IP > 300, hits < 200
Posted by Andy on April 20, 2008
Bob Gibson had a pretty awesome year in 1968. He threw 304.2 innings and allowed only 198 hits, and walked just 62 too. (And struck out 268....)
For pitchers with at least 300 IP in a season, here are the fewest hits allowed. SOme of these seasons are a lot more impressive that others. For example, in 1974, Nolan Ryan allowed only 221 hits in 332.2 IP, but he also allowed a staggering 202 walks to go with his 367 strikeouts.
But anyway, in 1968, Gibson went only 22-9 despite a 0.853 WHIP, just about the lowest number I can imagine for a pitcher throwing so many innings. How in the heck did he lose 9 games?
Check out those 9 losses here. No fewer than 8 IP in all 9 games, and 1 or 2 ER in 6 of them. No more than 3 ER in any of them. Wow.
April 20th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Gibson was a great athlete. Sandy Koufax could play basketball, too, but Gibson was even greater (as an athlete).
These are the years since 1901 in which NOBODY pitched 300 innings: 1930, 1931, 1937, 1942, 1957 through 1961, and every year beginning 1981. A trend to cut back starters' innings seems to have showed up in 1957. I assume the trend was then retarded when seasons went from 1386 innings in 1960 to 1458 innings in 1961-62, giving the top innings men a few more outings.
April 21st, 2008 at 12:10 am
Gibson made 34 starts in 1968 - his LOWEST gamescore was 53 & he went 27 consecutive starts @ 60+. Half of his starts that year were 80+!!:
90+ 4
80-89 13
70-79 6
60-69 7
50-59 4
April 21st, 2008 at 12:14 am
Only Koufax has had as many 80+ gamescores in one season (since 1956):
http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/Sftu
April 21st, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Of course, 1968 was the year that giving up 3 ER every nine innings was merely an average performance by a pitcher in MLB. The overall ERA in 1968 in the AL was 2.98 (compared to 4.50 in 2007) and in the NL 2.99 (compared to 4.43 in 2007). About 29% of all starts in the NL in 1968 were complete games, compared to less than 2% of all starts in the NL last season. 'Twas almost a different game they were playing.