Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365

I looked over the Cy Young award winners to see if there were any not represented in ATG. Also since that award started in 1956 I also created a spreadsheet that included all-time wins, whip and top seasons for wins, whip and ERA. Below is just for Starters, I neglected to save my Relievers sheet properly and need to rebuild it. lovely

As many of you can imagine, that list is dominated by Pre-1900 pitchers. I definitely determined that it was tough to be a hitter from 1884-1888. Call it my bias, but I know its shared by many others, I'd like to not focus our debate on pre-1900 pitchers (or hitters) for at least the next few card adds...if ever.

Here's what my initial look showed...
8 Cy Young winners don't have cards, oldest to youngest yr of award:
Pat Hentgen TOR, 14yrs/1996 Cy
Barry Zito A's, 15yrs/2002 Cy
Chris Carpenter STL, 15yrs/2005 Cy - VOTED IN 16.2
Brandon Webb AZ, 7yrs/2006 Cy
Jake Peavy SDP. 15yrs/2007 Cy - VOTED IN 17.1
RA Dickey NYM, 14yrs/2012 Cy
Corey Kluber CLV, 2014 Cy
Dallas Keuchel Hou, 2015 Cy

To me the last two shouldn't be up for consideration, even RA's 2012 is a bit close for my liking.

As for the non/pre Cy pitchers here's the list I came up with so far...keep in mind I DID NOT review all the franchise lists yet. Hoping to solicit the community to drive that effort.

Dead Ball 1900+
George McQuillan, PHI, 10 yrs, 785 wins. 1908 23 wins, 0.984 whip, 1.53 ERA
Others:
Bill Burns, Fred Anderson, Frank Owen, Ernie Shore

Post War
Warren Hacker, CHC, 12 yrs only 62 wins. But had a monster 1953, 15-9, 0.946 whip, 2.58 ERA, 23rd in MVP.
Dick Hughes, STL, 3 yrs as he was cut short with a torn rotator cuff with no fix. I'm not a Cardinals fan but seems like Dick was crucial to the 1967 Cardinals Championship season and was shaping up to have a very nice career. That's the year Clemente broke Gibson's leg, Hughes led the team in innings 222 and wins 16 with a 0.954 whip and 2.67 ERA.

Expansion
Tim Wakefield, BOS, 19 yrs, 200 wins, 1.31 whip. 1995, 16 wins, 1.18, 2.95 era
Tim Hudson, A's/Braves, 17 yrs, 222 wins, 1.24 whip. 2003, 16 wins, 1.075, 2.70 era
Andy Pettitte, NYY, 18 yrs, 256 W, 1.35 whip. 2005, 17 W, 1.03, 2.39 era - VOTED IN 16.2
Jason Schmidt, SF, 14 yrs, 130 W, 1.32 whip. 2003, 17 W, 0.954, 2.34 era
Derek Lowe, BOS, 17 yrs, 176 W, 1.33 whip. 2002, 21 W, 0.974, 2.58 era
Cole Hamels, PHI, 11 yrs, 136 W, 1.16 whip. 2001, 14 W, 0.986, 2.79 era
Odalis Perez, DOD, 10 yrs, 73 W...but his 2002 season, 15 W, 0.990, 3.00 era

Then there's...
Jose Fernandez MIA, (VOTED IN 16.2) was able to have the surgery that Dick Hughes couldn't and was well on his way to having an excellent career. his 2013 season, 12-6, 0.979 whip, 2.19 era

Hacker's big year was 1952...in 1953 his WHIP was a respectable 1.26 but gave up 35 HR.

AndyP92072 wrote:Hacker's big year was 1952...in 1953 his WHIP was a respectable 1.26 but gave up 35 HR.

I stand corrected, 1952 it was. Thanks!

How about the 2015 Wade Davis card.

2004 Armando Benitez

These random guys in my opinion are poorly represented or are missing altogether:
1971 Rick Wise
1978 Ross Grimsley (Expos 1st 20-game winner)
1980 Mike Norris
1981 Steve McCatty (1981 is almost non-existent)
1991 Dennis Martinez, (his El Perfecto season)

We had a suggestion for 1950 Jim Hearn in the Giants forum and I wanted to bring it to the broader group for discussion.

Hearn's story is interesting. In 1950 the Giants picked him up on waivers from the Cardinals after 6 relief appearances and a 10.00 ERA. He then goes on to post a 11-3 record across 16 starts, oh and he had a 0.880 whip, 11 CG's and 5 shutouts! Is he the pitchers version of Gates Brown??

ATG has 2 Hearn cards, 51 ($3.64) and 54 ($2.76). Outside an ERA league you probably wouldn't look twice, but the 1950 card could get some serious play. Interested in the opinions out there...

Meh

Why I continue to push for an Unleashed ATG set and a MLB set. I'm not in favor of adding any more small sample size cards.

In fact, I remember way back in ATG when it was at TSN, there was actually discussion about whether to add 1961 Roger Maris because the 61 Maris was an outlier to the rest of his career. We've blown way past those discussions for sure. I wasn't opposed to Maris because of its historicity, but in general, my personal preference is for Ruth, Williams, Mays, and Bonds be the best OFers, not interspersed with Luis Gonzalez's outlier season. Hornsby, Morgan, and Collins the best 2bs. You get my drift

BB reference shows he led the league in ERA with only 134 IP. Weird. He IS kind of the Gates Brown of pitchers

Rather than Jim Hearn, I would root for Ferdie Schupp's 1916 card (also a NYG): 0.90 era, 0.827 WHIP, 272 era+. Yeah, he pitched "only" 140 innings as a starter and a reliever, but he pitched in 30 games in all, so approximately 20% of his team's games -- that strikes me as legitimate territory for a pitcher. Outlier? Maybe, but it is still one of the great seasons of all-time (and the main reason that the Giants won 26 straight games) and a reminder of what could have been a tremendous career for a guy from Louisville if he hadn't gotten injured. The SABR guys talk about Schupp's 1916 season this way:

He started, completed, and won six games, giving up 3 runs (2 earned), 17 hits, and 10 walks while striking out 24 batters in 54 innings pitched. Research by Sean Forman confirmed that this was one of only four such streaks in baseball history (six consecutive games totaling at least 125 opponent at-bats, 1914 to present) to hold opponents below a batting average of .100.17 Tom Ruane looked at the data slightly differently, showing Schupp is one of only 10 pitchers since 1914 to hold opposing hitters below .100 over 150 consecutive opponent at-bats (including relief appearances). For the season as a whole, he gave up 79 hits, a .167 opponent batting average.

So, if you're looking for a Giant hurler, think about Ferdie Schupp.