“Smokey” Joe Wood, Boston AL (baseball) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The shoulder stiffens in the dry, brittle air of winter’s Colorado.  Jesus died at 33, and I ain’t planning on kicking the bucket just yet, and yes, that crown of thorns must’ve been one sonovabitch, but mister, until you’ve awakened at 4:00 a.m. after a hundred curveballs, and twice as many fastballs, well, all I’m sayin’ is, don’t come cryin’ to me about sin and redemption.  We all get squeezed sometimes.

Flaky Lacy over there says she’s seen my picture in a newspaper brought back from the East.  Says she thinks I was famous, playing some game of Ball or something.  Showed me the headline, and the picture of a dark-eyed, serious looking kid of the age when youth sets, then begins to die.  The camera captured the image the instant before the melting began, when first you lose your heater, then your heart.  Finally, they take your name and put it in a magazine.  Might as well be an obituary.

Tried second-base once.  It didn’t take.

I could hit a little.  Batted .366 years after I couldn’t comb my own hair with my right hand.  They say your body compensates for itself so that one part of it grows stronger when another part shuts down.  Well, the wrong part grew stronger, sir.  The memory of the ball just whistling out of my right hand, effortless as a young girl dancing barefoot in summer’s backyard — all lemonade and perfumed air — gets stronger and sharper.  It cuts and slashes leaving nothing but the wound of youth.

Boston ball grounds – 1912 (1st part of panorama), 9/28/12 (LOC) (Photo credit: The Library of Congress)

Maybe I’ll leave this land of the Ute, and head back East after all.  Got a cousin in Connecticut.  Said I could get a job in New Haven teaching pitching.  I could get down to Boston once in a while, I suppose.  Sit with the old men in the bleachers, talking about the way things used to be.  How the young fellers of today don’t know how to play the game the way we once did.  Clean balls now, and everyone hits a homer, drives a car, and owns a radio.

Ran into a man on my way out of here yesterday.  Said he was a reporter.  Asked me to come back in and have one more for the road.  Said to me, “You was Smokey Joe Wood.”  I said, “I guess I still am, but for the part that refers to my right arm.”  He laughed and shook his head.  ”Don’t know how you do it,” he pondered.  ”Why, whatever do you mean, sir?” I retorted.  He held off for a moment, bottom jaw cranky with doubt.  Foamy beer clung to his lips and chin, leaving him looking like a bearded Greta Garbo.

“You had the world once,” he started.  ”You were literally ‘King of the Hill’, and no one could knock you off your perch.”  He stared at me now, in the same way mortals first came to detest the fallen Gods of old when Olympus would no longer shelter them.  ”How do you get on with it at all?”  His question lingered in the air, like the moment after the first drop of rain, but before the second.  It insinuated a dark chasm that I had heretofore generally avoided.

Colorado Meadows (Photo credit: QualityFrog)

“I don’t get on with it at all,” I responded.  ”I simply play dead, and it gets tired and moves along on its way.  It is dumb, sir, and spends time fretting over its feces, and pulling thorns from its feet.  Me, I adjust the shadows so they cloak me when I sleep, and when I arrive at a new destination, they always arrive a step behind me, lapping at the sunlit, dappled ground.”

I paid my tab and left that place.  On the way out of Ouray, on a cannonball headed to the Atlantic, I spotted a ballgame out my window.  A barefoot boy, bat on his shoulder, turned to look at the train barreling by his little, brown diamond.  He waved, perhaps not at me, but at the image of speed and power that captured his imagination.

I thought I knew just how he felt.  I waved back, (just in case), head resting against the cool windowpane, eyes closed now, and said goodbye.

These are the basics…

The Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame was instituted in 1995 to recognize the careers of former Boston Red Sox baseball players. A 15-member selection committee of Red Sox broadcasters and executives, past and present media personnel, and representatives from The Sports Museum of New England and the BoSox Club are responsible for nominating candidates.

The criteria for selection into the Hall is as follows:

• Player to be eligible for nomination must have played a minimum of three years with the Boston Red Sox and must also have been out of uniform as an active player a minimum of three years.

• Non-uniformed honorees such as broadcasters and front office execs are inducted by a unanimous vote of the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame selection committee. The memorable moment will be chosen by the committee as well.

• Former Boston Red Sox players and personnel in the National Baseball Hall of Fame (NBHOF) in Cooperstown, New York will be automatically enshrined in the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame.

Memorable moments

• 1995: Roger Clemens’ first 20-strikeout game in 1986
• 1995: Carlton Fisk’s game-winning home run in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series
• 2000: Dave Henderson’s game-winning home run in Game 5 of the 1986 American League Championship Series
• 2002: Earl Wilson’s no-hitter on June 26, 1962
• 2004: Bernie Carbo’s pinch-hit home run in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series
• 2006: Dave Roberts’ steal of second base in Game 4 of the 2004 American League Championship Series
• 2008: Ted Williams’ home run in his final Major League at-bat on September 28, 1960, versus the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park
• 2010: Tom Brunansky’s diving catch of Ozzie Guillén’s line drive in the ninth inning of the season ending game that preserved the Red Sox victory sending them to the 1990 playoffs

And all of this information, sadly, still doesn’t lend itself to the easy selection of ‘Top Something Red Sox of all-time’.  So I guess we’ll have to do it the hard way and look at the facts, stat for stat, player by player… oh boy.  Now, to weave through the enormous bulk of the statistics and the lesser players who exist in the higher end of all-time numbers through the merit of less time served, I’m planning on setting a minimum of 800 games played in a Red Sox uniform.

Batting Average:                          Home Runs:

1. Ted Williams      .344                  Ted Williams         521

2. Wade Boggs       .338                  C. Yastrzemski      452

3. Tris Speaker       .337                  Jim Rice                 382

4. N. Garciaparra   .323                 Dwight Evans        379

5. Jimmie Foxx       .320                 David Ortiz*          310

6. Johnny Pesky      .313                 Manny Ramirez    274

7. Manny Ramirez  .312                 Mo Vaughn             230

8. Fred Lynn            .308                Bobby Doerr           223

9. Billy Goodman    .306                Jimmie Foxx         222

10. Mo Vaughn        .304                Rico Petrocelli      210

Runs Batted In:                           Games:

C. Yastrzemski      1844                  C. Yastrzemski     3308

Ted Williams         1839                  Dwight Evans       2505

Jim Rice                 1451                   Ted Williams        2292

Dwight Evans        1346                   Jim Rice                2089

Bobby Doerr          1247                   Bobby Doerr         1865

David Ortiz*           987                    Harry Hooper      1647

Manny Ramirez    868                    Wade Boggs          1625

Jimmie Foxx          788                    Rico Petrocelli      1553

Rico Petrocelli       773                    Jason Varitek*      1520

Mo Vaughn            752                     Dom DiMaggio    1399

Doubles:                                          Triples:

1. C. Yastrzemski      646                 Harry Hooper        130

2. Ted Williams         525                 Tris Speaker          106

3. Dwight Evans        474                Buck Freeman        90

4. Wade Boggs           422                Bobby Doerr           89

5. Bobby Doerr          381                 Larry Gardner        87

6. Jim Rice                 373                 Jim Rice                   79

7. David Ortiz*           331                 ’Hobe’ Ferris           77

8. Dom DiMaggio      308               Dwight Evans          72

9. Jason Varitek*       305               Ted Williams            71

10. N. Garciaparra     279               Freddy Parent          63

Bases on Balls:                                Runs Scored:

Ted Williams         2019                     C. Yastrzemski      1816

C. Yastrzemski      1845                      Ted Williams        1798

Dwight Evans        1337                      Dwight Evans       1435

Wade Boggs          1004                       Jim Rice                1249

Harry Hooper        826                      Bobby Doerr        1094

Bobby Doerr          809                       Wade Boggs         1067

Dom DiMaggio      750                       Dom DiMaggio    1046

David Ortiz*           734                       Harry Hooper       988

Jim Rice                 670                        David Ortiz*          812

Rico Petrocelli       661                        Johnny Pesky       776

For the same reason of wading through the massive amount of statistics, I limited my selections of pitchers to a minimum 200 appearances in a Red Sox uniform.

Wins:                                             Earned Run Average:

1. Roger Clemens      192               Joe Wood                 1.99

2. Cy Young                192               Cy Young                  2.00

3. Tim Wakefield*     184              Dutch Leonard         2.13

4. Mel Parnell             123              Pedro Martinez        2.52

5. Luis Tiant                122              George Winter         2.91

6. Pedro Martinez      117               Tex Huson               2.94

7. Joe Wood                 117              Roger Clemens        3.06

8. Bob Stanley             115              Ellis Kinder              3.28

9. Joe Dobson             106             Lefty Grove               3.34

10. Lefty Grove            105             Luis Tiant                  3.36

Strikeouts:                                     Complete Games:

Roger Clemens         2590               Cy Young               275

Tim Wakefield*       1993                George Winter      141

Pedro Martinez        1683                Joe Wood              121

Cy Young                   1341                Lefty Grove           119

Luis Tiant                  1075                Mel Parnell           113

Bruce Hurst             1043                 Luis Tiant              113

Joe Wood                  986                  Roger Clemens     100

B. Monbouquette     969                 Tex Huson              99

Frank Sullivan          821                 Dutch Leonard       96

Jim Lonborg             784                 Joe Dobson            90

Innings Pitched:                               Shutouts:

1. Tim Wakefield*         2933.0          Roger Clemens          38

2. Roger Clemens          2776.0          Cy Young                    38

3. Cy Young                    2728.1           Joe Wood                   28

4.  Luis Tiant                  1774.2           Luis Tiant                   26

5. Mel Parnell                 1752.2          Dutch Leonard           25

6. Bob Stanley                1707.0          Mel Parnell                 20

7. B. Monbouquette      1622.0          Tex Huson                   19

8. George Winter           1599.2          Joe Dobson                 17

9. Joe Dobson                1544.0          B. Monbouquette       16

10. Lefty Grove              1539.2           Lefty Grove                 15

Saves have been included simply for historical significance.  I’m listing the full top ten, but lowering the minimum to 100 appearances in a Red Sox uniform.

Saves:

1. Jon Papelbon*               208

2. Bob Stanley                    132

3. Dick Radatz                    104

4. Ellis Kinder                      91

5. Jeff Reardon                    88

6. Derek Lowe*                    85

7. Sparky Lyle                      69

8. Tom Gordon                    68

9. Lee Smith                         58

10. Bill Campbell                 51

Now a lot of names repeat themselves in these lists of all-time stats, while a few names were omitted for lack of appearances, such as Pete Runnels for a few hitting categories and pitchers Jon Lester and Josh Beckett for strikeouts as well as Babe Ruth for a number of pitching categories including ERA (4th with 2.19), complete games (8th with 105) and shutouts (11th with 17).  I left out stats such as Extra Base Hits, Slugging and On-Base percentages as they were simply more of the same names in different order.  You can view them yourself here:  http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/bos/history/all_time_leaders.jsp

Okay, there are the stats for the most part (no, I’m not including fielding stats because a few of the categories are geared towards infielders, particularly first basemen and catchers), so lets take a look at award winners.

Most Valuable Player: This is the BBWAA MVP award created in 1931, and does not include the Chalmers Award (1911–1914) or the League Awards (1922–1929).

Dustin Pedroia* (2008), Mo Vaughn (1995), Roger Clemens (1986), Jim Rice (1978), Fred Lynn (1975), Yaz (1967), Jackie Jensen (1958), Ted Williams (1949 & 1946) and Jimmie Foxx (1938).

Rookie of the Year:

Dustin Pedroia (2007), Nomar Garciaparra (1997), Fred Lynn (1975), Carlton Fisk (1972), Don Schwall (1961) and Walt Dropo (1950).

Now lets take a look at a few more historical league leaders…

… We’ll cover hitting first…

… And now the Pitching…

Now, for the sake of being fairly thorough and not wanting to completely leave the legendary defensive efforts in limbo, here are the list of Gold Glove Winners…

So, has any of this cemented anything?  No… but it has provided a little bit more depth into the varied history of the players who have worn the Red, White and Blue of the Boston Americans across the many decades.  Looking at a few of these league leading categories, it also sheds some light on periods where offense seemed to overshadow pitching and how both seemed to dwarf defense… but then again, the Yawkey regime was always known for the sizzle of the home run show over the actual steak of baseball.

Okay, for the next installment I’ll be looking at those who are inductees into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and probably a few players who should have been but weren’t.  Hey, you can’t make an omelete without breaking some eggs and sure as hell can’t have any sort of ‘Best of…’ or ‘Top (insert number here)..’ list without a little controversy.

As we embark on the 2011 season there are eleven questions surrounding the 2011 version of the Boston Red Sox.  Back in 1911, back even before Fenway Park, those Red Sox led by Tris Speaker, Harry Hooper, Duffy Lewis and Smokey Joe Wood finished fourth in the American League, going 78-75 under Patsy Donovan.  It’s fair to say this year’s version has much higher aspirations than that Huntington Avenue Grounds crew.  Though the 1911 Sawx did lead the league in home runs and ERA.

11.) Can They Win 100 Games?

Only three times in their history have the Boston Red Sox ever finished with over 100 wins in a season.  The first coming in the inaugural season of Fenway Park when the club won  franchise best 105 games en route to a World Series title.  The other two resulted in a Series victory in 1915 and defeat in 1946.  While some may be skeptical of a team coming off an 89 win season bouncing back to win 100 in the AL “Big” East, it has happened and quite recently.  The 2008 New York Yankees won 89 games and in 2009 went on to win 103. 

10.) How Many Runs/Steals From The Top?

 These aren’t your father’s Red Sox.  Oh sure they can still go big fly, but they will most assuredly be flying around the base paths all summer long.  For some perspective, my first Red Sox game in 1993 that team’s leading base stealers were Scott Fletcher (16) and Billy Hatcher (14) and that squad didn’t have one player with over 90 runs scored.  Heck even last year’s squad was led by Ryan Kalish with ten swipes.  Now factor in new addition Carl Crawford, who has led the league in steals and triples four times, including a league leading 13 last season.  Then add a healthy Dustin Pedroia, who prior to last year’s injury shortened campaign led the league in runs scored in 2008 and 2009 with 233 combined.  Following that there’s also Jacoby Ellsbury, who led the junior circuit in steals in 2008 and 2009 with a combined 120.  One has to figure they’re good for a combined 130 steals and 320 runs scored if healthy.  Pretty scary.

9.) From Speedy To Gonzalez

In 2010 Boston’s most productive offensive player was named Adrian.  For 2011 they’re banking on another player named Adrian to lead the charge.  So it’s out with Beltre, in with Gonzalez.  Adrian Gonzalez will certainly be a welcome sight for what was an injury riddled club last year.  During the past four campaigns, Gonzalez has played in 160 games or more and in 2006 he appeared in 156 contests.  What is scary about Gonzalez is here you have a guy who in 2009 despite walking a league high 119 times in a paper-thin lineup at a renown pitcher’s park in San Diego, still clubbed 40 home runs.  Gonzalez carried the Padres last year with 31 dingers and 101 driven in.  Now batting in Fenway Park, most likely in front of Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz, the only question is if Gonzalez can handle the pressure cooker of Beantown.

8.) Can Their Catchers Handle The Staff?

There’s a job site out there that touts itself as “long name amazing results.”  With Jarrod Saltalamacchia presumably the starting backstop, the Red Sox have themselves a catcher with a long name and suspect results taking over for V-Mart and V-Tek.  A career .248 hitter, all Salty needs to do is handle the staff and keep opposing runners honest.  Oddly enough the Red Sox and Yankees could actually help each other given the Red Sox pitching depth and the Yankees at the catcher spot.  Fat chance of that happening.

7.) How Much Does Papi Have Left?

Last year folks were writing off David Ortiz in April… April Fools.  All Big Papi did after that was lead the club in Home Runs and RBI and made his sixth All-Star Game.  Ortiz eclipsed 30 homers and 100 RBI for the first time since 2007 and still proved a force in the Red Sox lineup.  Boston would be thrilled if Big Papi could duplicate those numbers in a contract year.

6.) Going… going… Papel-gone?

With phenom fireballer Daniel Bard and his 1.93 ERA and 76 K’s in 74.2 innings waiting in the wings and ex-ChiSox closer Bobby Jenks in the mix, how many early short circuits will it take for the Sawx to swap out Jonathan Papelbon?  Despite having 37 saves, Pap’s ERA ballooned to 3.90.  Though in his last two “odd” year’s, Papelbon has pitched to an ERA of 1.85.  If one looks at the rest of his stats outside of the ERA there’s not much of a difference overall.  It wouldn’t shock me if a team like Texas took a run at him.

5.) Can The Numbers Three Through Five Starters Be Consistent?

Injuries, inconsistency and keeping Tim Wakefield gainfully employed.  That’s what one might read from looking at Josh Beckett, John Lackey And Daisuke Matsuzaka.  Lackey has only won 14 games more than once in his career and had his highest ERA since 2004 and highest total of hits allowed since 2003 last year.  Matsuzaka had a decent bounce back but was nowhere near his 2008 level.  As for Beckett, he endured his worst campaign in a Boston uniform since 2006 with a 5.78 ERA and only six victories.  Mind you with the emergence of Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz at the head of the rotation, Boston hardly needs the latter three to be dominant.  But is it too much of a stretch to ask them to average between 12-15 wins apiece?

4.) Youkilis For MVP?

Batting cleanup in this lineup, what’s the over/under of Youkilis driving in 130 runs?  Youkilis now can take comfort in playing third every day and can focus his attention to run production while opposing pitchers are focused on A-Gon and Crawford, Ellsbury and Pedroia on the bases.  Youkilis a true grinder who garnered two straight top ten MVP finishes before an injury shortened 2010 campaign, could really cash in much like Jeff Kent did with Barry Bonds in San Francisco.

3.) The Starting Shortstop is?

Marco Scutaro was third on the team in hitting at .275 and led the Red Sox in runs scored with 92.  Then there’s the young Jed Lowrie who showed signs of being able to stick as a regular while filling in for Dustin Pedroia, batting .287 with nine home runs.  Is Lowrie ready for every day action or does Scutaro hold down the fort long enough for Boston to make a deal at the deadline for say a Jose Reyes? 

2.) What Will The Boston Batting Order Look Like?

Do the Red Sox put all of their speed guys with Crawford, Ellsbury and Pedroia at the top?  Or does Ellsbury serve as a “double-leadoff” hitter in the nine-hole?  It looks as though Gonzalez and Youkilis will handle the three and four spots, with either David Ortiz or J.D. Drew in the five and six holes, with Scutaro, Salty and Ellsbury rounding out the order.  Though one could make the arguement for slotting Crawford in the three hole with Gonzalez and Youkilis at the four and five, though that would break up the left-right, left-right setup.

1.) Who Is The Wild Card For This Team?

Will Daniel Bard step into the closer role?  Does Ryan Kalish supplant J.D. Drew?  How do their new big guns in Crawford and Gonzalez adjust to the pressure cooker?  Can Clay Buchholz duplicate his dominance?  Does Jed Lowrie emerge at short?  How will they fair with a new pitching coach?  Can they stay healthy?  If so, Boston looks stacked in 2011.

You could tell when Lester took the mound that he wasn’t about to play games.  You could tell that he knew he had a job to do and that he was going to do it.  He had his way with the Mariners, who looked like minor leaguers who had absolutely no idea what was going on.  His cut fastball was the best I’ve seen it all season.  So were his sinker and curveball.  And he threw in a good changeup every now and then.  You’d be hard-pressed to find an at-bat where he fell behind in the count, and he threw his offspeeds effectively for strikes.  He completely befuddled the hitters en route to twelve strikeouts over eight of the most solid innings you could possibly get from a pitcher.  Seven were swinging, and four were looking.  I’m telling you, there’s something very satisfying about watching the opposition take cuts at air.  He was very aggressive and packed the zone with a world of nasty.  This was his fourth consecutive start with ten-plus K’s, the longest such streak in the Majors since Jake Peavy in 2007 from April 25 to May 11 for the Padres.  Nobody in the American League did it since Johan Santana with five starts in 2004.  The last pitcher to do it for us was obviously Pedro Martinez with five in 2001.  But Lester is the first lefty in franchise history.  That brings his K total for the year to 209, making him one of five Sox pitchers to post at least two hundred K’s in consecutive seasons.  The other four are Cy Young, Smokey Joe Wood, Roger Clemens, and Pedro Martinez.  That’s some heady company.  And if anyone belongs there, it’s Lester.  The best part is that technically he’s not even a strikeout pitcher.  He just wants outs, period.  And if he can do it more efficiently with groundouts, lineouts, and flyouts, he will.  The strikeouts are just a side venture, if you will.  That’s why he’s the man.

He last pitched at Safeco Field on July 24 and took a bid for a perfect game past the first out in the sixth, but we ended up losing.  Not so last night.  He picked up his seventeenth win of the year, also a new career high, en route to a twenty-win season.  He allowed only one run on three hits while walking three.  That’s it.  So it’s not that the Mariners had opportunities and didn’t capitalize on them.  They just didn’t have any opportunities on which to capitalize.  He strode out there and showed everybody how it’s done.  He was extraordinarily dirty, and that’s all there is to it.

We won, 5-1, showcasing the young talent because they’re the only ones still healthy.  We racked up three in the second.  Beltre scored on a groundout by Reddick, Lowrie scored on a double by Nava, and Nava scored on a double by Anderson.  It’s good to see Reddick and Anderson back in action; it reminds you that the future is bright, even if the present may be grim.  In the eighth, Kalish ripped a two-run homer into the right field seats.  Fister hung a change at the belt.  For Kalish, it was only a matter of doing what he’d always been taught to do with something like that: clock it.

The kids had some nice plays in the field, too.  No errors last night while Seattle made two, so they were pretty comfortable.  Speaking of defense, how about Scutaro’s flip in the third? Ichiro chopped one to Scutaro who made a running flip out of his glove to Anderson at first.  It was masterful.

You’ll never believe this, but the barrage of injuries continues.  Honestly, you’d think it would just stop by now being that there’s only half a month left in the season.  But no.  The injury bug has to rub salt in it.  Turns out that Drew left the game on Sunday because of a full-fledged injury.  He took a wide turn around first on a single, and you could tell that something was wrong when he ran back.  He jammed his right ankle.  And Doubront, one big reason why we traded Delcarmen, will probably be done for the season with his upper pectoral injury, specifically the left collarbone area.  “Done for the season” is such a funny phrase these days being that we’re in the middle of September.  If I sound bitter about it, it’s because I am.  We get it.  Enough with the injuries already.

We’ve got a two-game winning streak going, so that’s good.  Mostly it was just a blast to watch Lester go to work.  As far as Cy Young candidates are concerned, he has to be one of them.  He’s been outstanding, and it’s the middle of September and he doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.  Dice-K would do well to take a page from his book when he takes the hill tonight.  Let’s win a series.

In other news, football season officially started yesterday, and the Pats kicked it off (pun intended) on a high note by beating the Bengals, 38-24.

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Answers to Triple Crown TWIBia #3

Okay, I’m sad to report I did have 2 typos last week. Strikeouts were
listed incorrectly for player #1 at 276; they should have read 268.
Also, strikeouts for player #6 should have been listed at 222, not 223.

1) 24 – 4, 1.53 ERA, 268 strikeouts: Dwight Gooden, 1985
For me, this pitching line was the genesis for memorizing stats. Anyone
who was lucky enough to see 20-year-old Dr. K fire in 96 mph heat with
a curveball so deadly it was dubbed “Lord Charles” had the pleasure of
seeing one of the finest pitched seasons of all time.

Smokey Joe Wood

2) 34 – 5, 1.91 ERA, 258 strikeouts: Smokey Joe Wood, 1912
Walter Johnson was asked if he threw harder than Joe Wood. His reply
was, “mister, no one throws harder than Smokey Joe Wood.” Smokey Joe
was 22 years old when he led the Red Sox to their 2nd World Series
title. His classic 1-0 duel that season versus the Big Train is the
stuff of legend. Although his pitching career was cut short due to
injury, he made a gallant comeback as an outfielder, hitting .366 in
1921.
3) 26 – 9, 1.94 ERA, 275 strikeouts: Hal Newhouser, 1946
Leading the league in wins four times, Prince Hal won back to back AL
MVPs in 1944 and 1945, and finished 2nd in 1946 to Ted Williams. He was
finally inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1992.
4) 25 – 3, 1.74 ERA, 248 strikeouts: Ron Guidry, 1978
With a mark of .893 in 1978, Gator posted the highest season winning
percentage of all time for a 20 game winner. While never having a
strong push for HOF consideration, his career totals are quite similar
to Sandy Koufax.
5) 24 – 8, 1.82 ERA, 301 strikeouts: Vida Blue, 1971
Gracing the cover of Time magazine in 1971, Vida was another young
phenom when he exploded onto the scene at age 21. A’s owner Charlie O.
Finley even asked him to change his first name to “True”. Thankfully he
declined.
6) 25 – 6, 2.23 ERA, 222 strikeouts – Juan Marichal, 1966
The Dominican Dandy may be the finest post 1956 pitcher to never win
the Cy Young Award. With his majestic high leg kick, Juan won 20 games
six times and had a lifetime 2.89 ERA. His 1966 season featured a
ridiculous 0.86 WHIP.
7) 18 – 6, 1.74 ERA, 284 strikeouts – Pedro Martinez, 2000
Ah, Pedro. Although most think of his amazing 1999 season as his
finest, 2000 was even better. Every member of the 2000 Red Sox lineup
should be bullwhipped for not scoring enough in his starts to get this
guy 20 wins that year. His 0.74 WHIP and adjusted ERA+ of 291 that year
are all time bests.
8) 28 – 12, 1.53 ERA, 150 strikeouts – Eddie Cicotte, 1917
One of the eight players banished from the game because of the 1919
Black Sox scandal, Cicotte may have gotten some HOF consideration if
his career was allowed to continue. It’s interesting to note that the
1919 team had 3 players inducted into the Hall – Eddie Collins, Ray
Schalk, and Red Faber. I think Shoeless Joe and Cicotte would have
joined them.
9) 23 – 12, 1.75 ERA, 170 strikeouts – Babe Ruth, 1916
The original Roy Hobbs, the big guy was a dominating pitcher before he
became the greatest hitter of all time. Actually while he was on his
way to being the greatest hitter of all time – he led the league in
homeruns in 1918 while winning 13 games as a pitcher. Ruth was 3-0 with
a 0.87 ERA pitching in the World Series for the Red Sox championship
teams of 1916 and 1918.
10) 6 – 1, 2.48 ERA, 43 strikeouts – Satchel Paige, 1948
The ultimate “what if” story, the legendary Satchel Paige was a 41-
year-old rookie when he finally got his MLB break after being the most
famous pitcher in Negro League history. His performance down the
stretch helped propel the Cleveland Indians to their last WS title.

Once again, our lone perfect score belongs to Greg Holcombe. Greg
is now 25 for 25. Greg, I’m humbled. To paraphrase Chet from “Weird
Science”, I’m considering making up some stuff this week.

That’s it for now. Make sure you check out the show, we’re all over the Rockies this week.

Triple Crown TWIBia #4

1) .388 AVG, 14 HR, 100 RBI
2) .351 AVG, 23 HR, 89 RBI
3) .317 AVG, 54 HR, 128 RBI
4) .317 AVG, 52 HR, 112 RBI
5) .322 AVG, 42 HR, 129 RBI
6) .311 AVG, 46 HR, 142 RBI
7) .317 AVG, 28 HR, 118 RBI
8) .332 AVG, 18 HR, 100 RBI
9) .322 AVG, 8 HR, 79 RBI

As always, submit your guesses to me at twib@mlb.com.

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