CC Sabathia creeping into Hall consideration

By DAN TRAMMEL
@HighwaytoHall

CC Sabathia celebrated his 32^nd birthday on July 21 of this year. His career record on that date was 186-99, making him the 15^th pitcher since 1901 to win 186 or more games by the age of 32, and the first since 1978 (two years before Sabathia was born).

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Of the previous 14, twelve are enshrined in Cooperstown, including the last eight. The 15 pitchers in the order they each joined the group:

George Mullin 1912

Christy Mathewson 1912
Chief Bender 1915
Grover Cleveland (Pete) Alexander 1918
Walter Johnson 1919
Wes Ferrell 1927
Waite Hoyt 1931
Bob Feller 1950
Hal Newhouser 1952
Robin Roberts 1958
Don Drysdale 1968
Juan Marichal 1969
Jim Palmer 1977
Catfish Hunter 1978
CC Sabathia 2012

Wes Ferrell and George Mullin are the only 2 players listed above, besides Sabathia, who are not currently in the Hall of Fame. Neither player has much of an argument. Oddly, both pitchers rank among the best hitting pitchers of all time.

It is too early to put Sabathia into the Hall of Fame just yet, although this list makes an interesting argument. Let’s look at each player’s record at the age of 32 and the number of strikeouts each recorded:

Name	Wins	Losses	Strikeouts
Johnson	297	191	2614
Mathewson	285*	130	2105
Hunter	210	151	1922
Feller	208	123	2227
Roberts	206	156	1558
Drysdale	202	156	2428
Newhouser	200	147	1769
Bender	197	119	1626
Mullin	196*	156	1202
Palmer	194	104	1722
Alexander	192	89	1418
Marichal	191	88	1840
Ferrell	191	127	971
Hoyt	187	130	845
Sabathia	186	98	2128

*Mathewson and Mullin each turned 32 during the 1912 season. Box scores from this season are incomplete, however, so the statistics shown above for these two pitchers are through the 1911 season. It is possible Mathewson should be credited with 15 more wins and Mullin with 5 more.

 Only Marichal and Alexander suffered fewer losses than Sabathia, who also ranks near the top in strikeouts. Unfortunately, most of these pitchers struggled after reaching this point, particularly Hunter and Drysdale. Here are the pitchers in the order of wins recorded after their 32^nd birthday:

Pete Alexander           181

Walter Johnson           120
Christy Mathewson     88
Robin Roberts             80
Jim Palmer                   74
Bob Feller                   58
Juan Marichal              52
Waite Hoyt                 50
George Mullin             32
Chief Bender              15
Catfish Hunter            14
Hal Newhouser           7
Don Drysdale              7
Wes Ferrell                  2
Sabathia                      N/A

The top 3 pitchers on the list are the only ones to reach 300 wins. Based on past history, I do not believe Sabathia will make it to 300 wins either. He has, however, been one of the dominant pitchers in his era, with a Cy Young Award and 4 other top 5 finishes, giving him a very strong case if he suffers a similar fate to the pitchers listed. One thing missing from his resume, however, is a strong pitching performance in a World Series game. Here are the same pitchers again with their World Series record:

Name	Record	ERA	CG	Championships	WS Apps
Hoyt	6-4	1.83	6	3	7
Bender	6-4	2.44	9	3	5
Hunter	5-3	3.29	1	5	6
Mathewson	5-5	0.97	10	1	4
Palmer	4-2	3.20	1	3	6
Mullin	3-3	1.86	6	0	3
Johnson	3-3	2.52	5	1	2
Drysdale	3-3	2.95	3	3	5
Alexander	3-2	3.56	4	1	3
Newhouser	2-1	6.53	2	1	2
Marichal	0-0	0.00	0	0	1
Roberts	0-1	1.64	1	0	1
Sabathia	0-1	3.29	0	1	1
Feller	0-2	5.02	1	1	1
Ferrell	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

 *WS Apps are the number of series in which a pitcher participated.

Most of these pitchers were frequent visitors to the Fall Classic. And the Hall candidacies of the pitchers at the top of the list were no doubt helped by the number of times they pitched in October. Pitching for the New York Yankees will likely help Sabathia in this regard. If he can add a couple of rings to his resume, he may very well join 12 of the pitchers above in Cooperstown.

One final note, the number 186 was chosen because that is the number of wins recorded by Sabathia. Lowering the number only a little will obviously expand the above list. By my count, the pitcher who came the closest was Greg Maddux, who turned 32 on April 14, 1998. He ended the 1997 season with 184 wins, needing only 2 wins to join the club. He started Opening Day March 31, giving him 3 games to win 2. What happened? In the Opener, he pitched 7 innings, giving up 6 hits and 1 run. He got a no decision because the Braves couldn’t solve Cal Eldred (though the Braves won 2-1). In his next start he was matched up with Curt Schilling. Maddux went 8 innings, giving up 5 hits and 2 runs (1 earned). But Maddux took the loss as Schilling threw a complete game 5 hitter and the Phils won 2-1. Obviously, he missed his chance to join the club regardless of how he did in his last outing before his birthday, but it is worth mentioning anyway. Once again, he is matched up against Schilling. Maddux pitched 8 innings, giving up 5 hits and 0 runs. He got a no decision because Schilling pitched a 2-hit shutout and the Phils scored a run in the 9^th when Mike Cather relieved Maddux and promptly walked Greg Jeffires and Scott Rolen before giving up a single to Mike Lieberthal. So, in 3 starts, Maddux gave up 2 earned runs and was 0-1. Damn close to the club.