Pitching Trivia Quiz

Q: Who was the last member of each franchise to lead the league in wins?

Atlanta Braves
a. Greg Maddux
b. John Smoltz
c. Russ Ortiz
d. Tim Hudson

Chicago Cubs
a. Greg Maddux
b. Kerry Wood
c. Ferguson Jenkins
d. Carlos Zambrano

Cincinnati Reds
a. Aaron Harang
b. Bronson Arroyo
c. Danny Jackson
d. Tom Seaver

Los Angeles Dodgers
a. Derek Lowe
b. Hideo Nomo
c. Brad Penny
d. both a & b
e. both a & c

Philadelphia Phillies
a. Robin Roberts
b. John Denny
c. Steve Carlton
d. Curt Schilling

Pittsburgh Pirates
a. Bob Friend
b. Doug Drabek
c. Doc Medich
d. John Smiley

San Francisco Giants
a. Jason Schmidt
b. John Burkett
c. Juan Marichal
d. Vida Blue

St. Louis Cardinals
a. Matt Morris
b. John Tudor
c. Chris Carpenter
d. Joaquin Andujar

Baltimore Orioles
a. Mike Cuellar
b. Mike Flanagan
c. Mike Mussina
d. Mike Boddicker

Boston Red Sox
a. Curt Schilling
b. Roger Clemens
c. Josh Beckett
d. Pedro Martinez

Chicago White Sox
a. LaMarr Hoyt
b. Jack McDowell
c. Mark Buehrle
d. Ted Lyons

Cleveland Indians
a. Gaylord Perry
b. C.C. Sabathia
c. Bert Blyleven
d. Bartolo Colon

Detroit Tigers
a. Jack Morris
b. Justin Verlander
c. Bill Gullickson
d. Denny McLain

Minnesota Twins
a. Jim Kaat
b. Jack Morris
c. Bert Blyleven
d. Johan Santana

Oakland Athletics
a. Barry Zito
b. Tim Hudson
c. Vida Blue
d. Dave Stewart

New York Yankees
a. David Cone
b. Chien-Ming Wang
c. Roger Clemens
d. Jimmy Key

Texas Rangers
a. Kevin Brown
b. Ferguson Jenkins
c. Nolan Ryan
d. Rick Helling

Los Angeles Angels
a. Bartolo Colon
b. Mike Witt
c. John Lackey
d. Nolan Ryan

New York Mets
a. Al Leiter
b. Dwight Gooden
c. Tom Seaver
d. Ron Darling

Houston Astros
a. J.R. Richard
b. Mike Hampton
c. Roy Oswalt
d. Nolan Ryan

Milwaukee Brewers
a. Ben Sheets
b. Pete Vuckovich
c. Jim Slaton
d. Teddy Higuera

Kansas City Royals
a. David Cone
b. Dennis Leonard
c. Bret Saberhagen
d. Kevin Appier

Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals
a. Ken Hill
b. Bartolo Colon
c. Steve Rogers
d. No Expo/National has led the league

San Diego Padres
a. Kevin Brown
b. Randy Jones
c. Gaylord Perry
d. Jake Peavy

Seattle Mariners
a. Randy Johnson
b. Mark Langston
c. Floyd Bannister
d. No Mariner has led the league

Toronto Blue Jays
a. Pat Hentgen
b. Roy Halladay
c. Dave Stieb
d. Roger Clemens

Colorado Rockies
a. Jason Jennings
b. Pedro Astacio
c. Jeff Francis
d. No Rockie has led the league

Florida Marlins
a. Dontrelle Willis
b. Josh Beckett
c. Kevin Brown
d. No Marlin has led the league

Tampa Bay Rays
a. Rolando Arrojo
b. Scott Kazmir
c. Tanyon Sturtze
d. No Ray has led the league

Arizona Diamondbacks
a. Curt Schilling
b. Randy Johnson
c. Brandon Webb
d. Todd Stottlemyre

A: Who was the last member of each franchise to lead the league in wins?
Correct answer is italicized

Atlanta Braves
a. Greg Maddux
b. John Smoltz
c. Russ Ortiz
d. Tim Hudson
I’ll go ahead and introduce you to the mess that is the NL in 2006. Six pitchers tied for the league lead in wins, with a paltry 16. That means that a bunch of the names you see are are from that one year. I’ll warn you when those pop up.
Smoltz was one of the six with 16 wins in 2006. Before him, the last Brave to lead the league in wins was Ortiz, with 21 in 2003.

Chicago Cubs
a. Greg Maddux
b. Kerry Wood
c. Ferguson Jenkins
d. Carlos Zambrano
Zambrano was another of the six-win squadron in ’06. Before him, the last Cub to lead the league in wins was Maddux, whose 20 wins in 1992 tied Tom Glavine for the lead.

Cincinnati Reds
a. Aaron Harang
b. Bronson Arroyo
c. Danny Jackson
d. Tom Seaver
And here’s the third member of the 16-win sextet. Before Harang, the last Red to lead the league in wins was Jackson, whose 23 wins in 1988 tied Orel Hershiser for the NL lead.

Los Angeles Dodgers
a. Derek Lowe
b. Hideo Nomo
c. Brad Penny
d. both a & b
e. both a & c
This was a tough question to structure. Penny and Lowe were two of the six leaders in 2006. So we’ve seen five of the six from 2006. The last Dodger to lead the league in wins before these two was Orel Hershiser in ’88.

Philadelphia Phillies
a. Robin Roberts
b. John Denny
c. Steve Carlton
d. Curt Schilling
I associate Carlton with Phillies pitching records, at least those in the past 50 years. But while Carlton did lead the NL in wins four times, he wasn’t the last Phillie to do it. John Denny led the NL with 19 wins in 1983, when the Phillies won the NL pennant. Past Carlton and Denny, you have to go back to Robin Roberts in 1955 to find a Phillie leading the league.

Pittsburgh Pirates
a. Bob Friend
b. Doug Drabek
c. Dock Ellis
d. John Smiley
Yep, that’s the last time the Pirates were any good. Smiley tied for the league lead in 1991 (20 wins), and Drabek led the league the year before (22). And the only other Pirate to lead the league in wins since WW2 was Bob Friend in 1958.

San Francisco Giants
a. Jason Schmidt
b. John Burkett
c. Juan Marichal
d. Vida Blue
Burkett had a career year in 1993, winning 22 games. He was never actually that good, but then wins are particularly susceptible to luck and run support. The last Giant to lead the league in wins before Beckett was Ron Bryant (?) in 1973.

St. Louis Cardinals
a. Matt Morris
b. John Tudor
c. Chris Carpenter
d. Joaquin Andujar
Morris tied Curt Schilling for the league lead in 2001. Carpenter has yet to lead the league in wins, and unless he gets healthy and stays healthy, he may never do it.

Baltimore Orioles
a. Mike Cuellar
b. Mike Flanagan
c. Mike Mussina
d. Mike Boddicker
These guys could go on tour as the Four Mikes. But seriously . . . No, Mussina has never won 20, but his 19 was good enough for the league lead in 1995.

Boston Red Sox
a. Curt Schilling
b. Roger Clemens
c. Josh Beckett
d. Pedro Martinez
I thought it was Schilling. Once again, my knowledge of the past 3-4 years of baseball is a lot fuzzier than I realized. Since I’ve been following the game on a day-to-day basis, I’ve been losing a lot of the big-picture stuff. I knew Beckett led the AL in something important last year, but I didn’t think it was wins. Schilling did league the league in wins in 2004, when the Sox Reversed the Curse, but I’d forgotten about Beckett in ’07.Before Beckett and Schilling, Pedro (’99) and Clemens (’86, ’87) were the last Red Sox to lead the league in wins. Before that, you have to venture back to Jim Lonborg, who tied for the league lead back in 1967 with 22 wins.

Chicago White Sox
a. LaMarr Hoyt
b. Jack McDowell
c. Mark Buehrle
d. Ted Lyons
Again, the lack of multiple choice did me in, as I picked LaMarr Hoyt. I remember “Black Jack” McDowell well; I took a two- or three-year detour as a White Sox fan, which coincided with McDowell’s Cy Young Award and the team’s division title in 1993. Needless to say, I should have remembered him.
I did remember Hoyt (’82, ’83) whose league lead in wins got him a Cy Young Award that he didn’t deserve (’83, when the Sox won the division). Prior to Hoyt, the Sox’ last league leader was forgotten knuckleballer Wilbur Wood, who led the league in back-to-back years (’72, ’73).

Cleveland Indians
a. Gaylord Perry
b. C.C. Sabathia
c. Bert Blyleven
d. Bartolo Colon
Again, recent history confused me. I thought Sabathia led the AL in wins last year. But it was Beckett; so I get two questions wrong. Even then, it’s hard for me to believe that the Indians haven’t had a league leader in wins since Perry’s historic 1972 season. But if you think about it, the Cleveland mini-dynasty of the 90’s didn’t have any iconic great pitchers. They got a lot of good pitching, yes, but it was mainly from semi-stars like Charles Nagy or former stars like Orel Hershiser and Dennis Martinez. Sabathia is the first stud pitcher they’ve had in a long time. In the 80’s, they just sucked. And in the 70’s, they had some great pitchers (like Perry and Blyleven) but never for a very long time. And since the team usually sucked, they didn’t get a whole lot of wins.

Detroit Tigers
a. Jack Morris
b. Justin Verlander
c. Bill Gullickson
d. Denny McLain
Gullickson is one of the most random names you’ll find on this list, but he was actually a pretty good pitcher for someone who’s been mostly forgotten. He tied Scott Erickson for the league lead with 20 wins in 1991 and won at least 14 games six times in his career. But he was a lot better earlier in his career with the Expos, and 1991 wasn’t just his last good year, it was his last decent year. Three years later, he was scraping bottom with the Tigers and was out of baseball at age 35.

Minnesota Twins
a. Jim Kaat
b. Jack Morris
c. Bert Blyleven
d. Johan Santana
The Twins have had several good pitchers, but Santana holds most of their single-season records.

Oakland Athletics
a. Barry Zito
b. Tim Hudson
c. Vida Blue
d. Dave Stewart
It seems like a long time ago, but Zito won 24 games and the Cy Young Award in 2002. It was the end of a great three-year stretch for Oakland; Mulder lead the AL in wins in 2001, and Hudson led the league in 2000. All three of them are gone now, and the A’s are several rebuilding steps away from getting back on the pitching wins\ leader board.

New York Yankees
a. David Cone
b. Chien-Ming Wang
c. Roger Clemens
d. Jimmy Key
Not many people remember, but Wang tied Johan Santana for the league lead in wins in 2006, with 19. The last Yankee before Wang to hold a share of the AL lead was Cone, who was one of three pitchers to lead the league with 20 wins back in 1998. Clemens never led the league while in pinstripes, but Jimmy Key did, with 17 wins before the strike ended the 1994 season. Key was a great pitcher and nearly a Hall-of-Famer, and if he’d led the Yankees into the 1994 postseason (which is where they were headed), he’d be remembered a lot better today.

Texas Rangers
a. Kevin Brown
b. Ferguson Jenkins
c. Nolan Ryan
d. Rick Helling
I mentioned before that David Cone tied the league lead with 20 wins in 1998; the other two pitchers to win 20 that year were Roger Clemens (with Toronto) and Rick Helling. Which one of these is not like the other?
Helling had some good years in Texas, but since their franchise began in 1960, the Rangers have been terrible at developing their own pitchers. Ryan and Jenkins were veterans acquired when they were past their prime. Brown is probably the best pitcher developed by the Rangers, but he had his best years after he left Texas (although he did tie for the league lead in wins while still a Ranger, in 1992).

Los Angeles Angels
a. Bartolo Colon
b. Mike Witt
c. John Lackey
d. Nolan Ryan
Colon led the AL with 21 wins in 2005 and won a Cy Young Award that he totally didn’t deserve. He wasn’t nearly as good as Johan Santana, but he led the league in wins and his team made the playoffs, so there you go.
Who was the last Angel to lead the league in wins before Colon? How about nobody? As amazing as it sounds, the team that once possessed Dean Chance, Nolan Ryan, Frank Tanana, Don Sutton, Mike Witt, Mark Langston and Chuck Finley never had a league leader in wins until 2005. How very bizarre.

New York Mets
a. Al Leiter
b. Dwight Gooden
c. Tom Seaver
d. Ron Darling
This one wasn’t too hard; Gooden won 24 games in 1985, while he was still an absolute phenom. The surprising thing may be that no Met has led the league since. But the Mets have generally been poor since Gooden stopped winning games. There are two exceptions: one is the period of 1999 and 2000, when they made it to back-to-back NLCS. But their best pitcher was Al Leiter, a good pitcher who still never led the league in anything worthwhile. The other exception is their current team, but with Pedro Martinez usually injured and everyone else either quite young or quite old, there’s been no one to take up “Doctor K”’s mantle, although Johan Santana might have something to say about that.

Houston Astros
a. J.R. Richard
b. Mike Hampton
c. Roy Oswalt
d. Nolan Ryan
Oswalt was the league’s only 20-game winner when he reached the mark in 2004. The Astros took the Cardinals to Game 7 of the NLCS, but fell just short. The next year though, it was Oswalt who knocked the Cards out in Game 6 of the NLCS and won the pennant for Houston on the way to a World Series sweep at the hands of the White Sox.
Oswalt has been a fine pitcher ever since he came up, but he’s rarely mentioned as one of the league’s best, because he’s not really a “phenom” like Dontrelle Willis was and is, at age 30, a bit old. But I wonder if he’s going to be like Mike Mussina when he retires; where we look back and finally say, “Wow, this guy was pretty darn good after all.”

Milwaukee Brewers
a. Ben Sheets
b. Pete Vuckovich
c. Jim Slaton
d. Teddy Higuera
Vuckovich wins here on something of a technicality. In the strike-shortened 1981 season, no AL pitcher had time to pull away from the pack. So four pitchers tied for the league lead in wins with 14. Vuckovich was one of them.
The Brewers are notorious for their failure to come up with good pitching. Most of their best pitchers were semi-stars like Slaton. Teddy Higuera and Ben Sheets are the only true phenoms they’ve ever come up with, and Higuera flamed out in his early 30’s.

Kansas City Royals
a. David Cone
b. Dennis Leonard
c. Bret Saberhagen
d. Kevin Appier
Cone had some great seasons with the Royals, and Appier had some darn good ones, but none of them were as good as Saberhagen, who led the league in wins in 1989 with 23.

Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals
a. Ken Hill
b. Bartolo Colon
c. Steve Rogers
d. No Expo/National has led the league
Surprised? Hill was the “ace” (if you can call it that) of the 1994 Expos team, the Team that Might Have Been.

San Diego Padres
a. Kevin Brown
b. Randy Jones
c. Gaylord Perry
d. Jake Peavy
Peavy led the league last year, with 19 wins. The only other Padres to lead the league are Gaylord Perry (1978) and Randy Jones (1976).

Seattle Mariners
a. Randy Johnson
b. Mark Langston
c. Floyd Bannister
d. No Mariner has led the league
This surprised me, as I thought I remembered Randy Johnson leading the league while with Seattle. But Johnson never led the AL in wins, although he came close; while with Seattle he finished 2nd three times.

Toronto Blue Jays
a. Pat Hentgen
b. Roy Halladay
c. Dave Stieb
d. Roger Clemens
“Doc” Halladay led the AL with 22 wins in 2003. In fact, a Toronto player has either led the league in wins or tied for the league lead 5 times in the franchise’s past 16 seasons. Compare that to zero players leading the league in the franchise’s first 15 seasons.

Colorado Rockies
a. Jason Jennings
b. Pedro Astacio
c. Jeff Francis
d. No Rockie has led the league
This may be the easiest question on the whole test.

Florida Marlins
a. Dontrelle Willis
b. Josh Beckett
c. Kevin Brown
d. No Marlin has led the league
Willis led the league with 22 wins in 2005. Since then, his arm has turned into jello.

Tampa Bay Rays
a. Rolando Arrojo
b. Scott Kazmir
c. Tanyon Sturtze
d. No Ray has led the league
Okay, this is the easiest question on the test.

Arizona Diamondbacks
a. Curt Schilling
b. Randy Johnson
c. Brandon Webb
d. Todd Stottlemyre
Webb was one of the six who tied for the NL lead in 2006, although he’s leading the league so far in 2008 and should end up winning 20+. Both Johnson (2002) and Schilling (2001) led the league in wins while playing for Arizona.

Q: Who was the last member of each franchise to lead the league in strikeouts?

Atlanta Braves
a. Tom Glavine
b. John Smoltz
c. Greg Maddux
d. Denny Neagle

Chicago Cubs
a. Carlos Zambrano
b. Rick Sutcliffe
c. Kerry Wood
d. Ferguson Jenkins

Cincinnati Reds
a. Mario Soto
b. Tom Browning
c. Jose Rijo
d. Aaron Harang

Los Angeles Dodgers
a. Orel Hershiser
b. Brad Penny
c. Hideo Nomo
d. Don Drysdale

Philadelphia Phillies
a. Curt Schilling
b. Robin Roberts
c. Jim Bunning
d. Steve Carlton

Pittsburgh Pirates
a. Doug Drabek
b. Bob Veale
c. Bert Blyleven
d. Bob Friend

New York/San Francisco Giants
It’s Bill Voiselle, as we now know.

St. Louis Cardinals
a. Bob Gibson
b. Matt Morris
c. Chris Carpenter
d. Jose DeLeon

Baltimore Orioles
a. Jim Palmer
b. Mike Mussina
c. Bob Turley
d. Mike Flanagan

Boston Red Sox
a. Pedro Martinez
b. Josh Beckett
c. Roger Clemens
d. Curt Schilling

Chicago White Sox
a. Jack McDowell
b. Wilbur Wood
c. Jose Contreras
d. Esteban Loaiza

Cleveland Indians
a. C.C. Sabathia
b. Sam McDowell
c. Len Barker
d. Bob Feller

Detroit Tigers
a. Mickey Lolich
b. Jack Morris
c. Virgil Trucks
d. Justin Verlander

Minnesota Twins
a. Frank Viola
b. Johan Santana
c. Jim Kaat
d. Jim Perry

Oakland Athletics
a. Tim Hudson
b. Vida Blue
c. Lefty Grove
d. Catfish Hunter

New York Yankees
a. Whitey Ford
b. Roger Clemens
c. David Wells
d. Al Downing

Texas Rangers
a. Ferguson Jenkins
b. Nolan Ryan
c. Kevin Brown
d. No Ranger has ever led the league

Los Angeles Angels
a. Nolan Ryan
b. John Lackey
c. Frank Tanana
d. Chuck Finley

New York Mets
a. Dwight Gooden
b. Sid Fernandez
c. David Cone
d. Tom Seaver

Houston Astros
a. Larry Dierker
b. Mike Hampton
c. Nolan Ryan
d. Roy Oswalt

Milwaukee Brewers
a. Ben Sheets
b. Don Sutton
c. Teddy Higuera
d. No Brewer has ever led the league

Kansas City Royals
a. Bret Saberhagen
b. David Cone
c. Dennis Leonard
d. No Royal has ever led the league

Montreal Expos/Washington Nats
a. Steve Rogers
b. Javier Vazquez
c. Pedro Martinez
d. No Expo has ever led the league

San Diego Padres
a. Gaylord Perry
b. Jake Peavy
c. Andy Benes
d. No Padre has ever led the league

Seattle Mariners
a. Freddy Garcia
b. Mark Langston
c. Randy Johnson
d. No Mariner has ever led the league

Toronto Blue Jays
a. Roger Clemens
b. Roy Halladay
c. Jimmy Key
d. Dave Stieb

Colorado Rockies
a. Jeff Francis
b. Joe Kennedy
c. Aaron Cook
d. No Rockie has ever led the league

Florida Marlins
a. Dontrelle Willis
b. Kevin Brown
c. A.J. Burnett
d. No Marlins has ever led the league

Tampa Bay Rays
a. Rolando Arrojo
b. Scott Kazmir
c. Victor Zambrano
d. No Ray has ever led the league

Arizona Diamondbacks
a. Curt Schilling
b. Randy Johnson
c. Brandon Webb
d. No Diamondback has ever led the league

A: Who was the last member of each franchise to lead the league in strikeouts?
Correct answer is in italics

Atlanta Braves
a. Tom Glavine
b. John Smoltz
c. Greg Maddux
d. Denny Neagle
Glavine was never big on strikeouts, and Neagle was only with the team for a short time. Maddux was a strikeout pitcher, but never enough to lead the league. Smoltz is the only Brave pitcher in recent years to lead the league, in 1992 and 1996. Only two Braves pitchers (Smoltz and Phil Niekro, 1977) have led the league in strikeouts since they left Boston. Wow.

Chicago Cubs
a. Carlos Zambrano
b. Rick Sutcliffe
c. Kerry Wood
d. Ferguson Jenkins
Big Z has yet to lead the league in K’s, but I suspect he will, eventually. Wood led the league with 266 in 2003, a glimpse of what might have been as he was on his way to a shredded pitching arm. The last Cub to lead the league before Wood was Jenkins, in 1969.

Cincinnati Reds
a. Mario Soto
b. Tom Browning
c. Jose Rijo
d. Aaron Harang
Harang led the league in ’06, the same year he tied for the league lead in wins. The last Red to lead the league before Harang was Jose Rijo in 1993, with 227 K’s.

Los Angeles Dodgers
a. Orel Hershiser
b. Brad Penny
c. Hideo Nomo
d. Don Drysdale
Nomo led the league in 1995 with 236 K’s. The last Dodger to lead the NL before him was Fernando Valenzuela in 1981.

Philadelphia Phillies
a. Curt Schilling
b. Robin Roberts
c. Jim Bunning
d. Steve Carlton
A lot of people forget that Schilling was a strikeout master while still with Philadelphia. He didn’t put it all together until he went to Arizona, but he struck out over 300 batters in back-to-back years with Philadelphia (1997 and 1998).

Pittsburgh Pirates
a. Doug Drabek
b. Bob Veale
c. Bert Blyleven
d. Bob Friend
Yeah, that’s a long time ago. Veale led the NL in strikeouts in 1964. The Pirates have had a lot of teams – winning teams – since then. But never any real fireballers, at least not for very long. In fact Veale is the only Pirate since WW2 to lead the league in K’s (Preacher Roe did it for the Bucs in ’45).

New York/San Francisco Giants
It’s Bill Voiselle, as we now know (see previous entry).

St. Louis Cardinals
a. Bob Gibson
b. Matt Morris
c. Chris Carpenter
d. Jose DeLeon
Weren’t expecting that one, were you? Yes, the immortal Jose DeLeon led the NL in strikeouts in 1989 with 201. And he’s the only Cardinal since Bob Gibson to do so. That’s just eerie . . .

Baltimore Orioles
a. Jim Palmer
b. Mike Mussina
c. Bob Turley
d. Mike Flanagan
Here’s another amazing one. Turley led the AL in K’s in 1954, the Orioles’ first year in Baltimore. And with all the great pitching and pennants since then, nobody on the staff has led the league in K’s.

Boston Red Sox
a. Pedro Martinez
b. Josh Beckett
c. Roger Clemens
d. Curt Schilling

Chicago White Sox
a. Jack McDowell
b. Wilbur Wood
c. Jose Contreras
d. Esteban Loaiza
Loaiza had a career year for the ages in 2003, striking out 207 while maintaining a 2.90 ERA (159 ERA+). Apart from that year, his career-best strikeout total came with 173 while with Washington in 2005. And that’s the only time other than ’03 that he’s struck out more than 140. Loaiza’s season got him a nice contract, but he fell apart the very next year and got traded to the Yankees.
The last White Sox player before Loaiza to lead the league in K’s was Early Wynn in 1958. The Sox have had some very good pitchers since then, but none of them ever led the league in K’s. In fact, since 1911, the only Sox to lead the AL in strikeouts have been Loaiza (’03), Wynn (’58), and Billy Pierce (’53). The things you learn digging through stats . . .

Cleveland Indians
a. C.C. Sabathia
b. Sam McDowell
c. Len Barker
d. Bob Feller
Barker led in back-to-back seasons with 187 strikeouts in 1980 and 127 in 1981. He had another good year in 1982 at age 26, and in 1983 the Braves traded for him, whereupon his career went down the tubes.
Before Barker, you have to go back to “Sudden” Sam McDowell, who led the league 5 times in 6 years, from 1965-1970. McDowell really was an elite, Hall-of-Fame pitcher from ages 21-28, while he was with Cleveland. But I guess he was just overworked as a youngster, or maybe it was just fate; his career started going downhill at age 29 and he was out of the majors at age 33. The Indians had the good fortune to trade him right before his career went into a tailspin, to the Giants for Gaylord Perry and Frank Duffy. The Indians got the Hall-of-Famer and the Giants got the lemon.

Detroit Tigers
a. Mickey Lolich
b. Jack Morris
c. Virgil Trucks
d. Justin Verlander
Morris led the league once, in 1982 (232 K’s). The last Tiger before him to lead the league was Lolich, with 308 K’s in 1971.

Minnesota Twins
a. Frank Viola
b. Johan Santana
c. Jim Kaat
d. Jim Perry
Santana again. He led the league each year from 2004-2006, winning two Cy Young Awards (and deserving a third). The last Minnesota player to lead the league before him was Bert Blyleven, who came over from the Indians in a 1985 trade and ended up leading the league with his combined totals.

Oakland Athletics
a. Tim Hudson
b. Vida Blue
c. Lefty Grove
d. Catfish Hunter
I couldn’t believe this. Even now, sitting here with the proof in front of me, I can’t fathom it. Lefty Grove led the AL in strikeouts each year from 1925-1931. And ever since then, no one on the A’s has struck out enough batters to lead the league.
Who came the closest? Vida Blue struck out 301 batters in 1971; he and Rube Waddell are the only players in team history to top 300 in a single season. But that was the year Mickey Lolich struck out 308, and Blue fell just short.
It’s astonishing, looking at the leader boards, how few A’s pitchers have managed even 200 strikeouts. Only six times in franchise history has a pitcher struck out more than 210 batters, and all of those seasons (except for Blue in 1972) came in the early part of the century. The only modern pitchers on the franchise leaderboard are Dave Stewart (1987), Todd Stottlemyre (1995) and Barry Zito (2001). Each managed just 205 strikeouts. Stewart finished 6th in ’87, Stottlemyre finished a distant 2nd to Randy Johnson in 1995 and Zito finished 4th in 2001.
If you know any other baseball trivia lovers, drop this one on them. They probably won’t believe it until they look it up themselves.

New York Yankees
a. Whitey Ford
b. Roger Clemens
c. David Wells
d. Al Downing
This isn’t as surprising as the Lefty Grove thing, but still . . . Al Downing? But Downing’s 217 strikeouts were enough to lead the league in 1964 as the Yankees won the pennant. And of all the great pitching they’ve had since then, no one has led the league in K’s.
It may surprise you that a Yankee pitcher has led the league in K’s only seven times in the 107-season history of the AL. And they’re not all who you’d expect. Lefty Gomez (’33, ’34, ’37) led the league three times, Red Ruffing (’32) led once, and so did Downing, Vic Raschi (’51) and Allie Reynolds (’52).

Texas Rangers
a. Ferguson Jenkins
b. Nolan Ryan
c. Kevin Brown
d. No Ranger has ever led the league
Ryan led the league in 1989 and 1990, and no other Ranger/Senator has done it before or since.

Los Angeles Angels
a. Nolan Ryan
b. John Lackey
c. Frank Tanana
d. Chuck Finley
Ryan led the league in strikeouts in 7 of 8 seasons from 1972-1979. The only interruption was 1975, when teammate Frank Tanana led the league.

New York Mets
a. Dwight Gooden
b. Sid Fernandez
c. David Cone
d. Tom Seaver
Gooden was my answer, and while he did lead the league in K’s in 1984 and 1985, David Cone came along later and led the league in 1991 and 1992.

Houston Astros
a. Larry Dierker
b. Mike Hampton
c. Nolan Ryan
d. Roy Oswalt
There he is again. Ryan never led the league in K’s as a Met, but he had multiple seasons as league leader with the three other teams he played for. With Houston, he led the league in 1987 and 1988. And if it’s possible for Nolan Ryan to be underrated, he was in 1987, when he struck out 270 batters in 211.2 IP against just 87 walks and 14 homers, all at the age of 40. Unfortunately, the Astros went 76-86 that year and Ryan’s W-L record was an unsightly 8-16. Ryan’s ERA+ that year (142) was the second-highest mark of his career.
Before Ryan, Mike Scott led the league in K’s in 1986, and J.R. Richard led in 1978 and 1979, becoming one of the few pitchers in history to strike out 300+ batters (303 and 313, respectively) in back-to-back years. Richard was a dominant pitcher with all the strikeouts (and walks) to match Ryan, but an untimely stroke ended his career at age 30.

Milwaukee Brewers
a. Ben Sheets
b. Don Sutton
c. Teddy Higuera
d. No Brewer has ever led the league
Teddy Higuera’s 240 K’s finished third in the AL in 1987. Sheets came even closer in 2004, when he struck out 264 batters, which would lead the league most years, except that Randy Johnson K’d 290 that season. Sheets and Higuera are by far the best pitchers the Brewers have ever had.

Kansas City Royals
a. Bret Saberhagen
b. David Cone
c. Dennis Leonard
d. No Royal has ever led the league
This surprised me, but although the Royals’ dominance in the 1970’s was due in no small part to good pitching, they rarely had raw flamethrowers, relying more often on control guys like Saberhagen (even if he’s an extreme example).

Montreal Expos/Washington Nats
a. Steve Rogers
b. Javier Vazquez
c. Pedro Martinez
d. No Expo has ever led the league
The best bet here was Pedro, but his best performance in Montreal was 305 K’s in 1997, which finished a very close second to Curt Schilling’s 319.

San Diego Padres
a. Gaylord Perry
b. Jake Peavy
c. Andy Benes
d. No Padre has ever led the league
Peavy led the league last year (240 K’s) and in 2005 (216 K’s). He and Andy Benes (1994, 189 K’s) are the only Padres ever to lead the league.

Seattle Mariners
a. Mike Moore
b. Mark Langston
c. Randy Johnson
d. No Mariner has ever led the league
Roger Clemens’ time as the AL’s strikeout king was interrupted by four noisy seasons of Randy Johnson, who led the league from 1992-1995. Clemens reemerged to lead the league in 1996. Despite this fact, both men were deemed to be past their prime or “damaged goods” when they went to new teams; Clemens to Toronto as a free agent and Johnson to Houston in a trade. They would prove their critics wrong dramatically.

Toronto Blue Jays
a. Roger Clemens
b. Roy Halladay
c. Jimmy Key
d. Dave Stieb
After retaking the league lead from Randy Johnson as a Boston player in ’96, Clemens got even better with the move to Toronto in 1997. His two years with the Blue Jays are two of the best seasons by a pitcher in recent memory, and he led the league in strikeouts both years (1997 and 1998).

Colorado Rockies
a. Jeff Francis
b. Joe Kennedy
c. Aaron Cook
d. No Rockie has ever led the league
Not even close.

Florida Marlins
a. Dontrelle Willis
b. Kevin Brown
c. A.J. Burnett
d. No Marlin has ever led the league
They’ve had a few players come close, though. Ryan Dempster holds the franchise record with 209 K’s in 2000, but he finished 4th. Kevin Brown struck out 205 in 1997, but finished 5th. And A.J. Burnett struck out 203 in 2002 but was just good enough for 6th place.

Tampa Bay Rays
a. Rolando Arrojo
b. Scott Kazmir
c. Victor Zambrano
d. No Ray has ever led the league
Ha-ha! Finally the Rays have had a league leader in something! Kazmir struck out 239 to lead the league last year, despite missing the end of the season due to injury. And the Tampa Bay pitching staff should be among the league leaders in many pitching stats in the coming years.

Arizona Diamondbacks
a. Curt Schilling
b. Randy Johnson
c. Brandon Webb
d. No Diamondback has ever led the league
Webb has yet to lead the league in K’s. Johnson did it in 5 of 6 years from 1999-2004, peaking with a near-record 372 K’s in 2001. The very same year, Curt Schilling struck out 293 in his first full season with the club. That would be good enough to lead the league in most years, but Schilling didn’t even lead his team. He did even better in 2002, striking out 316, but Johnson still did him one better by fanning 334. At the time, it looked like Schilling would forever play Drysdale to Johnson’s Koufax, but he destroyed that analogy when he went to Boston and won another World Series.

And now, the final question:

Q: Who was the last member of each franchise to lead the league in ERA?

Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves
a. John Smoltz
b. Greg Maddux
c. Warren Spahn
d. Tom Glavine

Chicago Cubs
a. Ray Prim
b. Greg Maddux
c. Ferguson Jenkins
d. Mark Prior

Cincinnati Reds
a. Jose Rijo
b. Aaron Harang
c. Ed Heusser
d. Don Gullett

Los Angeles Dodgers
a. Hideo Nomo
b. Orel Hershiser
c. Sandy Koufax
d. Kevin Brown

Philadelphia Phillies
a. Steve Carlton
b. Curt Schilling
c. Grover Cleveland Alexander
d. Robin Roberts

Pittsburgh Pirates
a. Doug Drabek
b. Bob Friend
c. John Candelaria
d. Elroy Face

San Francisco Giants
a. Bill Swift
b. Juan Marichal
c. Jason Schmidt
d. Jim McCormick

St. Louis Cardinals
a. Joe Magrane
b. Chris Carpenter
c. Matt Morris
d. John Tudor

Baltimore Orioles
a. Mike Cuellar
b. Jim Palmer
c. Scott McGregor
d. Mike Boddicker

Boston Red Sox
a. Curt Schilling
b. Roger Clemens
c. Josh Beckett
d. Pedro Martinez

Chicago White Sox
a. Red Faber
b. LaMarr Hoyt
c. Joe Horlen
d. Gary Peters

Cleveland Indians
a. C.C. Sabathia
b. Sam McDowell
c. Kevin Millwood
d. Bob Lemon

Detroit Tigers
a. Mark Fidrych
b. Jack Morris
c. Hal Newhouser
d. Mickey Lolich

Minnesota Twins
a. Bert Blyleven
b. Johan Santana
c. Brad Radke
d. Frank Viola

Oakland Athletics
a. Mark Mulder
b. Steve Ontiveros
c. Lefty Grove
d. Catfish Hunter

New York Yankees
a. Jimmy Key
b. Ron Guidry
c. Whitey Ford
d. Dave Righetti

Texas Rangers
a. Ferguson Jenkins
b. Nolan Ryan
c. Dick Bosman
d. Kevin Brown

Los Angeles Angels
a. Mark Langston
b. John Lackey
c. Dean Chance
d. Frank Tanana

New York Mets
a. David Cone
b. Dwight Gooden
c. Tom Seaver
d. Jerry Koosman

Houston Astros
a. Mike Hampton
b. J.R. Richard
c. Roy Oswalt
d. No Astro has ever led the league

Milwaukee Brewers
a. Ben Sheets
b. Pete Vuckovich
c. Teddy Higuera
d. No Brewer has ever led the league

Kansas City Royals
a. Larry Gura
b. Kevin Appier
c. Bret Saberhagen
d. David Cone

Montreal Expos/Nats
a. Bryn Smith
b. Pedro Martinez
c. Steve Rogers
d. No Expo has ever lead the league

San Diego Padres
a. Jake Peavy
b. Randy Jones
c. Dave Dravecky
d. No Padre has ever led the league

Seattle Mariners
a. Dave Fleming
b. Randy Johnson
c. Jamie Moyer
d. Freddy Garcia

Toronto Blue Jays
a. David Wells
b. Dave Stieb
c. Roger Clemens
d. Roy Halladay

Colorado Rockies
a. Jason Jennings
b. Pedro Astacio
c. Aaron Cook
d. No Rockie has ever led the league

Florida Marlins
a. Kevin Brown
b. Josh Beckett
c. Dontrelle Willis
d. No Marlin has ever led the league

Tampa Bay Rays
a. James Shields
b. Scott Kazmir
c. Wilson Alvarez
d. No Ray has ever led the league

Arizona Diamondbacks
a. Randy Johnson
b. Brandon Webb
c. Brian Anderson
d. Curt Schilling

A: Who was the last member of each franchise to lead the league in ERA?
Correct answer in italics

Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves
a. John Smoltz
b. Greg Maddux
c. Warren Spahn
d. Tom Glavine
Maddux won the NL ERA title four times with Atlanta. None of his teammates (Glavine, Smoltz, Neagle, Avery, etc.) ever won even one. The last Brave before Maddux to lead the league in ERA was the immortal Buzz Capra (2.28) in 1974.

Chicago Cubs
a. Ray Prim
b. Greg Maddux
c. Ferguson Jenkins
d. Mark Prior
Guess what else the Cubs haven’t done since 1945? Won an ERA title, correct! Ferguson Jenkins went into the Hall wearing a Cubs cap, Greg Maddux spent some very good years in Chicago, and that’s not even counting great or semi-great players like Rick Reuschel, Rick Sutcliffe, Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, and Carlos Zambrano. No, the league lead in ERA has evaded them. Wrigley Field is partially to blame, but 63 years? There’s something else goin’ on.

Cincinnati Reds
a. Jose Rijo
b. Aaron Harang
c. Ed Heusser
d. Don Gullett
And who’s waited even longer than the Cubs for a player to win an ERA title? If you guessed the Reds, you are correct, if only by one year: Ed Heusser’s 2.38 mark was good enough to lead the NL in 1944. No other franchise has waited as long.
The Reds have been conspicuously short on impact pitchers in recent years, even when they were winning and winning big. Start naming players on the Big Red Machine, and you’ll probably get through six or eight of them before you mention a pitcher, and for good reason.
The Reds have only sent one pitcher to the Hall of Fame (that doesn’t count pitchers, like Tom Seaver, who spent part of their careers in Cincinnati), and that’s Eppa Rixey. Rixey was quite good, but he’s a questionable selection for the Hall. The truth is that, from the 20’s through the 50’s, the Reds had quite a few pitchers who either had short, great careers, or long and decent careers, even if none of them were good enough to merit induction into the Hall. Bucky Walters, Dolf Luque, Ewell Blackwell, Paul Derringer, Pete Donohue, Red Lucas and others were all top-notch pitchers in their day who have been forgotten because they were rarely great and they usually pitched for poor clubs.

Los Angeles Dodgers
a. Hideo Nomo
b. Orel Hershiser
c. Sandy Koufax
d. Kevin Brown
Brown led the league in 2000 with a 2.58 ERA. Brown’s time with the Dodgers is largely remembered in a negative light; he signed a 7-year deal with the Dodgers worth nearly $15 million per year and spent most of the contract injured. He was very good in his first two seasons (1999 and 2000) ranking as one of the best pitchers in baseball. He was just as good in 2001, but injuries limited him to just 19 starts. He became a real drag on the payroll in 2002, making just 10 starts for a 4.81 ERA in 63.2 IP despite making nearly $16 million. But he made a roaring comeback in 2003, finishing 2nd in ERA (2.39) and pitching a full 211 innings. The Dodgers then wisely sold high, trading Brown’s contract to the Yankees for Jeff Weaver, Yhency Brazoban, a minor leaguer, and cash. That didn’t turn out to be a great return, but they got to unload Brown’s contract, get some cash, and also pick up some decent seasons from Weaver and Brazoban. Plus, Brown was going to be 39 the next year.
In New York, injures hurt Brown again in 2004 (22 starts, 4.09 ERA), and his 2005 season was so disastrous that he retirely shortly thereafter. Teams don’t sign 34-year-old pitchers to 7-year deals anymore, and Brown is one of the main reasons why. He was a Hall of Fame talent who would have made it except that he was a) a late bloomer – pitching his first great season at age 31--, perhaps because he was in the Rangers organization, and b) beset by injuries. Since the public perception of him grew so negative at the end – especially with his abortive run with the Yankees a dismal coda – I doubt he’ll be remembered as the great pitcher he truly was.

Philadelphia Phillies
a. Steve Carlton
b. Curt Schilling
c. Grover Cleveland Alexander
d. Robin Roberts
Schilling finished in the league’s top 10 in ERA five times while in Philly, but never better than 4th. Carlton -- though he was a dominant pitcher -- only led the league in ERA in 1972, the historically great season where he went 27-10 with a 1.97 ERA while throwing 346.1 innings and striking out 310. And all of this on a team that went 59-97 and finished last.
And before Carlton, you have to go all the way back to Alexander to find a Phillie leading the league in ERA. Alexander led the league in 1915 and 1916, with the Phillies winning the pennant in ’15. Roberts was a great pitcher, but never led the league in ERA; he finished in the top 5 seven times and twice finished in 2nd place, but he never made it to 1st.
So Steve Carlton and “Pete” Alexander are the only Phillies to lead the NL in ERA in the modern era. In the 19th century, they’re joined by Dan Casey (2.86) on the 1887 NL team.

Pittsburgh Pirates
a. Doug Drabek
b. Bob Friend
c. John Candelaria
d. Elroy Face
Again, the theme of weak Pirate pitching reemerges. Candelaria was a good pitcher throughout his long career, but he was only great once: in 1977, when he led the NL with a 2.34 ERA. He won 20 games and the Pirates went 96-66 only to finish 2nd in the NL East to the 101-61 Phillies.

San Francisco Giants
a. Bill Swift
b. Juan Marichal
c. Jason Schmidt
d. Jim McCormick
Finally, we can talk about a Giant player who isn’t drawing Social Security. Schmidt posted a 2.34 ERA in his best season, 2003, with San Francisco. But Schmidt’s career is basically a more dramatic version of Kevin Brown’s; a slow start, some good years, and then the injuries hit. Except that Schmidt was never quite as good as Brown, although they both received a lot of money from the Los Angeles Dodgers (his current team). Schmidt signed a three-year, $47 million deal before the 2007 season. In 2007, he threw 25.2 innings. He hasn’t pitched in the majors at all in 2008. He’ll be 36 next year, and it’s looking doubtful that the Dodgers will get much return on their investment.
The last Giant before Schmidt to lead the league in ERA was Bill Swift in 1992. Swift was a good pitcher, but his 2.08 ERA in 1992 was about as fluky as John Burkett’s 22 wins for the team the following year.

St. Louis Cardinals
a. Joe Magrane
b. Chris Carpenter
c. Matt Morris
d. John Tudor
Joe Magrane; now there’s a name that’s been lost to history. Magrane came up to the Cardinals in 1987 and pitched well in 26 starts as a rookie, finishing 3rd in Rookie of the Year voting as the Cardinals went on to win the pennant. In ’88, Magrane’s ERA dropped through the floor to 2.18 (from 3.54 the year before), and won the ERA title – but just barely, because he only pitched 165.1 innings (to qualify for the ERA title, you must have at least one inning pitched per each game your team played – usually 162). Magrane was healthy in 1989 and went 18-9, although his ERA went back to normal (2.91). But he was never the same and quickly faded from the game, his last appearances being a 19-game swan song with the White Sox in 1996 – at age 31.
Before Magrane, the last Cardinal to lead the league in ERA was John Denny (!) back in 1976. Denny is mainly remembered as the unsung hero of the 1983 Phillies, leading the NL in wins. Well, he was also the unsung hero of the 1976 Cardinals, but that’s more understandable; that year’s Cardinals went 72-90 and finished 5th.

Baltimore Orioles
a. Mike Cuellar
b. Jim Palmer
c. Scott McGregor
d. Mike Boddicker
Boddicker led the league in ’84, when he also won 20 games and threw 261.1 innings, finishing 4th in the Cy Young voting. Boddicker was great for the Orioler in ’83 (when they won the World Series) and ’84, but was just good the rest of his career.

Boston Red Sox
a. Curt Schilling
b. Roger Clemens
c. Josh Beckett
d. Pedro Martinez
Pedro led the AL in ERA four times while in Boston. His best was in 2000, when he posted a 1.74 ERA; the league ERA that year was 4.91, and the second-place finisher was Roger Clemens with a 3.70 ERA. Pedro’s ERA+ (ERA adjusted for league and environment) was 291 that year. Most years, a guy wins the Cy Young Award with an ERA+ of 150; that’s considered excellent. 291 is off-the-charts good.
In fact, Pedro’s ERA+ of 291 is the best adjusted ERA in modern history, lending some weight to the argument that Pedro was, in his prime, the best pitcher of all time. In his 1968 season (1.12 ERA), Bob Gibson’s ERA+ was just 258 (the league ERA was 2.99 in that year, the Year of the Pitcher). The best ERA+ for Sandy Koufax -- who many rank as the best-ever pitcher on a per-season basis – was 190 in 1966, which is tied for the 50th-best ERA+ of all time.
I mention that Pedro’s mark is the best in modern history; in 1880, Tim Keefe recorded an ERA+ of 294. But with all due respect to Keefe, baseball has come a long way in the past century.

Chicago White Sox
a. Red Faber
b. LaMarr Hoyt
c. Joe Horlen
d. Gary Peters
It might just be my perspective, but the White Sox, throughout their history, seem like they've had a whole lot of ordinary guys with extraordinary years. LaMarr Hoyt comes to mind. As does Joe Horlen, who led the AL in ERA back in 1967 with a 2.06 mark. To be fair, Horlen was a good and sometimes great pitcher from 1963-1969, but he’s not the kind of big name you’d expect to pop up on this list.
Another no-name White Sox pitcher was Gary Peters, who led the league in ERA in 1966, the year before Horlen, at a 1.98 pace (he also led the AL in 1963). Go back a few years, and you see Frank Baumann of the Sox leading the league in 1960. Billy Pierce, who’s a legitimate star, led the league in ERA while with the Sox, but before him it was Joe Haynes of the White Sox who led the league in ERA back in 1947. In 1942, Hall-of-Famer Ted Lyons led the league, but in 1941, the decidedly non-Hall-of-Famer Thornton Wood led the league.
Maybe it’s just my perception, but random pitchers from history seem to pop up on the White Sox leaderboards more so than other teams. Maybe it’s because the list of Great Pitchers in White Sox History is a short one; you’ve got Red Faber, Ted Lyons, Ed Walsh, and maybe Billy Pierce or Wilbur Wood. That’s about it for 107 years.

Cleveland Indians
a. C.C. Sabathia
b. Sam McDowell
c. Kevin Millwood
d. Bob Lemon
Kevin Millwood and his agent, Scott Boras, had been burned several times by the free agent market. Boras, as is his norm, spent his time throwing around huge figures that Millwood could get on the free agent market. But, with his last years in Atlanta and Philadelphia less than exhilirating, Millwood was forced to go back to his old team in shame, another casualty of Boras’ all-or-nothing approach. So Millwood/Boras decided to sign a smaller, one-year deal for the 2005 season, try to have a good year and then re-enter the free agent market.
It worked; Millwood’s 9-11 record for the 2005 Indians belied a much better season; in 192 innings, he posted a 2.86 ERA, his best since 1999 and good enough to lead the league. The contract strategy worked as well; Boras was finally able to find a mark silly enough to buy his “Millwood-as-superstar” spiel, and the Texas Rangers signed the 31-year old hurler to a 5-year deal worth $60 million. Every lesson the team was supposed to have learned from the A-Rod contract was forgotten; having learned that a mid-level team shouldn’t throw huge money at a superstar, they decided to throw huge money at a non-superstar. Millwood’s ERAs each year in Texas have been 4.52, 5.16, and 5.58 so far this year, his age-33 season. They’ve got him for two more years at $23 million and unfortunately, no other team is dumb enough to trade for him.
Before Millwood, the last Cleveland player to lead the league in ERA was Rick Sutcliffe in 1982.

Detroit Tigers
a. Mark Fidrych
b. Jack Morris
c. Hal Newhouser
d. Mickey Lolich
It’s been a while for Tiger fans, but they still remember Mark “The Bird” Fidrych, who posted a 2.34 ERA in 1976 at age 21. But injuries (and a low strikeout rate) made it The Bird’s only full season in the majors. He threw his last big-league pitch at age 26.

Minnesota Twins
a. Bert Blyleven
b. Johan Santana
c. Brad Radke
d. Frank Viola

Oakland Athletics
a. Mark Mulder
b. Steve Ontiveros
c. Lefty Grove
d. Catifsh Hunter
Another unlikely winner, but we’ve already been surprised by the answers to the Oakland questions. Ontiveros was a decent relief pitcher. His rookie season with Oakland was actually quite good; in 1985, he threw 74.2 innings with a 1.93 ERA. After a poor season in ’86, the team converted him to a starter. He wasn’t too bad; in 1987, his ERA was 4.00, just better than league average. But his BB:K ratio (50:97 in 150.2 IP) wasn’t so hot. Ontiveros made 10 forgettable starts in 1988 and was released by the A’s. He then spent two years with the Phillies, pitching barely 40 innings total in those two years. He spent 1991 and 1992 out of the majors.
In 1993, at age 32, he attempted a comeback with Seattle. He pitched 18 good innings of relief. This got him a shot back with Oakland in 1994, signed to a $175,000 contract. Ontiveros must have caught about a dozen leprechauns, because he came back to pitch in 26 games (including 13 starts) and post a 2.65 ERA. His 115.1 IP just barely qualified him for the ERA title, as the A’s played in 114 games in the strike-shortened season.
His reign, however, was short-lived. He made 22 starts in 1995 and was about average. But that was his last year spent in the majors, except for an abortive 3-game comeback with Boston in 2000.
Ontiveros might truly be the least outstanding pitcher ever to lead the league in ERA.

New York Yankees
a. Jimmy Key
b. Ron Guidry
c. Whitey Ford
d. Rudy May
Rudy May led the league with a 2.46 ERA in 1980, but depending on who you believe, Dave Righetti was the AL’s ERA leader in 1981. Righetti posted a 2.05 ERA in 105.1 IP, but the Yankees played 107 games. I’ve been looking for information somewhere about the evolution of the ERA rule, as far as what the qualifications were for someone to win the award (I tried Google. I was unsuccessful in finding any information about baseball, but I did learn a lot about the Equal Rights Amendment).
But I don’t think that Dave Righetti qualified for the ERA rule, although he is listed as the ERA leader by Baseball-Reference.com. My trusty Sabermetric Baseball Encyclopedia (by Lee Sinins), however, doesn’t mention Righetti. So I’m ruling him out.
So that solves our problem about who won the 1981 ERA title, right? Wrong.
In 1981, Baltimore’s Sammy Stewart threw 112.1 innings and allowed 29 ER, for an ERA of 2.32. Steve McCatty of the A’s threw 185.2 innings and allowed 48 ER, for an ERA of 2.33. So Sammy Stewart won the ERA title, right? Wrong. Steve McCatty won the ERA title.
This was because the rules for determining a pitcher’s ERA at the time were ridiculous. Instead of allowing for fractions, baseball statisticians rounded the innings pitched to a whole number before figuring ERA. By this measure, McCatty threw 186 innings and Stewart threw 112. It’s a small difference, but it’s enough to tip the balance; rounding gives McCatty a better ERA.
Bill James writes about this conundrum in his Historical Baseball Abstract. Instead of recognizing that Stewart was really the ERA leader, baseball writers and record-keepers followed the rules to the letter and awarded it to McCatty. Instead of changing the rules, which were obviously flawed, they just followed them and made a completely stupid decision. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
Anyway, many reference books cite Stewart as the ERA winner, regardless of whether it was official or not. The rule was changed afterward to allow for fractions, which is a classic baseball move; fix a problem after it’s occurred. Voting for Rookie of the Year didn’t change until after the 1979 vote, when John Castino and Alfredo Griffin tied with 7 votes apiece. Should baseball writers have foreseen that, with 28 total votes, a tie was going to happen someday? Nah. But in 1980, you better believe that there was a better voting system in place, with voters ranking the three best rookies on their ballot and players allotted weighted points.
And you know what’s funny? The exact same thing had happened with Cy Young Award voting. When everyone got one vote, there would inevitably be a tie, and there was one in 1969 (Jim Cuellar and Denny McLain got 10 votes each). The next season, the weighted ballot was introduced. Should the writers have, I dunno, made the same changes to the Rookie of the Year ballot, which was exactly the same and due for the same screw-up in 10 years? No, see, that requires foresight.
That’s baseball writers for you. They will securely nail shut that barn door only a year or two after the horse gets out.

Washington Senators/Texas Rangers
a. Camilo Pascual
b. Nolan Ryan
c. Dick Bosman
d. Kevin Brown
No Ranger has ever really led the league in ERA (see below). Bosman led the league with a 2.19 mark in 1969, two years before the new Washington Senators left town to become the Texas Rangers
Having said that, Rick Honeycutt is usually given the AL ERA title for 1983. Honeycutt threw 174.2 innings with Texas that year for a 2.42 ERA. And that was good enough to lead the AL.The only problem is that Honeycutt was traded in the middle of 1983 to the Dodgers. There, he pitched 39 innings and posted a 5.77 ERA. However, AL and NL statistics have always been kept separate when players are considered for statistical title. If a player is traded from one team to another in the same league, they bring their old stats with them and continue on. But if they change leagues, they are statistically separated into two different player-seasons. This is beyond foolish and should have been changed by now. But note the above entry if you want to know how good baseball’s official record-keepers are with change.
So saying that Rick Honeycutt led the AL in ERA in 1983 is true only in an abstract, technical sense. In reality, his NL stats should count toward his total. If not, then every player traded to a new team, regardless of league, should start over statistically. I prefer the former. And that means that Mike Boddicker led the AL in ERA in 1983.
Another silly example of this record-keeping is with Mark McGwire in 1997. In any realistic sense, McGwire hit 58 home runs that year. Unofficially, though, he did no such thing. He hit 34 with Oakland and 24 with St. Louis, and never the twain shall meet. Imbeciles.

Los Angeles Angels
a. Mark Langston
b. John Lackey
c. Dean Chance
d. Frank Tanana
Lackey led the league last year, with a 3.01 mark. He’s one of the best pitchers in baseball who’s still basically unknown. Before him, Frank Tanana led the league in 1977 with a 2.54 mark. Also, Dean Chance led the league in 1964 with a 1.65 ERA. Coupled with a 20-9 record and 207 strikeouts in 278.1 innings, and Chance won the Cy Young Award that year. Keep in mind that in ’64, the Award was given to just one pitcher in all of baseball, and to win it, Chance had to beat out Sandy Koufax, who went 19-5 and struck out 223 batters in 223 innings. Talk about an upset, especially since they both pitched in L.A.!

New York Mets
a. David Cone
b. Dwight Gooden
c. Tom Seaver
d. Jerry Koosman
Gooden led the NL in 1985 with a 1.53 ERA, one of the best ERA marks of all time. The last Met to lead the league before him was Craig Swan, who posted a 2.43 ERA in 1978.

Houston Astros
a. Mike Hampton
b. J.R. Richard
c. Roy Oswalt
d. No Astro has ever led the league
Oswalt led the league in 2006 with a 2.98 mark. It was the highest ERA for a National League leader since 1961, when Warren Spahn topped the league at 3.01.
The Astros have won seven ERA titles since their inception in 1961, and the craziest thing is that six different pitchers did it. The only one to do it more than once was Nolan Ryan (1981, 1987). The other Astros to lead the league in ERA are Oswalt (2006), Roger Clemens (2005), Danny Darwin (1990), Mike Scott (1986), and J.R. Richard (1979).

Milwaukee Brewers
a. Ben Sheets
b. Pete Vuckovich
c. Teddy Higuera
d. No Brewer has ever led the league
Higuera tied for the league lead with a 2.45 mark in 1988. Now might be a good time to mention that C.C. Sabathia, currently dominating the National League, will fall victim to the same statistical separation between leagues that I discussed earlier. Sabathia won’t officially lead either league in anything at all.

Kansas City Royals
a. Larry Gura
b. Kevin Appier
c. Bret Saberhagen
d. David Cone
Appier led the junior circuit with a 2.56 ERA in 1993. Appier was the last in a long line of great homegrown Royal pitchers that only now seems like it might be resurrected in Zack Greinke.

Montreal Expos/Nats
a. Bryn Smith
b. Pedro Martinez
c. Steve Rogers
d. No Expo has ever lead the league
Pedro was a free agent after the 1997 season, and he had a walk year to remember; a 1.90 ERA and 305 strikeouts in 241.1 IP. He also priced himself out of Montreal’s range, signing a big free agent deal with Boston and earning every penny.
The only other Expos to lead the league were Dennis Martinez (1991) and Steve Rogers (1982).

San Diego Padres
a. Jake Peavy
b. Randy Jones
c. Dave Dravecky
d. No Padre has ever led the league
Peavy led the league in 2004 (2.27), 2007 (2.54) and is currently leading the league in 2008. Peavy is a fine pitcher, no question, but boy is it nice to pitch in Petco Park.

Seattle Mariners
a. Dave Fleming
b. Randy Johnson
c. Jamie Moyer
d. Freddy Garcia
Surprised? Johnson only led the league once while a Mariner, in 1995 (2.48). Garcia was the ace of the 116-win 2001 Mariners, with 18 wins and a 3.05 ERA. Garcia really was a strong pitcher in Seattle, and quite underrated. He had a good year with the White Sox in 2005 as part of the killer starting rotation that led the team to a World Championship. But since then, he’s been snake-bitten. Injuries kept him out of the game for most of 2007 and all of 2008 so far. At age 33, it’s unlikely that he’ll regain his old form.

Toronto Blue Jays
a. David Wells
b. Dave Stieb
c. Roger Clemens
d. Roy Halladay
Clemens led the AL in both of his seasons with Toronto, 1997 and 1998. Dominant though he’s been, Roy Halladay has never led the league in ERA. His best showing was a second-place finish in 2006 (3.19).

Colorado Rockies
a. Jason Jennings
b. Pedro Astacio
c. Aaron Cook
d. No Rockie has ever led the league
Yeah, yeah, we figured as much.

Florida Marlins
a. Kevin Brown
b. Josh Beckett
c. Dontrelle Willis
d. No Marlin has ever led the league
Brown’s two years in Florida were quite special, and the odd thing is that he was much better in 1996, the year before the team won the World Series. In ’96, Brown went 17-11, posted a 1.89 ERA and managed a 33:159 BB:K ratio. He finished 2nd in the Cy Young voting to John Smoltz. Smoltz went 24-8, but managed just a 2.94 ERA (a full run worse than Brown) although he did edge him in strikeouts (276 in 253.2 IP). But if you really want to know why Smoltz won and Brown lost, look no further than the Win-Loss record; Lord knows the writers never do.

Tampa Bay Rays
a. James Shields
b. Scott Kazmir
c. Wilson Alvarez
d. No Ray has ever led the league
… Yet.

Arizona Diamondbacks
a. Randy Johnson
b. Brandon Webb
c. Brian Anderson
d. Curt Schilling
Johnson led the NL in 1999, 2001, and 2002. Brandon Webb has never led the league, although he’s finished 2nd once (2007) and 3rd once (2006) and is currently in 3rd place.


And so we end our trivia game. I'll be back soon to discuss the unusual amount of activity buzzing around the waiver wire and the possibility that baseball will institue instant replay in just a matter of weeks.