WHY I THINK TONY MULLANE SHOULD BE IN COOPERSTOWN

 WHY I THINK TONY MULLANE SHOULD BE IN COOPERSTOWN

By- Damien 

Tony Mullane was the Nolan Ryan of his era. At a time where foul balls weren’t counted as strikes and you had to put four strikes on a batter to strike him out (and five to walk him), Mullane still threw a ton of strikeouts. He led the American Association with 170 in 1882 and had two other seasons in which he struck out 325 and 250 batters, respectively. Mullane was not only a strikeout machine, but he was arguably the most complete pitcher of the 1880s. He won 284 career games, lost only 220, had a seasonal ERA under 3.00 seven times, pitched 468 complete games in 504 starts, tossed 40 or more complete games in a season seven times, pitched 400 or more innings six times, and was a 30 game winner five years in a row. The most special thing about him was that he was ambidextrous, and opposing batters had a hard time guessing from which angle the pitch would come from. Tony Mullane started his career with the NL Detroit Wolverines in 1881, going 1-4 in 44 innings. He went 30-24 with a 1.88 ERA in 1882 with the AA Louisville Eclipse and won 35 games with the St. Louis Browns in 1883. After a 36-26 season with the Toledo Blue Stockings, Mullane was suspended in 1885 when the league wanted him to stay with one team, a suspension that would ultimately cost him his 300th win. He returned in 1886 for the Cincinnati Red Stockings (later the Reds) to win 33, 31 and 26 games before being limited to 220 innings in 1889 and an 11-9 record. Mullane was traded again and went 12-10 in 209 innings for the Cincinnati Reds of the NL in 1890 before falling to 23-26 despite a strong 3.23 ERA in 1891. After a 21-13 season Mullane split 1893 between the Reds and the Baltimore Orioles and went a combined 18-22. Mullane won seven more games in 1894 before retiring. Tony Mullane was a dominant, iron-armed power pitcher who could win many ballgames. The Hall of Fame is all about the players who helped their team(s) to win and only three pitchers (Roger Clemens, Bobby Mathews and Tommy John) have ever won more games than Mullane without being voted into Cooperstown (not to mention the fact that Clemens was accused of being on steroids). Come on, you realistically cannot exclude an ambidextrous pitcher who won 284 games in only 13 seasons.  

LIFETIME STATISTICS

Games Pitched career: 555 season high: 67 in 1884 led AA: 55 in 1882 

Starts career: 504 season high: 65 in 1884 led AA: 55 in 1882 

Complete Games career: 468 season high: 64 in 1884 

Shutouts career: 30 season high: 7 in 1884 led AA: 7 in 1884, 6 in 1887 

Games Finished career: 52 season high: 10 in 1893 led AA: 7 in 1886, 9 in 1889 led NL: 10 in 1893 

Wins career: 284 season high: 36 in 1884 

Losses career: 220 season high: 27 in 1886 

Winning Percentage career: .563 season high: .700 in 1883 led AA: .700 in 1883 

ERA career: 3.05 season low: 1.88 in 1882 

WHIP career: 1.237 season low: 0.968 in 1883 

Innings Pitched career: 4,531 ⅓ season high: 567 in 1884 

Strikeouts career: 1,803 season high: 325 in 1884 led AA: 170 in 1882 

Strikeouts Per Nine Innings career: 3.6 season high: 5.2 in 1884 

Walks career: 1,408 season high: 189 in 1893 led AA: 78 in 1882 

Strikeouts Per Walk career: 1.28 season high: 3.65 in 1884 

Saves career: 15 season high: 5 in 1889 led AA: 1 in 1883 and 1888, 5 in 1889 led NL: 2 in 1893, 4 in 1894 

At Bats career: 2,720 season high: 352 in 1884 

Hits career: 661 season high: 97 in 1884 

Doubles career: 99 season high: 19 in 1884 

Triples career: 38 season high: 8 in 1890 

Home Runs career: 8 season high: 3 in 1884 and 1887 

Runs career: 407 season high: 59 in 1886 

Runs Batted In career: 223 season high: 39 in 1886 

Stolen Bases career: 112 season high: 24 in 1889 (stolen bases weren’t counted in the AA until 1886) 

Walks career: 221 season high: 39 in 1890 

Strikeouts career: 159 season high: 33 in 1891 (batters’ strikeouts weren’t counted in the AA from 1884 through 1886) 

Batting Average career: .243 season high: .333 in 1894 

On Base Percentage career: .307 season high: .436 in 1894 

Slugging Percentage career: .316 season high: .418 in 1889 

Total Bases career: 860 season high: 131 in 1884 

Sacrifice Hits career: 1 season high: 1 in 1894 (sacrifice hits weren’t counted until 1894) 

Fielding Percentage career: .903 season high: .940 in 1882 (the league fielding percentage was .895) 

Double Plays career: 75 season high: 10 in 1882, 1884 and 1886 

Putouts career: 916 season high: 187 in 1882 led AA P: 54 in 1882 

Assists career: 1,228 season high: 191 in 1882 

DID YOU KNOW? 

-nicknamed “The Count” and “Apollo of the Box” 

-was a switch hitter 

-hit one of his home runs off of Hall of Famer Tim Keefe

-allowed the fewest hits per nine innings in the NL in 1892 (6.8) 

-held a career fielding percentage eight points above the league average despite the fact that did not wear a glove in the field 

-pitched a 2-0 no-hitter against the Cincinnati Red Stockings on September 11, 1882 

-was the first pitcher ever to throw lefthanded and righthanded in the same game 

-umpired five games after his playing career 

-his 2,364 batters faced in 1884 are the 29th most of all time, and his 2,258 in 1886 rank 43rd

-his 177 assists as a pitcher in 1882 are the fifth most of all time

-his 54 putouts at pitcher in 1882 are the second most of all time, and his 41 in 1884 rank 23rd

-also played 154 games in the outfield, 52 at third base, 38 at first base, 12 at shortstop and nine at second base 

-among MLB pitchers, ranks tenth in career complete games, 29th in wins, 24th in innings pitched, 20th in batters faced, 11th in putouts, and 19th in assists 

-was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 2010