BBTF's Hall of Merit Discussion

Hall of Merit
— A Look at Baseball's All-Time Best

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Frank Tanana

Eligible in 1999.

John (You Can Call Me Grandma) Murphy Posted: May 06, 2007 at 06:07 PM | 26 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Related News:

Reader Comments and Retorts

Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.

1. John (You Can Call Me Grandma) Murphy Posted: May 06, 2007 at 06:11 PM (#2355967)

Trust me, Frankie baby. 1,320.9 innings before age 25 will only help your arm, not hurt it.

2. Juan V Posted: May 06, 2007 at 06:13 PM (#2355971)

What does this have to do with Frank Tanana? :)

3. BDC

Posted: May 06, 2007 at 06:18 PM (#2355991)

And yet, for all that Tanana was a poster boy for Arm Abuse, his career is still amazingly long, and he continued to be an effective pitcher into the era when $1M salaries for retread veterans were routine. He's gotta be happy, on balance.

4. John (You Can Call Me Grandma) Murphy Posted: May 06, 2007 at 06:23 PM (#2356003)

What does this have to do with Frank Tanana? :)

I thought about using that, Juan, but I felt it would be funnier if the next person posted it (and it was :-)

He's gotta be happy, on balance.

Certainly, Bob, and it's a testament to Tanana the pitcher rather than the thrower.

5. Eric Chalek (Dr. Chaleeko) Posted: May 06, 2007 at 06:45 PM (#2356040)

You could put Morris and Tanana in a hat, pick one out, and you'd have about as good a pitcher either way.

If you pick Tanana, you get a 106 ERA+ in 4188 innings with 240 wins.

If you pick Morris, you get a 105 ERA+ in 3824 innings with 254 wins.

It's hardly a slam dunk to take Morris by any means. In fact, there's a good case that Tanana's better.

6. John (You Can Call Me Grandma) Murphy Posted: May 06, 2007 at 06:55 PM (#2356059)

Good pickup, Eric. In fact, Tanana certainly had the greater peak over Morris, too.

7. AJM Posted: May 06, 2007 at 07:31 PM (#2356123)

Tanana will be in the top 20 while Morris is in the 60's. But there's not a big difference once you get past the top 15 or so.

8. DCW3 Posted: May 06, 2007 at 08:50 PM (#2356308)

The very first card in the very first pack of baseball cards I ever got, at the age of five. I was so impressed with those cards and all those crazy stats on the back that it drove me to learn more about the game. So, even though I was never a particular fan of his, Frank Tanana is in a way responsible for me being a baseball fan. And for using up a great deal of my free time that I could have used to have some sort of social life.

9. Cabbage Posted: May 07, 2007 at 12:01 AM (#2356519)

I, for one, always say "Tanana" like Ladysmith Black Mambazo sang "De na na" in Paul Simon's "Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes".

10. OCF Posted: May 07, 2007 at 12:49 AM (#2356588)

RA+ equivalent 245-220. Yes, that's pretty close to Morris (226-199) and Kaat (262-241). Herb Pennock is in that neigborhood somewhere. For 1975-76-77 I have him at an equivalent 19-10, 20-12, 19-8.

One very odd year on the RA side: 1990. He wasn't good that year (ERA+ 75) but he allowed no unearned runs at all. I have his RA+ as 83, and his equivalent record 8-12.

11. Paul Wendt Posted: May 07, 2007 at 12:56 AM (#2356595)

What is the greatest number of innings pitched in a season, no earned runs?

12. BDC

Posted: May 07, 2007 at 01:02 AM (#2356605)

What is the greatest number of innings pitched in a season, no earned runs?

26, Earl Moore, 1908 Phillies. But perhaps you mean unearned runs, that would be harder to find.

13. Bleed the Freak Posted: May 07, 2007 at 02:14 AM (#2356690)

The greatest number of innings pitched in a season, no unearned runs is Dick Ruthven, 1976, 240.3 IP, 112 R/ER, 14-17 W-L
The greatest number of earned runs with non unearned in a season is Joel Pineiro, 2005, 189 IP, 118 R/ER, 7-11 W-L

14. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: May 07, 2007 at 05:33 AM (#2356832)

As a kid that grew up a bit of a Tigers fan in the late 80s, you can imagine my surprise when I found out that Tanana was a flamethrower as a youth.

15. Eric Chalek (Dr. Chaleeko) Posted: May 07, 2007 at 01:03 PM (#2356932)

As a kid that grew up a bit of a Tigers fan in the late 80s, you can imagine my surprise when I found out that Tanana was a flamethrower as a youth.

I grew up an NL fan in the late 80s, so you can imagine my surprise when I found out that Tanana ever had a youth!

16. DL from MN Posted: May 07, 2007 at 02:11 PM (#2357020)

I like him just a teensy bit less than Tommy John. Very similar pitchers.

17. Jose Canusee Posted: May 08, 2007 at 08:59 PM (#2358655)

If only he had signed with the A's, Charlie Finley would have paid him to change his name to Banana Tanana and he would now be enshrined with Chet Lemon, Darryl Strawberry, and le Grand Orange.
bbbbbbbbbbbbt (raspberry sound)

18. jim in providence Posted: May 08, 2007 at 09:27 PM (#2358685)

What does this have to do with Frank Tanana?

No, it's: What?! Does this have to do with Frank Tanana?!!

I've always wanted to post that. I'll leave now, and I thank the members of the HOM for their indulgence.

19. Ben V-L Posted: May 10, 2007 at 09:03 PM (#2360288)

I was hoping for a Candeleria thread, since he was one of my all-time favorite pitchers. And 5 times in the top 10 ERA+ isn't shabby, though he's obviously a long, long shot for HOM.

And yeah, I know, what's that have to do with...

20. sunnyday2 Posted: May 10, 2007 at 09:39 PM (#2360312)

How could anybody seriously ask what anything has to do with anything? I mean after the Nolan Ryan thread.

21. Los Angeles Waterloo of Black Hawk Posted: May 16, 2007 at 12:59 AM (#2365338)

Actually, Ben V-L, both Tanana and the Candy Man played for the Angels, and both pitched in the postseason for the Angels -- and both after seasons in which they started less than 20 games.

A bunch of us Angel bloggers came up with a Top 100 Angels a few years back (based on perf with the Angels only); Tanana came in 14th and Rich Lederer wrote a nice little piece on 'im.

22. DavidFoss Posted: May 16, 2007 at 02:07 PM (#2365629)

How could anybody seriously ask what anything has to do with anything? I mean after the Nolan Ryan thread.

I think there's an inside joke going on here. I've bit my tongue for a while as to not spoil the fun, but now I'm curious... Where does the quote come from?

23. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: May 16, 2007 at 02:22 PM (#2365640)

I think there's an inside joke going on here. I've bit my tongue for a while as to not spoil the fun, but now I'm curious... Where does the quote come from?

Its from a Jayson Stark column.

BTF Wiki: What does this have to do with Frank Tanana?

24. DavidFoss Posted: May 16, 2007 at 03:27 PM (#2365693)

Ah... kinda like "What would Brian Boitano do?"

Thanks. :-)

25. Dag Nabbit has the talking pillow Posted: May 17, 2007 at 04:21 AM (#2366354)

One of only two pitchers to give up homers to both Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds. The other pitcher had a better career, though.

26. Howie Menckel Posted: May 17, 2007 at 01:17 PM (#2366484)

What was his consecutive complete games streak, 16?

I imagine people under age 30 could not even comprehend that.

You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.

<< Back to main

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Frank Tanana

Reader Comments and Retorts

BBTF Sponsor

Support BBTF

Bookmarks

Hot Topics

Syndicate