Forty years ago, the Orioles won the American League pennant by nine games over the Minnesota Twins. This was before the advent of divisional play ? it started in 1969 ? and at the bottom of the 10-team circuit were the Boston Red Sox in ninth place and the New York Yankees dead last.
The stuff dreams are made of, right?
For me, the most stunning aspect of looking at those 1966 numbers isn?t so much the final standings by wins and losses; it?s the cumulative pitching stats that really catch your eye.
Yes, the Orioles won 97 games that year (they lost 63, and two rainouts weren?t made up), and their team ERA was 3.32, which was good enough for fourth place in the AL, just slightly ahead of the last-place Yankees? 3.41. For years, 1968 has been referred to as “The Year of the Pitcher,” based upon Bob Gibson?s 1.14 ERA, Denny McLain?s 31 wins and Carl Yastrzemski?s AL batting title at .301, but it was certainly as evident two years prior to that.
In 1966, only two AL hitters topped the .300 mark: Frank Robinson?s Triple Crown average of .316 and Tony Oliva?s .307. The Orioles had the highest team batting average at .258. Point of contrast: Today?s Orioles are hitting .275 as a team, seventh overall, and their club ERA is 5.27, 13th out of 14 clubs.
So, 40 years later, is it as simple as better hitting and sub-standard pitching? Sorry, no. That?s the easy conclusion to draw, but it has little basis in reality.
When divisional play began in 1969, both leagues expanded by two, bringing roughly 40 additional pitchers to the big leagues. The mound was lowered by five inches, from 15 to 10. (Geez, imagine 6-foot-7 Daniel Cabrera throwing that fastball off a 15-inch mound. There?s a good advertisement for earflaps on the batting helmet, no?)
Around the same time, umpires began to shrink the strike zone they?d been calling. Take a look at the old World Series? films on ESPN Classic and check out the letter-high strike. By the turn of the century, the zone was little more than knee tops to waist ? a target difficult to hit with consistency for many pitchers, but especially those hard throwers whose pitches have a tendency to sink less.
Additional expansions brought more inexperienced arms to the big leagues. But, along the way, strategies changed, pitch counts became more important and it was evident that even though the players were bigger and stronger, the game had evolved toward thehitter. At present, there?s little to suggest that MLB wants to tinker with that.
Raising the mound would help a little, though 15 inches is too high. Some umpires have started calling higher strikes, but overall the zone is still too small. In the AL, the designated hitter may be popular with the fans, but the pitchers hate it.
It?s still the best sport, but would a little tweaking hurt? I?m not saying go back to ?66, but there?s got be some middle ground out there to help the pitchers, who can?t be that bad.
Phil Wood has covered sports in the Washington-Baltimore market for more than 30 years. You can reach him at [email protected].
