BaseballReference.com oddities

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rbtexan
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12:55p, 8/6/25
S
"Fun Fact: Bob Gibson came within 4 outs of an unprecedented "complete season" in 1968.

He started 34 games that year and pitched a combined 304.2 innings.

There are 306 total innings in 34 games.

Because be pitched 9+ innings in several outings, it made up for the innings that he didn't pitch a full 9 innings. Keep in mind there were several games that he "only" pitched 8 innings because the Cardinals lost and he didn't take the field in the 9th.

If he recorded 4 more outs that season, he would've pitched a "complete season" worth of 9-inning games, a truly mind numbing accomplishment.

We'll never see any pitcher come remotely close to this. "


Saw this online today

Jimbo Franchione
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W
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1:22p, 8/6/25
AG
crossing over with another thread...

Bob Gibson got into the Hall on his first ballot

but only with 84% of the 401 ballots casts

64 voters passed on him. Go figure
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AgRyan04
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In reply to W • 6:16p, 8/6/25
And the sports media wonders why people think they're dolts.
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AgRyan04
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11:44a, 8/7/25
Goose Gossage's 308th save was in support of Nolan Ryan's 308th win.

I remember having the baseball card but the stat never stuck and I just "rediscovered" this today
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W
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4:18p, 8/7/25
AG
Goose played for 9 different teams (and the Yankees twice)

might be a record for a Hall of Famer

White Sox
Pirates
Yankees
Padres
Giants
Cubs
Rangers
A's
Mariners
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jkag89
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In reply to W • 4:58p, 8/7/25
Hall of Famers Who Played with Seven or More Teams

Record is 11 by Dan Brothers. Almost all of his career was in the 19th century when there was an almost constant flux of teams and leagues.

Henderson also played for nine teams with four stints with the A's and two with the Friars.
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jja79
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In reply to rbtexan • 10:53p, 8/7/25
AG
Gibson played basketball at Creighton and for the Harlem Globetrotters. He didn't sign with the Cardinals until he was 22 which was rare back then.
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hawk1689
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In reply to rbtexan • 4:33a, 8/8/25
AG
He did even better in 1969.
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AgRyan04
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In reply to W • 11:20a, 8/8/25
W said:
Goose played for 9 different teams (and the Yankees twice)

might be a record for a Hall of Famer

White Sox
Pirates
Yankees
Padres
Giants
Cubs
Rangers
A's
Mariners


He was doing a signing at a card show I went to earlier this year and I thought it was cool seeing people walking around the show in their Goose jerseys representing nearly every team he was with
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AggieEP
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9:24a, 8/9/25
In Aaron Judge's 2017 rookie of the year season he struck out 208 times.

In Luis Arraez's 7 years in the big leagues he's struck out 207 times.

This year he's on track to strike out 18 times.
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Drunken Overseas Bettor
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9:52a, 8/9/25
In 1924 when Rogers Hornsby hit .424 (2nd best all time), he was actually hitting .434 at the end of August, then went into a terrible slump, only hitting .352 in September

He never had more than 2 games in a row all year without a hit.

He hit .509 in August (54 for 106) with a 1.466 OPS.

His "worst" average against another team that year was .387 vs. the Cubs.

You can see his gravestone on the east side of Austin in Hornsby Bend, a parcel of land given to his great-grandfather by Stephen F. Austin himself for his work as a surveyor.







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McInnis
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In reply to hawk1689 • 5:43p, 8/10/25
AG
hawk1689 said:
He did even better in 1969.


With all due respect, he did have a great season in '69 but that 1968 season is without a doubt the greatest of any pitcher in modern history.


(edited to include screen shot of Gibson's career stats)

I believe I've read that he was never pulled from the mound that year, he only left games for pinch hitters. To have lost nine games he must have had horrible run support. But most pitchers did that year. The following year mlb lowered the mound height from 15 to 10 inches to restore some balance between hitting and pitching, and it worked.
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jja79
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In reply to McInnis • 5:56p, 8/10/25
AG
He had 13 shut outs in 1968. THIRTEEN!! Couldn't get better than that. Getting old sucks in a lot of ways but having been able to see prime Gibson, Mays, Aaron and the like was a treat.
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McInnis
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In reply to jja79 • 6:47p, 8/10/25
AG
jja79 said:
He had 13 shut outs in 1968. THIRTEEN!! Couldn't get better than that. Getting old sucks in a lot of ways but having been able to see prime Gibson, Mays, Aaron and the like was a treat.


Oh was it ever. I guess we're the same age, I'm class of '79. It just seemed like baseball stars were bigger then, not physically, but just more star power. Probably part of that was baseball was still the most popular sport, although by the 60's football was starting to surpass it.
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Drunken Overseas Bettor
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7:26p, 8/10/25
It is worth the wasted 30 minutes to look at Gibson's game by game log on BR for 68. Epic
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Smeghead4761
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In reply to McInnis • 7:50p, 8/10/25
One of the interesting things about his stat line for 1968 is that he had 28 CGs but didn't lead the league. (He did in 1969 with the same number.)

League leader was Juan Marichal with 30.

ETA: Gibson and Marichal actually pitched against each other in the 1968 season, on September 17th at the 'Stick. Marichal threw a no hitter, and the Giants won 1-0.

Damn that would have been a heck of a game to see.

Stupid AI. Gibson did lose 1-0 to the Giants on Sept. 17th, but it was Gaylord Perry who threw the no hitter, not Marichal.
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McInnis
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10:30p, 8/10/25
AG
Oh boy, Gaylord Perry. Finished with 314 career wins and 3534 Ks. If he had pitched in another era he would be on everyone's list of greatest pitchers ever. But the starting pitchers of the 60s and 70s. Koufax, Drysdale, Gibson, Jenkins, Marichal, Seaver. And that was just the NL!

I looked up his career numbers and was surprised to learn that he surpassed Walter Johnson's strikeout record in 1983, but after Ryan did. I don't remember any suspense at all about who would break the record first at the time.
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jja79
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In reply to McInnis • 10:49p, 8/10/25
AG
I'll add Steve Carlton in the NL. Jim Palmer, Jim Hunter, Bert Blyleven and Luis Tiant in the AL.

Gaylord Perry's brother Jim won 215 games in the AL. Pretty strong brother combo.

It was awesome watching baseball with starters going 8 or 9 and pitching every 4th day. 10 man staffs instead of what we have now with starters that get an ovation for going 5 innings.
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McInnis
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6:52a, 8/11/25
AG
Oh man, how could I have left out Lefty? But kind of proves the point. The guy won 27 games for the Phillies one year when they only won 59 total.
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Smeghead4761
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In reply to McInnis • 11:02p, 8/11/25
I remember and Old Timers' game at the 'Stick in 1987, for the 25th anniversary of the 1962 Giants (at the time, that was the most recent Giants' visit to the WS). When Perry took the mound (IIRC, Marichal pitched first for SF), they brought out a bucket of water for him.

My dad ad I were sitting in the first row of the upper deck, about 15 feet fair inside the right field foul pole. When they re-enacted the final at bat of game 7, Willie McCovey landed one in the upper deck, but about five feet foul.

The Giants beat the Dodgers 1-0 in 10 innings in the regular game, with Giants starter (journeyman long reliever and spot starter) Mike LaCoss going all 10 for SF.
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jja79
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In reply to Smeghead4761 • 11:51p, 8/11/25
AG
He had more than 200 MLB decisions so he was more than a spot starter.
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W
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3:49p, 8/12/25
AG
here's another oddity...

the 1991 California Angels had an outstanding top of the rotation:

Mark Langston went 19-8 with 3.00 ERA in 34 starts

Jim Abbott went 18-11 with 2.89 ERA in 34 starts

Chuck Finley went 18-9 with 3.80 ERA in 34 starts

the Angels also had a great closer: Brian Harvey...who posted 46 saves
-----

with that kind of pitching...would figure the Angels won at least 90 games...maybe 95 games in 1991

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3:52p, 8/12/25
AG
nope

the halos went 81-81 and finished last in the AL West

the division was loaded that season
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W
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3:57p, 8/12/25
AG
by the way...

Chuck Finley career WAR of 57.9

Mark Langston career WAR of 50.1
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DannyDuberstein
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4:06p, 8/12/25
AG
The Langston leg kick was the key to success

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Smeghead4761
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In reply to jja79 • 1:20a, 8/13/25
jja79 said:
He had more than 200 MLB decisions so he was more than a spot starter.

Looking at his career stats, it looks like, comparing total games to games started, he was a back end of the rotation guy/long reliever most of the time.

I only remember him during his time with the Giants, which was the end of his career.
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jja79
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In reply to Smeghead4761 • 2:10a, 8/13/25
AG
He won 14 games for the 79 Reds that won the division, second only to Seaver.
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Drunken Overseas Bettor
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In reply to W • 8:24a, 8/13/25
W said:
by the way...

Chuck Finley career WAR of 57.9

Mark Langston career WAR of 50.1

I feel like at some point Chuck Finley got Tawny Kitaen arrested for beating him up when they were married.


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