I was going to say, I had no idea Jackson was still kicking around. And the answer, of course, turns out to be "he's not" - he hasn't pitched in a game since 2019. Seems like an unnecessary retirement announcement but whatever.

8.9 total career WAR over 17 MLB seasons ... I'm not going to look it up, but I sorta doubt that very many guys ahead of him on the career IP list (he's 466th) have a much lower ERA+ than his 88.

Congrats to him, I guess, for being able to get rich being highly mediocre for a very long period of time. Not a lot of guys hang around so long when they clearly just aren't very good, but he always found a way.

yeah, with these I always like to say, "Did he have a choice?"

BB-ref estimates his career earnings at $79.1M.

he was an All-Star once, the one time he was good for 200 IP as a starter - 2009 (4th in starts, 8th in ERA+).

He did pitch 1 inning of indy ball last year. :-)

I feel like #1 kinda undersells him. He was considered a guy with great stuff and he made the majors at 19. From 24-28, he was a solidly above-average pitcher -- 13.5 WAR, 4.7 WAA and then a healthy contract from the Cubs. He hung on longer because he was willing to hang on longer and the arm didn't fall off -- he was a generic vet SP stashed at AAA until needed. Many of us here would regularly "tout" him as a bounceback candidate. (And he did that half-season in Oak.)

He turned out way better than 2/3 of the Mets trio of Pulsipher, Wilson and Isringhausen (and that 13.5 WAR is more than Isringhausen's career WAR). More career WAR than Steven Matz so far -- sorry, not meaning to pick on the Mets, he just sprang to mind. No need to get started on the number of Cub SP prospects he turned out better than. He debuted in 2003 ... he's got more career WAR than 8 of the 15 guys picked #1 overall 2003-17.

he was an All-Star once, the one time he was good for 200 IP as a starter - 2009 (4th in starts, 8th in ERA+).

As a Tiger fan, I have nothing but fondness for Edwin Jackson. We got the best year of his career, and then he was part of the trade that brought Max Scherzer and Austin Jackson.

The thing I love about Jackson's BB-Ref page is that, at a quick glance, the team he spent the most time with was "TOT" -- he had 6 years with the esteemed TOT franchise and no more than 3 anywhere else. :)

That no-hitter against the Rays is one of the crazier stat lines.

9 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 8 BB, 6 K, 149 pitches (79 strikes)

His first start was on his 20th birthday against Randy Johnson, who turned 40 the day after that game.

In related news Francisco Franco is still dead.

That no-hitter against the Rays is one of the crazier stat lines.

9 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 8 BB, 6 K, 149 pitches (79 strikes)

I wonder what the record is for most balls thrown by a pitcher in a single game is (by that, I don't mean "pitches", I mean "balls" as compared to "strikes").

I suspect one or more of those epic Nolan Ryan starts where he struck out a ton of batters, but also walked a ton, might be in the running...

I'll remember Jackson as part of the rotation for the Cardinals' 2011 World Series Champion squad.

He was acquired before the trade deadline (in the "Colby Rasmus trade") to shore up a shaky rotation, and went 5-2 in 11 starts as the Cardinals went 35-23 after the trade.

He pitched a huge Game 4 in the NLDS against the 102-win Phillies and Roy Oswalt with the Cardinals facing elimination down 2 games to 1.

Jackson allowed hits to the first three batters and found himself quickly down 2-0 before clamping down, allowing just two more hits and no more runs through six innings, and leaving with a 3-2 lead in a game the Cardinals would win 5-3.

That set up the epic Game 5, pitting Roy Halladay against Chris Carpenter, who ended up pitching a complete game in the 1-0 clincher.

I wonder what the record is for most balls thrown by a pitcher in a single game is (by that, I don't mean "pitches", I mean "balls" as compared to "strikes").

On 23 June 1915, Bruno Haas pitched a complete game for the A's against the Yankees, walking sixteen batters and allowing fifteen runs (eight earned). That's a minimum of 64 balls against 53 batters. He also threw three wild pitches, picked two runners off, singled and scored a run. It was his major league debut. That game went a full nine innings, saw 22 runs scored between the two teams, 28 hits, 17 walks, and five strikeouts, lasting only 2:05.

On 22 August 1951, Tommy Byrne went 12.2 innings and walked sixteen Red Sox. He allowed only three runs, although the last two, in the top of the 12th inning, were walked in. Byrne walked the last four batters he faced with two outs and a runner on first. He walked as many as Haas, but faced 63 batters, so I suspect he threw more balls.

There was also the game between Brooklyn and Boston on 1 May 1920, where pitchers Leon Cadore and Joe Oeschger each pitched complete games. That wouldn't be so remarkable, except that the game lasted 26 innings. Cadore and Oeschger only walked five and four batters, respectively, though with how many batters they faced (140 and 153), they may surpass the huge walk totals of Haas and Byrne.

Wrong thread

Responded to Walt's post.

Jackson's appearances with the Blue Jays were just atrocious.

11.12 ERA in 8 games (5 starts). He was the "tank commander" in 2019 for his brief time with the Jays, but everyone was still happy to see him get let go. He obviously couldn't get people out any more with any sort of regularity, and everyone could see that.

The fact that the Tigers picked him up two days later (and let him appear in 10 more games (8 starts)) suggests the Tigers' brass couldn't see it, or wanted him to tank for them as well.

In the age of every team going through about 30 pitchers a season, the stinky teams get desperate and taking a punt hoping EJax doesn't suck for 30 innings is probably a better idea than some 32-yo AA guy or starting some kid's clock. That falls under the "if some EJax type would rather stick around in his late 30s than retire with his millions, somebody will give him a shot to eat some innings ... at least until the 11+ ERA" clause of the UPC.

By the way, it's probably an over-reach for me to say young EJax had a "great stuff" rep ... if I recall, he had a "nasty slider" rep.

On 22 August 1951, Tommy Byrne went 12.2 innings and walked sixteen Red Sox.

Byrne put up some amazing stats in that time period. In 1949, 1950, and 1951 he led the AL in both walks and batters hit-by-pitch all three seasons. Over those three seasons, he pitched 543 innings, and walked 489 batters and hit 45. In 1949, he led the AL in lowest H/9 with 5.7 and most So/9 with 5.9, but walked 179 at a rate of 8.2 per 9. In 1951, he walked 150 in 143.2 innings.

The 1949 Yankees pitchers walked 812 batters, the most in MLB, and won the World Series. The Athletics that year had five pitchers who walked over 100 batters each - and had a winning record. Those were different times.

Edwin Jackson threw 600 innings from 2009 to 2011, then collapsed. The 147 pitch game was in 2010. No smoking gun, but ...

He turned out way better than 2/3 of the Mets trio of Pulsipher, Wilson and Isringhausen (and that 13.5 WAR is more than Isringhausen's career WAR). More career WAR than Steven Matz so far -- sorry, not meaning to pick on the Mets, he just sprang to mind. No need to get started on the number of Cub SP prospects he turned out better than. He debuted in 2003 ... he's got more career WAR than 8 of the 15 guys picked #1 overall 2003-17.

OK, but he still just wasn't actually very good.

late to the party, but... a couple of years ago, Adam Berry, the terrific MLB.com writer who covers the Rays, put together an oral history piece of Jackson's 149-pitch no-hitter. I don't usually like these things (prefer actual stories) but this one is good.