Which Pitchers Had More Best Friends Than A Hot Chick On Facebook?
Posted by Steve Lombardi on March 20, 2009
Here's a fun list via Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Pitching Season Finder - Since 1956, the most seasons where a pitcher had 25+ GIDP turned behind him:
From To Ages Seasons +-----------------+----+----+-----+-------+ Tommy John 1965 1988 22-45 13 Claude Osteen 1963 1973 23-33 8 Walt Terrell 1984 1991 26-33 7 Mike Torrez 1972 1980 25-33 7 Gaylord Perry 1967 1980 28-41 7 Mel Stottlemyre 1965 1973 23-31 7 Bob Friend 1956 1964 25-33 7 Kenny Rogers 1998 2008 33-43 6 Mike Hampton 1997 2002 24-29 6 Scott Erickson 1992 1999 24-31 6 Geoff Zahn 1977 1984 31-38 6 Mike Caldwell 1974 1983 25-34 6 Jack Billingham 1973 1979 30-36 6 Phil Niekro 1971 1985 32-46 6 Mike Cuellar 1969 1975 32-38 6 Jim Kaat 1962 1976 23-37 6 Whitey Ford 1956 1965 27-36 6 Andy Pettitte 1997 2007 25-35 5 Orel Hershiser 1985 1997 26-38 5 Mike Flanagan 1977 1984 25-32 5 John Denny 1976 1985 23-32 5 Rick Reuschel 1975 1988 26-39 5 Paul Splittorff 1972 1980 25-33 5 Jerry Reuss 1971 1988 22-39 5 Steve Carlton 1970 1982 25-37 5 Dave McNally 1969 1974 26-31 5 Frank Lary 1956 1961 26-31 5
Funny. I would have thought that Tom Glavine would have been higher on this list. But, he only has 3 seasons like this, to date, in his career. And, seeing Mike Torrez so high on the list was a surprise too.
March 20th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Glavine does seem like the type of pitcher who would show up on this list -- lefty, not a lot of Ks, walked his share, generally had good defenses. Maybe it's just another way in which he's defied easy categorization and sabermetric orthodoxy. However, if you go down to 20+ DP, he has 12 seasons, tied for third most. Part of that is just that he's pitched a ton of IP. I don't think he's ever been a huge ground ball pitcher.