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.
#13 – Lefty O’Doul, 1929
#14 – Brad Lidge, 2008
#15 – Chris Short, 1964
#16 – John Denny, 1983
#17 – Tug McGraw, 1980
#18 – Greg Luzinksi, 1977
#19 – Gavvy Cravath, 1913
#20 – Lenny Dykstra, 1993
Five pitchers that just missed (and criteria for rankings)
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He did all that without a bloody sock.