2013 MLB Regular Season running thread

In your opinion, which pitch was a "game changer"?

The game changer was the slider, in my opinion. That is, the transition from hitter-favored to neutral 1950s ball can be significantly claimed by the universal use of the slider. Breaking on nearly the same plane as it is thrown, it moves more sharply with more velocity than any curveball. Whereas a hitter may see the loopy curve of an Uncle Charlie, they're more likely to lose the sudden dip of a slider. It generally breaks quicker than a curve, so hitters are more likely to swing for one breaking low and away or low and in than they are to swing at a curve dropping into the dirt. There is also the possibility of throwing a backdoor slider, which is much easier than the backdoor curve and more effective because sliders break more sharply. Plus, a mistake in location of a slider isn't nearly as devastating as a hanging curveball. The slider by itself is a superior pitch to the curveball.

Pitchers caught on to this. Rob Neyer and Bill James propose that while Ruthian hitting destroyed the need for the inside game, pitching auto-sophisticated in response to the slugfests pertinent to the Live Ball Era. Pitchers struggled to catch up and began experimenting with many more pitch types and variations. A slider is almost as easy to learn as a curveball, yet it is so much more powerful. It isn't coincidence that the batter vs. pitcher duel leveled out after pitchers began using it more regularly in their repertoire in the late '30s. Not until George Blaeholder, Red Ruffing, and George Uhle did the baseball world recognize it, approximately 1936-1938. It was then known as the "slide-ball" or the "sailer." It also isn't coincidence that its most prominent users had all-star success going into the 1940s and 1950s: Bob Feller, Johnny Sain, Mel Harder, Johnny Allen, Larry Jansen, and especially Bob Lemon. Converted pitcher Bucky Walters threw a magical 1939 season under the reigns of the slider.

It also isn't coincidence that users of the slider before it entered common knowledge had great careers. A huge problem with pitchers during 1919-1938 was their lack of repertoire, something pitchers boasted as part of the dead-ball era due to the legal use of foreign substances and ball tampering. Those who did feature something outside the typical fastball, curveball, and change up were much more likely to have success (Carl Hubbell, Joe Bush, Freddie Fitzimmons). Before pitchers realized the potential of the slider and it became part of the regular arsenal, Red Ruffing used it to Hall of Fame success. The other user, whose version was very tight and almost like a cut-fastball, is sometimes argued as the greatest pitcher of all time: Lefty Grove.

When the slider did enter baseball vernacular, the pendulum swung a little towards the pitcher. By the 1950s, baseball achieved its most balanced state ever if we look at runs scored per game. Why? The slider, easily learned yet so effective, had taken over. On 1950s pitching, Sal Maglie said, "All pitchers today are lazy. They all look for the easy way out, and the slider gives them that pitch." Ted Williams, heralded as one of the greatest hitters ever, said that the slider was the most difficult pitch to hit because even when he knew it was coming he said it troubled him.

I find it odd that this game-changer is ignored, as if by magic the pitcher vs. batter neutralized itself once the 1940s came about. Here are the per decade runs and earned runs figures, 1920-1959

Code:

Year	R/G	ERA	G	IP	R	ER
1959	4.38	3.90	2476	22100.1	10853	9587
1958	4.28	3.86	2470	22049.2	10578	9458
1957	4.31	3.83	2470	22344.1	10636	9516
1956	4.45	3.96	2478	22095.0	11031	9734
1955	4.49	4.00	2468	22011.0	11069	9781
1954	4.38	3.90	2474	22126.2	10827	9581
1953	4.61	4.14	2480	22032.0	11426	10135
1952	4.18	3.70	2478	22206.0	10349	9136
1951	4.55	4.04	2478	22208.1	11268	9967
1950	4.85	4.36	2476	21972.2	12013	10641
1949	4.61	4.12	2480	22038.2	11422	10085
1948	4.57	4.12	2474	21932.0	11312	10037
1947	4.35	3.89	2486	22043.1	10826	9516
1946	4.01	3.46	2484	22147.1	9955	8514
1945	4.18	3.58	2460	21988.0	10275	8752
1944	4.17	3.52	2484	22325.2	10366	8733
1943	3.91	3.33	2476	22402.2	9669	8297
1942	4.08	3.48	2448	21952.0	9996	8499
1941	4.49	3.89	2488	22199.1	11171	9595
1940	4.68	4.11	2472	22051.2	11570	10080
1939	4.82	4.27	2462	21826.0	11870	10347
Year	R/G	ERA	G	IP	R	ER
1938	4.89	4.28	2446	21658.1	11966	10306
1937	4.87	4.27	2478	21907.1	12069	10386
1936	5.20	4.52	2476	22043.2	12863	11079
1935	4.90	4.24	2456	21880.0	12029	10299
1934	4.90	4.28	2446	21711.0	11993	10326
1933	4.48	3.81	2452	21900.1	10975	9263
1932	4.91	4.18	2466	22126.1	12108	10270
1931	4.81	4.12	2472	21990.2	11892	10073
1930	5.55	4.81	2468	21862.0	13689	11684
1929	5.19	4.48	2458	21853.1	12754	10867
1928	4.72	4.01	2462	21999.2	11617	9814
1927	4.75	4.02	2472	22011.0	11751	9843
1926	4.63	3.92	2468	21913.1	11432	9545
1925	5.13	4.33	2456	21833.1	12599	10507
1924	4.75	4.05	2462	21940.0	11701	9866
1923	4.81	3.99	2466	22088.0	11866	9788
1922	4.86	4.06	2476	22097.1	12043	9980
1921	4.85	4.03	2458	22002.2	11920	9855
1920	4.36	3.46	2468	22263.0	10766	8552

------source: BBRef

Thus the R/G and ERA for each decade is as follows:
1920s- 4.81 R/G, 4.48 ERA
1930s- 4.93 R/G, 4.27 ERA
1940s- 4.31 R/G, 4.12 ERA
1950s- 4.45 R/G, 3.90 ERA

So what happened from the 20s/30s to the 40s/50s? Relief pitching? Perhaps a few more guys were being used, though not too many. World War II? Perhaps, though both sides were depleted. Let's look at 1936-1942, the highest offensive year in history to the year before the war affects baseball:

Code:

Year	R/G	ERA	G	IP	R	ER
1942	4.08	3.48	2448	21952.0	9996	8499
1941	4.49	3.89	2488	22199.1	11171	9595
1940	4.68	4.11	2472	22051.2	11570	10080
1939	4.82	4.27	2462	21826.0	11870	10347
1938	4.89	4.28	2446	21658.1	11966	10306
1937	4.87	4.27	2478	21907.1	12069	10386
1936	5.20	4.52	2476	22043.2	12863	11079

The slider begins leveling the pitcher vs. batter struggle as it frequents the repertoire more and more. How about after the war:

Code:

Year	R/G	ERA	G	IP	R	ER
1955	4.49	4.00	2468	22011.0	11069	9781
1954	4.38	3.90	2474	22126.2	10827	9581
1953	4.61	4.14	2480	22032.0	11426	10135
1952	4.18	3.70	2478	22206.0	10349	9136
1951	4.55	4.04	2478	22208.1	11268	9967
1950	4.85	4.36	2476	21972.2	12013	10641
1949	4.61	4.12	2480	22038.2	11422	10085
1948	4.57	4.12	2474	21932.0	11312	10037
1947	4.35	3.89	2486	22043.1	10826	9516
1946	4.01	3.46	2484	22147.1	9955	8514

The slider continues to level things out. More and more guys are picking up on it, even if as a third or fourth-string pitch. Hitters will begin to figure it out a bit, but as we enter the 1960s the advantages become far too great, leading to the strike zone reduction, mound height reduction, and implementation of the DH.

The war years, 1942-1945, boasted 4.08 R/G and a 3.48 ERA. Hitting took a slight dip, but overall it is on par with the trend set before and after WWII. The second World War merely interrupted the balance. It played no part in the overall trend toward neutral (and eventually pitcher-favoring) decades. Relief pitching and other specialized pitches came about, but not until the 1950s. It was the slider that set the stage for pitching redemption after twenty years of hitting field days.

 

Who in his or her right mind would ever argue Lefty Grove as GOAT?

 

http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/8bc0a9e1

 

Of all people, Steve Lyons just called Yasiel Puig a "dumb player."

Puig is playing RF, Ethier in CF, Ethier gets a good jump on a ball into the gap, called for it and Puig ran right in front for the catch. Was kind of a dumb play, but Steve Lyons?

 

Puig did slide into first not too long ago, so it may not be terribly off base.

 

Grove won vastly more ERA titles than anyone ever. Grove has the best adjusted ERA ever, despite Johnson's great decade in the Dead Ball Era. The guy led the league in K's in his first 7 years, and it would have been far more, had he come up when he was supposed to, instead of when Dunn finally let him go. The guy has the best W-L% of any 250-game winner ever, and he didn't always play on dynastic teams by any stretch of the fancy. The guy won FOUR e.r.a. titles in Fenway Park, as a left-handed pitcher after his 35th birthday. (Every time someone sees that stat for the first time, he/she has to read it two or three times to make sure it says what he/she thought it said.)

 

Alex Cobb of the Rays hit in the head by a comebacker. Very reminiscent of what happened to JA Happ on the same mound.

 

That was scary. The velocity of ball hit by Eric Hosmer that struck Alex Cobb in the head: 102.4 mph.

 

Holy shit.

 

Great. Still doesn't make him better than Walter Johnson.

 

Lefty Grove had a career ERA+ of 148, Walter Johnson had 147. They're pretty fucking close.

 

And of course, ERA+ is the sole determining factor of a pitcher's worth. Go the fuck away, Herpes.