Out of all the retired pitchers in MLB history, there are 2,191 who logged at least 400 innings through age 34.

Of that group, 317 fared so poorly that they had a career WAR value of less than 1.0 WAR through age 34.

With such a poor performance in a reasonably long trial, it’s no surprise that just 21 of them pitched in the majors from age 35 onward. Most of them were finished before they turned 30.

And of those 21 who did pitch at age 35 or older, only one ever had a season worth at least 3.0 WAR.

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We know how many players are in the Hall of Fame. But have you ever wondered what percentage of eligible players is represented by those inductees?

I did, so I decided to figure it out. Click through for my results.

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In for a dime, in for a dollar….

In a recent post, I debunked a published quote by Vida Blue complaining that his 1971 home starts had been juggled so as to coincide with Monday’s Family Night promotion. Now I’m reading Dan Epstein’s joyous Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging ’70s. Touching on Blue’s 1972 contract holdout, Epstein writes that Blue in ’71 had been “drawing thousands of extra fans, at home or on the road, whenever he pitched.”

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Some folks keep writing that the Giants have gotten the breaks so far.

Breaks? Don’t break my heart!

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I’m reading the biography Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball’s Super Showman, by G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. It’s quite enjoyable, if just a bit academic, and the quotes and main factual claims are thoroughly footnoted.

Because of a recent HHS thread about Tim Lincecum and Vida Blue, this passage in the book that touched on Blue’s amazing year in 1971 caught my eye: Continue reading →

Including the postseason, the Giants have four 3-HR games at home this year. The last three have come in support of Barry Zito. In those three games, Zito has allowed 22 hits and 5 walks in 17.1 IP, but no HRs.

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(Though beaten to publication by the New York Times and MLB.com, your humble narrator insists that he had the idea first. So there.)

Out of some 1,200 players who appeared in a MLB game this year, about 85 were born in Venezuela. Of the 15 who logged 400+ PAs this year, five will be fixtures in the World Series lineups:

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Counting this year’s Yankees, teams starting 3 or more nonpitchers age 36+ in any LCS game have now lost 8 of 9 series, and teams doing that in more than one game have lost 7 of 8 series:

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Eddie Yost, the aptly-dubbed Walking Man who was the Senators’ regular third baseman from 1947-58, died last week, three days past his 86th birthday. Obituaries ran in the Washington Post and the New York Times.

Yost hung up his spikes after 1962 as the all-time leader in games played at the hot corner with 2,008, having surpassed by 145 games the old record-holder, Pie Traynor; he now ranks ninth in that regard. He was fourth with 1,614 walks drawn (now 11th). From 1949-55, he played in 829 consecutive games, at that time the fifth-longest streak in MLB history (now ninth).

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The Giants, owners of 19 modern pennants, and the Tigers (11) have never met in the World Series. And very few players have had good years with both teams:

• Darrell Evans is the only position player to post a 3-WAR season for both the Giants (1978, ’80, ’83) and Tigers (1985-87).
• Doyle Alexander is the only pitcher with a 3-WAR season for each club — 1981 with the  Giants (his lone year there), 1987 with Detroit (4.3 WAR in just 11 brilliant games).

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