Let’s start this new idea — “The Matchup!” — with a simple trivia question: What percentage of pitchers in the Hall of Fame were born more than 100 years ago?
A. 2%
B. 9%
C. 18%
D. 59%
The answer (because why else would I bring it up?) is obviously 59%. But let’s think about that for a moment. You’re a baseball fan. You’re particularly a fan of pitching. You make the trek to Cooperstown. You wander through the hallowed plaque room to ooh and ahh and take in the splendor of the greatest pitchers who ever hurled a baseball.
Six out of every ten you see was born more than 100 years ago.
To put that in perspective, Martin Luther King was born less than 100 years ago. Marilyn Monroe was born less than 100 years ago. Shirley Temple, Mister Rogers, Anne Frank, Elvis Presley, Superman, Batman, television, movies with sound, all of them were born in the last 100 years.
Now, to be fair, part of this is that there’s a very, very long gestation period for Baseball Hall of Famers. But I feel sure that we undervalue pitchers of more recent vintage — PARTICULARLY starting pitchers. This has been a big kick for our pal Tom Tango — he has long been worked up about the way voters have ignored pitchers born after, say, 1952. You look at the 25-year intervals — here are the starting pitchers from each era in the Hall of Fame:
1953-1977: 8 Hall of Fame starters
1928-1952: 18 Hall of Fame starter
1904-1928: 15 Hall of Fame starters
1879-1903: 20 Hall of Fame starters
Pre-1879: 14 Hall of Fame starters
I mean, that’s bananas. There are almost twice as many starters born BEFORE 1880 in the Hall of Fame as starters born between 1953 and 1977.
Even considering that Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling would be in the Hall of Fame except … that number is shockingly low. Why? I think Tango has this nailed: It’s because, even though we should know better, Hall of Fame value is still so closely tied to won-loss records.
A glance at the eight starters from our 25-year time period tells the story:
Greg Maddux: 300 wins, 3.16 ERA
Randy Johnson, 300 wins, 3.29 ERA
Tom Glavine: 300 wins, 3.54 ERA
Mike Mussina: 270 wins, 3.68 ERA (still took him a while)
Jack Morris 254 wins, 3.90 ERA, Veterans Committee choice
Pedro Martinez: Only 219 wins, 2.93 ERA but too dominant to ignore
John Smoltz: Only 213 wins, 3.33 ERA but boosted by 154 saves
Roy Halladay: Only 203 wins, 3.38 ERA. Emotional choice.
Who is left out? David Cone is left out (only 194 wins!). Kevin Brown is left out (211 wins but lots of PED allegations, plus nobody really liked him). Bret Saberhagen is left out (167 wins? Are you kidding?). Dave Stieb is left out (Get outta here with your 176 wins). And so on.
So today, spurred on by Tango, we’re going to kick off “The Matchup” by looking at two bulldogs born just three years apart — the mustachioed Jack Morris and the baby-faced Orel Hershiser. Let’s go!
Check out Morris v. Hershiser
Read on to see how the Morris-Hershiser match-up goes and get all the JoeBlogs' baseball joy delivered right to your inbox daily.
Join JoeBlogs