More than one SABR-L poster has recently described Jack Morris as the dominant pitcher of the 1980s.  Unless you are looking strictly at win

totals, there is no basis for that description.

        Others have already made the statistical arguments.  Pete Ridges noted that Morris's ERA and team runs scored project to a 230-210 record,

instead of the 254-186 he wound up with.  Some will offer this as evidence of Jack's "clutch pitching," but I think that Pete Palmer's work (see "Do

Clutch Pitchers Exist" in the Spring 1985 NATIONAL PASTIME) has proven that such a result is due to random chance.

        Incidentally, as I've said before, Morris's career record is the sum of Ron Guidry's (170-91) and Jim Deshaies's (84-95).  And, if Jack were to

make it to Cooperstown, he would become the only Hall of Fame pitcher who NEVER had an ERA under three.

        The real measure of dominance, I think, would be found in Cy Young Award voting.  But Morris never finished higher than a distant third in the

balloting. He earned a lifetime total of 0.74 Cy Young Award shares, which places him behind the likes of LaMarr Hoyt.

        Some have remarked on the dearth of good starting pitchers who debuted in the late 1970s and early '80s.  I think a factor in that

phenomena was the escalating salaries of that period.  Prior to that time, the very best pitchers might earn a million dollars in their entire careers;

by 1980 Nolan Ryan was making a million a year.  Pitchers in their mid-30s, who normally might have hung up their toe-plates, had new incentive to stay in condition -- why not go the extra yard and make a decade's worth of salary in a year?  So the Ryans and Niekros and Suttons and Kaats and Johns pitched well into their 40s, keeping prospects on the farm.

        Bill Kirwin asked how to write to former commissioner Vincent.  As far as I know, Francis "Fay" Vincent still sits on the Hall of Fame's Board

of Directors, and can be written to in care of the Hall at P.O. Box 590,Cooperstown, NY 13326.

      As reported here last week, on May 1, 2003, Baltimore pitcher B. J. Ryan got credit for a win without throwing a pitch.  He entered the game

with two out in the seventh inning, Baltimore losing 2-1, and Detroit rookie Omar Infante taking a big lead off first base.  Ryan promptly threw over to

first, and Infante was caught trying to advance to second, ending the inning.  The O's scored three runs in the top of the eighth to take a 4-2

lead, then Buddy Groom took over Baltimore's pitching chores.  The Orioles held on to win, and Ryan was properly credited with the pitching victory -

even though he hadn't pitched.

        This helped exhume the oft-told story that Nick Altrock was credited with a win without throwing a pitch, under almost identical circumstances,

supposedly with the White Sox in 1906.  This feat has been described in many sources, including "Ripley's Believe it or Not," but never have I seen it

documented.  Prodded by Scott Flatow, I decided to take a crack at it.

        It's a hard task.  Record-keeping was very sloppy in the early part of the 20th century, when Altrock did most of his pitching.  No official

records survive for Nick's pre-1905 seasons, so we have to rely on the quasi-official "ICI" records.  The AL's official sheets for 1905-72 were

composed in long-hand, difficult to read, especially a century later.  From 1905-07, the American League didn't bother recording pitching lines on their

official sheets, just dates and wins or losses.  There are errors and discrepancies galore.

        These are just stumbling blocks for an obsessed researcher, however. Following are my findings for each of the nine seasons Altrock is credited

with at least one victory:

        1898, Louisville (NL) - won 3 games, on July 21, August 15, and September 4, pitching at least eight innings each time.  He had no

appearances of less than one inning.

        1903, Chicago (AL) - won 5 games (TOTAL BASEBALL says 4), on July 16, August 4 and 20, September 22 and 28.  The first of these appearances was 1-2/3 innings, the rest were nine each.  He had no appearances of less than one inning.

        1904, Chicago (AL) - won 20 games (TOTAL BASEBALL says 19), on April 16 and 20, May 1, 23, 26, and 29, June 2, 15, 24, and 27, July 1, 9, 26, and 30, August 6, 10, 25, September 5 and 21, and October 9.  The June 2 win was 5-2/3 innings, the rest were nine each.  He had no appearances with less than three innings.

        1905, Chicago (AL) - won 24 games (TOTAL BASEBALL says 23), on April 16 and 28, May 14, 19 and 26, June 7, 10 and 25, July 4, 6, 21 and 24, August 14, 22, 25 and 27, September 8, 14, 17, 20, 25 and 27, and October 7. He pitched 1 inning on June 10 and 1-1/3 on September 20; all the rest of the wins were complete games.  The official sheets say he also pitched and won (with four fielding chances) on September 10, but he didn't; perhaps that accounts for the revision of his win total.

        1906, Chicago (AL) - won 20 games, on April 20, 22, 26 and 29, May 24, June 16, 18, 20, 23 and 28, July 4 and 11, August 16, September 9, 12, 14, 16, 24 and 25, and October 1.  He pitched 5 innings on April 22, 4 on June 18, 7 on June 23, 7 or 8 on August 16, and 6 on September 25; the rest were complete games.

        1907, Chicago (AL) - won 8 games (TOTAL BASEBALL says 7), on April 18 and 24, May 2, 18, and 21, and September 4, 20 and 28.  All were complete or near-complete games; he had only one game with an assist as his only fielding chance, but had two at bats in that game.

        1908, Chicago (AL) - won 3 games (TOTAL BASEBALL says 5), on July 7, 16 and 25; there is also a handwritten note that says "6/7 win."  Each of these four was nine innings or more; he had no games with fewer than four opposing batsmen.

        1909, Washington (AL) - won 1 game, on July 7 (9 innings), and had no games with fewer than three opposing batsmen.

        1918, Washington (AL) - won 1 game, on June 6 (7-1/3 innings), and had no games with fewer than three opposing batsmen.

        Based on this research, we can't be 100% certain that Altrock's batterless win didn't happen, but I'm 99% certain that it didn't.  Maybe it

occurred in an exhibition game, or a minor league contest, or in the mind of a creative writer, but there's no evidence it happened in a major league

game.

       Jim Sanders wrote, "I was wondering if we could start a discussion as to why - Joe DiMaggio - was delayed by an additional year before being

admitted to the Hall Of Fame?"

        From 1946-53, there was only a one-year-wait requirement between retirement and Hall of Fame eligibility.  Thus DiMaggio, who last played in

October 1951, became eligible in January 1953.  He received 117 of 264 votes (44%).

        In '54, the five-year-wait rule was put in, but with a "grandfather" exemption to anyone who had already received 100 or more votes; DiMaggio was the only one who qualified, so he stayed on the ballot.  That year, he moved up to 69% (175/252), before making it with 89% (223/251) in '55.

        Even if you believe Joe D was one of the all-time greats, his getting only 44% in his first try is not that surprising.  Between 1937-61,

nobody made it on his first try, and only Mel Ott (61% in 1949) did better than DiMaggio.

More Doubles Than Singles

        Mark Rappaport asked if anyone had finished a season with more doubles than singles while playing regularly.  Lee Sinins checked everyone

with, I think, 500 plate appearances, and found nobody who came very close to achieving that.  However, if you use a minimum of 20 doubles, there are two who came close:

        In 1883, Ned Williamson had 55 singles and 49 doubles (plus five triples and two homers) while playing in all 98 of the Cubs' games.

        In 1928, Tris Speaker had 24 singles and 22 doubles (plus two triples and three homers), though he played only 64 games.  For 60 years,

Speaker was credited with 23 singles and 23 doubles in '28, but I discovered an addition error in his official sheet and most sources now have Speaker

with 22 doubles that year

        John Pastier, discussing Roger craig, wrote "In 1959, his ERA was 2.06.  Sam Jones, the official leader, had an ERA of 2.82.  Craig's 152 2/3

IP was an inning and a third short of qualifiying for the title.  If he had been able to pitch for four more outs, he could have given up 13 more earned

runs and still be the official league leader."

        A similar thing happened in the AL in 1986.  Boston's Roger Clemens led with 2.48, but Toronto rookie Mark Eichhorn had 1.72 in 157 innings,

five short of qualifying.  Eichhorn could have given up 14 earned runs in the five innings and still beaten Clemens.  As I recall, Toronto management

offered to give him a start or otherwise increase his workload in the final days of the season so he could qualify, but Eichhorn said he didn't want to

win the title that way.

        Maxwel Kates wrote, "During the 7th inning of the game between the San Diego Padres and the Montreal Expos at Jarry Park on June 13, 1973, Mike Marshall was brought in to face Jerry Morales.  At the time, the bases were jammed with Dwain Anderson, Gene Locklear, and Enzo Hernandez.  One pitch later, Morales hit a ground ball to Ron Hunt, who tossed it to Tim Foli at short, to Mike Jorgensen at 1st, to John Boccabella behind the plate. Triple play.  My question is whether Iron Mike remained in the game beyond the seventh inning.  If not, were there any other instances where a pitcher executed a triple play on his only pitch of the game?"

        On July 27, 1930, Cincinnati's Ken Ash faced only one batter but got credit for a full inning pitched and a victory.  Ash relieved in the sixth

inning with two Cubs on base and nobody out, and promptly induced Charlie Grimm to ground into a triple play. All outs on tags.  Ash was lifted the next inning for a PH, and the Reds scored 4 times, giving him the 6-5 win, his last ML win, on one pitch.

1957-71 Rookies

        Back in early March, I had a post about 1957-71 players who had strong first full seasons, who were not eligible for the Rookie of the Year

Award by the rules in place then (a player could not have had more than 90 previous at bats or 45 previous innings pitched), but who would have been

eligible by the rules in place since '71 (no more than 130 previous AB or 50 IP).

        The players I mentioned were Frank Malzone (1957), Vada Pinson (1959), Reggie Jackson (1968), Bobby Murcer (1969), and Ralph Garr (1971). Each of these would have been a serious ROY candidate, if not the obvious winner, had the 130-at bat rule been in place from the start (though I don't know whether any of these men would have been excluded by the "45 days on a roster before September 1" rule).  I have since found two other players who fall into that category.

        In the AL in 1965, after 123 previous at bats, Willie Horton hit 29 homers (third in the league), drove in 104 runs (second), and batted .273,

finishing eighth in MVP voting.  The award went to Baltimore's Curt Blefary (22-70-.260).

        In the AL in 1969, after 109 previous AB, Bill Melton had 23 HR, 87 RBI, and a .255 average for the White Sox.  The Award went to the Royals' Lou Piniella (11-68-.282).

Catchers with Highest BAs

        During the first game of the NLCS, Fox showed a graphic listing the five catchers (catcher primary position) with the highest career batting

averages: Cochrane (.320), Piazza (.319), Dickey (.313), Lombardi (.306), and Ivan Rodriguez (.304).

        What about Buck Ewing? Sure, his BA was always listed at .303, but the "Important Change to the Official Record of Major League Baseball,"

announced by Major League Baseball's Official Historian in the final edition of TOTAL BASEBALL, turned all year-1887 walks back into hits.  This

increased Ewing's career average to .307.  It's also true that Ewing played only 636 of his 1315 career games behind the plate.  But he had no more than 253 at any other position, so it would be stretching the definition of "primary" to not list him as a catcher.

        Even if Fox could talk their way out of including Ewing, there's no excuse for missing the immortal Spud Davis and his .308 career average over

1458 games, 1282 as a catcher.

Jaster, 1966

        Just to expand on the posts about Larry Jaster in 1966:  Jaster, as a rookie, faced the defending world champion Dodgers five times in 1966, and

shut them out each time.  So against LA, he had 5 GS, 5 CG, 5 ShO, 45 IP, a 5-0 record, and an 0.00 ERA, an amazing accomplishment considering the fact that Jaster's highest win total for a season was 11.  Against the rest of the league, he had 16 GS, 1 CG, 0 ShO, 106.2 IP, a 6-5 record, and a 4.64 ERA.

        The five shutouts gave him a share of the NL lead that year.  As I recall (I know, I know), he had also pitched a scoreless inning in relief

against the Dodgers during his September call-up in 1965, and went another six-plus innings vs. LA in '67 before they finally scored on him. 

Numerical Tributes

        Paul Lukas wrote, "During ESPN Radio's broadcast of Game 4 of the ALCS, Jon Miller said Tim Wakefield wears uniform #49 as a tribute to fellow knuckleballers Charlie Hough and Tom Candiotti, and that he (Wakefield) later learned that Hoyt Wilhelm had worn #49 as well.  Is anyone aware of other big leaguers whose uni numbers are intended as tributes?"

        Willie McCovey wore #44 in tribute to fellow-Mobile, AL star Hank Aaron.  When Reggie Jackson joined the Yankees in '77, and found his #9 in

use by Graig Nettles, Jackson switched to #44 in tribute to Aaron, who had retired the year before.  Eric Davis was another who took #44 because of

Aaron and/or Jackson.

        Barry Bonds wore #24 for Pittsburgh in honor of his godfather, Willie Mays.  When Bonds joined the Giants, he was told that the number was

already retired in Mays's honor; though Mays insisted it could be unretired for Bonds, Barry instead took #25, which had been his father's number with

the Giants.  I believe Rickey Henderson's #24 was also a tribute to Mays.

        I think Sammy Sosa wears #21 in tribute to pioneer Latin-American star Roberto Clemente, Kerry Wood dons #34 in honor of childhood hero Nolan Ryan, and Jason Giambi wears #25 in tribute to former teammate and mentor Mark McGwire.

        Sid Fernandez wore #50 in tribute to his birthplace of Hawaii, the 50th state.  I believe there were other Hawaiian-born players who did the

same.

Switch-Pitchers

        On the subject of switch-pitchers, Elmer Steele could throw with either hand, but with insufficient finesse from the port side.  Steele was a

right-handed pitcher for the Red Sox, Pirates, and Dodgers between 1907-11, posting a 2.41 ERA over 428 innings before an apparent career-ending arm injury.  Not to be deterred, Steele returned to the minors -- as a left-handed first baseman!  In 1913, Steele batted .339 in the New York-New

Jersey League.

        Moxie Manuel, who pitched for the Senators in 1905 and White Sox in 1908, was for a long time listed in the encyclopedias as a switch-pitcher,

but I found no evidence he ever threw anything but right-handed in the majors.  Perhaps a check of the 1908 Chicago papers would be helpful; Manuel

's appearances that year came on June 9, 10, 14, 17, 21, 23, 26, and 27; July 4, 8, 13, and 23; August 8 and 18; and September 3, 7, and 14.  His

three games for Washington in 1905 were on September 25, September 29, and October 7.










489 138 186 34 4 36 129 3 145 .380
521 134 178 38 8 35 119 0 159 .342
458  98 158 26 2 36 120 0 131 .345