I've long been a fan of the guy.
I'm also a fan of Bill James, of course, although I find this Joe Posnanski fellow rather annoying. But here Posnanski is right on. Maybe the lesson is that he should always use Bill James as a resource. Bill James cannot help but be interesting.
I especially love this point, about Johnson's peak to Sandy Koufax's peak:
Koufax from 1963 to 1966 famously went 97-27 (.782 winning percentage) with a 1.86 ERA (a 172 ERA+ -- meaning his ERA was 72 percent better than the average pitcher of his time) and he averaged 307 strikeouts per year.
Johnson from 1995 to 2002 went 143-44 (.765 winning percentage) with a 2.61 ERA (a 177 ERA+ -- meaning his ERA was 77 percent better than the average pitcher of his time) and he averaged 302 strikeouts per year (despite missing most of the 1996 season).
In an otherwise great column, though, it's a shame that the leave out one of Randy Johnson's absolute career highlights.
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1 comment:
i was sure that the unit highlight was going to be when he killed the bird.
was that jim palmer in the dugout next to sparky? yes, as honorary captain.
ahhh, bryan adams as we head to break. no thank you.
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