Walks per Nine

After researching the walk totals of the 300 Win Club, I looked up the career leaders of Walks per 9 Innings and determined the information below. Based on this I tweeted “Robin is the Hall of famer since 1930 with a lower BB/9 innings ratio than Greg Maddux”. Two hours later I realized I left out of Robin’s last name. Then while eating lunch I read the AJC article with the exact piece of information. People will think I lifted the tweet from the AJC.

Only six current Hall of Fame pitchers have a lower walks per 9 innings ratio than Greg Maddux. Only one, Robin Roberts, pitched after the dead ball era.  

 BB/9  years

1.1169 15 Pud Galvin 1892

1.4890 22 Cy Young 1911

1.5938 17 Christy Mathewson 1916

1.6491 20 Pete Alexander 1930

1.7314 19 Robin Roberts 1966

1.7394 12 Old Hoss Radbourn 1891

1.7952 23 Greg Maddux 2008

Maddux ranks…

3rd among those who pitched 20 years or more.

15th among those who pitched 15 years or more.  

30th among those who pitched 10 years or more.    

50th all-time.

Follow Radbourn on Twitter at @OldHossRadbourn

Interesting that the ten player limit hinders more players from being voted in. Many writers use all ten votes, strategically voting for certain players based in how many years of eligibility they have remaining. The writer may not have a personal vendetta against a particular player, but he just doesn’t have enough space on his ballot for everyone he thinks is worthy. Ken Rosenthal said this is why he never voted on for a player in his first year of eligibility (until Maddux). Rosenthal figured any worthy candidate would be voted in, so he used his ten choices for who he thought needed it most.

I don’t think anyone next year will get a higher percentage than Maddux got this year. There didn’t seem to be too big of a stir that 16 voters left Maddux of their ballots. Wonder if there will be any changes made to the voting process anytime soon.