Monday, February 29, 2016

Greatest player ever on traditional teams: Cards, Yanks, Red Sox, Braves, Phillies, Tigers, Pirates.

This short list contains only the unquestioned greatest who played almost exclusively for that team:

St. Louis Cardinals: Stan Musial

New York Yankees: Babe Ruth

Boston Red Sox: Ted Williams

Braves: Hank Aaron

Philadelphia Phillies: Mike Schmidt

Detroit Tigers: Ty Cobb

Pittsburgh Pirates: Honus Wagner

No clear greatest: Reds, Cubs, Indians, Orioles, White Sox, Senators, Dodgers, Athletics, Giants.

The Giants were the most difficult: Willie Mays or Barry Bonds.

Johnny Bench leads the Reds in home runs and RBI but not much else. Pete Rose leads in WAR and more things than Bench.

Originally I had Ernie Banks for the Chicago Cubs. But when I checked, Sammy Sosa hit the most career Cub home runs, including the most in Wrigley Field, and Cap Anson leads in a bunch of stuff. Banks simply did not dominate.

Orioles: Cal ​Ripken leads only in totals. Not nearly as clear cut as the others I picked.

Is jerking around thinking?

Stepping off, stepping out. Can they possibly be thinking? Would performance suffer if they stopped jerking around?

Staying in the batter's box didn't hurt Ted Williams. Pitching quickly didn't make Whitey Ford less effective.

So what the heck?

And why don't they need to stop and think when performing other tasks, like running the bases and fielding? There's no time to think, only react. You know, like football and basketball. They just go and do their thinking during a time out.

Maybe if baseball teams could call a time out, they could pack their thinking into that condensed period.

It's amazing that not one of the thirty teams even considers speeding up. Being the one and only might give that team a competitive advantage, even if that ends when the other teams imitate. At least the first speedy team would receive positive reactions from its fans.

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Randy Johnson and Sandy Koufax struck out over 400 in a season.

Since 1901 only two pitchers struck out at least 400 batters, including World Series and tournament: Randy Johnson and Sandy Koufax.

Johnson 2001: (372+9+19+19)=419

Koufax 1965: (382+29)=411

Since 1901 three pitchers held the season record for SO:

Rube Wadell 1904: 349 in 383 innings: 8.20 per 9 innings
Sandy Koufax 1965: 382 in 336: 10.24
Nolan Ryan 1973 (first year of DH): 383 in 326: 10.57 (#14 among 300 SO seasons)

Bob Feller 1946, only season >=300: 348 in 371: 8.43

Since 1901 at least 300 SO occurred 34 times, including multiples by individuals, led by six each for Randy Johnson and Nolan Ryan; three each for Koufax and Curt Schilling; two: Wadell, Walter Johnson, Sam McDowell, J.R. Richard, Pedro Martinez.

Oldest: Ryan 42 in 1989, then Randy Johnson 38, 37, 36, 35
Youngest: Vida Blue 21 in 1971 (21 of 34 younger than 30)

Most innings: Wadell 383 (14 of 34 >=300)
Fewest innings: Martinez 213 (20 of 34 fewer than 300)

23 of the 34 has SO9 greater than 9.

1901 to 2015, SO>=300 sorted by greatest Strikeouts per 9 IP:
Rk Player SO9 SO Year Age Tm Lg G GS CG SHO GF W L W-L% SV IP H R ER BB ERA FIP ERA+ HR BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS PO BK WP BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ Pit Str
1 Randy Johnson 13.41 372 2001 37 ARI NL 35 34 3 2 1 21 6 .778 0 249.2 181 74 69 71 2.49 2.13 188 19 994 890 33 2 2 18 10 5 17 19 15 4 1 8 .203 .274 .309 .583 50 4076 2638
2 Pedro Martinez 13.20 313 1999 27 BOS AL 31 29 5 1 1 23 4 .852 0 213.1 160 56 49 37 2.07 1.39 243 9 835 780 38 0 1 9 3 6 11 21 10 0 0 6 .205 .248 .288 .536 35
3 Randy Johnson 12.56 347 2000 36 ARI NL 35 35 8 3 0 19 7 .731 0 248.2 202 89 73 76 2.64 2.53 181 23 1001 900 45 2 1 6 14 5 15 26 16 6 2 5 .224 .288 .356 .643 63 4021 2595
4 Randy Johnson 12.12 329 1998 34 TOT ML 34 34 10 6 0 19 11 .633 0 244.1 203 102 89 86 3.28 2.90 135 23 1014 907 38 1 1 14 5 2 13 31 19 3 2 7 .224 .300 .344 .644 71
5 Randy Johnson 12.06 364 1999 35 ARI NL 35 35 12 2 0 17 9 .654 0 271.2 207 86 75 70 2.48 2.76 184 30 1079 993 28 4 3 9 4 3 14 42 17 5 2 4 .208 .266 .335 .601 55
6 Clayton Kershaw 11.64 301 2015 27 LAD NL 33 33 4 3 0 16 7 .696 0 232.2 163 62 55 42 2.13 1.99 175 15 890 839 26 2 1 5 4 0 8 7 9 9 3 9 .194 .237 .284 .521 49 3392 2303
7 Randy Johnson 11.56 334 2002 38 ARI NL 35 35 8 4 0 24 5 .828 0 260.0 197 78 67 71 2.32 2.66 195 26 1035 945 42 5 1 13 4 2 19 19 15 3 2 3 .208 .273 .346 .619 59 3991 2620
8 Pedro Martinez 11.37 305 1997 25 MON NL 31 31 13 4 0 17 8 .680 0 241.1 158 65 51 67 1.90 2.39 219 16 947 860 24 4 5 9 9 1 16 20 5 3 1 3 .184 .250 .277 .526 42
9 Nolan Ryan 11.32 301 1989 42 TEX AL 32 32 6 2 0 16 10 .615 0 239.1 162 96 85 98 3.20 2.51 124 17 988 867 28 2 3 9 9 5 4 36 6 0 1 19 .187 .275 .283 .557 56
10 Curt Schilling 11.29 319 1997 30 PHI NL 35 35 7 2 0 17 11 .607 0 254.1 208 96 84 58 2.97 2.62 143 25 1009 930 49 7 3 5 8 8 16 9 9 3 1 5 .224 .271 .372 .643 71
11 Curt Schilling 10.97 316 2002 35 ARI NL 36 35 5 1 0 23 7 .767 0 259.1 218 95 93 33 3.23 2.40 140 29 1017 974 32 8 1 3 5 2 11 9 6 0 0 6 .224 .251 .362 .613 57 3721 2630
12 Randy Johnson 10.86 308 1993 29 SEA AL 35 34 10 3 1 19 8 .704 1 255.1 185 97 92 99 3.24 3.05 135 22 1043 913 37 3 1 16 8 7 16 28 12 2 2 8 .203 .290 .322 .612 64
13 Sam McDowell 10.71 325 1965 22 CLE AL 42 35 14 3 5 17 11 .607 4 273.0 178 80 66 132 2.18 2.08 161 9 1116 963 30 0 7 6 13 2 23 4 9 2 0 17 .185 .286 .244 .531 56
14 Nolan Ryan 10.57 383 1973 26 CAL AL 41 39 26 4 2 21 16 .568 1 326.0 238 113 104 162 2.87 2.49 123 18 1355 1172 53 5 2 7 7 7 24 37 10 4 0 15 .203 .302 .303 .605 78
15 Nolan Ryan 10.43 329 1972 25 CAL AL 39 39 20 9 0 19 16 .543 0 284.0 166 80 72 157 2.28 2.49 128 14 1154 973 25 3 4 10 11 3 17 40 9 1 0 18 .171 .291 .246 .537 70
16 Nolan Ryan 10.35 327 1976 29 CAL AL 39 39 21 7 0 17 18 .486 0 284.1 193 117 106 183 3.36 2.91 99 13 1196 990 33 8 2 5 13 4 12 44 23 6 2 5 .195 .322 .284 .606 84
17 Nolan Ryan 10.26 341 1977 30 CAL AL 37 37 22 4 0 19 16 .543 0 299.0 198 110 92 204 2.77 3.12 141 12 1272 1027 23 3 7 9 22 10 21 43 19 7 3 21 .193 .329 .256 .585 64
18 Sandy Koufax 10.24 382 1965 29 LAD NL 43 41 27 8 2 26 8 .765 2 335.2 216 90 76 71 2.04 1.93 160 26 1297 1205 29 7 4 5 13 3 13 16 4 1 0 11 .179 .227 .280 .507 52
19 Curt Schilling 10.05 300 1998 31 PHI NL 35 35 15 2 0 15 14 .517 0 268.2 236 101 97 61 3.25 2.77 134 23 1089 1000 56 6 3 6 14 7 18 10 5 0 0 12 .236 .282 .373 .655 74
20 Mike Scott 10.00 306 1986 31 HOU NL 37 37 7 5 0 18 10 .643 0 275.1 182 73 68 72 2.22 2.16 161 17 1065 976 41 5 6 2 8 6 11 41 12 2 0 3 .186 .242 .291 .533 53
21 Nolan Ryan 9.93 367 1974 27 CAL AL 42 41 26 3 1 22 16 .579 0 332.2 221 127 107 202 2.89 2.98 118 18 1392 1165 38 6 3 9 12 4 24 28 21 3 0 9 .190 .313 .279 .592 76
22 J.R. Richard 9.90 303 1978 28 HOU NL 36 36 16 3 0 18 11 .621 0 275.1 192 104 95 141 3.11 2.51 106 12 1139 979 33 8 4 2 13 4 14 34 14 6 3 16 .196 .298 .283 .580 74
23 J.R. Richard 9.64 313 1979 29 HOU NL 38 38 19 4 0 18 13 .581 0 292.1 220 98 88 98 2.71 2.21 130 13 1175 1051 38 7 5 3 14 8 17 28 10 1 1 19 .209 .277 .296 .573 65
24 Sam McDowell 8.97 304 1970 27 CLE AL 39 39 19 1 2 20 12 .625 0 305.0 236 108 99 131 2.92 3.07 134 25 1257 1107 31 6 10 7 8 4 23 2 11 5 0 17 .213 .299 .320 .619 74
25 Sandy Koufax 8.86 306 1963 27 LAD NL 40 40 20 11 0 25 5 .833 0 311.0 214 68 65 58 1.88 1.85 159 18 1210 1135 28 6 7 3 13 1 9 11 1 0 1 6 .189 .230 .271 .501 54
Rk Player SO9 SO Year Age Tm Lg G GS CG SHO GF W L W-L% SV IP H R ER BB ERA FIP ERA+ HR BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS PO BK WP BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ Pit Str
26 Sandy Koufax 8.83 317 1966 30 LAD NL 41 41 27 5 0 27 9 .750 0 323.0 241 74 62 77 1.73 2.07 190 19 1274 1178 38 5 4 0 11 8 13 13 5 1 0 7 .205 .252 .294 .545 62
27 Vida Blue 8.68 301 1971 21 OAK AL 39 39 24 8 0 24 8 .750 0 312.0 209 73 63 88 1.82 2.20 183 19 1207 1103 28 3 3 4 9 3 23 7 7 0 1 10 .189 .251 .272 .523 55
28 Bob Feller 8.43 348 1946 27 CLE AL 48 42 36 10 5 26 15 .634 4 371.1 277 101 90 153 2.18 2.16 151 11 1512 1331 3 25 0 16 16 11 2 0 3 .208 .291
29 Rube Waddell 8.39 302 1903 26 PHA AL 39 38 34 4 1 21 16 .568 0 324.0 274 109 88 85 2.44 1.87 125 3 1291 8 0 9 undef undef undef
30 Rube Waddell 8.20 349 1904 27 PHA AL 46 46 39 8 0 25 19 .568 0 383.0 307 109 69 91 1.62 1.59 165 5 1496 14 0 8 undef undef undef
31 Steve Carlton 8.06 310 1972 27 PHI NL 41 41 30 8 0 27 10 .730 0 346.1 257 84 76 87 1.97 2.01 182 17 1351 1244 44 5 8 1 9 9 23 22 12 5 2 8 .207 .257 .291 .548 60
32 Walter Johnson 7.61 313 1910 22 WSH AL 45 42 38 8 3 25 17 .595 1 370.0 262 92 56 76 1.36 1.39 183 1 1367 13 0 21 undef undef undef
33 Walter Johnson 7.39 303 1912 24 WSH AL 50 37 34 7 13 33 12 .733 2 369.0 259 89 57 76 1.39 2.03 240 2 1413 16 0 11 undef undef undef
34 Mickey Lolich 7.37 308 1971 30 DET AL 45 45 29 4 0 25 14 .641 0 376.0 336 133 122 92 2.92 2.85 124 36 1538 1415 49 8 2 7 12 12 22 18 10 2 0 7 .237 .285 .360 .645 84
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/28/2016.