WHY I THINK BRET SABERHAGEN SHOULD BE IN COOPERSTOWN

WHY I THINK BRET SABERHAGEN SHOULD

BE IN COOPERSTOWN

By- Damien 

Bret Saberhagen was as dominant as a pitcher could get for a lot of his career. He won two Cy Young Awards and finished third in 1994, once pitched 177 ⅓ innings in a season while allowing only 13 walks, won 20 games in a season twice and won the 1989 AL ERA title, the 1985 World Series MVP award, and even a Gold Glove award. He used his fastball, changeup, slider and curveball to devastate opposing batters for sixteen seasons. Bret Saberhagen started his career with the Royals in 1984 by going 10-11. He was the ultimate example of a second year standout when he went 20-6 on a 2.87 ERA in 1985, leading the fine Kansas City team to the World Series, where he went 2-0 on a 0.50 ERA with ten strikeouts. Saberhagen fell to 7-12 in 1986 and ditched his slider to strengthen his curveball. The day he chose to do so, all of the batters in the AL let out a groan, for Saberhagen went 18-10 in 1987. After a 14-16 1988 season, Saberhagen went 23-6 and led the NL in wins, innings pitched, complete games and ERA on the way to his second Cy Young award. Despite Saberhagen’s 3.27 ERA, he went only 5-9 in 1990 but came back strong in 1991 to go 13-8. He was traded to the Mets in 1992 and went 3-5 and 7-7 before going 14-4 with a 2.74 ERA and 5-5 before being traded in the middle of 1995 to the Rockies, where he finished the year by going 2-1 with them. An injury kept Saberhagen out of baseball in 1996 and he was traded to the Red Sox but recorded only one decision in 1997 before going 15-8 and 10-6. He stayed out of baseball in 2000 and came back to win a game in 2001 before hanging up his spikes for good. Bret Saberhagen was one of the best pitchers of his day, a great fielding pitcher and a winning ballplayer deserving of the Hall of Fame, which is something that not very many players can say. 

LIFETIME STATISTICS

Games Pitched career: 399 season high: 38 in 1984

Starts career: 371 season high: 35 in 1988 and 1989

Complete Games career: 76 season high: 15 in 1987 led AL: 12 in 1989

Shutouts career: 16 season high: 4 in 1987 and 1989
Games Finished career: 13 season high: 9 in 1984

Wins career: 167 season high: 23 in 1989 led AL: 23 in 1989

Losses career: 117 season high: 16 in 1988

Winning Percentage career: .588 season high: .793 in 1989 led AL: .793 in 1989

ERA career: 3.34 season low: 2.16 in 1989 led AL: 2.16 in 1989

WHIP career: 1.141 season low: 0.961 in 1989 led AL: 1.058 in 1985, 0.961 in 1989

Innings Pitched  career: 2,562 ⅔ season high: 262 ⅓ in 1989 led AL: 262 ⅓ in 1989

Strikeouts career: 1,715 season high: 193 in 1989

Strikeouts Per Nine Innings career: 6.0 season high: 7.3 in 1994

Walks career: 471 (34 intentional) season high: 59 in 1988

Strikeouts Per Walk career: 3.64 season high: 11.00 in 1994 led AL: 4.16 in 1985, 4.49 in 1989, 11.00 in

1994

Saves career: 1 season high: 1 in 1984

Fielding Percentage career: .963 season high: .971 in 1998 

Double Plays career: 26 season high: 5 in 1987 

Putouts career: 203 season high: 22 in 1985

Assists career: 415 season high: 38 in 1985

DID YOU KNOW

-nicknamed “Sabes” 

-had a .431 career caught stealing percentage at pitcher

-is one of the few pitchers ever to have more wins in a season than walks (14 and 13 in 1994)

-his 3.64 career strikeout per walk ratio ranks the 24th highest of all time, and his 11.00 in 1994 is the

second highest season mark ever

-had two career three pitch innings

-was a three time all-star (in 1987, 1990,and 1994)

-hit two doubles in 1994

-finished eighth in the AL MVP voting in 1989, tenth in 1985 and 22nd in 1994

-allowed only 1.7 walks per nine innings across his career, and allowed the fewest in the AL in 1985 (1.5)

and 1994 (0.66)

-won two TSN Pitcher of the Year awards and the 1985 AL Babe Ruth Award (for the best performance

in the postseason)

-won five Pitcher of the Month awards and four Player of the Week awards

-pitched a 7-0 no-hitter over the White Sox on August 26, 1991 

-in 1994, he pitched ten scoreless innings in a team loss, and was the last to do so until 2012 

-pitched a complete game shutout in Game 7 of the 1985 World Series 

-was the winning pitcher of the 1990 MLB all-star game 

-was the 1998 NL Comeback Player of the Year

-was inducted into the Kansas City Royals Hall of Fame in 2005