Stats and Ranks
Some Interesting Stats and Facts
- 1 of 2 pitchers in MLB history to have an 11 K/9 ratio while pitching 250+ innings. The other is Randy Johnson.
- Most strikeouts and highest K/9 ratio in team history.
- Best K/BB ratio (5.50) in team history, 32nd best of all time
- Struck out 10 or more seventeen times.
- Pitched 8+ innings seventeen times as well.
- In 20 of his 30 starts, the Phillies offense supplied 3 runs or less of support.
- Gave up 2 ER or less in 23 of 35 starts. Pitched 8+ innings in 13 of those starts.
Why He’s Here
After Steve Carlton retired, very few Phillies’ fans expected to see a pitcher that could strike-out hitters quite like he could. I don’t think anyone expected to see a season that would blow even his best strike-out season out of the water. Curt Schilling did just that in 1997, when he set the all-time single season strikeout record for a Phillies pitcher with 319, the 15th best total in MLB history. Steve Carlton only had one season with 300+ strikeouts (1972) and Schilling bested his mark while pitching 92 fewer innings. The only pitchers to strike out more hitters in a single season are Nolan Ryan, Sandy Koufax, Randy Johnson, Rube Waddell, Bob Feller and “Sudden” Sam McDowell.
He wasn’t just a strikeout pitcher though. He was an innings eater who averaged over 7 innings per start and won 17 games for a truly bad Phillies team that ended the year 68-94. On a better team, he would have won well over 20. He also never walked batters, resulting in a minuscule 1.05 WHIP, the 17th best in Phillies history and his 5.50 K/BB was the best in team history and 32nd best all-time.
Schilling was denied the Cy Young due to the bad luck of playing in the same league as Pedro Martinez (1.90 ERA, 305 K) and Greg Maddux (19-4, 2.20 ERA) during their primes, but he certainly put up numbers that would have been deserving most years.
15. Lefty O’Doul, 1929
16. Brad Lidge, 2008
17. Chris Short, 1964
18. John Denny, 1983
19. Tug McGraw, 1980
20. Greg Luzinski, 1977
21. Gavvy Cravath, 1913
22. Lenny Dykstra, 1993
Five pitchers that just missed (and criteria for rankings)
He did all that without a bloody sock.