Of all HOF pitchers, Greg Maddux may very well have the lowest rate of Unintentional Walks. Intentional Walks were first tracked in 1955. Of the twelve 300 game winners who pitched since then, no one even comes close to Greg Maddux's 82.3% of unintentional walks. Only Gaylord Perry and Tom Glavine had less than half Maddux's percentage.
Of all twenty-four 300-game-winners, only four walked fewer batters than Maddux. Pete Alexander, Christy Mathewson, Pud Galvin, and Old Hoss Radbourn. These four retired before 1930, before intentional walks were tracked.
Late in the 2008 season Maddux had 999 career walks. Not wanting to pass the thousand walk barrier, Maddux did not walk a batter in his next four starts – the last four starts of his career.
%IP – BB wins YR player – year retired
8.0% 1434 363 21 Warren Spahn 1965
17.7% 999 355 23 Greg Maddux 2008 – 5008 IP
3.9% 1580 354 24 Roger Clemens 2007
8.2% 1833 329 24 Steve Carlton 1988
2.8% 2795 324 27 Nolan Ryan 1993
7.6% 1343 324 23 Don Sutton 1988
4.8% 1809 318 Phil Niekro 1987
11.9% 1379 314 22 Gaylord Perry 1983
8.3% 1390 311 20 Tom Seaver 1986
9.7% 1500 305 22 Tom Glavine 2008
2.5% 1497 303 Randy Johnson 2009
4.9% 1775 300 23 Early Wynn 1963
BB wins YR player – year retired
1217 511 22 Cy Young 1911
1363 417 21 Walter Johnson 1927
951 373 20 Pete Alexander 1930 – 5190 IP
848 373 17 Christy Mathewson 1916 – 4788 IP
745 365 15 Pud Galvin 1892 – 6003 IP
1272 361 15 Kid Nichols 1906
1233 342 14 Tim Keefe 1893
1191 328 12 John Clarkson 1894
1072 326 17 Eddie Plank 1917
875 309 12 Old Hoss Radbourn 1891 – 4527 IP
1297 307 13 Mickey Welch 1892
1187 300 17 Lefty Grove 1941
While Robin Roberts has a lower walks per 9 innings ratio, his unintentional walk rate is much higher than Maddux.
Maddux was not even a unanimous HOF pick by the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America. The vote was similar to the BWAA 10 player maximum vote. Two voters did not vote for Maddux. Both chose to vote for players on the cusp, rather than the no-brainer. http://itsaboutthemoney.net/archives/2014/01/08/my-hall-of-fame-ballot/
Peter Gammons posted Quality Start data for the pitchers on this year's HOF ballot: http://www.gammonsdaily.com/quality-starts-and-ultimate-quality-starts-for-hof-candidates/
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query maddux walks. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query maddux walks. Sort by date Show all posts
Friday, January 10, 2014
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Maddux: Lowest ERA Ever
When it comes to Earned Run Average, Greg Maddux was the greatest in history. Experts say Bob Gibson, Sandy Koufax, and Maddux were so dominant because their ERA was so much lower than the league ERA, but Maddux’s comparative ERA was the lowest. Gibson and Koufax played in an era when pitching was so dominant that the mound was lowered. Maddux pitched against a league full of juiced up players hitting home runs at a record pace. Maddux put up four straight years where his ERA was less than 2/3 the league average. Only Walter Johnson, who pitched in the dead ball era, can match that.
Only three active pitchers have careers ERAs lower than Maddux, who pitched for 23 seasons. Today pitchers are dominant because players are trying to hit home runs, and instead strike out in record numbers.
Of all the players in MLB history who pitched as long as Maddux, only one had a lower ERA. Maddux is the only pitcher in history with more than 300 wins and 3000 strikeouts, and less than 1000 walks. The Hall of Famers he faced only hit .273 off him – 14 points lower than their career average.
era.league.% of league.career
1.56 4.21 37.1% Maddux 3.16
1.12 2.99 37.5% Gibson 2.91
Sunday night I looked at all the photos on AJC.com, looking for my two friends who had made the trip. Tom said his view wasn’t that good. Baptist John was at Turner Field. Yesterday I finally got to look at those commemorative HOF AJC’s. Thought about cutting out some photos for my scrapbook calendar, but decided to save them intact. Also bought the special commemorative Sports Illustrated HOF edition off the newsstands, with Maddux and Glavine on the cover. Filled with neat info and articles I hadn’t read before.
Friday, January 10, 2014
Fun Facts: HOF Edition
Spent a lot of time researching baseball stuff Wednesday:
1. Greg Maddux walked fewer batters than 20 of the 24 members of the 300 win club.
2. Since intentional walks became a stat in 1954 no player had a lower percentage of unintentional walks than Maddux.
3. His 83% was far lower than any other 300 game winner (all but two had percentages higher than 91%).
4. Late in Maddux's last season he reached 999 walks. He vowed to not walk another batter. He made four more starts and had zero walks.
5. Since the end of the dead ball era only Robin Roberts had a lower walks per 9 innings ratio than Maddux. I figured that out, tweeted it, and later read the same stat in the AJC.
6. Frank Thomas (45) is the youngest player ever voted into the HOF. Maddux and Glavine are 47.
7. At Auburn Thomas player both baseball and football with Bo Jackson.
8. One of Thomas' MVP seasons was one of the most all-around productive seasons in history.
9. Of the 500 home run club members, Thomas has the highest career batting average since Hank Aaron.
10. The average Batting Average of the 500 HR Club decreased every time a new member was added until 2002. Since then the average has remained a steady .292.
Details on all the above to be published here soon. No one is making much of Maddux not setting the record for highest HOF vote percentage. I thought he deserved it.
Hawks: Al Horford goes down, and the AJC seems to expect the Hawks to magically make a blockbuster deal to immediately bring in another superstar. Not that easy.
Monday night Ceil cooked burgers. She was not happy when I brought home Kroger tater tots instead of organic French fries.
Tuesday night Ceil made Mexican. Hectic night at home with kids studying so I missed the Duke game.
Wednesday night she cooked a chicken casserole, sweet potatoes, and salad. Later I had popcorn. Not making much progress on my diet, though I am back eating grapefruit every day. Also worked out Thursday morning. Need to get back to my daily walking, and working out at night.
Breakfast for dinner again Thursday night, but with steak and French toast. I skipped the grits and had just one piece of toast.
1. Greg Maddux walked fewer batters than 20 of the 24 members of the 300 win club.
2. Since intentional walks became a stat in 1954 no player had a lower percentage of unintentional walks than Maddux.
3. His 83% was far lower than any other 300 game winner (all but two had percentages higher than 91%).
4. Late in Maddux's last season he reached 999 walks. He vowed to not walk another batter. He made four more starts and had zero walks.
5. Since the end of the dead ball era only Robin Roberts had a lower walks per 9 innings ratio than Maddux. I figured that out, tweeted it, and later read the same stat in the AJC.
6. Frank Thomas (45) is the youngest player ever voted into the HOF. Maddux and Glavine are 47.
7. At Auburn Thomas player both baseball and football with Bo Jackson.
8. One of Thomas' MVP seasons was one of the most all-around productive seasons in history.
9. Of the 500 home run club members, Thomas has the highest career batting average since Hank Aaron.
10. The average Batting Average of the 500 HR Club decreased every time a new member was added until 2002. Since then the average has remained a steady .292.
Details on all the above to be published here soon. No one is making much of Maddux not setting the record for highest HOF vote percentage. I thought he deserved it.
Hawks: Al Horford goes down, and the AJC seems to expect the Hawks to magically make a blockbuster deal to immediately bring in another superstar. Not that easy.
Tuesday night Ceil made Mexican. Hectic night at home with kids studying so I missed the Duke game.
Wednesday night she cooked a chicken casserole, sweet potatoes, and salad. Later I had popcorn. Not making much progress on my diet, though I am back eating grapefruit every day. Also worked out Thursday morning. Need to get back to my daily walking, and working out at night.
Breakfast for dinner again Thursday night, but with steak and French toast. I skipped the grits and had just one piece of toast.
Monday, September 09, 2024
More On Maddux
More amazing Greg Maddux stats:
1. He’s the only pitcher in baseball history with 300+ wins, 3000+ strikeouts, and less than 1000 walks.
2. In 1994 Maddux started 25 games and had 24 quality starts.
3. In 1994 his .222 batting average on the road was higher than his 1.56 ERA.
4. That year he only allowed 4 home runs in 202 innings pitched, and only walked 31 batters. .
5. In June & July 1995 Maddux had a string of 51 innings pitched without issuing a walk.
6. From 1997 to 2003 Maddux faced 8026 batters and only
7. He won at least 15 games for a record 17 straight seasons.
8. Maddux once pitched a complete game while throwing only 78 pitches. Only 15 were called balls. The average at bat lasted 2.52 pitches.
9. He won 18 gold gloves, a record for any position.
10. In 1997 Maddux issued 14 unintentional walks while facing 893 hitters.
11. From 1995-2003 Maddux faced 8026 batters and had only 8006 pitches called balls.
12. Maddux set the record for most consecutive seasons of stealing at least one base without getting caught, with ten.
13. He is the oldest pitcher to steal a base.
14. He has the most sacrifice bunts for and righthanded pitcher in history, the second most for any pitcher in history.
For all the social media yahoos who still say “duh, but he never struck out Tony Gwynn”, here’s Maddux’s record against the Padres: 25-16 with a 3.06 ERA, nine complete games, and two shutouts. Thinking about changing this blog to all-Maddux, all the time.
Notable pitchers who hit walkoff home runs:
Pitcher Date Off Career HR WAR
DIZZY DEAN..........06-Aug-1935...Emmett Nelson............8...46.2
Jim Hardin.......... 10-May-1969...Moe Drabowsky...........3.... 4.7
Kirby Higbe............11-Sep-1947...Johnny Sain.................3...17.7
Glen Hobbie......... 25-Aug-1960...Vinegar Bend Mizell.....4.... 5.9
Craig Lefferts........25-Apr-1986....Greg Minton.................1.... 8.9
JUAN MARICHAL.21-Sep-1966....Roy Face.....................4...62.9
Lindy McDaniel......06-Jun-1963....Billy Pierce..................3....28.2
Dizzy Trout............24-May-1947...Gordon Maltzberger..20....49.9
George Uhle..........25-May-1926...Win Ballou.................. 9....55.5
Yesterday after the service at JFBC Ceil spotted Grover & Bettye Swilley sitting up hear the front. We made a beeline up to see them. Heather had sung in the service, sporting a new hip hairstyle. The Swilleys were with their son in law Lee Taylor. We got to have a nice chat with the Swilleys. Heather said she’s seen Audra and Mandy Mullen attending JFBC services.
My other friend Reid and his wife Noelle just returned from Spain and Paris on Saturday. Reid has a hurt shoulder, and lugging luggage all around Europe didn’t help. He’s got to have surgery. Didn’t see him at the gym this morning.
Missing a “Guy’s Night” men’s dinner at JFBC. Clay is speaking on politics. Hate to miss it.
Same old Falcons.
Teens and screens – a parent’s guide to wise tech stewardship – and why it’s needed.
Steve Martin names his all time favorite movie role – playing the lead character Charlie Bates in Roxanne. Good stuff.
A polar vortex is causing the earth’s poles to shift – and disrupting our planet’s climate. Nothing man-made about this. Nothing that trillions in US taxpayer taxes for any green new deal can fix. Not sure how all this fits into God’s plan, but he didn’t ask me.
A Putin ally in the Russian government predicts the US will collapse in an imminent civil war.
Win a Ford F150.
Tuesday, August 27, 2024
Mad Dog vs. Pedro
Watched the excellent Greg Maddux special on MLB Network, that detailed his life growing up in Vegas all the way through the end of his career in LA and San Diego. Featured his wife and kids, brother, Glavine, Smoltz, Mazzone, Chipper, Eddie Perez, Barry Bonds, Rick Sutcliffe, Tom Verducci, and Randy Johnson. As much as I've read about Maddux, there was still amazing stories that I'd not heard before.
Young yahoos sitting in their basements love to claim that Pedro had a few good years after Maddux won four Cy Youngs, but Martinez only won 15+ games in six seasons. Maddux won 15+ a record 17 straight years, and in 18 of 19 seasons. Sure wins aren't as highly thought of as they used to be, but that'd because starters these days barely make it to the 5th inning. I'd say wins are even all the more impressive. Get off my lawn.
They say that Pedro's prime (97-00) was better than Maddux's (92-95). Not so fast. Maddux pitched more innings and had a lower average ERA over both their best 4 year period, as well their best 7 year period as well.
…1……2……3……4…avg ERA…IP…
1.90 2.89 2.07 1.74 = 2.15 905.1 Pedro
2.18 2.36 1.56 1.63 = 1.93 946.2 Maddux
2.20 avg ERA 97-03 Pedro
2.12 avg ERA 92-98 Maddux
Maddux vsPedro
106.6 WAR 83.. 9
109 complete games 46
5008.1 inn pitched 2827.1
999 walks 760
3371 strikeouts 3154
18 gold gloves 0
355 wins 219
35 shutouts 17
4 Cy Young Awards to 3
Maddux led the league 5 straight years in innings pitched. Pedro never did. In 23 seasons Maddux managed to accumulate almost double the innings pitched, wins, complete games, and shutouts that Pedro tallied in 18. Martinez was one of the top pitchers in his era. Maddux was the greatest righthanded pitcher in the past 85 years, since the end of the dead ball era. Compared to Maddux, Pedro was a flash in the pan.
Friday: C fixed BBQ for supper, with slaw. Anna was driving to the beach for her cousin's bachelor weekend, and got stuck in a Taco Bell drive thru line for an hour on the way.
Saturday: AM golf. Played terrible. Returned home in time for a zoom call with friends in the far east. Then ESPN College GameDay and GT vs FSU.
Dinner at Houston's. Took a relaxing, scenic route: Lower Roswell to Johnson Ferry to Mt Vernon to Northside Drive, to Mt Paran to Northside Parkway. We had a 545 reservation, so no wait. As usual, I got the burger and C the salmon. And wine.
Sunday School with 24 in attendance. Prayed over Renice, who is scheduled to return to Israel on Thursday, Lord willing. After worship I drove C to Costco. I was looking forward to getting a hot dog, but the concession stand was being renovated. Instead I went home and ate leftover BBQ. After a nap I mowed the grass. Pancakes for supper.
Monday: up early to go to the gym. Left work at 515. Stopped by RaceTrac for a free candy bar. Ceil cooked boneless chicken breasts out on the new grill. French fries, grilled okra, and steamed broccoli. I was still stuffed from eating lunch at the CiCis Pizza buffet, so I didn't eat much.
Tuesday: lifted weights this morning for the first time in two months, so I had an excuse for taking it easy. For the most part my sciatic issues are over. Just a little pain remaining. With the sunrise not until 7:05 and getting later and later, I'd better limit my weekday golf to at most one weekday per week. I walk, and the course is up and down hills, about 2+ miles.
Do use a lap counter when you walk? What is your system? Back in the day when I ran at the FLC before work (in the 1990's), meeting up with Scot Wright and David McDaniel, if I couldn't get a lap counter I would move my keychain from finger to finger to count laps.
Using the FLC and preschool to recruit new members is spot on. That's exactly what Johnson Ferry's goal is from their sports programs and preschools !!! Just saw where our pastor wants to emphasize Christian education all the more.
When asked who currently she would want to swap places with for a day, Jamie Lee Curtis would want to be Caitlin Clark.
PAUL SKENES [B-R Bio] is the most recent winner of the John Olerud Award to make it to the majors. The award is given to the best two-way player in college baseball. Skenes won it as a sophomore playing for the Air Force Academy in 2022, then made the majors in 2024. He is only the second pitcher, 21 years old or younger, with at least ten strikeouts at Wrigley Field, while allowing no more than one hit. Skenes' 2nd MLB game was on 17-May-2024. Only rookie Kerry Wood had accomplished this previously, on 06-May-1998 when Wood K'ed 20 batters. Skenes pitched for the Air Force Academy Falcons and the LSU Tigers.
DENISON: sociologist Philip Rieff observed: "No culture has ever preserved itself where it is not a registration of sacred order." He then made an important statement our secularized society needs to hear: "The notion of a culture that persists independent of all sacred orders is unprecedented in human history." For a culture to flourish, it needs the right "sacred order." The Taliban recently codified morality laws requiring Afghan women to cover their faces and men to grow beards. I doubt this will help with the escalating humanitarian crisis raging, with poverty afflicting 90% of the population. In the Old Testament we read "the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lᴏʀᴅ" (1 Sam 2:12). And so these sons of the high priest, while externally religious, committed grave sins leading to their demise (1 Sam 4:17).
NASA astronauts will be stuck in space for eight months (denisonforum.org)
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Chicks Dig the Bald Spot?
Sunday night during the NLCS broadcast the always competitive John Smoltz admitted he felt slighted at being left out of the famous “Chicks Dig the Long Ball” commercial, that starred teammates and friends Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux. The topic was discussed while a graphic was being shown, showing Smoltz and Glavine atop a list of pitchers who’d reached base the most times in the playoffs. Maddux did not appear in the top six.
While the bespectacled Maddux and slight Glavine were naturals for the commercial, that Smoltz looks more like an athletic position player made him less of a fit (though Smoltzie never could get his socks quite right). Plus having three pitchers would’ve made for a crowded ad – in this case two was indeed company and three the proverbial crowd. Hard to mess with perfection, as the ad was voted the greatest in the history of television – right up there with Bo Knows, Be Like Mike, and Where’s the Beef?
The issue can be traced back to when Glavine and Maddux were voted into the baseball hall of fame in January 2014, as several articles were written on the subject. Glavine ribbed Smoltz about his hairline. When the commercial was made Smoltz had yet to win twenty games or win a Cy Young Award. Fact was that Smoltz was under contract with another shoe company at the time.
Of the big three, who was the best hitter? Was Smoltz justified in his claim – or was Smoltz just being the ultra-competitive Smoltz? The record shows that the great bald one did not beat out his buddies in any offensive category. All three had two career triples. Both Maddux and Smoltz connected for five career home runs.
avg.OBP.SLG.OPS.BB...K...TB.sac flies
186 244 210 454 101 329 278 3 Glavine
171 191 205 395 034 419 326 2 Maddux
159 226 207 433 079 365 196 1 Smoltz
run..hits.2B.3B.HR.BI.SB.CS.PA…AB..K%
103 272 35 2 5 84 11 3 1812 1591 26.3 Maddux
093 246 25 2 1 90 01 0 1645 1323 24.9 Glavine
077 151 26 2 5 61 03 2 1167 0948 38.5 Smoltz
To be fair, Smoltz had far fewer plate appearances, due to his years in the bullpen. Yet he had the lowest batting average and struck out far more often – perhaps in a career-long effort to show he belonged in the Long Ball commercial.
It was in the playoffs where Smoltz rose to the occasion. He retired owning many playoff pitching records, in addition to reaching base more times in the playoffs than any pitcher not named Glavine.
avg.OBP.SLG.OPS.R.H.2B.3B.BI.SB.BB.K.TB.sac.playoffs
214 254 232 486 3 12 1 0 2 3 3 19 13 5 Smoltz
169 234 220 455 4 10 1 1 5 0 5 18 13 6 Glavine
073 105 109 214 5 04 2 0 0 0 2 22 06 7 Maddux
Maddux was elected to the hall of fame with one of the highest percentages of votes cast in history: 97.2%, besting Glavine (91.9%) and Smoltz (82.9%).
Interesting that on the all-time career sacrifice bunts list, the top six pitchers all have Braves connections:
180 Greg Maddux (9.9% of PA)
147 Joe Niekro
136 Don Sutton, John Smoltz (11.7% of PA)
129 Phil Niekro
One so-so list ranked Glavine in the top hitting pitchers, but not Smoltz.
Monday, January 13, 2014
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.
Wednesday, November 04, 2015
200 IP
From the October 12th issue of Sports Illustrated: 2/3 innings pitched by Toronto’s Mark Buehrle against the Rays in the regular season finale. It was his shortest outing in 493 career starts, and he fell four outs shy of reaching 200 IP for a (American League) record 15th straight year.
From: David
Sent: Wednesday, November 04, 2015
Sent: Wednesday, November 04, 2015
To: 'letters@si.timeinc.com'
Mark Buehrle may have fallen 1.8 innings short in his bid of reaching 200 IP for an American League record of 15 straight years (SI Oct 12), but the 36 year-old still has a ways to go to match the marks of Cy Young and Greg Maddux. Young pitched at least 287 innings for 19 straight years – 10 straight seasons in the NL, then 9 more in the AL. Similar to Buehrle, Maddux fell only 9/10ths of an inning short of a 15th straight 200 inning National League season. Then Mad Dog added 4 more years of 200 IP before finishing with seasons of 198 and 194 innings pitched. That’s 21 straight seasons of at least 194 innings pitched.
Mark Buehrle may have fallen 1.8 innings short in his bid of reaching 200 IP for an American League record of 15 straight years (SI Oct 12), but the 36 year-old still has a ways to go to match the marks of Cy Young and Greg Maddux. Young pitched at least 287 innings for 19 straight years – 10 straight seasons in the NL, then 9 more in the AL. Similar to Buehrle, Maddux fell only 9/10ths of an inning short of a 15th straight 200 inning National League season. Then Mad Dog added 4 more years of 200 IP before finishing with seasons of 198 and 194 innings pitched. That’s 21 straight seasons of at least 194 innings pitched.
David
MORE: Buehrle became the first pitcher since Young to record 200 IP with 61 or fewer walks in 14 straight seasons. In Maddux’s first five 200 inning seasons his walk totals were 81, 82, 71, 66, and 70. His next season (52 walks) would be Mad Dog’s highest walk total of his next 16 seasons.
Buehrle: 15 straight seasons of 198.2 IP
Maddux: 19 straight seasons of 199.1 IP
Maddux: 21 straight seasons of 194.0 IP
Cy Young: 19 straight seasons of 287 IP (1891-1909)
Cy Young: 15 straight seasons of 320 IP
In 2014 Buehrle became only the 7th pitcher since 1901 with 14 straight seasons of 200 IP. The other six are hall of famers. Five have ties to the Braves.
Warren Spahn: 17 years of 245+ IP.
Gaylord Perry: 15 yrs of 205+IP, 17 of 19 yrs w/ 200 IP
Don Sutton: 15 straight seasons of 207+IP.
Greg Maddux: 14 straight, 18 of 19 years w/ 200 IP
Phil Niekro: 14 yrs of 207+IP, 18 of 19 yrs w/ 200 IP
Christy Mathewson: 14 years of 266+IP
The mighty Roger Clemens pitched 24 years but could only manage seven straight years of 200 innings pitched.
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