I hear ya about Pete Rose. But I believe his general stories and viewpoints about various aspects of what happened during the games when he was a player, are truthful for the most part.
Pete hit .175 against Koufax so he was telling the truth for once
@Hydrant said:
I have been trying to look up detailed stats on the 1966 season for a few days now. I'm no good at it and I give up. Maybe someone here can do the work........Here's why: The Dodgers were a lousy hitting team that year. Koufax went 27-9 that year. He left the game many times in the 7th-9in innings with the score being 0-0, 1-1, etc. The Dodgers had a relief pitcher that year named Phil Regan. He went 14-1. It would be interesting to see if the Dodgers had a decent hitting team if Koufax might have won 40 games that year. On any team with good run production he most certainly would have won 30 or more games. I know......coulda, shoulda, woulda. Pure speculation.
But.....something interesting to look in to.
In two of his early "no decisions" that year his team scored 6 and 8 runs.
The Dodgers averaged 3.7 runs per game that year. They scored above that average for Sandy 24 out of his 41 starts.
@Hydrant said:
I have been trying to look up detailed stats on the 1966 season for a few days now. I'm no good at it and I give up. Maybe someone here can do the work........Here's why: The Dodgers were a lousy hitting team that year. Koufax went 27-9 that year. He left the game many times in the 7th-9in innings with the score being 0-0, 1-1, etc. The Dodgers had a relief pitcher that year named Phil Regan. He went 14-1. It would be interesting to see if the Dodgers had a decent hitting team if Koufax might have won 40 games that year. On any team with good run production he most certainly would have won 30 or more games. I know......coulda, shoulda, woulda. Pure speculation.
But.....something interesting to look in to.
Sandy had 14 games he didn't finish in 1966. In those games, he was 3-6.
The Dodgers went 2-3 in his no-decision incomplete games.
In the 14 games, he allowed 1 or 2 runs 5 times.
I can only find one game where he left with it tied 1-1 or 0-0 and that's a game that he left 1-1 after 11 innings that the Dodgers won in the 12th.
I can't find any games where the Dodgers blew a lead after he left.
I saw Mr Koufax a couple of times from 1963-1966. I was very young. None of the games stood out to me. I don't recall any Giants doing well against him. And the Giants had quite a murders row.
Big Don Drysdale was the intimidator.
Koufax was supreme for a while. Marichal was better.
@1951WheatiesPremium said:
I feel like - sometimes - I am the only one who thinks the total skill level of the average athlete in their respective sport is down. And I’ll stick with baseball:
Pitchers pitch significantly fewer innings.
Baseball players can’t hit for average anymore.
Baseball players can’t really play proper defense anymore.
Bunting, base running, base stealing, hitting to all fields, hit and run - many/most struggle to get these things done
Throwing harder for less innings and swinging harder for less hits don’t impress me, exit velo and spin rates be damned.
Hall voting is often about intangibles, and this played a role in Koufax's case to augment the aforementioned late brilliance, adding sympathy over the career cut short, and discounting the mediocre early career. I think a lot of the reason that Sandy Koufax was enshrined in the HOF in 1972, soon after he was eligible, is because, at the time of his induction, he'd thrown those four no hitters in consecutive years, capping with the perfect game in 1965. At the time, that set the major league record (one more than the previous record of 3 held by Cy Young, Bob Feller, and Larry Corcoran). Nolan Ryan's 7, of course, were pitched later between 1973-91.
@Hydrant said:
I have been trying to look up detailed stats on the 1966 season for a few days now. I'm no good at it and I give up. Maybe someone here can do the work........Here's why: The Dodgers were a lousy hitting team that year. Koufax went 27-9 that year. He left the game many times in the 7th-9in innings with the score being 0-0, 1-1, etc. The Dodgers had a relief pitcher that year named Phil Regan. He went 14-1. It would be interesting to see if the Dodgers had a decent hitting team if Koufax might have won 40 games that year. On any team with good run production he most certainly would have won 30 or more games. I know......coulda, shoulda, woulda. Pure speculation.
But.....something interesting to look in to.
One of the reasons why Koufax was in so many 0-0 or 1-0 games was the same reason why his ERA was so good, its because it was harder to score runs at Dodger stadium those years compared to the rest of the parks in the league. Another reason is that league wide offense was lower compared to other high scoring eras, which is another reason that helped Koufax appear to be more dominant than pitchers in other eras.
In reality, the Dodgers offense was not bad. It was actually good, but the numbers were suppressed by their home park.
The Dodgers offense was pretty good. I'd have to comb through box scores to see if this actually made any difference in his W/L record (and I'm not going to do that), but it's interesting to note that the Dodgers pitchers were also pretty good hitters (for pitchers), with one exception. Koufax may or may not have been the worst hitting pitcher of all time, but he was undeniably terrible, even for a pitcher, and even for a pitcher hitting in Dodger Stadium. Might that have cost him a win or two? Probably.
This is for you @thisistheshow - Jim Rice was actually a pretty good player.
@1951WheatiesPremium said:
The three point shot wasn’t a part of basketball until the 1980’s so most big men wouldnt have been allowed to be that far away. The rise in number of the ‘shooting bigs’ really begins in the early 2000s - about 20 years after the rule change.
The league also legislated many, many changes to allow the game to be guard dominated while diminishing the low post player/big man.
This has not improved the quality of the game of basketball in any way whatsoever and in fact has made it the unwatchable mess it is today.
Helps that you can walk from the 3 point line without it being called traveling. One more step and half court lay ups will be good.
W.C.Fields "I spent 50% of my money on alcohol, women, and gambling. The other half I wasted.
Comments
Pete hit .175 against Koufax so he was telling the truth for once
In two of his early "no decisions" that year his team scored 6 and 8 runs.
The Dodgers averaged 3.7 runs per game that year. They scored above that average for Sandy 24 out of his 41 starts.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.fcgi?id=koufasa01&t=p&year=1966
Dodgers averaged 4.29 runs per game when Koufax pitched in 1966, well above their average, however they did score 2 or fewer runs 15 times.
They scored;
0 runs three times.
1 run six times.
2 runs six times.
3 runs twice.
4 runs eight times.
5 runs four times.
6 runs six times.
7 runs twice.
8 runs once.
11 runs once.
12 runs once.
16 runs once.
Sandy had 14 games he didn't finish in 1966. In those games, he was 3-6.
The Dodgers went 2-3 in his no-decision incomplete games.
In the 14 games, he allowed 1 or 2 runs 5 times.
I can only find one game where he left with it tied 1-1 or 0-0 and that's a game that he left 1-1 after 11 innings that the Dodgers won in the 12th.
I can't find any games where the Dodgers blew a lead after he left.
I saw Mr Koufax a couple of times from 1963-1966. I was very young. None of the games stood out to me. I don't recall any Giants doing well against him. And the Giants had quite a murders row.
Big Don Drysdale was the intimidator.
Koufax was supreme for a while. Marichal was better.
Ok, boomer.
Hall voting is often about intangibles, and this played a role in Koufax's case to augment the aforementioned late brilliance, adding sympathy over the career cut short, and discounting the mediocre early career. I think a lot of the reason that Sandy Koufax was enshrined in the HOF in 1972, soon after he was eligible, is because, at the time of his induction, he'd thrown those four no hitters in consecutive years, capping with the perfect game in 1965. At the time, that set the major league record (one more than the previous record of 3 held by Cy Young, Bob Feller, and Larry Corcoran). Nolan Ryan's 7, of course, were pitched later between 1973-91.
The Dodgers offense was pretty good. I'd have to comb through box scores to see if this actually made any difference in his W/L record (and I'm not going to do that), but it's interesting to note that the Dodgers pitchers were also pretty good hitters (for pitchers), with one exception. Koufax may or may not have been the worst hitting pitcher of all time, but he was undeniably terrible, even for a pitcher, and even for a pitcher hitting in Dodger Stadium. Might that have cost him a win or two? Probably.
Helps that you can walk from the 3 point line without it being called traveling. One more step and half court lay ups will be good.
"I spent 50% of my money on alcohol, women, and gambling. The other half I wasted.