More Than One All-Star Game SP Assignment
Posted by Steve Lombardi on July 10, 2011
How many starting pitchers have started more than one All-Star Game in their career?
Here's the list -
| Rk | Player | #Matching | W | L | GS | CG | SHO | SV | IP | H | ER | HR | BB | SO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robin Roberts | 5 | Ind. Games | 0 | 0 | 6.43 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14.0 | 17 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 1.64 | |
| 2 | Lefty Gomez | 5 | Ind. Games | 3 | 1 | .750 | 2.50 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18.0 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 0.78 |
| 3 | Don Drysdale | 5 | Ind. Games | 1 | 1 | .500 | 1.80 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15.0 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 15 | 0.80 |
| 4 | Jim Palmer | 4 | Ind. Games | 0 | 1 | .000 | 6.75 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.2 | 10 | 8 | 3 | 7 | 12 | 1.59 |
| 5 | Randy Johnson | 4 | Ind. Games | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 0.57 | |
| 6 | Warren Spahn | 3 | Ind. Games | 0 | 0 | 1.23 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.1 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 1.50 | |
| 7 | Billy Pierce | 3 | Ind. Games | 0 | 1 | .000 | 1.00 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 0.56 |
| 8 | Jack Morris | 3 | Ind. Games | 0 | 1 | .000 | 4.05 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.2 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 1.95 |
| 9 | Greg Maddux | 3 | Ind. Games | 0 | 0 | 2.57 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.0 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1.29 | |
| 10 | Whitey Ford | 3 | Ind. Games | 0 | 1 | .000 | 4.00 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.0 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1.00 |
| 11 | Roger Clemens | 3 | Ind. Games | 1 | 1 | .500 | 4.50 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.0 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0.83 |
| 12 | Jim Bunning | 3 | Ind. Games | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 0.00 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.11 |
| 13 | Vida Blue | 3 | Ind. Games | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 9.00 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.0 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 1.63 |
| 14 | David Wells | 2 | Ind. Games | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0.75 | |
| 15 | Dave Stieb | 2 | Ind. Games | 1 | 1 | .500 | 1.80 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 0.80 |
| 16 | Curt Simmons | 2 | Ind. Games | 0 | 1 | .000 | 4.50 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1.50 |
| 17 | Curt Schilling | 2 | Ind. Games | 0 | 1 | .000 | 4.50 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1.25 |
| 18 | Red Ruffing | 2 | Ind. Games | 0 | 1 | .000 | 6.00 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.0 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 1.67 |
| 19 | Vic Raschi | 2 | Ind. Games | 0 | 0 | 5.40 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0.60 | |
| 20 | Juan Marichal | 2 | Ind. Games | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0.33 | |
| 21 | Dwight Gooden | 2 | Ind. Games | 0 | 2 | .000 | 4.50 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.0 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1.17 |
| 22 | Tom Glavine | 2 | Ind. Games | 0 | 1 | .000 | 12.27 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.2 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3.00 |
| 23 | Bob Friend | 2 | Ind. Games | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 0.00 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0.83 |
| 24 | Bob Feller | 2 | Ind. Games | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 0.00 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0.50 |
| 25 | Paul Derringer | 2 | Ind. Games | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 0.00 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0.80 |
| 26 | Dizzy Dean | 2 | Ind. Games | 1 | 1 | .500 | 3.00 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 1.17 |
| 27 | Mort Cooper | 2 | Ind. Games | 0 | 2 | .000 | 11.81 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.1 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1.88 |
| 28 | Dean Chance | 2 | Ind. Games | 0 | 0 | 1.50 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0.67 | |
| 29 | Steve Carlton | 2 | Ind. Games | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 11.25 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.0 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1.50 |
.
I don't think anyone will ever have six of these under his belt...at least any time soon.
July 10th, 2011 at 11:00 pm
So Don Drysdale had 5 AS starts and Sandy Koufax had less than 2? Okay....(backing away slowly)
Also seems strange that Greg Maddux and Roger Clemens had only three each. They pitched 47 seasons between them.
July 10th, 2011 at 11:34 pm
How many relief pitchers have finished more than one All-Star game in a career?
July 11th, 2011 at 12:06 am
Hmmm... this would be inflated by the times there was more than one game per year, right? I mean, maybe not two in the same year for anyone (didn't check) but there would certainly be more opportunities. Just something to consider.
July 11th, 2011 at 12:37 am
@1,3
Drysdale started both games in 1959. So that inflates his total a bit. He was pacing the league in K's all year. He was only 9-6 for the first game, but was 14-6 at the second game. Antonelli probably deserved both starts on merit, but for the second one Drysdale was close.
Koufax had great first half numbers from 1961-66, but only made one start and didn't even get into the games in 62,63,64. I don't know if that was just the timing of his previous starts or what. Marichal probably deserved the start in 1965 (very close, though). Drysdale started in 1964 but was the second best pitcher at the break (to Koufax). O'Toole got the start in 1963 when Koufax was better, but O'Toole had lost three starts in a row before the actual game, so maybe they decided on his a couple of weeks ahead of time?
Rather curious. Retrosheet has leaderboards for this type of thing, so you can see the top five in all the major stats each day of the year. (including the day before the AS break). That's helpful for this type of analysis.
July 11th, 2011 at 12:38 am
I wonder when it became a big deal to be named the SP for the All Star game. We've come to expect that it will either be a pitcher who is having a lights out season (well, with a great W/L record) or an established star having a good year. But I'm not sure that was always the case. I looked at the 1964 NL season when Drysdale was the SP. he had a great year - finished leading the league in pitching WAR despite an 18-16 record. At the break he was 11-7 with a 2.05 ERA. Pretty good numbers, but look at the competition for the starting job:
Koufax 12-4, 1.73
Marichal 11-4, 2.37
Bunning 9-2, 2.14
Farrell, 10-3, 3.11
Short, 7-4, 1.59
Ellsworth 10-8, 3.05
The average of the other 6 pitchers was 10-4 and an ERA about 2.30. Certainly a case could be made for any of them starting. But Drysdale had more rest than any of them other than Chris Short (the game was on July 7. Short had pitched on the 2nd, Drysdale the 3rd, Bunning the 4th, the others on the 5th). Could be that in those days when the SP was expected to go at least 3 IP, the manager would choose the pitcher who was most rested. FWIW, two of the pitchers who worked on 7/5 did not appear in the AS game (Koufax and Ellsworth). If I had more time, I'd sample some more game from the earlier eras, but that's my thought.
And, yeah, they only carried 7 pitchers in the AS game and used 5. The AL used 4 pitchers.
July 11th, 2011 at 2:39 am
How to say that guys with ERA's over 3 could have a case for starting when there are pitchers with ERA's below 2?
July 11th, 2011 at 4:51 am
@6
because there's a lot more to pitching performances than ERA... exhibit A: ryan vogelong's 2.17 mark, exhibit B: jeff karstens' 2.55
July 11th, 2011 at 8:10 am
No Seaver? I thought for sure he would have started more than one All-Star Game.
July 11th, 2011 at 8:28 am
@2
Mariano has finished 6 All-Star games in his career with 8 innings pitched, 4 saves and an ERA of 0.00.
How many feathers does this guy have in his cap???
July 11th, 2011 at 1:11 pm
@9 Thomas Court: So many that if he showed up to a pow-wow, they'd call him "Chief"
July 11th, 2011 at 2:28 pm
All star starts prove nothing. Especially now when team will specifically line up their best pitcher to pitch Sunday before the ASG and Friday after the ASG and thus get mroe games out of their best pitcher, even though it means no ASG!
We need another thread about how the ASG is now a stupid waste of time - with 50 all stars on each team as guys drop out and are replaced by other guys who drop out. Making the game "count" for WS home field is even dumber when you force teams to carry players who don't belong there but need to be named to represent their team.
I hate the ASG and I loved it as a kid in the 70s.
July 11th, 2011 at 4:59 pm
@11 - I've been saying that for awhile now: the All-Star game quit meaning as much when free agency came along and interleague play pretty much did it in.
July 11th, 2011 at 7:09 pm
Wow, Jim Bunning. In three All-Star starts: 9 IP, 1 H, 0 BB.
July 11th, 2011 at 11:46 pm
@13, Patrice -- You've given me an excuse for a random Bunning plug:
For the period 1957-67, Jim Bunning ranks:
-- 1st in Wins Above Replacement with 59.6 (Drysdale 2nd at 58.4);
-- 2nd in Wins with 184 (1 behind Drysdale);
-- 2nd in Strikeouts with 2,327 (9 behind Koufax, though to be fair, Sandy didn't pitch in '67); and
-- 2nd in SO/BB ratio at 3.14 (Marichal 1st at 3.52, though in 1,000 fewer IP).
In 1967, Bunning was pretty clearly the best pitcher in baseball -- led the majors with 302 IP, 253 Ks, 6 shutouts, and 8.4 WAR (2nd was 6.8) -- but lost 6 games by 1-0 and wound up with a 17-15 record. Stuff like that kept him out of the Hall of Fame for about 20 years.
July 12th, 2011 at 12:31 am
@9, thanks, I figured Rivera would come up there.
@14, Bunning also had a 4-year stretch at the end of his career, 1968-71, when he went 32-51 with an ERA+ of 85. I'll wager very few HoF pitchers had such a prolonged period of way-below-average performance, and perhaps it had something to do with his long wait for immortality.
July 12th, 2011 at 12:45 am
No HOF pitcher has had more than two seasons with at least 100 IP and an ERA+ under 80. Seven did it twice, including Bunning.
http://bbref.com/pi/shareit/9vflP
July 12th, 2011 at 1:52 pm
All true, M.R. -- but with one of the seven being a 3-time CYA winner, I don't think the association brings any shame to Bunning.