Happy Sunday to everyone. This morning, while doing some research on baseball on military bases in the 1940s – 1960s, I came across a very interesting article. The article, published in the August 9, 1961 Quonset Scout newspaper, tells the military and baseball story of Navy Captain Larry French. Here is the article, snipped from the Quonset Scout archives online:
First off, these old newspaper clippings are just amazing pieces of history and I encourage any history buff to follow the highlighted links above and read the stories of our military men and women. It’s just fascinating stuff and far exceeds any history book I ever read in school.
Okay, let’s get to the article and the wise beyond his years, Captain Larry French. At the time of the article, French was attending an Old Timers reunion of Yankees, Giants, and Dodgers players (all 3 MLB teams played in New York in that era) and was interviewed about his playing career, what he was most proud of, and the state of baseball as he saw it in 1961. Captain French had long since retired from MLB and was a supply officer in the US Navy, according to the aricle. And according to the article, French played in 12 Major League seasons for 3 different clubs – Dodgers, Cubs, Pirates. This information is confirmed by Baseball Reference and here is a snippet of Mr. French’s career from his baseball page on BR:
Captain French was better than average pitcher for 14 seasons in Major League Baseball. He averaged 225 innings per 162 game average. He led the league in shutouts twice, led the league in games pitched in 1932, led the league in batters faced twice, and compiled a win loss record of 197-171. He appeared in 570 games and started 383 of those games. He threw 199 complete games and had 40 shutouts. He pitched in 3 World Series, losing all three Series, so no WS ring for Captain French. However, quite an impressive resume.
Ok, let’s get to the comment that struck a chord with me this morning. From the article, Captain French states “when it was my turn to take the mound, I thought of it as a day of work consisting of nine full innings. Don’t get me wrong, there are some great players today, but in the pitching end the tendency to work long and hard has diminished.” An honest opinion from a Navy Captain and former Major League Pitcher whose career average was 225 innings per season. Last year, the American League Cy Young Award winner was Gerrit Cole. He threw a respectable 209 innings, which led the American League. He had 2 complete games and 2 shutouts. He pitched and started in a total of 33 games in 2023. In 11 seasons in Major League Baseball, he has 8 complete games. And he is widely considered to be the best, if not in the discussion, for the best pitcher of the past decade in Major League Baseball. I would agree. Great pitcher, definitely a potential Hall of Fame candidate in the coming years.
Where am I going with this? The all-time leaders for inning pitched is a literal who’s who of all-time pitching greats in Major League baseball history. Cy Young, Don Sutton, Greg Maddux, Nolan Ryan, Warren Spahn, Steve Carlton, Tom Seaver – all greats, all long since retired from Major League Baseball. The active leader in innings – Zach Grienke with 3389 – is 85th on the all-time innings list. He along with #2 Justin Verlander (92 all-time) and a few others in the 40 year old range, will soon retire as the last of a generation of pitchers who started games and pitched well into them. The modern day starting pitcher is now good for roughly 5 to 6 innings of work per game, tops. Here are some of the top active pitchers’ stats from 2023:
You can see the aforementioned Gerrit Cole. Average innings per start, 6.3. How about the National League Cy Young Award winner, Blake Snell? Average innings per start, 5.6. Newly signed Boston Red Sox hurler Lucas Giolito, his average innings per start in 2023 was 5.6 (rounded up). So, the top innings producers in terms of pitcher starting games would get your team an average of 5 to 6 innings of work, and then hand the baseball over to the manager and the bullpen arms. Complete games you ask? The 2023 stats leader in that category had a whopping 3 complete games, Miami Marlins Sandy Alcantara and Kansas City Royal Jordan Lyles shared that title. Which leads me to the question of the day:
Should Major League Baseball change the requirement for a starting pitcher to earn a victory from 5 innings to say 6 or even 7 innings of work? Do you feel that a win is earned by throwing a mere 5 innings, just over half of a nine inning game? And someone else or a committee of pitchers then threw the remaining 4 innings, which is roughly just under a half of the game? Is 5 innings enough work to say you did your part in the team’s victory? You remember Captain French’s comments, “a day of work consisting of nine innings.” Can a pitcher learn how to navigate through 6 innings of work to earn a victory, if that is what is required to earn a W? Here is the Major League Baseball Rule on determining wins:
“A pitcher receives a win when he is the pitcher of record when his team takes the lead for good — with a couple rare exceptions. First, a starting pitcher must pitch at least five innings (in a traditional game of nine innings or longer) to qualify for the win. If he does not, the official scorer awards the win to the most effective relief pitcher.”
So, if a pitcher struggles mightily for 5 innings, gives up doubles and triples and home runs galore, but is technically in line for a win because his team is ahead, and a bullpen pitcher comes in and pitches 4 perfect innings, the starting pitcher earns the W, and not the perfect bullpen pitcher? A win is a major statistic in baseball, we all know this. Again referencing Captain French, “a day of work consisting of 9 innings” simply does not exist in the modern game of professional baseball, in my opinion.
There are exceptions to this so I am not casting a net over the entire professional baseball network of pitchers. I am just simply asking the question, do you feel that a starting pitcher earns a win by throwing 5 innings in a game? Personally, I feel the rule should be looked at and perhaps altered to match the times we are in. Which are – starting pitcher throws roughly 1 to 5 innings, bullpen consisting of 12 1-inning fireballers comes in to finish the game. What are you thoughts on the rule and whether it should be looked at, altered to mirror the modern game, and potentially changed to 6 or 7 innings to earn a win?
The Rhiter 
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