boston Red Sox 210 * #16
91983 Lou Whitaker Detroit Tigers 206 #170
1983 Cecil Cooper Milwaukee Brewers 203
1984 Tony Gwynn San Diego Padres 213 * #171
1984 Ryne Sandberg Chicago Cubs 200 * #172
1984 Don Mattingly New York Yankees 207 #173
1984 Wade Boggs Boston Red Sox 203 *
1985 Willie McGee St. Louis Cards 216 #174
1985 Wade Boggs Boston Red Sox 240 *
1985 Don Mattingly New York Yankees 211
1985 Bill Buckner Boston Red Sox 201
1986 Tony Gwynn San Diego Padres 211 *
1986 Steve Sax LA 210 #175
1986 Don Mattingly New York Yankees 238
1986 Kirby Puckett Minnesota Twins 223 * #176
1986 Tony Fernandez Toronto Blue Jays 213 #177
1986 Wade Boggs Boston Red Sox 207 *
1986 Joe Carter Cleveland Indians 200 #178
1986 Jim Rice Boston Red Sox 200
1987 Tony Gwynn San Diego Padres 218 *
1987 Kevin Seitzer KC Royals 207 #179
1987 Kirby Puckett Minnesota Twins 207 *
1987 Alan Trammell Detroit Tigers 205 #180
1987 Wade Boggs Boston Red Sox 200 *
1988 Kirby Puckett Minnesota Twins 234 *
1988 Wade Boggs Boston Red Sox 214 *
1989 Tony Gwynn San Diego 203 *
1989 Kirby Puckett Minnesota Twins 215 *
1989 Steve Sax New York Yankees 205
1989 Wade Boggs Boston Red Sox 205 * (372nd time)
1990 NOBODY
1991 Paul Molitor Minnesota Twins 206 *
1991 Cal Ripken Baltimore Orioles 210
1991 Reuben Sierra Texas Rangers 203 #1811991 Raphael Palmiero Texas Rangers 203 #182
1991 JULIO FRANCO Texas Rangers 201 #183
1992 Kirby Puckett Minnesota Twins 210 *
1992 Carlos Baerga Cleveland Indians 205 #184
1993 Paul Molitor Toronto Blue Jays 211 *
1993 JOHN OLERUD Toronto Blue Jays 200 #185
1993 Carlos Baerga Cleveland Indians 200
1994 NOBODY
1995 NOBODY
1996 LANCE JOHNSON NEW YORK METS 227 #186
1996 Ellis Burks Colorado Rockies 211 #187
1996 Marquis Grissom Atlanta Braves 207 #188
1996 Paul Grudzialanek Montreal Expos 201 #189
1996 Paul Molitor Minnesota Twins 225 *
1996 Alex “Arod” Rodriguez Seattle Mariners 210 #190
1996 Kenny Lofton Cleveland Indians 210 #191
1996 MO VAUGHN Boston Red Sox 207 #192 (390th time)
1997 Tony Gwynn San Diego Padres 220 *
1997 Nomar Garciaparra Boston Red Sox 209 #193
1997 Larry Walker Colorado Rockies 208 #194
1997 MIKE PIAZZA LA Dodgers 201 #195
1998 Dante Bishette Colorado Rockies 219 #196
1998 Craig Biggio Houston Astros 210 #197
1998 Vinnie Castilla Colorado Rockies 206 #198
1998 Vladimir Guerrero Montreal Expos 202 #199
1998 Alex “Arod” Rodriguez Seattle Mariners 213
1998 MO VAUGHN Boston Red Sox 205 (400th time)
1998 Derek Jeter New York Yankees 203 #200
1998 Albert Bell Chicago White Sox 200 #201
1999 Luis Gonzalez Arizona Diamondbacks 206 #202
1999 Doug Glanville Philadelphia Phillies 204 #203
1999 Derek Jeter New York Yankees 219
1999 Brandon Surhoff Baltimore Orioles 207 #204
1999 Randy Velarde Oakland A’s 200 #205
2000 Todd Helton Colorado Rockies 216 #206
2000 Jose Vidro Montreal Expos 200 #207
2000 Darin Erstad LA Angels 240 #208
2000 Johnny Damon Boston Red Sox 214 #209
2000 Mike Sweeney Kansas City Royals 206 #210
2000 Derek Jeter New York Yankees 201 (413th time in the 20th Century that a player hit 200 or more hits in a season)
* Inducted into the Hall of Fame
** Kept out of the Hall for other reasons than baseball

Greatest Seasons Ever Pitched

2006-09-21T18:08:00.000-07:00

THE GREATEST SEASONS EVER PITCHED FOR STARTING PITCHERS
Copyright © 2006 Evan Pritchard

Here is something different for all you statfreaks, the AMAZINE Virtual Hall of Fame, Hall of Records, Best GLAV Years Ever Pitched for Starters, in score order.
The word GLAV stands for Games x Logarithmic Average = Value. The use of this stat is to calculate the actual value of a given starter to his team, combining quality and quantity into one number for comparison's sake. It is also designed to be a tribute to Tom Glavine, a long-innings starter with a low ERA (in other words, a high IPR). You will only find this stat at Amazine, the home of the Glav stat.
Here is the formula for calculating GLAVine points; innings pitched divided by earned runs = IPR (innings per run). Innings pitched divided by 9 = G or 9 inning games. IPR x G = GLAVine points. 100 Glavine Points for a season is One Glav, and earns you an entry into the AMAZINE You Gotta Believe It or Not Virtual Hall of Fame. (see previous article of August 21st) Here is our Starting Pitcher's Virtual Hall of Fame list, starting with the best years. If you know of a major league starting pitcher in history who broke 100 Glavine Points in a season, let us know, and we'll add him to the list. We will also look at who has the best shot this year for the AMAZINE Virtual Hall of Fame in a later update.
This system is very useful for determining how good a legendary season in pitching really was in comparison to other legendary seasons. It helps unboggle the mind in grasping the difference between two mind-boggling seasons.
For example, Babe Ruth's 1916 pitching season was one of the greatest; how great? Well, taking ERA and innings pitched equally into account, it was better than Christy Mathewson's 1904 season by a nose, but not quite as good as Carl Hubbell's amazing 1933 season for the Giants, by a thread. How good was Denny McLain's 30 game winning performance in 1968, the Year of the Tiger and the Year of the Pitcher as well? Just a bit better than Bob Feller's 1946 Season of the Unhittable Fastball, but not quite as good as Cy Young's 1907 season, which was far from Cy's worst year. How good was Pedro in 1997? Better than Cy Young in 1893, better than he himself later pitched in 2000, and even better than Nolan Ryan did in 1972. How great was Christy Mathewson? He pitched the second best year ever in 1905, and also the fifth best as well, in 1909. Was Ojibway pitcher Chief Bender really good enough for the Hall of Fame? Well in 1913 he gave a run every 4.08 innings, (that's Cy Young territory!) and had a total of 107.3 Glavine points, proving he could go long distance. How hot was Fernando Valenzuela when he made a big comeback for the Dodgers in 1985? A tenth of a Glavine point behind Bob Feller's legendary 1947 season for the Indians.
How good was Steve Carlton in 1972? Only five men have ever pitched better! And no one had had a better season since 1933. How good was Walter Johnson in 1910? The best that ever was! In fact, Johnson scored double GLAVs (over 200 Glavine points) on five occasions. Cy Young only did it three times. Walter Johnson had less post-season exposure in the Fall Classic, but during the long days of summer, Walt "The Long Train" was better than "The Cyclone" by a mile. Walter had 5 seasons in the top 10 and 10 in the top 27. Cy Young had only 7 seasons in the top 27 by comparison, using the GLAVine point system.
These stats do not include post season play which in fact do add alot to the legendary character of a given season in the mind of the erudite baseball fan. We'll work on that.
(Note: In an earlier posting you can view these stats chronologically.IPR means "Innings Per Run"G means "9 innings" or game

IN SCORE ORDER, HIGH TO LOW
1910 W. Johnson 370 innings 56 earned runs; 6.61 IPR x 41.1 G = 271.67
1905 C. Mathewson 338.7 innings 48 earned runs; 7.06 IPR x 37. G = 265.46
1912 W. Johnson 369 innings 57 earned runs; 6.47 IPR x 41 G = 265.27
1918 W. Johnson 326 innings 46 earned runs; 7.08 IPR x 36.22 G = 256.44
1909 C. Mathewson 275.3 innings 35 earned runs; 7.86 IPR x 30.59 G = 240.44
1908 Cy Young 299 inn 42 earned runs; 7.12 IPR x 33 G = 234.96
1892 Cy Young 453 innings 97 earned runs; 4.67 IPR x 50 G = 233.50
1901 Cy Young 371.3 innings 67 earned runs; 5.54 IPR x 41 G = 227.14
1915 W. Johnson 336.7 innings 58 earned runs; 5.80 IPR x 37.41 G = 216.98
1914 W.Johnson 371.7 innings 71 earned runs;5.23 IPR x 41.3 G = 215.99
1919 W. Johnson 290.3 innings 48 earned runs; 6.05 IPR x 32.26 G = 195.17
1916 W. Johnson 369.7 innings 78 earned runs; 4.74 IPR x 41.07 G = 194.67
1933 C. Hubbell 308.3 innings 57 earned runs 5.41 IPR x 34.3 G = 185.6
1916 Babe Ruth 324 innings 63 earned runs 5.14 IPR x 36 G = 185.0
1904 C. Mathewson 367.7 innings 83 earned runs; 4.43 IPR x 40.85 G = 180.94
1972 S. Carlton 346.3 innings 76 earned runs 4.56 IPR x 38.5 G= 175.6
1905 Cy Young 320.7 innings 65 earned runs; 4.93 IPR x 35.6 G = 175.50
1907 Cy Young 343.3 innings 76 earned runs; 4.52 IPR x 38 G = 171.76
1968 Denny McLain 336 innings 73 earned runs 4.60 IPR x 37.3 G = 171.60
1946 B. Feller 371.3 innings 90 earned runs 4.13 IPR x 41.3 = 170.57
1911 W. Johson 322.3 innings 68 earned runs; 4.73 IPR x 35.81 G = 169.38
1910 C. Mathewson 318.3 innings 67 earned runs; 4.75 IPR x 35.37 G = 168.01
1903 Cy Young 341.7 innings 79 earned runs; 4.32 IPR x 38 G = 164.16
1917 Babe Ruth 326 innings 73 earned runs 4.47 IPR x 36.2 G = 161.9
1911 C. Mathewson 307 innings 68 earned runs; 4.51 IPR x 34.11 G = 153.84
1891 Cy Young 423.7 innings 134 earned runs; 3.16 IPR x 47 G = 148.52
1917 W. Johnson 326 innings 80 earned runs; 4.07 IPR x 36.22 G = 147.42
1913 W. Johnson 346 innings 44 earned runs; 7.86 IPR x 38.44 G = 139.3
1901 C. Mathewson 336 innings 90 earned runs; 3.73 IPR x 37.3 G = 139.13
1903 C. Mathewson 336.3 innings 92 earned runs; 3.65 IPR x 37.3 G = 136.15
1934 C. Hubbell 313 innings 80 earned runs 3.91 IPR x 34.8 G - 136.10
1936 C. Hubbell 304 innings 78 earned runs 3.90 IPR x 33.8 G = 131.8
1980 S. Carlton 304 innings 79 earned runs 3.85 IPR x 33.8 G = 130.1
2004 R. Johnson 245.7 innings 71 earned runs 3.46 IPR x 26.1 G = 128.9
1988 R. Clemens 264 innings 86 earned runs 3.07 IPR x 29.3 G = 128.90
1997 R. Clemens 264 inings 60 earned runs (Toronto) 4.40 IPR x 29.3 G = 128.90
1997 Pedro Martinez 241.3 innings 51 earned runs 4.73 IPR x 26.8 G = 126.8
1893 Cy Young 422.7 innings 158 earned runs; 2.67 IPR x 47 G = 125.49
2000 Pedro Martinez 217 innings 42 earned runs 5.17 IPR x 24.1 G = 124.6
1972 Nolan Ryan 284 innings 72 earned runs 3.94 IPR x 31.6 G = 124.5
1934 Dizzy Dean 311.7 innings 92 earned runs 3.39 IPR x 35.6 G = 122.5
1940 B. Feller 320.3 innings 93 earned runs 3.44 IPR x 35.6 G = 122.5
1988 O. Hershiser 267 innings 67 earned runs 3.99 IPR x 29.7 G = 118.5
1985 O. Hershiser 239.7 innings 54 earned runs 4.44 IPR x 26.6 = 118.1
1969 Denny McLain 325 innings 101 earned runs 3.22 IPR x 36.1 G = 116.2
1974 Nolan Ryan 332.7 innings 107 earned runs 3.11 IPR x 37 G = 115.1
1973 Nolan Ryan 326 innings 104 earned runs 3.13 IPR x 36.2 G = 113.3
2002 R. Johnson 260 innings 67 earned runs 3.88 IPR x 28.9 G = 112.1
1947 B. Feller 299 innings 89 earned runs 3.36 IPR x 33.2G = 111.6
1985 F. Valenzuela 272.3 innings 74 earned runs 3.68 IPR x 30.3 G = 111.5
1989 O. Hirshiser 256.7 innings 66 earned runs 3.89 IPR x 28.5 G = 110.9
1941 B. Feller 343 innings 120 earned runs 2.86 IPR x 38.1 G = 109.0
1999 R. Johnson 271.7 innings 75 earned runs 3.62 IPR x 30.1 G = 109.0
1977 Nolan Ryan 299 innings 92 earned runs 3.25 IPR x 33.2 G = 107.9
1913 Chief Bender 237 innings 58 earned runs 4.08 IPR x 26.3G=107.3
1935 Dizzy Dean 325.3 innings 110 earned runs 2.95 IPR x 36.1 G = 106.5
1951 W. Spahn 310.7 innings 103 earned runs 3.02 IPR x 34.5 G = 104.2
1990 R. Clemens 228.3 innings 49 earned runs 4.66 IPR x 25.4 G = 103.2
1991 R. Clemens 271.3 innings 79 earned runs 3.43 IPR x 30.1 G = 103.2
1999 Pedro Martinez 213.3 innings 49 earned runs 4.35 IPR x 23.7 G = 103.1
1992 R. Clemens 246.7 innings 66 earned runs 3.74 IPR x 27.4 G = 102.5
1981 F. Valenzuela 192.3 innings 53 earned runs 3.63 IPR x 28.2 = 102.4
1986 R. Clemens 254 innings 70 earned runs 3.63 IPR x 28.2 G = 102.4
1956 W. Spahn 281.3 innings 87 earned runs 3.23 IPR x 31.3 G =101.1
2001 R. Johnson 249.7 innings 69 earned runs 3.62 IPR x 27.7 G = 100.3

Here are GLAVine points listings by player, listed chronologically. This and the list above are not comprehensive lists, but highlight the most famous pitchers since Cy Young.

Calculating GLAVine Points for Great Years in Pitching History
The word GLAV stands for Games x Logarithmic Average = Value. The use of this stat is to calculate the actual value of a given starter to his team, combining quality and quantity into one number for comparison's sake. It is also designed to be a tribute to Tom Glavine, a long-innings starter with a low ERA (in other words, a high IPR)

Here is the formula for calculating GLAVine points; innings pitched divided by earned runs = IPR (innings per run). Innings pitched divided by 9 = G or 9 inning games. IPR x G = GLAVine points. 100 Glavine Points for a season is One Glav, and earns you an entry into the AMAZINE You Gotta Believe It or Not Virtual Hall of Fame. (see previous article of August 21st) Here is our Starting Pitcher's Virtual Hall of Fame list. If you know of a major league starting pitcher in history who broke 100 Glavine Points in a season, let us know, and we'll add him to the list.
IPR means "Innings Per Run"G means "9 innings" or game

BY CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
Cy Young
1891 423.7 innings 134 earned runs; 3.16 IPR x 47 G = 148.52
1892 453 innings 97 earned runs; 4.67 IPR x 50 G = 233.50
1893 422.7 innings 158 earned runs; 2.67 IPR x 47 G = 125.49
1901 371.3 innings 67 earned runs; 5.54 IPR x 41 G = 227.14
1903 341.7 innings 79 earned runs; 4.32 IPR x 38 G = 164.16
1905 320.7 innings 65 earned runs; 4.93 IPR x 35.6 G = 175.50
1907 343.3 innings 76 earned runs; 4.52 IPR x 38 G = 171.76
1908 299 innings 42 earned runs; 7.12 IPR x 33 G = 234.96

Christy Mathewson
1901 336 innings 90 earned runs; 3.73 IPR x 37.3 G = 139.13
1903 336.3 innings 92 earned runs; 3.65 IPR x 37.3 G = 136.15
1904 367.7 innings 83 earned runs; 4.43 IPR x 40.85 G = 180.94
1905 338.7 innings 48 earned runs; 7.06 IPR x 37. G = 265.456 (his all time best!)
1909 275.3 innings 35 earned runs; 7.86 IPR x 30.59 G = 240.44 (his second best!)
1910 318.3 innings 67 earned runs; 4.75 IPR x 35.37 G = 168.01
1911 307 innings 68 earned runs; 4.51 IPR x 34.11 G = 153.84
Walter Johnson 1910 370 innings 56 earned runs; 6.61 IPR x 41.1 G = 271.67 (perhaps the best ever!)
1911 322.3 innings 68 earned runs; 4.73 IPR x 35.81 G = 169.38
1912 369 innings 57 earned runs; 6.47 IPR x 41 G = 265.27
1913 346 innings 44 earned runs; 7.86 IPR x 38.44 G = 139.3
1914 371.7 innings 71 earned runs;5.23 IPR x 41.3 G = 215.99
1915 336.7 innings 58 earned runs; 5.80 IPR x 37.41 G = 216.98
1916 369.7 innings 78 earned runs; 4.74 IPR x 41.07 G = 194.67
1917 326 innings 80 earned runs; 4.07 IPR x 36.22 G = 147.42
1918 326 innings 46 earned runs; 7.08 IPR x 36.22 G = 256.44
1919 290.3 innings 48 earned runs; .05 IPR x 32.26 G = 195.17

Chief Charles Bender

1913 237 innings 58 earned runs 4.08 IPR x 26.3G=107.3
1914 179 innings 45 earned runs 3.98 IPR x 19.9G = 79.2
1915 178 innings 79 earned runs 2.25 IPR x 19.8 G = 44.5
1917 113 innings 21 earned runs 5.38 IPR x 12.6 G= 67.8

Babe Ruth
1916 324 innings 63 earned runs 5.14 IPR x 36 G = 185.0
1917 326 innings 73 earned runs 4.47 IPR x 36.2 G = 161.9
Lifetime 1221 innings 309 earned runs 3.95 IPR x 135.7 G = 536 (over 5 years = 1.07 GLAVs average)

Carl Hubbell
1931 248 innings 73 earned runs 3.40 IPR x 27.6 G = 93.8
1933 308.3 innings 57 earned runs 5.41 IPR x 34.3 G = 185.6
1934 313 innings 80 earned runs 3.91 IPR x 34.8 G - 136.1
1935 302.3 innings 110 earned runs 2.75 IPR x 33.6 G = 92.4
1936 304 innings 78 earned runs 3.90 IPR x 33.8 G = 131.8Dizzy Dean
1934 311.7 innings 92 earned runs 3.39 IPR x 35.6 G = 122.5
1935 325.3 innings 110 earned runs 2.95 IPR x 36.1 G = 106.5
1936 315 innings 111 earned runs 2.84 IPR x 35 G = 99.4

Bob Feller
1940 320.3 innings 93 earned runs 3.44 IPR x 35.6 G = 122.5
1941 343 innings 120 earned runs 2.86 IPR x 38.1 G = 109.0
1946 371.3 innings 90 earned runs 4.13 IPR x 41.3 = 170.57
1947 299 innings 89 earned runs 3.36 IPR x 33.2G = 111.6

Warren Spahn
1949 302.3 inings 103 earned runs 2.93 IPR x 33.6 G = 98.4
1951 310.7 innings 103 earned runs 3.02 IPR x 34.5 G = 104.2
1956 281.3 innings 87 earned runs 3.23 IPR x 31.3 G =101.1Whitey Ford
1955 253.7 innings 74 earned runs 3.43 IPR x 24.5 G = 96.7
1956 225.7 innings 62 earned runs 3.64 IPR x 25.1 G = 91.4
1961 283 innings 101 earned runs 2.80 IPR x31.4 G = 87.9
1962 257.7 innings 83 earned runs 3.10 IPR x 28.6 G = 88.1
1963 269.3 innings 82 earned runs 3.28 IPR x 29.9 G = 98.1

Denny McLain
Year 1965 220.3 innings 64 earned runs 3.44 IPR x 24.5 G = 84.3
Year 1967 235 innings 99 earned runs 2.37 IPR x 26.1 G = 61.9
Year 1968 336 innings 73 earned runs 4.60 IPR x 37.3 G = 171.6
Year 1969 325 innings 101 earned runs 3.22 IPR x 36.1 G = 116.2
Year 1971 216.7 innings 103 earned runs 2.10 IPR x 24.1 G = 50.6

Nolan Ryan
1972 284 innings 72 earned runs 3.94 IPR x 31.6 G = 124.5
1973 326 innings 104 earned runs 3.13 IPR x 36.2 G = 113.3
1974 332.7 innings 107 earned runs 3.11 IPR x 37 G = 115.1
1977 299 innings 92 earned runs 3.25 IPR x 33.2 G = 107.9

Steve Carlton
1972 346.3 innings 76 earned runs 4.56 IPR x 38.5 G= 175.6
1973 293.3 innings 127 earned runs 2.31 IPR x 32.6 G = 75.3
1974 291 innings 104 earned runs 2.80 x 32.3 G = 90.4
1980 304 innings 79 earned runs 3.85 IPR x 33.8 G = 130.1
1981 295.7 innings 102 earned runs 2.90 IPR x 32.9 G = 95.4

Fernando Valenzuela
1981 192.3 innings 53 earned runs 3.63 IPR x 28.2 = 102.4
1982 285 innings 91 earned runs 3.13 IPR x 31.7 G = 99.2
1984 261 innings 88 earned runs 2.97 IPR x 29 G = 86.13
1985 272.3 innings 74 earned runs 3.68 IPR x 30.3 G = 111.5

Orel Hershiser
1985 239.7 innings 54 earned runs 4.44 IPR x 26.6 = 118.1
1986 231.3 innings 99 earned runs 2.34 IPR x 25.7 G = 60.1
1987 264.7 innings 90 earned runs 2.94 IPR x 29.4 G = 86.4
1988 267 innings 67 earned runs 3.99 IPR x 29.7 G = 118.5
1989 256.7 innings 66 earned runs 3.89 IPR x 28.5 G = 110.9

Roger Clemens
1986 254 innings 70 earned runs 3.63 IPR x 28.2 G = 102.4
1987 281.7 inings 93 earned runs 3.03 IPR x 31.3 G = 94.8
1988 264 innings 86 earned runs 3.07 IPR x 29.3 G = 128.9
1990 228.3 innings 49 earned runs 4.66 IPR x 25.4 G = 103.2
1991 271.3 innings 79 earned runs 3.43 IPR x 30.1 G = 103.2
1992 246.7 innings 66 earned runs 3.74 IPR x 27.4 G = 102.5
1997 264 inings 60 earned runs (Toronto) 4.40 IPR x 29.3 G = 128.9
1998 234.7 innings 69 earned runs (Toronto) 3.40 IPR x 26.1 G = 88.74

Randy Johnson
1999 271.7 innings 75 earned runs 3.62 IPR x 30.1 G = 109.0
2000 248.7 innings 73 earned runs 3.41 IPR x 27.6 G = 94.1
2001 249.7 innings 69 earned runs 3.62 IPR x 27.7 G = 100.3
2002 260 innings 67 earned runs 3.88 IPR x 28.9 G = 112.1
2004 245.7 innings 71 earned runs 3.46 IPR x 26.1 G = 128.9

Pedro Martinez
1997 241.3 innings 51 earned runs 4.73 IPR x 26.8 G = 126.8
1999 213.3 innings 49 earned runs 4.35 IPR x 23.7 G = 103.1
2000 217 innings 42 earned runs 5.17 IPR x 24.1 G = 124.6

Entry Way Into Amazine's Virtual Hall of Fame

2006-09-21T16:53:00.000-07:00

Entry Way Into Amazine's Virtual Hall of Fame
all new material copyrighted c by Evan Pritchard

Hello, baseball fans, and welcome to Amazine's "You Gotta Believe It Or Not" Virtual Hall of Fame. Amazine, as you probably already know is the e-zine blogsite at Major League Baseball's home page and at blogspot that is taking the baseball world by storm. While Amazine focuses mainly on the current Mets team, many of those stories link to past greats with similar unusual stats. Amazine's is a witty, humorous approach to baseball, a combination of Art Buchwald and George Will, but here you will find Amazine's more serious side as well.

Here at the Virtual Hall of Fame, as at Amazine, we focus on looking at the history of baseball through unexplored perspectives, using statistics you won't find in the newspaper. Most of our lists and charts of baseball greats are limited to the 20th Century, but they will make you see baseball history in an entirely new and exciting way.

Here you will find a complete coded list of every major leaguer who ever got over 200 hits in a season during the 20th century; a complete list of all the major league pitchers of the 20th Century with a .7 or better Home Run Average (AKA the KIGB "Kiss It Goodbye" Average); a listing of the greatest seasons for starting pitchers in baseball history using the GLAVine point system, developed here at Amazine; the best Scoring Efficiency Averages for teams, the Runs-Margin Index, and many other serious statistical listings as well.

There is also a section of the Virtual Hall of Fame where we statistically track the more intangible aspects of the game. There's the HWA (Hit With Authority) Index, the TOM (Two out Madness) Index, the DWI (Divisional Wins Index), and many other intangibles made concrete by our ranking systems.

Some of these stats may remind you of SABRE stats, but let us remind you that SABRE stats are not very funny. On a Funniness Index, SABRE stats rank about a 2 wherease the "You Gotta Believe It or Not" Virtual Hall of Fame ranks an 8.5, and sometimes a 9.0.

Are we partial to the Mets? Yes, in some corridors, and we think you will be able to tell. But in much of this website, we aim to be as impartial as the umpires at Turner Field are towards the Braves.