If at first you don't succeed
OK, let me try this again. The term "winningest" is a term used by baseball folks to mean "the most wins." But it is also used now and then to mean the best ratio of wins/total games. Because of this ambiguity, I should not have used this term.
My question relates to the Win/Loss ratio. It's calculated like this: Bob Gibson had 251 wins and 174 losses. That's a total of 425 games that he had a decision in. 251 divided by 425 is .590. Gibson's lifetime WL% is .590. (Usually listed as .591.) I constructed this question after listening to Whitey Herzog talk about a particular pitcher and his WL% as a Cardinal. I didn't believe it, and I've looked everywhere for some verification without any luck. I also didn't think Whitey would just say something like that without it being true, so I tried to construct a question so the answer would be this fellow Whitey was talking about.
So, of pitchers with over 50 games as a Cardinal, who has the best franchise WL%?
I'm still not sure if that the exact phrasing I should use. Here are some questions that are not this one:
Of pitchers with over 50 games as a Cardinal, who has the best lifetime WL%?
Of pitchers with over 50 games as a Cardinal, who has the most wins?
I'll publish the answers to all of the questions after a little more research.
posted by Richard Hudson @ 9:15 PM
4 Comments:
Isn't Rob right with Dizzy Dean? I'm not a good at Sports trivia,but I think Bob Gibson has the most wins.
Without question Gibson is the winningest Cardinal pitcher. My Dizzy Dean guess was based on the won-lost percentage, but can't say I would place any money on this answer. Too many variables. In my opinion, won-lost percentage is often a highly misleading gauge of a pitcher's worth. (Otherwise Jim Coates would be in the Hall of Fame for his stint with the Yankees). Richard, I think you should also clarify between decisions and games. A relief pitcher with a 3-0 record could easily appear in 50 games.
Just realized I signed on as anonymous on my last comment. Arghh.
Rob
Yeah, I think your right Rob. It is a misleading stat. Upon reflection, it was Whitey's concoction of this scenario that got me going in the first place. He has reason to brag about his boy John Tudor, but you have to slice & dice these numbers to come up with it.
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