Baseball - Which is the greater achievement.

[Wolverine1]

Originally Posted by TNovak

The MLB record for strikeouts in a single 9 inning game is 20. Roger Clemons did it twice, once in 1986 and once in 1996, both times as a Red Sox (or would it be Red Sock?) and it was most recently done by Kerry Wood (Chicago Cubs) in 1998. Both are right handed.

Randy Jonson did it too:

Struck out 20 batters in a game on May 8, 2001 against Cincinnati Reds; Johnson recorded all 20 strikeouts in the first nine innings, but because the game went into extra innings, it was not categorized by MLB as an "official" 20-strikeout game (Tom Cheney's 16-inning, 21-strikeout game is also listed separately). Baseball has since reversed itself on the game, and now lists Johnson with Roger Clemens and Kerry Wood as 20-K pitchers.

[Wolverine1]

Originally Posted by Car50n

joe dimaggio's 56 game hitting streak. toughest thing ever. Nolan Ryans 7 no-hitters seems pretty safe to me.

certain longevity records are sometimes aquired thru selfishness and stubborness. while Cal's streak was great, he was a bit of a detriment to the team later in his career.
Cy Young also has the most losses in baseball history. lets not forget he pitched about 50 times a year as well.

Joe Ds record will be broke!

[risingstar]

It should be noted that during Joe D's time as well as Hank Aaron's time, we didn't really see much middle relief pitching at all. In fact, in the old days, pitchers were expected to pitch complete games and then be ready to play again much sooner than pitchers are expected to today. That certainly had an effect on hitting and batting numbers.

As far as I'm concerned, the real record out there belongs to Pete Rose.

[The General]

If Jeter doesn't get hurt he's projected to make a serious run at Roses hit record. He's currently ahead of Roses pace.

[Alex655321]

Originally Posted by Wolverine1

Joe Ds record will be broke!

That's a tough one but it could be done.

[TNovak]

Originally Posted by risingstar

As far as I'm concerned, the real record out there belongs to Pete Rose.

You're kidding right? Normally I find your posts to be insightful, thoughtful and very good, but I couldn't disagree more on this point. By the early 80's, Rose's play had sunk below the level that would be required by any normal team to keep a first baseman in the lineup. He was god-awful in his last year with the Phillies (1983) and continued with the Expos (who used his notariaty and pursuit of the hit record for fan appeal) in 1984 primarily to pursue his 4000th hit.

While no other team would consider him as a viable player (including the Expos by this point) Cincinnati agreed to let him return as a "player manager", where he could (and did) pencil his own name in the lineup. Even after he broke Cobb's record he hung on another year until he was actually forced to quit.

Everyone I know acknowledges that Pete put himself in the Red's lineup at the expense of much more qualified players. For example, it would have made MUCH more sense to play Nick Esasky at first and give the leftfield job to Eric Davis or Kal Daniels. With Rose forcing himself into the lineup as a powerless, contact hitting, liability in the field, first baseman, Esasky was stuck in left and Davis and Daniels were kept in the minors too long.

As the great Mickey Mantle commented when asked about Rose's hit record "Weren't most of them singles?" Indeed they were Mick, and many were hit long after his career would have been over but for huckster fan draw schemes in Canada and even more shameful self promoting at the expense of the team in Cincinnati.

[TNovak]

Originally Posted by Wolverine1

Randy Jonson did it too:

Struck out 20 batters in a game on May 8, 2001 against Cincinnati Reds; Johnson recorded all 20 strikeouts in the first nine innings, but because the game went into extra innings, it was not categorized by MLB as an "official" 20-strikeout game (Tom Cheney's 16-inning, 21-strikeout game is also listed separately). Baseball has since reversed itself on the game, and now lists Johnson with Roger Clemens and Kerry Wood as 20-K pitchers.

True on both counts, but Bullseye's specific question was if any pitcher had struck out "nearly all" of the batters in a game. In any extra inning game, unless the strikeout rate actually goes up, the percentage of "all" of the batters faced (because additional batters are faced in extra innings) goes down. Whether Johnson faced the batters in extra innings or not, his percentage of striking out the total number of batters would go down. But kudos on the baseball knowledge, I didn't know about the Johnson situation, but I did the Tom Cheney game, which is why I noted "a nine inning game" in my post.

[fossa2]

Originally Posted by Wolverine1

Joe Ds record will be broken!

I don't think so.

[fossa2]

Orel Hershiser 59 consecutive scoreless innings

[Wolverine1]

Originally Posted by fossa2

Orel Hershiser 59 consecutive scoreless innings

Maddux came close.... Cant remember how far he was from it a few years ago....