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Old 10-14-2012, 04:21 AM   #29
VanillaGorilla
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Class of 1953, Pitchers - Kaat, Johnson

1953 has two pitchers and two hitters entering. For most of this league, the random debut feature has generated a larger number of great name pitchers than hitters. This was my casual gathering of the situation, but the career outputs sort of bear this out.

At the end of the 1951 season I have 29 pitchers with 300 wins, or more. One is still active. In real life there are 23 pitchers with 300 wins. All RL pitchers with 300 who are eligible are in the RL HOF.

Through 1953 there were 18 pitchers in the HOF. Even if I limited entry to those with 300 wins, I would have 11 waiting on the outside.

Achieving 300 wins in this universe does not have the same significance as it does in the real one.

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Jim Kaat is a 300 win pitcher who gets in on the Veteran Standard. 304 wins vs 242 losses is a fine career win % of .556. The Hall committee determined that he had been waiting too long and passed over some younger 300 game winners and enshrined Mr Kaat.

In 630 games he pitched 5047 innings striking out 1637 and walking 1097 while compiling a career OOTP ERA of 3.29. He pitched 39 shutouts in his career which started in 1912 and ended in 1931.

He won 20 games 6 times and led the league in 1920 with 24 victories. Yet, he never won a CYA.

The surprising thing to me is that the man who is often talked about as the best fielding pitcher ever picked up just one GG in his career, here.

He spent his career on Phillie and Pirate teams that never won a pennant. He joined the Phillies at the end of their dynasty. His rookie year they missed the WS by three games. The Phillies went down hill from there, and the Pirates were even worse.

In his 20 years he only played on 7 teams that won 80 games. None won 90. That he posted the win rate he did is remarkable.

His 288 HRs allowed are the most by a HOFer.

Black Ink : 23 (16)
Gray Ink : 223 (125)
HOFm : 113.5 (130)
HOFs : 45 (144)

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Randy Johnson retired in 1904. His 50 year wait to get in the Hall is the longest of anyone.

But waiting is nothing new to Mr Johnson. In a career that started in the 2 pitcher rotation era in 1883, Johnson had yet to pitch 28 innings when the 1887 season started. At the age of 27 he became "The Unit" and over the next 18 years won 354 games (9th all time) and struck out 3197 (5th).

In 1897 he won the CYA going 23-8 while carrying 2.32 OOTP ERA which was a 158 npa ERA+.

His career npa ERA+ is a 114. He pitched 525 CGs (5th) and 33 shut outs.

Both Kaat and Johnson were inducted by the default software standards. Though Johnson waited 50 years, he got in not on the Veteran Standard, but rather by exceeding the Hall averages in all but the Black Ink metric.

At 93, he is the oldest player at the time of induction.

Johnson went 1-2 in his only WS, a losing effort.

Black: 56 (99)
Gray: 300 (280)
HOFm: 222 (331)
HOFs: 57 (65)

Last edited by VanillaGorilla; 10-14-2012 at 04:23 AM.
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