Gibson was a notorious headhunter. The 68 series was some all-time baseball, and he was at the peak of his powers that year.
Gibson had a 1.12 era in 1968, absolutely absurd. In Game One, he struck out 17 in a complete game shut out. He struck out the side in the 9th inning. In Game Four, he gave up one run in another complete game win. In Game Seven, he pitched six scoreless until the Tigers tagged him. The next year, MLB lowered the mound because he and McLain were so dominant.
Pretty good ESPN article today about Arraez chasing .400. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id...g-average-tony-gwynn-rod-carew-all-star-break No one has hit .400 since Williams in 1941. Since 2000, no one else has hit above .380 at All Star break. They run through 10 guys from 1980-2000 who were hitting .380 or higher at break and where they finished. In 1994, Tony Gwynn was at .383 at break. He hit .423 from break to strike, to finish .394.
I don't think the 56 game hitting streak will ever be touched. Only 6 players have reached 40. Pete Rose was the last in 1978. The other 40+ hitting streaks happened in 1894, 1897, 1911. 1922, and then DiMaggio in 1941.
It’s a terrible coincidence for Williams that he and DiMaggio both did what they did in the same season. DiMaggio won the MVP. Williams led the league in runs scored, home runs, batting average, walks, on base percentage and slugging. His on base percentage was the fourth highest in MLB history.
Funny baseball fact showing the change in salaries over the years…and how long Jamie Moyer played for In 2010, Moyer made $8,000,000 at the age of 47 years old…which was more than the salary of his first 12 seasons combined (23 to 35 years old)
Based on one throw, I'm putting him over Vlad. Guillen's throw is the most impressive of all time IMO.
Granted, dude threw slow as fuck (relatively speaking) but still blows my mind someone can do that shit until they’re 47. Meanwhile, I can wake up in the morning wondering why my arm is sore as shit before remembering I decided to skip some rocks on the river.
In 1985, Sports Illustrated ran a cover with every player making $1 million or more. Imagine that now.
Maybe not 100% in the theme of the thread but stumbled upon the Bronx is Burning ESPN show based on the 1977 Yankees (Reggie Jackso vs Billy Martin, Thurman Munson, Micky Rivers, Lou Pinella) and other things going in NYC like the Son of Sam killings and whatnot. Pre-social 24/7 news cycle that had to have to most drama of any good team amirite dblplay1212 ? Linked the playlist it's 8 episodes.
Haha no worries just wondered if you'd read anything I couldn't find on wikipedia. My dad's mentioned what a character Billy Martin was and seems easy to see why the fans literally across the nation related to him.
Without looking up any of their stats, so going just by what your perception is of these guys, rank these pitchers: Robin Roberts Dizzy Dean Jim Palmer Steve Carlton Whitey Ford Spoiler: My ranking Mine without looking them up: Steve Carlton Jim Palmer Robin Roberts Whitey Ford Dizzy Dean
Spoiler Carlton Palmer Dizzy Ford Roberts After looking them up, I need to educate myself on Roberts.
And if you added Sutton and Niekro to the list (Bc they seem like they fit with these guys)... Here's the answer by bWAR: Spoiler 1. Phil Niekro (95.9) 2. Steve Carlton (90.2) 3. Robin Roberts (86.2) 4. Jim Palmer (68.5) 5. Don Sutton (66.7) 6. Whitey Ford (57.0) 7. Dizzy Dean (46.2)
Carlton’s 1972 season was amazing, given how bad his team played. The Phillies only won 59 games. Carlton went 27-10, with a 12.1 WAR. He pitched 30 complete games, unthinkable by today’s standards.
It’s literally pitchers ranked by their all time WAR. At any rate, give me the Big Unit any day of the week.
I didn't post it, but indeed it is... You picked up on that quickly. I thought about including that part in the post, but wanted to see if anyone bit beforehand. https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/WAR_pitch_career.shtml Some thoughts on it though: Kid Nichols should be a household name, the only name in the top 10 that isn't for an average baseball fan. It's also criminal at how long it took Blyleven to get in. Guys I didn't know before seeing the list: Tim Keefe, Eddie Plank, and John Clarkson.
Wins are obviously a pretty meaningless stat, and guys pitch a lot fewer starts/innings than they used to, but it kinda puts it in perspective how ridiculous 300 wins is when the greatest pitcher of his era- (Kershaw) by a pretty wide margin, who has largely been healthy over his 16 year career- isn't even fucking close.
Instead of playing dumb - just tell me I’m wrong. Big time brain fart I knew Kershaw was just above 200, then got stuck on that number. Wainwright might be the last guy to win 200 games. Randy Johnson will be the last to win 300
Agree. Horses like CC and Verlander aren't getting there and the game is still changing more. I think 250 will be the new 300.
It’s rare that a pitcher wins 20 games anymore. The last 6-7 seasons, the league leader in both the AL and NL more often has been under 20 wins. In 1971, the Orioles had four starters each go 20 or more wins. It’s a different game.
can I use this thread to post the greatest tirade by a manager in the history of professional sports?
He was having a clear downturn in stuff and velocity around 2013. I remember thinking he was done. The suddenly he puts 4-6 MPH back in his fastball and is better than ever. Same career path as Clemens. No doubt in my mind he juiced/still is juicing.
I would be shocked if he was juicing based on the things he's said in the past about PED users. He lost MPHs on his fastball in 2014-15 because he was hurt.
I don't think this is controversial, but curious which of these 2 players you'd say had the better career? I suppose it all depends on how much one values batting average and singles. These guys are both considered, or should be anyway, inner circle types, so they'll be super easy to find. I'd recommend picking one without trying to figure out who is who, but you can do what you want.