HHS regular contributor Kahuna Tuna remarked that in the May 30th game between the Cubs and Dodgers, it was the first time that two pitchers of record both had the surname Wood*. Then it happened again Thursday when Miguel Gonzalez got the win for the White Sox over Gio Gonzalez and the Nationals.
Just for fun, I did a little sleuthing to see how many such games I could find. To simplify things a bit, I was looking only for games with starters having the same surname (and spelling) and who both had the decision. And, I looked only at pitchers who were primarily starters over their careers. Those games are after the jump.
Here’s the list, looking only at starting pitchers with decisions.
- Abbott (Jim and Paul) – 1990-09-10
- This game came in the debut season for both. Paul’s .679 W-L% for the Mariners is the franchise best in 50+ decisions.
- Anderson (Brian and Jimmy) – 2000-05-23
- Brian’s 4.74 career ERA is the 5th highest among 270 retired pitchers with 25 post-season IP, but he is one of only 15 of those pitchers with a post-season ERA more than two runs better than his regular season mark.
- Barnes (Jesse and Virgil) – 1924-06-29, 1925-04-23, 1926-06-25, 1926-09-11
- This pair might have had more starts against each if not for the younger Virgil starting his career as Jesse’s teammate. The elder Barnes took this brother series 3-1.
- Brown (Clint and Lloyd) – 1931-08-21
- After starting the 1930s as a fixture in the Indians rotation, Clint finished the decade as a relief specialist with the White Sox, leading the AL in games finished 4 times in 5 years. His 48 GFs in 1937 set a new single season record that he upped to 56 two years later, a mark that would stand until 1950.
- Davis (Curt and Peaches) – 1938-09-06
- This pair make the list in the last start of Peaches’ career. Curt and Dazzy Vance are the only pitchers to log 1000 IP for the Dodgers after age 35.
- De La Rosa (Jorge and Rubby) – 2015-07-05
- Jorge is one of three pitchers with 1000 IP for the Rockies, and also one of the three active pitchers from Mexico with 1000 IP, the most ever from that country to reach that threshold concurrently.
- Fernandez (Osvaldo and Alex) – 1997-04-20
- Alex and Chicago teammate Charlie Hough are the only pitchers to start 50 games for both the Marlins and White Sox. Fernandez had all of those games aged 30 or younger, Hough aged 43 and older.
- Gonzalez (Gio and Miguel) – 2016-06-09
- Gio is one of only five pitchers with a .500 or better record in 150+ IP for each of the last 6 seasons.
- Guzman (Jose and Juan) – 1992-09-20
- Juan’s .784 W-L% (40-11) is the top mark for pitchers in 50+ starts over their first three seasons.
- Hernandez (Felix and Runelvys) – 2005-08-15
- This was the third start of Felix’s career and the second of 10 in his debut season of 7+ IP. Those 10 such games are tied with Frank Shellenback of the 1918 White Sox for the most since 1913 by a teenage pitcher in the first 12 games of his career.
- Hernandez (Felix and Roberto) – 2009-08-23, 2012-08-21
- Felix passed the 200 mark this season in career starts of 7 IP or longer, trailing only CC Sabathia and Bartolo Colon among pitchers currently active in the majors.
- Hernandez (David and Roberto) – 2009-09-25
- Roberto’s 19 wins in 2007 are the most in a second season following a debut campaign winning one-third or less of 10+ decisions.
- Jackson (Al and Larry) – 1963-05-30, 1965-07-07, 1966-05-19, 1966-08-11
- Al earned his 20 losses for the 1962 Mets, allowing 5 or more runs in 14 of those setbacks.
- Johnson (Walter and Rankin) – 1914-04-23, 1914-05-29, 1914-06-01, 1914-07-03, 1914-07-06
- This pair just couldn’t avoid each other, meeting 5 times in half a season, hard to do even if you don’t have the same surname. Rankin was a rookie so, with that baptism of fire (he actually did alright, going 2-3 in the 5 tilts that were all shutouts), it’s no wonder he bolted for the Federal League in mid-season.
- Johnson (Walter and Jing) – 1917-06-28, 1917-09-03
- Jing and Athletic teammate Rollie Naylor both failed to win more than 20 games in 60+ starts over the first three seasons of their careers. That inauspicious debut by teammates has been repeated only four times since, most recently by Joe Kennedy and Ryan Rupe, teammates on the 2001-02 Devil Rays (Kennedy’s 18 wins are tied with Dennis Lamp for the fewest of any live ball era pitcher with 70 starts over his first three seasons).
- Johnson (Si and Syl) – 1932-04-27, 1932-05-02
- Si’s four seasons of 150 IP with twice as many losses as wins are the most by an NL pitcher, but one fewer than HOFer Red Ruffing posted, in consecutive seasons, in the AL.
- Johnson (Randy and Jason) – 2006-06-14
- Jason’s 56 career wins are the fewest in the live ball era among pitchers with 100+ losses
- Jones (Bobby and Bobby) – 1999-05-11 (Thanks Artie Z!)
- Bobby Joseph’s 19 losses for the Padres in 2001 are the most of any pitcher having only one season with more than 10 losses in a 1500 IP career.
- Maddux (Greg and Mike) – 1986-09-29, 1988-07-31
- Mike, a reliever for most of his career, doesn’t meet my criteria but I made an exception.
- Martinez (Dennis and Ramon) – 1988-08-29, 1990-05-10, 1990-05-15, 1990-08-19, 1992-07-24, 1993-07-15
- Dennis and CC Sabathia are the only pitchers to win 100 games for two franchises and not reach 250 career wins
- Martinez (Pedro and Ramon) – 1996-08-29
- Ramon won the duel against his more famous kid brother. Like the Barnes brothers, the younger Martinez sibling started his career as a teammate of his elder.
- Niekro (Phil and Joe) – 1967-07-04, 1968-04-23, 1969-07-13, 1969-09-26, 1976-05-29, 1978-09-26, 1979-09-26, 1980-05-11, 1982-09-13
- The record-holders for decisions against each other (9) and span of seasons (16). Phil wins the series 5-4 and picked up win no. 20 in the 1979 game to match his brother’s win total at the time. Despite all the starts against each other, this pair were actually teammates twice.
- Smith (Sherry and George) – 1921-04-20
- George’s .231 W-L% (12-40) is the lowest of the live ball era in 50+ decisions over the last three seasons of a career
- Smith (Eddie and Al) – 1940-05-30, 1940-08-14, 1943-08-27
- Eddie was an All-Star selection in 1942 when he led the AL in losses with a 7-20 record (his record at the A-S break was 2-13 with a 3.72 ERA).
- Smith (Bryn and Zane) – 1986-05-14
- Bryn’s 1400 IP for the Expos is the third highest total for the franchise, trailing only Steve Rogers and Dennis Martinez.
- Stone (George and Steve) – 1975-06-30
- Steve and Sandy Koufax are the only pitchers to win the CYA or post a 25 win season in the last two seasons of a career (Koufax did both in both of those seasons).
- Taylor (Dummy and Jack) – 1900-09-12, 1901-07-01, 1901-09-26, 1902-06-03, 1903-05-28, 1904-05-07, 1904-08-09
- No game logs, of course, but this pair opposed each other as starters in these games and almost certainly got the decisions in at least some (or most) of them (Jack getting the decision was pretty much a lock: over the first 9 seasons of a 10 year career, he completed 271 of 274 starts).
- Interesting parallels in their careers: both made a splash in a debut season of limited innings, then both crashed with 20+ losses in season two and didn’t post another winning record until their fifth season when both won 20 games. Both improved their W-L records over the rest of their careers, Dummy doing so by playing on powerhouse Giant teams and Jack by pitching better, especially in 1902 when he led the NL in ERA, WHIP and shutouts and posted one of just 10 seasons since 1901 of 300 IP with 200 ERA+.
- Underwood (Pat and Tom) – 1979-05-31 (Thanks John!)
- Tom’s 85 wins through age 29 are tied for the 5th lowest total of the expansion era among pitchers to log 1500 IP by that age.
- Weaver (Jeff and Jered) – 2009-06-20
- Jeff can tell his grandkids that the Dodgers traded away Kevin Brown to reacquire him.
- Wells (Kip and David) – 2004-08-07
- Kip’s .292 W-L% for the Cardinals is a live ball era low for the franchise in 20+ career decisions.
- Witt (Bobby and Mike) – 1986-09-28, 1989-09-29
- Mike and Jered Weaver currently stand 3rd and 4th respectively in career IP for the Angels; those rankings should flip by the end of this season.
- Young (Cy and Irv) – 1910-06-21
- Thanks to Kahuna Tuna’s research we know that only Cy got the decision in beating Irv’s White Sox 3-2 in 12 innings. But worth a mention since it was the Cyclone.
- Irv was traded from the Braves to the Pirates for Harley Young midway through Harley’s lone 1908 season. Both had starts before and after the trade but none against each other.
Kahuna Tuna followed his first post with another identifying pitchers of record whose names matched … “with room to spare”. So, here’s one of those to close.
- Jim Shaw and Bob Shawkey – 1917-09-07. It’s actually kind of surprising these two had only this one game together as the two were never teammates, played their entire careers in the AL, and combined for more than 400 starts and 400 decisions from 1913 to 1921.
(*) If you’re wonder why the Wood game (with Travis and Alex) isn’t listed, it’s because Travis wasn’t the starter; he relieved Jason Hammel in the 3rd inning.