Re: Stats Gone Wild! Plus Triple-Play Bonus

On May 14, 2:29=A0pm, M C Hamster <davol...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> On Wed, 14 May 2008 11:20:36 -0700, Blinky the Shark
>
>
>
>
>
> <no.s...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> >Roy Smith wrote:
>
> >> "Richard R. Hershberger" <rrhe...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
>
>>news:54532257-4b9d-46cd-ab44-b1dd992307b1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> >> <snip>
>
> >> Regardless of the truth of this, no pitcher can force batters to
swing
> >> at the first pitch. =A0The 27 pitches-as-elegant theory suffers from
it=
s
> >> requiring the active cooperation of the other side.
>
> >> <snip>
>
> >> Not necessarily. =A0A called strike on the first pitch is still a
strik=
e. =A0I'm
> >> not questioning the elagance theory, just the notion that a 27 pitch
> >> strikeout requires active cooperation from the batter...
>
> >A 27 pitch strikeout involves one heck of a lot of foul balls. =A0:)
>
> There's a stat I don't recalling seeing... most pitches in an at bat.
> There's this page that suggests it might be 28, by Luke
Appling.http://ask=
..yahoo.com/20050923.html
>
> In more recent times, several sites mention an 18-pitch at bat in 2004
> by Alex Cora against Cubs' pitcher Matt Clement. =A0On the last pitch of
> the at bat, he hit a home run. =A0This was against the Cubs, I remind
> us. =A0

28 might be the major league record, but I doubt it stands up early
ball.  First off, before the turn of the 20th century foul balls were
not counted as strikes.  That rule was instituted to speed up the
games (which were consistently running over two hours!).  Go back to
before the Civil War and there were no called balls and strikes.  A
strike out required swinging and missing three times, but there was no
requirement to swing any any given pitch.  Some clubs developed a
stall game:  once a runner was on first base, the next batter would
simply refuse to swing at anything.  Eventually there would be a
passed ball or wild pitch, allowing the runner to advance.  Called
strikes were instituted to put a stop to this.  There was at least one
where the pitch counts were re****ted.  I would have to dig through my
notes to get the actual numbers.

Richard R. Hershberger