AP
Cy Young can get comfortable. The Hall of Fame hurler is the lone pitcher in the 500-win guild, the most exclusive club in the annals of America's pastime, and he won't have company anytime soon, if ever.
Young and Walter Johnson are the only pitchers to compile more than 400 wins, another number that seems out of reach for today's tossers.
Even 300 wins -- the modern standard of excellence, the landmark upon which a pitcher can safely book a future flight to Cooperstown -- seems like a tall order for the current crop of hurlers, who have been conditioned to harness their talent across fewer innings and on fewer occasions. To arrive at the monumental digit requires a lengthy career devoid of enduring injuries and defined by consistency, fortune and supremacy.
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Bill James wrote a piece the other day about the possible difference between pitching and hitting prospects … and it reminded me of this project I've wanted to do for some time. I wanted to go back through Baseball America's... more »
My mother, as I have written many times before, knows and cares nothing about baseball. She used to care nothing of any sport outside of the Olympics, but in recent years she has become more interested in these silly games, and... more »
When I think of Ryan Freel, I think of Farney. Farney was the imaginary little man living in Freel's head. He was the reason, apparently, why it was not at all odd -- for those of us who had the pleasure of being around Freel... more »
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- During the latest leg of the Meet Terry Francona Tour, he went from the winter meetings in Nashville, Tenn., to the Dominican Republic to wining and dining free agent Nick Swisher last week in Cleveland. In... more »
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