April 29, 2005

FASTER & LONGER:

Rare treat: Duel of 300-game winners (Paul Sullivan, April 29, 2005, Chicago Tribune)

Of the thousands of pitchers who have appeared in a major-league game, only 22 have achieved the grand milestone of 300 victories.

Two of those immortals will go head to head Friday night in Houston when Greg Maddux is to face Houston's Roger Clemens in the first meeting of 300-game winners in the National League in 113 years.

They seem to be the yin and yang of pitchers, with Clemens (329 victories) relying on his power arm and Maddux (305) on his control and guile. But, as Maddux insists, they are cut from the same cloth.

"I think we do everything exactly the same," Maddux said. "He just does it at faster speeds. You look at me like I'm crazy, but I'm telling you the truth.

"He does it just a little bit better and a little bit longer."

There were four matchups of 300-game winners in the American League from June 28, 1986, to Aug. 4, 1987, all involving California's Don Sutton, who had two starts against Phil Niekro and one apiece against Tom Seaver and Steve Carlton.

The last time two NL pitchers with 300 or more victories faced each other was Philadelphia's Tim O'Keefe against St. Louis' Jim "Pud" Galvin on July 21, 1892.

Posted by Orrin Judd at April 29, 2005 10:29 AM
Comments

Maddux is fascinating to watch. It's hard for a spectator to really see how fast the ball is going when Clemens or Johnson (the one I've seen pitch the most) are blowing past batters. But with Maddux you get to really see how he refuses to let the ball go over the middle of the plate.

Posted by: Brandon at April 29, 2005 11:44 AM

This overshadows another interesting match-up as former A's teammates Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder meet up tonight in Atlanta. Both were outstanding college hitters and it will be a hoot to watch them bat against each other.

Posted by: jeff at April 29, 2005 12:23 PM

Too bad there won't be any more 300 game winners in a long long time. Glavine is next up and it is a couple of bridges too far for him. He can't do it because he is 38 and has 262 wins and most importantly he pitches for the Mets.


I'd like to see the height of the pitcher's mound increased.

Posted by: pchuck at April 29, 2005 12:34 PM

pchuck:

I'd like to see the high strike called like they used to. Gibson and Drysdale were so dominating because of it (well, also b/c they'd throw at your head, but...).

Off topic, but since we're discussing things we'd like to see, how about traveling calls and palming calls in the NBA. I might start watching games again.

Posted by: Bartman at April 29, 2005 1:09 PM

How about the NBA go the way of the NHL?

Posted by: oj at April 29, 2005 1:20 PM

oj: The what?

Posted by: b at April 29, 2005 1:22 PM

oj,

That'd be fine too.

B

Posted by: Bartman at April 29, 2005 2:37 PM

Bartman: Gibson and Drysdale got the hight strike PLUS the higher mound. Gibson's 1968 ERA was 1.12 and Drysdale's, at 2.15, was only 6th best in the NL. The mound was lowered from 15" to 10" the next year and, of course, offensive stats improved in every major catagory. Below is Gibson's page on the best sports website I've ever seen.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/g/gibsobo01.shtml

Posted by: Pat H at April 29, 2005 3:09 PM

Crap...I'm missing this for work???

Posted by: Matt Murphy at April 29, 2005 10:21 PM
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