Stats and Ranks
Some Interesting Stats and Facts
- 9th best single-season ERA in MLB history, best in Phillies history
- Lowest ERA in MLB history for a pitcher with 350+ innings
- 9th best single-season WHIP in MLB, best in Phillies history
- 23rd most IP in MLB history, 3rd in Phillies history (behind 2 of his other seasons)
- 2nd lowest ERA since 1915 (Gibson, 1968)
- Joined Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson and Ed Walsh as the only pitchers with 350+ innings, a sub 1.50 ERA and a sub 1.00 WHIP in MLB history. Only Walsh
- Pitched an MLB single-season record four 1-hitters
- Won the Phillies 1st ever World Series game. Their only win in the World Series from 1903-1980.
- Broke the Phillies all-time single-season strike-out mark, and held it until 1965 (Bunning).
Why He’s Here
376.1 IP, 1.22 ERA, 0.84 WHIP. Do I really have to continue?
One of the great pitching seasons of any era, Pete ‘Grover Cleveland’ Alexander led the Phillies to their first World Series in 1915.
Let’s start with the innings, where Alexander logged 376.1 in 42 starts and 7 relief appearances. 27.3% of the team’s innings for the entire season were courtesy of his right arm. 23rd most inning pitched in MLB history.
Now to the dominating performance in those innings. His 0.84 is the stuff of modern day closers. If you put the minimum IP at just 60, there have been only 32 pitching seasons with a WHIP under Alexander’s 0.842. The average IP of those seasons is 126.1, 1/3 of Alexander’s total.
His 1.22 ERA is equally absurd, and like his WHIP, stands 9th all-time for starters. He pitched 12 shutouts and 4 one-hitters. Game logs aren’t available that far back, but he obviously didn’t have many games where he allowed more than 1 run. His ERA was exactly half of Roy Halladay’s 2010 mark.
His K/9 rate doesn’t seem impressive by today’s standards, but he led the league and his 241 strikeouts were one of only 3 seasons with that many K’s from 1915-1940.
Getting into sabermetric stats, his 9.8 WAR is 25th all-time for a single-season and 2nd best in Phillies history.
Previous Seasons
#10. Dick Allen, 1966
#11. Jimmy Rollins, 2007
#12. Billy Hamilton, 1894
#13. Ed Delahanty, 1895
#14. Curt Schilling, 1997
#15 - Lefty O’Doul, 1929
#16 - Brad Lidge, 2008
#17 - Chris Short, 1964
#18 - John Denny, 1983
#19 - Tug McGraw, 1980
#20 - Greg Luzinksi, 1977
#21 - Gavvy Cravath, 1913
#22 - Lenny Dykstra, 1993
Five pitchers that just missed (and criteria for rankings)
Steve Carlton can’t come up with a higher compliment than to take The Great Alexander’s season, and be judged to have had the Phils best pitching season in history. His 3 year run, including the one selected was just an awesome collection of career years.
The most, maybe only thing I heard about Alex in gaining exposure to baseball history while growing up was his performance in the 1926 WS for the Cardinals. To say he was underappreciated probably carries a lt of validity.
373 wins, 90 career shutouts while home offices were mainly the shrimpy Baker Bowl and the treacherous Wrigley Field: “Alexander the Great” indeed.
Lost a year of prime time to military service. Dealt with debilitating combat aftereffects – shell shock, hearing loss, seizures - with indiscreet affair with the bottle, a common ”curative” which, along with Father Time, rendered pre-World War I segment of career to be his more luminous one, though back half wasn’t insignificant.
- – - – -
RIGHT, LEFTY?
Great as ”the Sphinx” was (before playing ‘the can’ in his farewell “Kick The Can” tour), can Mr. Busch’s gift to Philadelphia say that he was named after one President (Grover Cleveland) and played in a movie by another (Ronald Reagan)? “Ol’ Pete” can through his distant emissaries, current baseball fans and historians, including Gus Hoefling and Tim McCarver.
Since anyone with a baseball iq above 3 at least expects the Phils to play the Red Sox in the 2011 WS (doesn’t mean they will, but lets not confuse spades with clubs here), and since Pete Alexander’s come to light here, I figured I’d finally do some checking on the 1915 WS between the 2 clubs. Don’t think I ever have before, so it’s a little overdue.
Boston won, 4 games to 1, but the Phils did spring out to a 1 game lead behind Alex. His 3-1 win included scattering 8 hits. Alex beat Ernie Shore, who I perhaps mistakenly believe pitched 8 2/3 innings of no hit or perfect post season (?) baseball in relief in a different game. Shore pitched 8 innings and was pinch hit for by Babe Ruth, who grounded out to first. Ruth went 18-8 as a pitcher that year, hitting only 4 homers, but compiled a .952 OPS. The 2 run margin was the widest spread of the series 5 games, kind of like the 1950 Phils-Yanks set, which was also close, except by the series results colums.
Better than 19,000 showed up at Baker Bowl. The Phils had led the League in attndance, at 448,000, an average of 5,818 per game. The 8 hits Alex squandered, judging by his awesome year was possibly a season high, but the BoSox were 1-9 with RISP, so it wasn’t at all a bad game. The Phils small balled their way to the win with 2 8th inning runs to win their last post season game for 62 years.
Game 2
Rube Foster started and won the first of 2 complete game Series wins in the first of 2 years in a row as a World Series participant. This was the first of 3 straight 2-1 games, all of course won by Boston. The Phils were hitless through the first 4, back to back doubles getting them off the schneid in the 5th. Erskine Mayer started for the Phils. He had a pretty good regular season, but perhaps excepted by Carlton’s 27-10 season, a look at the season lines of Mayer and Alexander are mind boggling as to the difference. Aces just don’t outperform number 2 guys by the distance Alex did. Maybe it was like that between Lefty and Lonborg (?) in 1972. That ain’t happening in 2011.
Game 3
The clubs headed up to Boston after a Sunday off day tied at a game. A Monday crowd of 42.000 greeted the Red Sox at Braves Field. The year before, the Miracle Braves had come back from mid season last place to win the pennant and sweep the Philly A’s, so this was the 2nd year in a row of what’s become a great rivalry between the 2 cities. The Braves had won 83 games in the 1915 epilogue, 7 games behind the Phils in 5th place as the Red Sox vaulted to 101 wins. Tied, and home, the Boston club managed to beat the Great Alexander by the customary 2-1 final. Duffy Lewis banged out 3 hits of the 6 the Sox collected off Alex including a game winning ribbie in the 9th. Southpaw Duth Leonard scattered 3 hits in putting the Beantowners ahead in all of an hour and 48 minutes.
Game 4
Having used Ace Alexander twice, and on 2 days rest, only to trail 2 games to one against the momentous Red Sox, the Phils went with the Kyle Kendrick of his day, George Chalmers. His best year of a Phils and MLB career had been 13-10, and his career ERA was a high for the time 3.41. Chalmers almost matched Ernie Shore, a 19 game winner in the regular season (ERA 1.64), but if you match Kendrick against Wainright, you know it’s a matter of time. Two future Hall of Famers played and were caught stealing. Tris Speaker was one. The other was Phils rookie Dave Bancroft. Bancroft had been nabbed 27 trimes in the season, succeeding on 15 steal attempts. The next year, he swiped 15, and wasn’t caught. He played again in the WS from 21-23 with the New York Baseball Giants, and is a Veteran’s Committe Hall of Famer.
Game 5
Back to the Baker Bowl for Game 5, Phils trailing by 3-1 and desparate, they gave the ball to Erskine Mayer and tried to beat Rube Foster. Mayer failed to get through the 3rd, relieved by Eppa Rixey, who pitched 6 plus effective, but losing innings. Rixey was 266-251 in his career with a 3.15 ERA, but neither his performznce on this October Wednesday, or inglorious stats kept him out of the Hall of Fame by the end of his life. He pitched until he was 42, but this was his only WS appearance. Boston leadoff hitter Harry Hooper, a .235 regular season hitter swatted 3 hits and a tie breaking homer to deep centerfield to position Foster to pitch a 1-2-3 9th and pick up the city of Boston’s 2nd straight world’s title, backing the Braves effort of a season ago.
Ninetysix some odd years ago, and perhaps ready to rematch in 2011. What goes around comes around.
As for the future:
Sox need Dice-K, Beckett, Wakefield & Paps to clean up from ’10 soup kitchen deliveries or surfeit of offense may go for naught.
Phils need good health, a little luck, a pleasant surprise or two from unexpected source(s) and more bat on ball with RISP.
Will the down go up, will the up go down, individually and teamwise? … MLB’s gripping annual mystery, its festival on the green (baseball IQ below 3 admitted free).
There’s a tendency to push, I suppose, to make non stories into stories during the off season. Maybe that can be said about during the year as well, but it seems more true in the winter. Every breath play by play of the Jeter negotiations, and Andy Pettitte’s future only garner so much interest.
Matt Gelb ran a piece in the Sunday Inky on Cole Hamels would be next contract. The piece was supposed to run Thursday, but I’m guessing the powers that be didn’t find it worthy enough to rush to print and postponed it. Philly.com posters are hopefully not the jury that presides over the rumored Judgement Day, but there was more than a smattering of criticism directed at Gelb for trying to make a non story into a story.
And it’s not like it’s mandatory let’s get it done by created deadline now. Buh, buh, buh, but…..is is really that much of a back shelf item?
Roger Clemens is my poster child for the it’s about the money era of baseball. Roger always signed free agent deals, or forced trades with headlines that it wasn’t about the money. As Mike Lupica has said, “when they tell you it’s not about the money, it’s about the money.”
That largely, and almost universally, seemed true back in the day.
This winter, Jayson Werth signed an “:it’s about the money” type deal. However, Jay Bruce reupped for 50 for 6, Cliff Lee followed Roy Halladay of a year ago and left coins on the table, and now Cargo Gonzales inks an 80 for 7 deal. And the MLBPA, seemingly for the first time says they don’t force players to sign the largest offer, they just want them to nake and educated choice. I guess Troy Tulo’s deal falls somewhere in the middle.
It’s not necessarily a new trend born out of a few decisions that seem less capitalistic than they could have been. And it’s probably coincidence that this started, or is at least noticable during George M. Steinbrenner’s first complete absence from free agency.
But if Bartlett’s ever updated famous quotations, it’d link Ruben Amaro with the term cost certainty. I believe he applied that term to the Ryan Howard signing, though a lot of people thought that was insanity certainty. But Ruben applied that phrase to other instances.
Yet, after stripping the cupboard bare of cash, he’s got some players that we can call financial long term mysteries. Hamels is one, since it seems a no brainer to keep him here. To me, Ryan Madson is another. But I can see where the Phils are psyched by some of the prelievers in the system. It doesn’t exemplify unique brilliance to omit Lidge and Ibanez from the list, and I guess Rollins is a tweener. Players are still ultra expensive, but it would seem that since there’s slight momentum to players taking less than an open market might well allow, it wouldn’t be a bad time to at least talk to the Hamelos camp about an extension and see what level of cost certainty might be brought forth. You don’t want to even think of overreacting, a la Cliff Lee and traqde starting greatness if Hamels seems unsignable, but preliminary convos seem appropriate as early as the rest of this winter.
Sox need Dice-K, Beckett, Wakefield & Paps to clean up from ’10 soup kitchen deliveries or surfeit of offense may go for naught.
Phils need good health, a little luck, a pleasant surprise or two from unexpected source(s) and more bat on ball with RISP.>>
The Red Sox need good health as much as the Phils. Both clubs ran infirmary wards plus last year. Boston does need Beckett to bounce back, but that’s overdone. I’ve read that opinion on the part of a number of Sox followers, but when you have Lester and Bucholz emerging, and I assume Lackey has a good year after adjustments, at least you have a real good front 3 plus Beckett. That softens pressure on DiceK and Wakefield, who only needs to show up in June to put the Phils in their annual after the knuckleballer tailspin.
A pen of free agent to be Paps, soild Dan Wheeler, and should have a rejuvination in non Ozzie environs Bobby Jenks, and promising Daniel Bard is potent.
Two frightfully potent franchises. It oughta be a lot of fun to keep tabs on. Boston has a discussable chance at sweeping the 4 sports championship, and the Red Sox are hardly a longshot to do their part.
Contract speculation, journalistic navel gazing when playing ponds freeze over. Sunday’s Gelb production, serious lint.
Hamels will be taken care of by his present employer, even without a change in his voice pitch … unless he comes apart at the seams this season and prospectus becomes clouded – a feasible though highly unlikely eventuality.
Agree on Boston and Philadelphia absenteeism of last year. Boston may yet add Bay State native Clara Barton to medical staff. Phils considered bringing Florence Nightingale to payroll but determined too much baggage.
Lackey was a disappointment for the expense; may improve due to increased comfort level this year. Dice-K, all over the map … who knows?
Pen is potentially potent. Paps gearing for gold bodes well. If Jenks has a solid landing & recovery, that’ll add firmness. Home park launch pad is annually problematic. Historically, ‘Boston pitching’ is an oxymoron. If they proved to be well-armed, look out.
correction: if they prove.
Jon & Clay, a propitious base.
<<Still, one way or another, the Red Sox will end up with six of the first 80 or so picks. That represents a significant opportunity to pour talent into the system.
The 2011 draft is deep. Plus it is likely to be the final draft where teams like the Red Sox can manipulate the system with their financial might.>>
Taken from the headline why Beltre signing with texas uis good news for the Bosox…
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2011/01/why_beltre_sign.html
ESPN Hall of Famehttp://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/hof11/news/story?id=5984898
ESPN Hall voters reveal their ballots. Only a single vote each for Larry Walker and Don Mattingly.
KB -
Agree with the 2 that get in on that list (Alomar, Blyleven) but Jack Morris getting 55% of votes? More than Bagwell and Raines??? What is wrong with people. Morris had some incredible games, but the dude has a 3.90 ERA in a pitchers era, pitching primarily in pitchers parks.
Somewhere in this process, I believe a portion, small though it may be will vote for Jack Morris over factoring his big game ability. They, or others, will over factor a lack of evidence that Bagwell was part of the steroid brigade, and vote for him in part because its unfair to hold guesswork against him.
The ballot revelations are interesting.
But they are dangerously prejudicial, and frankly, offensive to the game. This good enough on the 15th ballot, but not the first is tough to understand.
But I don’t have the slightest idea of a better idea. I checked on election criteria for the Japanese Hall, but it seems pretty complicated. But I’ll link it in case it is of interest.
http://english.baseball-museum.or.jp/baseball_hallo/summary/index.html
This good enough on the 15th ballot, but not the first is tough to understand.>>
Then you need to rxpand your mind, kiddo. No sooner do I post this seemingly sensible statement, and I read this Keith Law good observation….
<<One benefit to the 15 years is the changing electorate. Not saying it’s perfect but it gives more writers a chance on each player.>>
Can’t argue with that.
When I earlier saw Bagwell’s name, I went to the MLB steroid list and was surprised that he wasn’t listed. That fact wouldn’t keep me from omitting him in my voting. There exists a thing called common sense. He’s as clean as Canseco and McGwire, the Bash Brothers, in my opinion. Good hitter though, particularly so after he Popeyed up.
Dan Uggla signs 5/62 mil with Braves.
Hope for his sake he plays adequate defense to warrant the contract. Braves don’t make many personnel mistakes, so maybe it’s a good move.
Jarred Cosart’s Twitter page profile reads…
<<RHP for the Phillies organization. Striving to be one of the best. Dream, Drive, Desire. >>
Like the young man’s approach.
Uggla: .243 BA, .320 OBP, .457 SLG, .777 OPS in 88 lifetime games vs. Phils. Thought they’d be better. 19 HRs, 57 RBIs in 346 ABs though. Better numbers against Braves across the board; thus, in part, their Marlin catch.
And the Rangers get the Beltre deal done. I’ll guess that they want to move Mike Young to first base, although I’d heard DH and utility, the latter making no sense to me, but I don’t watch them much.
Looks like Vlad is very available.
The one thing Uggla brings to the table for the Braves is RH long ball punch. I think its between ridiculous and right place right time that he’ll have the highest average salary per among 2B. He’s a good player, of varying degrees in his overall game, not in the category of Utley, or especially Cano, or Pedroia, and Im maybe left a couple others out. I’m not sure he’s a core player type on a title team, but it’s a nice RL combo with Heyward for 60 plus homers per, mayber more.
Agree, Uggla isn’t Felix “the Cat” Millan or dependable Frank Bolling in the field but he brings some nice right side pop. Seems feisty like ol’ teammate Cody Ross, but is more productive. I tend to think he helps the Braves.
62 million concurs.
Is another AL ace NL bound?
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/3163822-419/cubs-garza-deal-efforts-postseason.html
Let’s slip one more Hall of Fame piece in here while its still a little topical. It seems well within fair boundaries to say that Jeff Bagwell, Jack Morris, Juan Gonzales, Larry Walker, Barry Larkin (that’s off the top of my head, and in no particular order), maybe add Palmiero, and McGwire to the list all represented players that are legitimately discussable as candidates at a minimum. Obviously, this negates steroid attachment. In all these cases, maybe you think yes, maybe you think no, but they seem legitimately debatable. Marquis Grissom, Brett Boobne, for example don’t even get to the arguement gate (nice players, but HOF?)
So that’s maybe a good 10 candidates.
I’m not trying to pick on anyone, nor do I take Hall voting seriously enough to have rock solid opinons on who belongs, and who doesn’t.
In fact, I’d say my expertise on who belongs and who doesn’t is weak.
That said, I can see where when the dust settles, a number of yesterday’s rejectees will have plaques in Cooperstown. Barry Larkin and Tim Raines probably get in sooner than later.
As for the others, take the cases of Bill Mazeroski, and Eppa Rixey. Now, Eppa was a long time statistically maybe very good pitcher. 266-251, 3.41, 1.27 WHIP, pretty high inning count that once got 52% of the vote (75% required) and the other 15 years, no higher than 30. The post 15 year Veteran Committe voted him in.
Maz, seemingly at least glorified by 1 swing of the bat, offensively was not much of a factor. Not much point in detailing his offense, the usual foundation of Hall presence because all figures were so average that nobody claims to have voted for him form that. Defensivly, several Gold Glove awards, and for the sake of arguement, let’s say they carried meaning in his instance. Admittedly, he was named to the all-star quad more than not, for what that’s worth, and it may be a good amount. His voting totals by the BBWAA did increase in later years, peaking at a not close 42 per cent, and the VC got him home after theb 15 years.
Im not picking on either guy, nor am I passing judgement that they don’t belong. But I am suggesting that those that played the game, for whatever reason will see this year’s candidates differently than the writers did in recent weeks. Whether or not the roids are a long term factor, at least several of yesterday’s rejectees need only be patient, based on at least Rixey and mazeroski being in Cooperstown.
I don’t know that larger entries cheapen the Hall. I do believe that current day baseball followers think along lines of standards being softened over the years, and guard against that in trying to apply stricter judgements. Sometimes, maybe they try too hard.