Greg Maddux recorded his 3000th strikeout last night in a loss to the Giants. All the news stories say that he is the 13th to do that, and the 9th to combine that stat with 300 wins, but none mention the most incredible part of his accomplishment. He's only the second pitcher to get to 3000 strikeouts with fewer than 1000 walks. He doesn't even have 900 career walks, so he's not likely to get to 1000 either. In fact, the other 11 guys on the list (including Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson, who are still active) have at least 1300 walks.
Pop quiz: Who is the other 3000 strikeout pitcher with fewer than 1000 walks?
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6 comments:
It's Ferguson Jenkins!
(no, I wouldn't have know it either if I hadn't looked it up)
It is indeed.
that is amazing. nolan ryan, for all his K's, was known for walking a ton of batters early in his career. in fact, nolan WALKED 2795 batters over his 27-year career. yes, he is by far the career leader in walks (by 962 over steve carlton).
hats off to greg maddux, who arguably has the greatest four-year peak (1992-95) EVER, especially when taken into account the league average for pitching those years. his era of 1.56 in '94 is better than bob gibson's 1.12 in '68, when taking the league average era's into account.
I think Ryan might also be the all-time leader in unearned runs allowed, but I'm not sure if you can even look that up easily.
surprise!! surprise!!
nolan ryan gave up 267 unearned runs in his 27-yr career. and it would be a good guess to say that the total is 1st all time. however, not only is nolan not 1st, but also he is not even second.
unofficial count - phil niekro has 325; gaylord perry has 282
fwiw, roger clemens has 164.
unearned runs is a product of team defense and the pitcher himself. part of the reasons clemens doesn't have that many unearned runs is b/c he doesn't even allow the ball to be put in play. 4444 k's and only 1499 bb's help.
What do you know? You can look that up. Thanks!
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