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Wednesday, March 26, 2008

STLtoday: Goold: Gibby’s 1.12 ERA: 40 years later

and the same article is being written...ugh.

Gibson’s 1.12 figure forced a shift in baseball, as if basketball had raised the hoop after Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game or hockey had shrunk the goal after Wayne Gretzky’s 92-goal season. In 1969 baseball dropped the pitching mound — from 15 inches to 10 — and ERAs and batting averages climbed. Offense took over.

“He caused a change in the game,” said Dodgers manager Joe Torre, a close friend and former teammate of Gibson’s. “They lowered the mound and literally took a lot of sinkerballers out of the game. You can do things in others sports that change the rules. (There) aren’t too many times they’ve changed the rules in this game. That’s what is unique about (1.12).

“What’d he lose, nine games that year?” Torre asked. “Think about that. Losing nine games with a 1.12 earned-run average.”

Repoz Posted: March 26, 2008 at 12:32 AM | 19 comment(s)
  Related News: GeneralHistorySt Louis

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   1. The Milton Bradley Effect (Voxter) Posted: March 26, 2008 at 01:37 AM (#2720449)
Gibson’s 1.12 figure forced a shift in baseball, as if basketball had raised the hoop after Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game or hockey had shrunk the goal after Wayne Gretzky’s 92-goal season.


This only really works as an analogy if the hoops USED to be 11 feet in basketball, right? They were merely standardizing at a lower height something that had got out of hand without good regulation, no? Or do I remember incorrectly?

They lowered the mound and literally took a lot of sinkerballers out of the game.


Says the man who just spent several seasons managing Chien-Ming Wang.
   2. Will Carroll Posted: March 26, 2008 at 04:00 AM (#2720475)
Is there any evidence to support Torre's claim? I don't have my Neyer Guide around or I'd dig through and see if I could find this vast gap of missing sinkerballers in the 70s. Since the "power sinker" is something of a new or at least re-discovered pitch, a mirror of a cutter for most or even over to a screwball-esque break, there's probably something here in Torre's statement, but probably not what he thinks.
   3. Gonfalon Bubble Posted: March 26, 2008 at 05:56 AM (#2720480)
“What’d he lose, nine games that year?” Torre asked. “Think about that. Losing nine games with a 1.12 earned-run average.”

And Bob Veale lost 15 with a 2.05 ERA, and Sam McDowell lost 14 with a 1.81 ERA, and Dave McNally lost 10 with a 1.95 ERA, and Luis Tiant lost 9 with a 1.60 ERA, and Jerry Koosman lost 12 with a 2.08 ERA, and Tom Seaver lost 12 with a 2.20 ERA, and Gaylord Perry lost 15 with a 2.44 ERA, and Dean Chance lost 16 with a 2.53 ERA, and Mel Stottlemyre lost 12 with a 2.45 ERA, and Fergie Jenkins lost 15 with a 2.63 ERA, and Bill Singer lost 17 with a 2.88 ERA... can I stop thinking about it yet?
   4. Walt Davis Posted: March 26, 2008 at 06:17 AM (#2720489)
can I stop thinking about it yet?

I'm guessing you didn't so much "think" as run a P-I on pitchers with 9+ losses and ERAs under 3. :-)

Ohhh, all those guys are from 1968. I humbly apologize.

Anyway, of course it wasn't just Gibson's 1.12 as GB notes. At least 10 pitchers in the NL had ERAs under 2.50. Singer's 2.88, in Dodger Stadium granted, was only good enough for a 95 ERA+ -- i.e. he was Jeff Suppan 2007. The NL averaged 3.43 runs, the team lead in HR was 130 ... barely more than twice Maris. In the AL, 3.41 r/g, Yaz won the batting title with a measly 301 ... by 11 points, and they had 5 pitchers with an ERA below 2 and at least another 5 below 2.50 and McClain won 31. The Tigers did pound out an impressive 185 HR, which would be a pretty good NL total today.
   5. Eugene Freedman Posted: March 26, 2008 at 09:08 AM (#2720632)
Gibson’s 1.12 figure forced a shift in baseball, as if ... hockey had shrunk the goal after Wayne Gretzky’s 92-goal season.


While hockey didn't shrink the goal, I thought it did make some rule changes that reduced offense because of Gretzky's dominance. After the lockout, some of those rules were reversed, including the red line not counting as a line in the two-line pass rule.
   6. Edmundo, survivor of 7 right-sourcings Posted: March 26, 2008 at 09:44 AM (#2720664)
as if basketball had raised the hoop after Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game
This might be apochryphal, but there were a couple of rule changes because of Wilt:
1. Widening the lane
2. A foul shooter had to land behind the foul line. Allegedly Wilt could almost leap to the rim from the foul line. (I'm dubious about this one, as I've never seen any before pictures.)

Dunking was disallowed for a time in college basketball (late 60s into the 70s) because of Lew Alcindor/Kareem Abdul Jabbar. I know I can be old fashioned about sport in general, but I kind of liked the no dunk rule. A lot of the big men at that time had nice little bank shots, which I think have a certain kind of beauty to them.
   7. Walt Davis Posted: March 26, 2008 at 03:06 PM (#2720992)
Dunking was disallowed for a time in college basketball (late 60s into the 70s)

I believe it had been disallowed long before that because of Wilt or maybe even Mikan ... also technically offensive goaltending (touching the ball inside the cylinder).
   8. Bob "Jugement" Dernier Posted: March 26, 2008 at 03:13 PM (#2721003)
The dunk prohibition, per all quickly Googlable sources :) was in force 1967-1976 in college ball. I don't know about offensive goaltending, but defensive goaltending is associated with Bob Kurland, who played for Hank Iba at Oklahoma State in the 1940s, and sources say that the goaltending rule was invented expressly for Kurland.
   9. Cowboy Popup Posted: March 26, 2008 at 03:20 PM (#2721014)
Says the man who just spent several seasons managing Chien-Ming Wang.

And we spend 150 posts every two months debating Wang's reliability, ability, and projections because he's an unusual breed of pitcher. I thought Torre's comment provided a new take on baseball history that I had not seen before and I agree with Will that it is probably worth following up on Torre's statement and seeing if there is anything to it.
   10. Edmundo, survivor of 7 right-sourcings Posted: March 26, 2008 at 03:35 PM (#2721037)
The dunk prohibition, per all quickly Googlable sources :) was in force 1967-1976 in college ball.
Alright, wise@$$. :) I did look around and the best I can tell is that the dunk was outlawed starting with the 67-68 season, which was Jabbar's junior year. I thought it was a year earlier. (I am learning to rely less and less on my "vivid" memory). There was some later interview with Wooden out there in which the Coach debunks the "Jabbar" reasoning.
For those of you who were around then, didn't Bill Walton have a beautiful bank shot? And David Thompson, with the Alley Oop passes, doing his laydowns?
   11. Hello Rusty Kuntz, Goodbye Rusty Cars Posted: March 26, 2008 at 03:36 PM (#2721039)
I like the idea of raising and lowering things to fix problems. If stolen bases get out of hand, put all bases on really high hills. Ozzie Smith should have played short from inside a really deep pit. Steve Garvey would have remained on a pedestal so we could have basked in his glory.
   12. A Surfeit of Peaches Graham (SdeB) Posted: March 26, 2008 at 04:25 PM (#2721094)
I like the idea of raising and lowering things to fix problems.

We can put the Royal Society for Putting Things on Top of Other Things in charge.
   13. Nathan Kunkel Posted: March 26, 2008 at 04:32 PM (#2721101)
who's to say that Yaz's .301 batting crown didn't cause the straw to stir the drink? the 'if i can't hit .300, then i don't want it' and all that.
   14. Edmundo, survivor of 7 right-sourcings Posted: March 26, 2008 at 04:53 PM (#2721122)
who's to say that Yaz's .301 batting crown didn't cause the straw to stir the drink?
C'mon, you know what the response was...
Hitters today just aren't as good as they were in the old days. Get your nose out of that graph paper, put your slide rule away and watch some games and you would see... Where are all the .400 hitters? Everybody wants to hit homeruns... Why, Ty Cobb wudda hit .500 against these pitchers...
   15. vortex of dissipation Posted: March 26, 2008 at 05:21 PM (#2721145)
For those of you who were around then, didn't Bill Walton have a beautiful bank shot?


Absolutely. He was also the best at getting a rebound and throwing a perfect outlet pass that I've ever seen. Hell, he was probably the best college basketball player I've ever seen, period.
   16. You can't lose with Randy Winn, says Flynn Posted: March 26, 2008 at 05:51 PM (#2721172)
Torre is flat out wrong. Lowering the mound bought sinkerball pitchers back. 70s pitchers seemed to all have good sinkers and hard sliders.

With a lowered mound, throwing high fastballs and 12-6 curves becomes a more difficult proposition.
   17. AndrewJ Posted: March 26, 2008 at 05:54 PM (#2721175)
. If stolen bases get out of hand, put all bases on really high hills. Ozzie Smith should have played short from inside a really deep pit.

"Harrison Bergeron" author Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., smiles down from heaven.
   18. Cblau Posted: March 26, 2008 at 10:28 PM (#2721369)
They were merely standardizing at a lower height something that had got out of hand without good regulation, no? Or do I remember incorrectly?

The maximum height of the mound was set at 15 inches in 1903. It was made a uniform 15 inches in 1950. In 1969, it was lowered to 10 inches. So the mound had been standardized in 1950. I've never heard of a game being protested because the mound was too high, which any half-way decent manager would have done if he thought there was something funny going on.

I'm sure I'll never understand why people attribute the increase in offense in 1969 to a lower mound instead of the obvious reason, the smaller strike zone.
   19. baudib Posted: March 26, 2008 at 11:08 PM (#2721383)
I'm sure I'll never understand why people attribute the increase in offense in 1969 to a lower mound instead of the obvious reason, the smaller strike zone.


Try pitching off a 15-inch mound and then compare it to a 10-inch mound.
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