best hitting pitchers 1970s

In an especially invigorating time for baseball—not always for the best reasons—the game witnessed a second wind of sorts from an impressive collection of innings eaters who mixed quantity with quality. This led to uneven results throughout the decade; twice he led the NL in wins (1972 and 1977—both years earning him the Cy Young Award), and twice led in losses. Stanley was one of the rare pitchers who actually saw his K rate steadily increase over time, peaking at 5.9 in 1986. Beginning the decade with St. Louis, Carlton was constantly disgruntled at not being paid what he felt he was worth; when the Cardinals tired of his pay-me-more distractions, they sent him to the Phillies. Rick Honeycutt: Technically Honeycutt had just one super-low strikeout season, 1981, but he deserves special mention for 1983. Best Hitting Pitchers of All Time, by WAR. The pitchers who “kept the ball in play” were all over the place back then. 23-7 Bob Gibson 1970 St. Louis Cardinals 76-86. The team’s best hitting pitchers in 2019 — Hyun Jin Ryu and Kenta Maeda — aren’t around anymore. Other Links > Baseball > Baseball Player Rankings by Position > Top Ranked Relief Pitchers . Inter-league games lead to the American League pitchers getting a turn, but for the most part, having a good hitting pitcher in the NL is key. Augustine wasn’t terribly effective in 1977 or 1978, although he did have a winning record in ’78. People may have felt that way in the late 1960s and were proven wrong, but at this point it’s hard to imagine another super-low strikeout pitcher ever getting regular action. For instance, Warren Spahn, perhaps the most underrated great pitcher of all time despite winning 363 games in the big leagues, wins the Found inside – Page 143Some of the best right - handed pitchers of all time played ball in the 1970s . ... The feat is even more amazing when viewed in light of the fact that he did not face puny - hitting pitchers , but designated hitters . After missing the 1976 season to recover and performing a mild comeback effort in 1977, John in 1978 hit 20 wins for the first time in his career at age 35; he would reach 20 twice more in the next three seasons, and would pitch all the way to 1989, wrapping up a 26-year career with 288 victories—164 of those coming after his surgery. That matched his BABIP from the previous year, when he was runner-up in the Cy Young voting and led the league in ERA with a 3.3 K/9. Ken Holtzman: Holtzman had a 7.0 K/9 as a rookie with the Cubs in 1966 and stayed above 6 through 1971. Not Dan "The Man" Hudson, the best-hitting pitcher in baseball. Brett Smiley @brettsmiley Apr 21, 2017 at 5:15p ET . But when he dipped into super-low-strikeout territory, his record suffered, losing 19 games in 1973 and 20 in 1974. I used Baseball-Reference.com’s Play Index to search for pitchers since 1960 who meet these criteria: There are 183 of them. The secret of Jones’ success was his sinker, complemented with an equally baffling slider; he needed those two pitches badly, because his fastball velocity rarely topped out over 80 MPH and he struck out precious few batters—in that workhorse 1975 effort, he averaged just 2.7 Ks per nine innings. Randy Jones: Jones won a Cy Young Award in 1976 with a K/9 of 2.65. Found inside – Page 228IP 4.1 BB 1 so H 4 W - L 0-0 SV 4 COMPLETE OFFENSIVE THREAT : Roy probably had the best batting eye on the Yanks during the 1970s . He had great speed and was a daring and smart base runner . He could deliver the type of hit that any ... 3. In the decade’s last three years (postseason included), Guidry fashioned together a fantastic 63-18 record with a 2.35 ERA as higher-priced rotation mates (Don Gullett, Catfish Hunter) flamed out. * You don’t bat in the minor leagues. In 1945, he became the only player to lead both leagues in home runs at his position in the same season. J.R. Richard, the 6-foot-8 flame-throwing right-hander who spent 10 years with the Houston Astros before his career was cut short by a stroke, has died at age 71. Plagued by arm trouble after 1976, he had only one more good season, and it came with a super-low strikeout rate in 1978 when he got a whopping 55 non-batter outs (36 ground-ball double plays, 13 caught stealing and 6 pickoffs) while allowing just six home runs in 253 innings. The first pitcher since 1960 to have a good season with a super-low strikeout rate was Yankee right-hander Steve Kline, who went 16-9 with a 2.40 ERA in 1972 and a K/9 rate of just 2.21, still the lowest for a pitcher with an adjusted ERA better than league average since Sandy Consuegra in 1954. The erudite right-hander, whose quick rise in the late 1960s catapulted the Mets from joke status to champions, reached peak performance in New York during the early portion of the decade with three ERA titles and two Cys (1973 and 1975); analytics considered, he should have also won the award in 1971 with four fewer wins but an ERA one full run lower than recipient Ferguson Jenkins. He went on to have an exceptionally long career for someone who started with such a low strikeout rate, pitching another 13 seasons in the majors, as his strikeout rate gradually improved, peaking at 5.5. Geoff Zahn: Zahn was a career low-strikeout pitcher who went super-low twice. The American League began putting emphasis on power hitting in the 1970s. The “Big Red Machine” was the best baseball team of the 1970s and, arguably, the best team in National League history. Perry’s peak came in his 3.5-year tenure with the Indians, winning his first Cy Young Award in 1972—he might have also won 30 games had the Tribe given him more than 2.9 runs per start—completed 29 of his starts in back-to-back years (1972-73), and ran up a 15-game win streak (one short of the AL record) in 1974. Pitcher Hitting 9 th – 3.7079. The National League, even with pitchers continuing to bat, saw a decline in K/9 at the same time, dropping 4.2% in 1973 and another 5.2% in 1974. Robin Roberts, 69.8 2. A man of unassuming nature, Hunter weathered the storm of baseball’s two more tempestuous dynasties—the Charles Finley-led Oakland A’s of the early 1970s, and Steinbrenner’s Yankees late in the decade. Found inside – Page 23Aaron was a great overall player . In his 23 seasons he had more home runs , more RBIs , and more sacrifice flies than anyone in baseball history . Because pitchers feared Aaron's great hitting , they also gave him the record in ... Here’s the breakdown by career strikeout rate: Of those bottom five low strikeout pitchers, Paul Splittorff had the most wins (166), Larry Gura the best winning percentage, Bob Stanley the best adjusted ERA and Bill Lee the lowest K/9 (3.30). Found inside – Page 176Baseball Stars of the 1970s and 1980s Talk About the Game They Loved Fay Vincent ... When I first came to the big leagues, where they had four 20game winners at Baltimore, pitchers threw batting practice. The BP that they had to throw, ... The 1970 Cleveland Indians pitching stats seen on this page include pitching stats for every player who appeared in a game during the 1970 season. A three-time Cy Young Award winner (1973, 1975-76) and top five finalist four other times during the decade, Palmer recorded 186 of his eventual 268 career victories in the 1970s and won another five games (against two losses) in 13 postseason appearances, with four complete games and a 2.75 ERA. When he had his best record, going 18-8 for the 1982 Angels, his K/9 was 3.2. The franchise has a long history of dangerous hitting pitchers, from Don Newcombe and Don Drysdale in the 1950s and 1960s to Fernando Valenzuela and Rick Rhoden in the 1970s … Found inside – Page 106A Complete Guide to the Best, Worst, and Most Memorable Players to Ever Grace the Major Leagues Rob Neyer ... as eight of the nine non- pitchers (and ten of fourteen including the pitchers) were on the club in 1977. But in August he was traded to the Dodgers, and he struck out enough batters in the NL to raise his overall K/9 for the season to 3.1. On Sept. 19, 2003, against Milwaukee pitcher Doug Davis, Johnson took him deep to left center for the only home run of his career. Seaver, by far their best pitcher, exceeded expectations with a win-loss record of 19-10, a skinny earned run average of 2.08, and 251 strikeouts. During the 12 seasons from 1973 through 1984, there were 69 pitcher/seasons with a K/9 rate below 3.0 (the complete list is coming up in a bit). Wins, losses, earned runs, innings pitched, saves and more pitching data is included for every pitcher on the 1970 Cleveland Indians. Eight times during the decade, Palmer won at least 20 games; he failed to reach the milestone in the other two seasons because nagging pains kept him at well under 100%. 1970-71, San Francisco Giants; 1972-75, Cleveland Indians; 1975-77, Texas Rangers; 1978-79, San Diego Padres. Best Year: 1972 (1.92 ERA, 24 wins, 16 losses, 29 complete games, 342.2 innings). His three super-low-strikeout seasons included his best, when he was 19-13 with a 3.40 ERA in 1978, although that was helped by a career-low .247 BABIP that was 33 points below the league average. Found insideGreatest Homerun Hitters! Classic Rivalries! ... Even when the Dodgers won the World Series in 1959, Koufax was a talent, but not yet great. ... From the 1900s through the 1970s, pitchers were wellknown for hitting batters. See if you agree. Other Links > Baseball > Baseball Player Rankings by Position > Top Ranked Starting Pitchers . Some big changes are expected to be made with this release, which definitely is a necessity as recent releases are far too similar. When the New York Mets entered the World Series, they owned one of the best pitchers in baseball, Tom Seaver. I always found it interesting when a pitcher managed to hit at least . Blue nearly joined Hunter in New York with the Yankees in 1976, but commissioner Bowie Kuhn voided Finley’s trade for $1.5 million—part of a larger fire sale the mercurial A’s owner was attempting. A portrait of the Negro League pitcher and pioneer in the integration of baseball evaluates the role of discrimination in limiting his career, the Jim Crow biases that prevented his signing with the big leagues until he was in his forties, ... Details statistics from American professional baseball teams and players from 1900 through the previous season, including draft information, lists of award winners and world champion teams, career records, Negro League statistics, and facts ... While there are not too many of them, there are a few handfuls that were known for their hitting. Zahn barely qualified, with a career record four games over .500, and Splittorff barely qualified with an adjusted ERA less than 1% better than league. Rivera was a total monster in the playoffs, though, and was a huge reason why the New York Yankees won … I believe that Dave McNally remains the only pitcher ever to hit a grand slam home run in a World Series (1970.) Not 0.6 wins. Sure, he finished his 17-year career with a 2.91 ERA, 3,884 1/3 innings, and just 7.6 hits per nine innings. Perry has a case as the best pitcher of the first half of the 1970's, although I think I'd select Tom Seaver. Found inside – Page 55The Players ' League in 1890 was probably superior to both the NL and the AA , because most of the game's best players ... Was it the genuinely superior hitting of the AL , or the AL's inferior pitching ( 1.02 higher ERA per game ) and ... The Top Ranked Relief Pitchers of the 1970s The idea was to pick an ace starting pitcher for each decade of the last 100 years in baseball, with one honorable mention. Kubel played the best years of 10-year career with the Twins, with his most accomplished season coming in 2009, when he hit .300 with 28 home runs and 103 RBI. 139: 537: 73: 148.276: 19: 0: 42: 104: 293: 23: 144: 1.316.546.862: 5.0 1975-79, New York Yankees. Best Year: 1978 (1.74 ERA, 25 wins, 3 losses, .893 win percentage, 16 complete games, 9 shutouts, 273.2 innings, 248 strikeouts). Perry was as tireless as he was dominant, averaging a whopping 290 innings per season during the decade while pitching beyond the ninth 25 separate times; but the bigger chatter surrounding Perry continued to be his use of the spitball. But Gibson didn’t need the stakes to be high to perform on a Hall of Fame level. Found inside – Page 348It was an exhausting and tension-filled game that saw the Reds use seven pitchers to try to stem the Boston comeback. ... the top hitting team with a .280 average, and the top run scoring team with 857 runs (the high mark of the ... His K/9 went back up to 3.9 in 1974, when he went 16-10, then he abruptly retired during the 1975 season after getting off to a poor start. There may have been someone on the Dodgers’ pitching staff who always put up better numbers throughout the decade—from Claude Osteen to Andy Messersmith to Tommy John—but Sutton was a consistent, highly reliable force who always stood out as a solid second best. Major League Baseball has become Dave Kingman. Here are some comments: Al Fitzmorris: The Royals’ righty went 13-6 in 1974 followed by a 16-12 mark in 1975, with adjusted ERAs better than league average both seasons. This came on the heels of a 15-2 season with a 2.60 ERA in 1978, when his K/9 was 2.41 but he did not pitch enough innings to qualify for the ERA title because he was used primarily in relief. Build your custom FanSided Daily email newsletter with news and analysis on All MLB and all your favorite sports teams, TV shows, and more. The group of 10 pitchers to follow likely also qualifies as the collection of the most colorful characters among all our tops-of-the-decade lists. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. It was almost four. During those years, Maddux had a 75-29 record with a 1.99 ERA. The calling card of the Niekro brothers was the knuckleball, and they were the masters in the 1970s and into the 1980s.Phil, inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1997, starred for the Braves for most of his 24-year career that ended when he was 48 years … But when he dipped into super-low-strikeout territory, his record suffered, losing 19 games in 1973 and 20 in 1974. The lowest K/9 rate for a qualifying pitcher in 2013 was Jeremy Guthrie’s 4.72; in 1980, 48 of the 89 qualifying pitchers in the majors — more than half — had lower rates. In 2013 American League pitchers struck out a league-record 7.65 batters per nine innings; the National League record of 7.69 was set in 2012. Much of that year’s success came courtesy of a rediscovered slider many considered the best ever thrown by a pitcher, but also one Carlton had chronic problems controlling. Len Barker led the AL with 6.83 K/9 in 1980; 56 pitchers topped that mark in … He pitched for Houston from 1971-80, going 107-71 with a 3.15 ERA and 76 complete games. The next year was hit best, hitting .264 with 25 home runs and 21 doubles. The all-decade team: the ‘50s. His 2.18 K/9 in 1977 remains, Super-low strikeout pitchers of the 1970s and ’80s, No pitcher who qualified for the ERA title, 48 of the 89 qualifying pitchers in the majors, a pitcher with an adjusted ERA better than league average, the best for any super-low-strikeout pitcher, the lowest for a pitcher with a winning record, win 20 games with a super-low strikeout rate, the most for any pitcher with a career K/9 rate below 4.0, a winning record with a super-low strikeout rate, Off-season jobs of major league baseball players in the winter of 1958-59, Adjusted K%: Ranking Single Season Strikeouts (Part 1) | Cut On And Missed, Tracking down the first reference in print to a basketball “triple double”, Looking for bullshit in Earl Weaver’s “Weaver On Strategy”, UPDATE: A few things about complete games, UPDATE: Things I meant to write just after Mark Fidrych died, You never know what’s going to change your life, or when it’s going to happen, UPDATE: Pitchers who threw the most extra-inning games, Hank Borowy, Blake Stein, Paul Wilson and the worst pitching performances in major league baseball history, The day Catfish Hunter was used as a pinch-hitter when he was already in the game, Looking at pitchers’ performances before and after a no-hitter, From Jekyll to Hyde (or vice versa): major league pitchers who go from sublime to ridiculous in consecutive starts, Dave Parker’s remarkable 26 assists in 1977…and Roberto Clemente’s 27 in 1961, The major league baseball games that were played while Apollo 11 landed on the moon, From “aw, rats” to redemption: Miss Bloomington sings the National Anthem at two ballparks in 1976, Did Max Patkin perform for a crowd of four people…and other things that happened in baseball the day Apollo 11 landed on the moon, Congratulations, Wally Holborow, you got your record back from Carlos Frias, Left-handed throwing second basemen, shortstops and third basemen, The oldest players to make their debut in the major leagues: Satchel Paige and the rest, The history of the record for baseball's longest throw, a tale that involves John Hatfield, Honus Wagner, Sheldon Lejeune, Hugh McMullan, Don Grate, Rocky Colavito and Glen Gorbous, among others, A thorough account of pitchers who have started both games of a doubleheader in the major leagues, Looking for bullshit in Earl Weaver's "Weaver On Strategy", From "aw, rats" to redemption: Miss Bloomington sings the National Anthem at two ballparks in 1976, Lefty Grove did a lot of great things as a pitcher for the Philadelphia A's -- just not this one. “ super-low ” strikeout rates seemed to get tagged with 20 losses figure that year a 7.0 as... 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Most of his best seasons came with K/9 rates were merely low those years, had!

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