[Mick]

Ted Lyons.

He also had the fourth highest career ERA of any pitcher in the HoF (Jack Morris, Red Ruffing and Mike Mussina are the others) and only appeared in one all star game.  He was cut a little slack for missing three years of his career due to WWII, and he was a fan favorite for Chicago, which helped.

Eight pitchers are not in the HoF, but won more games with a better winning percentage than Ted, including Roger Clemens, Tommy John, Jim Kaat, Tony Mullane, Bobby Mathews, Jamie Moyer, Jim McCormick, and Gus Weyhing.

There are 83 pitchers in the Hall of Fame, and Lyons is #535 in winning percentage (.5306).

Bonus question: In 1927, the New York Yankees had the famed Murderers Row lineup. In how many of the major offensive categories did the Yankees lead the other American League teams? How about pitching categories?

The Yankees finished first in hits, triples, HRs, batting avg,, OBP, slugging percentage, OPS, RBIs, runs scored, walks, (most) strikeouts.  They finished second in doubles and fourth in stolen bases.  They also finished first in wins, ERA, shutouts, hits allowed, runs allowed, HRs allowed, fewest walks and third most in strikeouts.

Extra bonus question: around this same time, Ty Cobb was managing the Detroit Tigers and ran across a pitcher with a unique pitch. He advised the pitcher to get rid of the pitch and let him languish in the Detroit minor league system for a few years. He later became a Hall of Famer for another team, a pitcher that Joe DiMaggio called the toughest pitcher he'd ever faced. Who was that pitcher and what was the unique pitch? 

The pitcher was Carl Hubbell, and his famed pitch was the screwball.  He languished in the Detroit system because Cobb essentially refused to allow him to throw the screwball.  He wasn't the first, BTW, even Mathewson threw the screwball.  As for DiMaggio, he went 3 for 16 against Hubbell with three singles in the 1936 and 1937 World Series.  He was 12 for 34 against the other Giants' pitchers.

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So with this in mind, here's a few trivia questions:

1) In what year did baseball first introduce the pitching mound?  1893
2) What effect did it have on number of strikeouts per game?  You would figure they would increase, but strikeouts leaguewide actually declined from 5,978 to 3,342.  Why?  Because...
3) In what year did baseball move the pitching distance back to 60' 6" and what was the original distance?  The league also moved the pitching distance back in 1893 as well.  So they gave with one hand, but took away with the other.  The real problem in 1892 was...
4) Why are pitchers called "pitchers" and not "designated throwers" or any other term?  They were called pitchers because they originally "pitched" the balls underhand like horseshoes, which made more sense when the pitching zone was 4 feet x 5.5 feet.  The pitcher had to "pitch" from the back of the box, which was 55 feet from home plate.  But in 1892, the year before the change, pitchers found they could throw sidearm, get more strikeouts and get around the "underhand only" rule.

Bonus question: In 1927, the New York Yankees had the famed Murderers Row lineup. In how many of the major offensive categories did the Yankees lead the other American League teams?  How about pitching categories?

Extra bonus question: around this same time, Ty Cobb was managing the Detroit Tigers and ran across a pitcher with a unique pitch.  He advised the pitcher to get rid of the pitch and let him languish in the Detroit minor league system for a few years.  He later became a Hall of Famer for another team, a pitcher that Joe DiMaggio called the toughest pitcher he'd ever faced.  Who was that pitcher and what was the unique pitch?

[Mick]

Ted Lyons.

He also had the fourth highest career ERA of any pitcher in the HoF (Jack Morris, Red Ruffing and Mike Mussina are the others) and only appeared in one all star game.  He was cut a little slack for missing three years of his career due to WWII, and he was a fan favorite for Chicago, which helped.

Eight pitchers are not in the HoF, but won more games with a better winning percentage than Ted, including Roger Clemens, Tommy John, Jim Kaat, Tony Mullane, Bobby Mathews, Jamie Moyer, Jim McCormick, and Gus Weyhing.

There are 83 pitchers in the Hall of Fame, and Lyons is #535 in winning percentage (.5306).

Bonus question: In 1927, the New York Yankees had the famed Murderers Row lineup. In how many of the major offensive categories did the Yankees lead the other American League teams? How about pitching categories?

The Yankees finished first in hits, triples, HRs, batting avg,, OBP, slugging percentage, OPS, RBIs, runs scored, walks, (most) strikeouts.  They finished second in doubles and fourth in stolen bases.  They also finished first in wins, ERA, shutouts, hits allowed, runs allowed, HRs allowed, fewest walks and third most in strikeouts.

Extra bonus question: around this same time, Ty Cobb was managing the Detroit Tigers and ran across a pitcher with a unique pitch. He advised the pitcher to get rid of the pitch and let him languish in the Detroit minor league system for a few years. He later became a Hall of Famer for another team, a pitcher that Joe DiMaggio called the toughest pitcher he'd ever faced. Who was that pitcher and what was the unique pitch? 

The pitcher was Carl Hubbell, and his famed pitch was the screwball.  He languished in the Detroit system because Cobb essentially refused to allow him to throw the screwball.  He wasn't the first, BTW, even Mathewson threw the screwball.  As for DiMaggio, he went 3 for 16 against Hubbell with three singles in the 1936 and 1937 World Series.  He was 12 for 34 against the other Giants' pitchers.

---

So with this in mind, here's a few trivia questions:

1) In what year did baseball first introduce the pitching mound?  1893
2) What effect did it have on number of strikeouts per game?  You would figure they would increase, but strikeouts leaguewide actually declined from 5,978 to 3,342.  Why?  Because...
3) In what year did baseball move the pitching distance back to 60' 6" and what was the original distance?  The league also moved the pitching distance back in 1893 as well.  So they gave with one hand, but took away with the other.  The real problem in 1892 was...
4) Why are pitchers called "pitchers" and not "designated throwers" or any other term?  They were called pitchers because they originally "pitched" the balls underhand like horseshoes, which made more sense when the pitching zone was 4 feet x 5.5 feet.  The pitcher had to "pitch" from the back of the box, which was 55 feet from home plate.  But in 1892, the year before the change, pitchers found they could throw sidearm, get more strikeouts and get around the "underhand only" rule.

Bonus question: In 1927, the New York Yankees had the famed Murderers Row lineup. In how many of the major offensive categories did the Yankees lead the other American League teams?  How about pitching categories?

Extra bonus question: around this same time, Ty Cobb was managing the Detroit Tigers and ran across a pitcher with a unique pitch.  He advised the pitcher to get rid of the pitch and let him languish in the Detroit minor league system for a few years.  He later became a Hall of Famer for another team, a pitcher that Joe DiMaggio called the toughest pitcher he'd ever faced.  Who was that pitcher and what was the unique pitch?