Most Games With 9+ IP Age 43+
Posted by Steve Lombardi on December 23, 2010
Since 1920, which pitcher threw the most games at age 43 or older where he threw at least 9 innings pitched?
Here's the leaderboard for that:
| Rk | Player | #Matching 6 | W | L | GS | CG | SHO | SV | IP | H | ER | HR | BB | SO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jack Quinn | 33 | Ind. Games | 30 | 3 | .909 | 1.88 | 33 | 33 | 7 | 0 | 305.2 | 289 | 64 | 4 | 42 | 58 | 1.08 |
| 2 | Phil Niekro | 17 | Ind. Games | 13 | 3 | .813 | 1.93 | 17 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 154.0 | 98 | 33 | 12 | 32 | 89 | 0.84 |
| 3 | Warren Spahn | 10 | Ind. Games | 7 | 3 | .700 | 1.60 | 10 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 90.0 | 59 | 16 | 8 | 13 | 40 | 0.80 |
| 4 | Nolan Ryan | 9 | Ind. Games | 5 | 2 | .714 | 1.21 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 82.0 | 33 | 11 | 4 | 15 | 106 | 0.59 |
| 5 | Gaylord Perry | 6 | Ind. Games | 2 | 2 | .500 | 2.38 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 56.2 | 43 | 15 | 8 | 12 | 32 | 0.97 |
| 6 | Charlie Hough | 5 | Ind. Games | 5 | 0 | 1.000 | 0.60 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 45.0 | 28 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 31 | 0.80 |
| 7 | Satchel Paige | 4 | Ind. Games | 2 | 1 | .667 | 0.43 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 41.2 | 28 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 25 | 1.06 |
| 8 | Jamie Moyer | 4 | Ind. Games | 3 | 1 | .750 | 1.00 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 36.0 | 16 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 12 | 0.61 |
| 9 | Jesse Haines | 4 | Ind. Games | 4 | 0 | 1.000 | 3.00 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 36.0 | 40 | 12 | 3 | 9 | 11 | 1.36 |
| 10 | Fred Johnson | 3 | Ind. Games | 1 | 2 | .333 | 5.67 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 27.0 | 36 | 17 | 3 | 9 | 13 | 1.67 |
| 11 | Tommy John | 3 | Ind. Games | 3 | 0 | 1.000 | 0.67 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 27.0 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 0.78 |
| 12 | Sad Sam Jones | 3 | Ind. Games | 3 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.00 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 27.0 | 23 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 1.22 |
| 13 | Ted Lyons | 2 | Ind. Games | 1 | 1 | .500 | 3.00 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 18.0 | 18 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 1.11 |
| 14 | Bobo Newsom | 2 | Ind. Games | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 2.00 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 18.0 | 21 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 1.44 |
| 15 | Dazzy Vance | 2 | Ind. Games | 1 | 1 | .500 | 3.50 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 18.0 | 16 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 1.06 |
| 16 | Johnny Niggeling | 2 | Ind. Games | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 2.00 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 18.0 | 13 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 1.06 |
| 17 | Babe Adams | 2 | Ind. Games | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 3.00 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 18.0 | 25 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1.39 |
| 18 | Randy Johnson | 1 | Ind. Games | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 0.00 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 0.33 |
| 19 | Early Wynn | 1 | Ind. Games | 0 | 1 | .000 | 2.00 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9.0 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1.00 |
| 20 | Dennis Martinez | 1 | Ind. Games | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 0.00 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9.0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1.44 |
.
Joannes Pajkos, aka John Picus "Jack" Quinn, just might have used the fountain of youth to fuel that spitball of his, eh?
December 23rd, 2010 at 6:47 pm
I am surprised Ryan only has 9. I think 2 were no-hitters.
December 23rd, 2010 at 10:34 pm
And one of the others was a one-hitter.
December 24th, 2010 at 1:21 am
In 196 starts after 40, Nolan Ryan let up 9 or fewer hits in 193 games. 98%.
8 or fewer hits in 187 games.
7 or fewer hits in 170 games.
6 or fewer in 146 games.
5 or fewer in 125 games.
That’s 63% of his starts with less than 6 hits at the age of 40+.
Then, 4 or fewer hits in 94 games.
3 or fewer hits in 62 games.
62 out of 196! Nearly a third of his starts were 3 hitters, AFTER 40!
35 starts with 2 hits or less. 35!
That is one complete season in a modern rotation.
& 14 one hitters… after 40!!
and 5 game starts after 40 where he didn’t allow a hit – two proper no-hitters, 5 starts without a hit ... after 40... unbelievable.
In his career, 218 starts where he let up 3 hits or less.
456 starts of 5 hits or less.
658 starts of 7 hits or less.
That last stat, 658 starts, is 33 starts a year, for 20 years, without missing a start – and - never letting up more than 7 hits.
Super human.
December 24th, 2010 at 3:13 am
Ryan was a freak of nature & worked really hard + was a conditioning buff. And yet his relentlessly challenging approach & aggression likely made him not as effective as he could have been. He was very high in walks & wild pitches, & he is an unusual case where we cannot say his longevity hurt his rate stats-still, his ERA + was a 112 +, good not near great. If he was more careful & issued less free passes, most feel he could have been more effective.
December 24th, 2010 at 5:06 am
Amazing considering with Ryan he posted the 2nd lowest WHIP in his career that season, only to top that the season after at 44!
December 24th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
Ryan was a phenomenon, take him for all in all....
Among my favorite Ryan stats:
Most games with 5+ walks, 1920-2010:
-- Ryan, 233
-- Bob Feller, 145
-- Bobo Newsom, 122
-- Sam McDowell, 100
Margin by which Ryan holds the Strikeout record over the #2 man: 17.2%
Margin by which Ryan holds the Walks record over the #2 man: 52.5%
I'm not down on him, by any means.
As a pitching phenomenon, he's easily top-10 in history.
As a pitcher, though, he's not in that same stratosphere.
December 25th, 2010 at 2:08 am
The Angles basically let Ryan go as a free agent after the 1979 season.
Though Ryan's strikeouts and no-hitters got him considerable media attention, he did not win over Angels general manager Buzzie Bavasi, who dismissed him as a flashy .500 pitcher (Ryan was 26–27 in the two years Bavasi was the GM for the Angels). When Bavasi let Ryan leave after a 16–14 record in the 1979 season, Bavasi remarked he only needed to replace Ryan with two 8–7 pitchers, adding, "I think my plumber could do that."
He later admitted that not re-signing Ryan was his biggest mistake as the Angels general manager.
December 25th, 2010 at 11:32 am
Wasn't Nolan Ryan's no-hitters helped by your beloved umpires?
December 25th, 2010 at 6:30 pm
What an arrogant & erroneous claim by B.B., even if not meant literally. Any average guy who miraculously was given a whole season to pitch would be the worst ever, who if left in for the game would often give up a record # of runs. Out of mercy the teams might stop around 20.
December 26th, 2010 at 7:32 am
@#9
That scenario actually happened once, although just for a game
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Allan_Travers
The 1912 Tigers staged a walkout while in Philadelphia and 7 players and 2 coaches fro, St. Joseph's Univ. were recruited at the last minute. They lost 24-2
Travers game Score that day was -52
December 26th, 2010 at 10:16 am
Spartan Bill - Interesting story about Travers.
Out of curiosity, I calculated the game score for Dave Rowe in 1872. In the 1870s Rowe was an outfielder who occasionally pitched. In his one game pitched in 1872 he gave up 35 runs and finished with a game score of -72. Of course it was a different game back then, bit that's still a fun number to see.
December 26th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
ryan was the best power pitcher of the modern era. his durability and conditioning put him above clemens and big unit. took the ball every 4 days and went to work. clemens and unit always broke down
December 26th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
@ 12 "clemens and unit always broke down"
really?
Clemens was in the top 10 in the league in games started 7 times, Johnson 9 and Ryan 9.
They all sound pretty durable to me.
December 27th, 2010 at 1:51 am
@12 - I would love to hear more about why you feel that Nolan Ryan was better than Clemens and Randy Johnson. I don't think I have ever heard someone make this claim before and I am curious to know more about your reasoning (I am not baiting you, I am genuinely interested).
December 27th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
You gotta love seeing Moyers name up there considering how pitchers don't throw many 9 inning games anymore . If Moyer pitched in the complete game era he would probably be between Spahn and Neikro...if not higher.