It's not your imagination. Many, if not most, pitchers throw as fast as Hall of Fame near 100 mph Bob Feller. In 1946 Feller struck out 348 in 371 innings. Both figures are astonishing by today's standards. In 1946 there were 3.90 strike outs per team per game in MLB.
Bob Feller's fastball is clocked using army ordinance equipment. The equipment was used to measure artillery shell velocity. His fastball was measured as 98.6 mph.
Marty Glickman narrates Bob Feller throwing faster than a speeding motorcycle.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/bat.shtml
2021 may be the first season with 9 strike outs per team per game. It's 8.99 now. This despite plate appearances (PA) being a bit lower, maybe because of 7 inning doubleheader games and extra inning games ending sooner because they start with a runner on second base.
Here are the first seasons with 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 strike outs per team per game:
1952 4.19
1959 5.09
1967 5.99 (almost 6) Dropped back under 5 every year 1975-1981 except 1977 (5.16). AL went to the designated hitter (DH) in 1973.
1994 6.18 (never less than 6 again)
2010 7.06
2016 8.03
2021 8.99 (after teams have played about 60 games, which was the number in the short 2020 season)
Too much of almost anything, ...
2021 so far is the first season since 1909 with fewer than 8 hits per team per game: 7.84. There have been six 9 inning no-hitters. Plus, one 7 inning no-hitter in a doubleheader.
No comments:
Post a Comment