Counting down the pitchers who tallied the most wins, saves, strikeouts, and hits-batsmen of the decade.
Games Started
1.
|
Livan Hernandez
|
332
|
2.
|
Javier Vazquez
|
327
|
3.
|
Jeff Suppan
|
321
|
4.
|
Barry Zito
|
320
|
5.
|
Jamie Moyer
|
315
|
I’ve finally learned to spell Livan’s name correctly. The decade saw nine pitchers make 300 or more starts, which is consistent with the 1990’s (10 pitchers with 300+ starts) and 1980’s (again, 10 pitchers with 300+ starts). It is possible that the number of starts a pitcher makes, which has been dropping since baseball started, has reached a point of leveling off. The leaders of the 2000’s and the 1990’s:
|
2000's
|
GS
|
1990's
|
GS
|
1.
|
Livan Hernandez
|
332
|
Greg Maddux
|
331
|
2.
|
Javier Vazquez
|
327
|
Tom Glavine
|
327
|
3.
|
Jeff Suppan
|
321
|
Chuck Finley
|
316
|
4.
|
Barry Zito
|
320
|
John Smoltz
|
315
|
5.
|
Jamie Moyer
|
315
|
A. Benes/K. Brown
|
314
|
Almost the exact same totals, obviously.
I’m not sure it means anything, but the pitchers of the 1990’s list are better than the list from the ‘Aughts. Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz will be elected to the Hall of Fame, and Kevin Brown and Chuck Finley were elite pitchers. The best pitcher on the 2000’s list is Vazquez, who is a supremely underrated pitcher, but not a Hall-of-Famer.
Wins
1.
|
Andy Pettitte
|
148
|
5.(t)
|
Roy Oswalt
|
137
|
2.
|
Randy Johnson
|
143
|
7.
|
CC Sabathia
|
136
|
3.
|
Jamie Moyer
|
140
|
8.
|
Mark Buehrle
|
135
|
4.
|
Roy Halladay
|
139
|
9.(t)
|
Greg Maddux
|
134
|
5.(t)
|
Tim Hudson
|
137
|
9.(t)
|
Mike Mussina
|
134
|
Showing the top-ten, just to be more inclusive. Looking at the list, there are three players who are obvious Hall-of-Famers: Maddux, Johnson, and Mussina. Of the remaining seven, I’d guess that three or four will get there, though it is anyone’s guess who those three or four will be. The least likely to make the Hall are Buehrle and Moyer. You’d have to think Oswalt, Halladay, Sabbathia, and Pettitte all have puncher’s chances.
As I mentioned somewhere else, Pettitte’s 148 wins are the fewest to lead a decade. The full list:
|
Winningest Pitchers
|
|
1900's
|
Christy Mathewson
|
236
|
1910's
|
Walter Johnson
|
265
|
1920's
|
Burleigh Grimes
|
190
|
1930's
|
Lefty Grove
|
199
|
1940's
|
Hal Newhouser
|
170
|
1950's
|
Warren Spahn
|
202
|
1960's
|
Juan Marichal
|
191
|
1970's
|
Jim Palmer
|
186
|
1980's
|
Jack Morris
|
162
|
1990's
|
Greg Maddux
|
176
|
2000's
|
Andy Pettitte
|
148
|
Only Jack Morris isn’t in the Hall of Fame, which is ammunition for the folks who thing he oughtbe there, earned-run average be damned.
Loses
1.
|
Livan Hernandez
|
124
|
2.
|
Javier Vazquez
|
116
|
3.
|
Jeff Suppan
|
110
|
4.(t)
|
Jeff Weaver
|
106
|
4.(t)
|
Barry Zito
|
106
|
Lots of carry-over from the Games Started list. There were nine players to amass 100 or more loses over the decade.
For reasons I can’t fully fathom, Jeff Suppan is one of my twin brother’s favorite players, to point that whenever Suppan has a good game, I can rely on getting an e-mail about it. My brother is a Red Sox fan; Jeff Suppan posted a 5.87 ERA with Boston.
Innings Pitched
1
|
Livan Hernandez
|
2201
|
2
|
Javier Vazquez
|
2163
|
3
|
Mark Buehrle
|
2061
|
4
|
Barry Zito
|
1999
|
5
|
Jamie Moyer
|
1980
|
If Games Started is leveling off, the total number of innings pitched isn’t. Over the decade, just three pitchers topped 2000+ innings, an all-time low:
|
# of Pitchers with 2000+ IP
|
2000's
|
3
|
1990's
|
10
|
1980's
|
10
|
1970's
|
20
|
1960's
|
9
|
The 1970’s was a crazy decade for pitchers: there were probably dozens of factors that made it such a unique decade for pitchers. I should spend some more time thinking about that decade.
Complete Games
|
Complete Games
|
|
1.
|
Roy Halladay
|
47
|
2.
|
Livan Hernandez
|
36
|
3.
|
Randy Johnson
|
32
|
4.
|
CC Sabathia
|
28
|
5.
|
Curt Schilling
|
26
|
This number, not surprisingly, has dropped off precipitously over the decades. Halladay, who is almost 20% ahead of the #2 man, wouldn’t crack the top-five from the previous decade:
|
2000's
|
|
1990's
|
|
1.
|
Roy Halladay
|
47
|
Greg Maddux
|
75
|
2.
|
Livan Hernandez
|
36
|
Randy Johnson
|
65
|
3.
|
Randy Johnson
|
32
|
Jack McDowell
|
61
|
4.
|
CC Sabathia
|
28
|
Kevin Brown
|
58
|
5.
|
Curt Schilling
|
26
|
Clemens/Schilling
|
57
|
Of course, we’re a long ways away from the complete game totals of 1900’s:
1900's
|
CG's
|
Cy Young
|
351
|
Vic Wills
|
324
|
Christy Mathewson
|
308
|
George Mullin
|
285
|
Eddie Plank
|
285
|
Shutouts
|
Shutouts
|
|
1.
|
Roy Halladay
|
14
|
2.
|
Randy Johnson
|
12
|
3.
|
Tim Hudson
|
11
|
4.
|
CC Sabathia
|
11
|
5.(t)
|
Chris Carpenter
|
10
|
5.(t)
|
Mark Mulder
|
10
|
Six pitchers notched ten or more shutouts over the decade. The last time any pitcher notched ten shutouts in a single season? John Tudor, 1985.
The record for most shutouts in a single season is 16, reached by George Bradley in 1876 version of the National League, and tied by Pete Alexander in 1916.
Here’s a weird tidbit: the two men who reached 16 shutouts were both named for Presidents: Bradley’s full name was George Washington Bradley, while Alexander’s full name was Grover Cleveland Alexander.
The only pitcher named after Abraham Lincoln never notched a shutout: Abraham Lincoln ‘Sweetbears’ Bradley made six starts in the majors, but never went the full nine.
That said, Tommy Bridges, whose full name was Thomas Jefferson Davis Bridges, did lead the league in shutouts in 1932. He is the only pitcher named after a President of the United States and a President of the Confederate States.
Theodore Roosevelt (Ted) Lilly has just two shutouts in 255 career starts.
Strikeouts
1
|
Randy Johnson
|
2182
|
2
|
Javier Vazquez
|
2001
|
3
|
Johan Santana
|
1733
|
4
|
Pedro Martinez
|
1620
|
5
|
CC Sabathia
|
1590
|
Not a surprising list, I suppose. Despite the strikeout rate climbing over 7.00 this year, the leaders of the 1990’s posted more impressive totals, due largely to the higher number of innings pitched:
|
2000's
|
K's
|
1990's
|
K's
|
1
|
Randy Johnson
|
2182
|
Randy Johnson
|
2538
|
2
|
Javier Vazquez
|
2001
|
Roger Clemens
|
2101
|
3
|
Johan Santana
|
1733
|
David Cone
|
1928
|
4
|
Pedro Martinez
|
1620
|
John Smoltz
|
1893
|
5
|
CC Sabathia
|
1590
|
Chuck Finley
|
1784
|
This is the second decade that Randy has led in strikeouts. Here are the leaders per decade:
1900's
|
Rube Waddell
|
2251
|
1910's
|
Walter Johnson
|
2219
|
1920's
|
Dazzy Vance
|
1464
|
1930's
|
Lefty Gomez
|
1337
|
1940's
|
Hal Newhouser
|
1579
|
1950's
|
Early Wynn
|
1544
|
1960's
|
Bob Gibson
|
2071
|
1970's
|
Nolan Ryan
|
2678
|
1980's
|
Nolan Ryan
|
2167
|
1990's
|
Randy Johnson
|
2538
|
2000's
|
Randy Johnson
|
2182
|
Dazzy Vance, whose 1464 strikeouts is the second lowest of any decade leader, blew away the competition: the next closest was Burleigh Grimes, with 1018.
All the players listed above are in the Hall of Fame except Randy Johnson, who is as close to automatic as they come. Won’t get the seagull vote, though.
Walks
1
|
Barry Zito
|
826
|
2
|
Doug Davis
|
736
|
3
|
Livan Hernandez
|
720
|
4
|
Carlos Zambrano
|
698
|
5
|
Russ Ortiz
|
684
|
Four of the five players listed have ‘z’s in their names, which is telling. I wonder if Doug Davis’s middle name is Zoro.
Zito hasn’t ever led the league in walks, but he’s been top-ten every year from 2001-2009. That’s consistency, folks.
Wild Pitches
1.
|
Matt Clement
|
88
|
2.
|
A.J. Burnett
|
83
|
3.
|
John Lackey
|
83
|
4.
|
Miguel Batista
|
79
|
5.
|
Jose Contreras
|
72
|
No Wakefield, which surprised me. He’s actually sixth on the list, tied with Daniel Cabrera, but I figured that as the only practicing knuckler, he’d be first on the list.
In fact, Wakefield has never led his league in Wild Pitches. Looking back, Phil Niekro led the league in Wild Pitches three times, and his brother Joe Niekro led four times. But Charlie Hough never did, nor did Hoyt Wilhelm or Wilbur Wood or Tom Candiotti. More knuckleballers don’t lead their league in wild pitches.
There are a few reasons for this. One, a knuckleball tends to be slower than a regular pitch, so it is less likely to roll far enough away for a runner to advance. Two, knuckleballs are often ruled passed balls by the scorers, and will thus show up in the catcher’s defensive record. Lastly: base stealers probably run a great deal anyway against knuckleball pitchers: I might be wrong on this, but I’d assume that if the runner is already breaking prior to the wild pitch, it will generally be ruled a stolen base, and not a passed ball or a wild pitch.
One more thing: the 1945 Washington Senators had a pitching rotation that featured four old knuckleballers (Dutch Leonard, Roger Wolff, Mickey Haefner, and Johnny Niggeling) and a kid named Marino Pieretti. Leonard was a star prior to the war, but the other three knuckleballers were wartime call-ups: Roger Wolff, who went 20-10 in 1945, made the majors as a 30-year old rookie in 1941, and was quickly pushed out of the majors when war ended. Haefner was a rookie in 1943, and he hung on for a few years after the war ended. Look for Haefner to show up on one of the tables below.
Johnny Niggeling made the majors as a 34-year old rookie in 1939, and was an ineffective starter and reliever prior to the war. He was forty-one during the 1945 season, and was probably the least effective of the quartet of knuckleballers. He was an Iowa native, born in the town of Remsun, which is located in the northwest corner of the state. After his career ended, he worked as a barber in nearby LeMars. He hung himself at the age of 60, shortly after his wife divorced him.
Marino Pieretti, the lone ‘normal’ on the team, posted a 14-13 record, which was the only winning season he had during his six years in the majors.
The 1944 Senators team finished with a 64-90 record, good enough for last place in the American League. Prior to the start of the 1945 season, the team’s only good player, Early Wynn, was drafted into the military. But the 1945 team, led by their four old knuckleballers, posted an incredible 87-67 record, finishing in 2nd place, just one-and-a-half games behind the Detroit Tigers.
Hit-By-Pitches
1.
|
Tim Wakefield
|
107
|
2.
|
Jeff Weaver
|
106
|
3
|
Jamey Wright
|
101
|
4.
|
Vicente Padilla
|
99
|
5.
|
Chan Ho Park
|
97
|
6.
|
Randy Johnson
|
89
|
7.
|
Pedro Martinez
|
86
|
Ah, there’s Wakefield: apparently a lot of his wildest pitches end up hitting the batters.
Pedro Martinez is the Don Drysdale of his generation, I suppose; the pitcher most accused of head-hunting.
What made Drysdale and Bob Gibson stand out is the degree to which they were breaking the trends of hitting batters. A quick glance at the leaders in HBP, by decade:
|
Leader
|
HBP
|
1900's
|
Joe McGinnity
|
154
|
1910's
|
Walter Johnson
|
112
|
1920's
|
Howard Ehmke
|
118
|
1930's
|
Chief Hogsett
|
57
|
1940's
|
Mickey Haefner
|
37
|
1950's
|
Tommy Byrne
|
59
|
1960's
|
Don Drysdale
|
112
|
1970's
|
Jack Billingham
|
87
|
1980'
|
Dave Stieb
|
104
|
1990's
|
Kevin Brown
|
103
|
2000's
|
Tim Wakefield
|
107
|
Drysdale’s numbers of hit-batsmen aren’t particularly dramatic by recent standard. Rather: Drysdale stood out because there were so few hit-batsman during the previous three decades.
Earned Run Average
1.
|
Pedro Martinez
|
3.01
|
6.
|
John Smoltz
|
3.28
|
2.
|
Johan Santana
|
3.12
|
7.
|
Roger Clemens
|
3.34
|
3.
|
Roy Oswalt
|
3.23
|
8.
|
Randy Johnson
|
3.34
|
4.
|
Jake Peavy
|
3.26
|
9.
|
Roy Halladay
|
3.40
|
5.
|
Brandon Webb
|
3.27
|
10.
|
Tim Hudson
|
3.50
|
That’s using a minimum of 1000 innings pitched. Here’s the same list, minimum of 500 innings pitched:
1.
|
Mariano Rivera
|
2.08
|
6.
|
Tim Lincecum
|
2.90
|
2.
|
Billy Wagner
|
2.40
|
7.
|
Pedro Martinez
|
3.01
|
3.
|
Joe Nathan
|
2.53
|
8.
|
Jason Isringhauser
|
3.03
|
4.
|
Francisco Rodriguez
|
2.53
|
9.
|
Scot Shields
|
3.03
|
5.
|
Trevor Hoffman
|
2.77
|
10.
|
Keith Foulke
|
3.04
|
We get some closers on the list, and Tim Lincecum, who has won two of the decade’s Cy Young Awards.
Adjusted ERA (ERA+)
Here are the top-five in ERA, alongside the top-five in ERA+:
|
ERA
|
|
|
ERA+
|
|
1.
|
Pedro Martinez
|
3.01
|
1.
|
Pedro Martinez
|
152
|
2.
|
Johan Santana
|
3.12
|
2.
|
Johan Santana
|
143
|
3.
|
Roy Oswalt
|
3.23
|
3.
|
Brandon Webb
|
142
|
4.
|
Jake Peavy
|
3.26
|
4.
|
Randy Johnson
|
137
|
5.
|
Brandon Webb
|
3.27
|
5.
|
Roy Oswalt
|
135
|
Pedro and Johan hold their ground, but Brandon Webb and Randy Johnson each move up two spots. Jake Peavy, who ranks 4th in ERA, is just 16th in Adjusted ERA.
Strikeouts per 9 Inning Pitched
1.
|
Randy Johnson
|
10.42
|
6.
|
Jake Peavy
|
9.02
|
2.
|
Kerry Wood
|
10.05
|
7.
|
Curt Schilling
|
8.86
|
3.
|
Pedro Martinez
|
9.93
|
8.
|
Jason Schmidt
|
8.73
|
4.
|
Oliver Perez
|
9.20
|
9.
|
Josh Beckett
|
8.54
|
5.
|
Johan Santana
|
9.12
|
10.
|
A.J. Burnett
|
8.40
|
The immortal Oliver Perez finally makes an appearance on the list. I suppose this is the reason Scott Boras likened Perez to Sandy Koufax in his booklet to the Mets.
Walks-And-Hits Per Inning Pitched
1
|
Pedro Martinez
|
1.036
|
6
|
Roy Halladay
|
1.171
|
2
|
Johan Santana
|
1.113
|
7
|
Greg Maddux
|
1.172
|
3
|
Randy Johnson
|
1.114
|
8
|
Danny Haren
|
1.178
|
4
|
Curt Schilling
|
1.129
|
9
|
Jake Peavy
|
1.182
|
5
|
John Smoltz
|
1.151
|
10
|
Ben Sheets
|
1.201
|
Here’s a question: out of ERA, K/9 IP, or WHIP, which stat does the best job of selecting the top-ten pitchers of the decade?
There’s a lot of crossover: Pedro, Johan, Randy, and Peavy make all three lists, which leaves us with six in each row:
ERA
|
|
WHIP
|
|
K-9
|
Roy Oswalt
|
|
Curt Schilling
|
|
Kerry Wood
|
Brandon Webb
|
|
John Smoltz
|
|
Curt Schilling
|
John Smoltz
|
|
Roy Halladay
|
|
Jason Schmidt
|
Roger Clemens
|
|
Greg Maddux
|
|
Josh Beckett
|
Roy Halladay
|
|
Danny Haren
|
|
A.J. Burnett
|
Tim Hudson
|
|
Ben Sheets
|
|
Oliver Perez
|
I think any conversation that has Oliver Perez, Kerry Wood or A.J. Burnett as one of the top-ten pitchers of the decade is a little silly, so strikeout rate goes out the window.
Between WHIP and ERA, John Smoltz and Roy Halladay makes both lists, leaving four pitchers to choose from. For ERA you have Oswalt, Webb, Clemens, and Hudson. For WHIP you’d have Schilling, Maddux, Haren, and Sheets. It’s a tough call, but I think ERA wins out.
Saves
1.
|
Mariano Rivera
|
397
|
2.
|
Trevor Hoffman
|
363
|
3.
|
Jason Isringhauser
|
284
|
4.
|
Billy Wagner
|
284
|
5.
|
Francisco Cordero
|
250
|
Francisco Rodriguez has notched 287 saves through his Age-27 season, and as such is miles ahead of Hoffman and Rivera when they were that age. In fact, Rodriguez is miles ahead of all relief pitchers:
|
Saves Thru Age 27
|
|
1.
|
Francisco Rodriguez
|
243
|
2.
|
Bobby Thigpen
|
178
|
3.
|
Rod Beck
|
162
|
4.
|
Gregg Olson
|
161
|
5.
|
Billy Koch
|
144
|
Barring an injury, K-Rod will almost certainly retire with the most saves in history, though it is possible that other pitchers will be nipping at his heels by then.
David Flemingis a writer living in Iowa City, IA. He welcomes comments, questions, and suggestions here and at dfleming1986@yahoo.com