Record Books — Baseball Bench Coach

Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander has had quite the 2019 season. A week ago in Toronto he became just the fifth pitcher since 1900 to throw at least three no-hitters, placing him in the record books among the all-time greats. The feat came with the help of a rookie teammate hailing from Canada, Abraham Toro, who slugged a 2-run home run in the top of the ninth inning to break a scoreless tie. Verlander’s performance also came during a controversial season in which he has been in the news for his off the field comments and conduct.

Whenever your name is placed alongside HOF pitchers Nolan Ryan, Sandy Koufax, Bob Feller, and Cy Young, you have found a comfortable spot in the record books. Verlander’s no-hitter was his first since the 2011 season when he was the AL MVP and Cy Young Award winner as a Tiger. His first no-hitter was in 2007 early in his career. At age 36, Verlander still commands the mound with overpowering stuff. With his major league leading 18 wins (18-5 record), AL leading ERA of 2.52 and MLB second best 264 strikeouts (just behind teammate Gerrit Cole), Verlander remains at the top of his game.

Having overpowering stuff late in his career was certainly the trademark of Nolan Ryan, the all-time leader in no-hitters with seven. Ryan pitched over four decades for the Mets, Angels, Astros, and Rangers. In addition to the no-hitter mark, Ryan’s career highlights include being the MLB recordholder of 5,714 strikeouts and one of only five pitchers who had more Ks than innings pitched during his career. Yet, his lifetime win-loss record was only 324-292. Jacob deGrom’s 10-9 record last season (but yet a 1.70 ERA winning him the Cy Young) and Don Drysdale’s 14-12 record during the 1968 season, in which he dealt 58 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings, are other examples of pitching dominance not always translating easily into wins.

Drysdale’s Dodger teammate, Sandy Koufax, is second on the no-hit list with four. Koufax won the Cy Young three times, all by unanimous vote (’63, ’65, and ’66), in a much too short career. Koufax was known for his knee-bending curveball and, like Verlander, also captured a league MVP award (1963 NL MVP). Standing alongside with Verlander at three no-no’s are Bob Feller and Cy Young. Amazingly, Feller also pitched 12 one-hitters with his lightening fastball, giving him the nickname “Bullet Bob”. Cy Young holds most of the MLB pitching records, including most career innings pitched, games started, and complete games. His 511 career wins will never be reached by another pitcher.

To date there have been 303 recorded no-hitters in MLB history. That seems like a great number, but keep in mind the game has been played for 150 years. In 2019 we have seen four of them, yet two of those were combined no-hitters (more than one pitcher), a sign of today’s game with deep bullpens and short pitch counts. The Dodgers lead all MLB teams with 26 no-hitters. Johnny Vander Meer of the Reds is the only one to pitch no-hitters in consecutive starts (1938 season).

Max Scherzer in 2015 joined an exclusive group of four who have thrown no-hitters during the same season. Nolan Ryan of course did that himself in 1973. Jim Maloney of the Reds almost accomplished the feat in 1965 but lost a no-hit bid by giving up a home run in the 11th inning. Later that season he threw a 10-inning no-hitter, this time on the winning side. In both games Maloney would have loved to have been supported by 9th inning home run heroics from a teammate, much like Verlander received last week. When I met Maloney at a Reds camp in 1999, I asked him about his 1965 “no-hit” 9-inning games and joked that it was too bad he pitched before the Big Red Machine years.

One pitching record that won’t be achieved again is held by the 1971 Baltimore Orioles, the first team since the White Sox in 1920 to have four pitchers with 20-win seasons (Jim Palmer, Dave McNally, Mike Cuellar, and Pat Dobson). The role of a starting pitcher has indeed changed over the past 50 years from a managerial (or Bench Coach) standpoint. What is alarming though is MLB’s own role in wanting more offense. Justin Verlander was correct at the All-Star Break in pointing out the home run surge in 2019 and blaming MLB for juicing the baseballs. It is time for Commissioner Manfred to address the topic head on.

Even with the juiced ball in play, there are some baseball records from the offensive side that will most certainly survive the test of time. How about Hack Wilson of the Cubs and his 191 runs batted in during the 1930 season? Wilson’s place in the record books was established in just a 154-game season, while last year, another Cub, Javier Baez, led the NL with 111 RBIs in a 162-game season. One fascinating note though from Wilson’s 1930 season is that there was a controversy even then about the baseball. MLB was apparently using a baseball that was wound tightly with Australian wool to increase power productivity!

When it comes to hitting, many baseball experts point to Ted Williams of the Red Sox as being the best pure hitter ever. There are certainly statistics to support the claim. Williams’ lifetime batting average was .344, and he had an incredible .482 on-base percentage, the highest OBP ever. In 1941 Williams posted a .406 batting average, the last time any MLB player has batted over .400 for the season. Interestingly, Williams came in second for the 1941 AL MVP award behind his Yankee nemesis, Joe DiMaggio. Williams’ post-season award failure might have been due to his long-time feud with the media.

The media-unfriendly side of Verlander also came out recently. After a 2-1 Astros loss to the Tigers in August, Detroit Free Press reporter Anthony Fenech was blocked from attending the Houston post-game press conference. Apparently Verlander was upset with the reporter concerning a couple incidents from their past relationship. The Detroit Free Press charged that this was a violation of the baseball collective bargaining agreement.

I had my brush with baseball history on July 27, 1978, while umpiring a baseball game in Cincinnati in which Pete Rose, Jr. played. His Dad showed up that night for the game on an off day for the Reds and a 39-game hitting streak in hand. Hundreds of fans heard the news that Pete Rose was in the ballpark and arrived shortly thereafter. It reminded me of the scene from “Rocky” when he ran through the streets of Philadelphia. That next week Rose’s streak would end at 44 games, falling short of DiMaggio’s MLB mark of 56, but setting a new NL standard to this day. You can find that in the record books.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach