Can Moose Make It 8?
Posted by Steve Lombardi on September 18, 2008
Mike Mussina won his 18th game this evening. So far, this season, he only has 9 losses. There have only been 7 pitchers in baseball history with 18+ wins and 9 losses or less in a season where they were 39-years of age (like Mussina now) or older in that year. Via Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Pitching Season Finder, here's the list:
Cnt W L Year Age Tm Lg G GS CG SHO GF W-L% SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA ERA+ HR BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk BK WP BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ Pit Str +----+-----------------+---+--+--+----+---+---+--+---+---+--+---+--+-----+--+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+----+--+----+----+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+ 1 David Wells 19 7 2002 39 NYY AL 31 31 2 1 0 .731 0 206.1 210 100 86 45 137 3.75 118 21 873 812 51 3 2 5 6 5 13 14 4 1 0 4 .259 .300 .406 .706 86 3131 2129 2 Warren Spahn 23 7 1963 42 MLN NL 33 33 22 7 0 .767 0 259.2 241 85 75 49 102 2.60 124 23 1037 973 25 10 4 0 10 5 36 4 2 2 0 4 .248 .282 .365 .647 93 3 Kenny Rogers 18 9 2004 39 TEX AL 35 35 2 1 0 .667 0 211.2 248 117 112 66 126 4.76 106 24 935 848 59 8 0 9 7 4 19 2 5 6 1 2 .292 .348 .466 .814 103 3499 2135 4 Jack Quinn 18 7 1928 44 PHA AL 31 28 18 4 2 .720 1 211.1 239 92 68 34 43 2.90 138 3 910 7 0 0 0 5 Gaylord Perry 21 6 1978 39 SDP NL 37 37 5 2 0 .778 0 260.2 241 96 79 66 154 2.73 121 9 1055 970 46 7 8 2 8 9 24 18 16 2 3 4 .248 .295 .338 .633 90 6 Jamie Moyer 21 7 2003 40 SEA AL 33 33 1 0 0 .750 0 215 199 83 78 66 129 3.27 132 19 897 810 39 1 3 8 7 6 19 11 6 4 0 0 .246 .307 .367 .674 81 3440 2134 7 Roger Clemens 18 4 2004 41 HOU NL 33 33 0 0 0 .818 0 214.1 169 76 71 79 218 2.98 146 15 878 778 34 4 5 6 8 7 11 23 10 2 0 5 .217 .292 .329 .621 63 3429 2181 Seasons/Careers found: 7.
September 19th, 2008 at 1:04 am
I'm not sure I see the point of this one. Pete Alexander won 21 games at age 40. He doesn't show up on the list, because he also lost 10 - but isn't 21-10 better than, say, 18-9? How about doing pitchers, 18+ wins, W-L % at least 2/3, age 39+?
September 19th, 2008 at 10:28 am
A few others with 10+ losses of note: Early Wynn was 22-10 in 1959 (age 39) and won the Major League Cy Young Award. Spahn was 21-10 in 1960 (age 39). Pete Alexander was 21-10 in 1927 (age 40). Eddie Plank was 21-11 in 1915 (age 39). Honorable mention should go to Phil Niekro's 21-20 in 1979 (age 40).