WHY I THINK SILVER KING SHOULD BE IN COOPERSTOWN
By- Damien
Silver King was an absolutely legendary pitcher who had a fastball that was the best of his era. Despite the fact that records and baseball statistics didn’t mean all that much in the 1880s and 1890s, King still put up some pretty impressive totals, such as his 203-152 record and dazzling career ERA of 3.18. He won two ERA titles and was an absolute workhorse as he pitched 328 career complete games, including 64 in 1888. He led the American Association in innings pitched that year with over 580, a true testament to his iron-cast arm. Silver King started his career with the NL Kansas City Cowboys in 1886 with a 1-3 record as an 18-year old rookie. He earned the nickname of Silver for the color of his hair, as it was gray unusually early (hence the hat). As far as we know, his whole body could have been gray since there was no color photography back then. With the St. Louis Browns of the American Association in 1887, he went 32-12 on a team spearheaded by Tip O’Neill, who won the Triple Crown that year. King had his best season in 1888 when he went 45-20 with a 1.63 ERA and led the league in eleven different pitching categories, leading the team to their fourth straight league championship. He pitched remarkably well in his next four seasons with four teams in three different leagues, winning 101 games with an ERA just over 3.00 during that span. King slowed to 8-10 in 1893 as the mound was moved to its present distance and stayed out of the Majors until 1896. When he returned he went 10-7 and 6-9 in two seasons with the NL Washington Senators before retiring. Silver King was one of the greatest pitchers of his time and one who is still mentioned among the best of all time. He should have been one of the first ever players to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
LIFETIME STATISTICS
Games Pitched career: 397 season high: 66 in 1888 led AA: 66 in 1888
Starts career: 370 season high: 64 in 1888 led AA: 64 in 1888 led PL: 56 in 1890
Complete Games career: 328 season high: 64 in 1888 led AA: 64 in 1888
Shutouts career: 19 season high: 6 in 1888 led AA: 6 in 1888 led PL: 4 in 1890
Games Finished career: 25 season high: 6 in 1896
Wins career: 203 season high: 45 in 1888 led AA: 45 in 1888
Losses career: 152 season high: 29 in 1891 led NL: 29 in 1891
Winning Percentage career: .572 season high: .727 in 1887
ERA career: 3.18 season low: 1.63 in 1888 led AA: 1.63 in 1888 led PL: 2.69 in 1890
WHIP career: 1.278 season low: 0.874 in 1888 led AA: 0.874 in 1888
Innings Pitched career: 3,180 ⅔ season high: 584 ⅔ in 1888 led AA: 584 ⅔ in 1888
Strikeouts career: 1,222 season high: 258 in 1888
Strikeouts Per Nine Innings career: 3.5 season high: 4.0 in 1888
Walks career: 967 season high: 163 in 1890
Strikeouts Per Walk career: 1.26 season high: 3.39 in 1888 led AA: 3.39 in 1888
Saves career: 6 season high: 1 in 1887, 1889, 1891, 1893, 1896 and 1897
Fielding Percentage career: .922 season high: .964 in 1890
Double Plays career: 23 season high: 5 in 1890 and 1891
Putouts career: 166 season high: 32 in 1888
Assists career: 638 season high: 139 in 1890 led PL: 139 in 1890
DID YOU KNOW?
-was one of the first big league pitchers ever to throw sidearm
-faced a Major League leading 2,286 batters in 1888, and it is still the 38th highest total of all time
-allowed the fewest hits per nine innings in the PL in 1890 (8.2) and the fewest walks per nine innings in the AA in 1888 (1.17)
-went 2-6 despite a 2.18 ERA in nine career postseason starts, eight of which were complete games
-batted .198 with 32 doubles, 23 triples, and four home runs as a batter, including one off of Hall of Famer and all time win leader Cy Young
-had a career fielding percentage 18 points above the league average
-also played three games at first base, one at third base, and 23 in the outfield
-ranks 30th in career complete games
Tiant won more games than King, and his winning percentage is almost exactly the same. If Tiant's winning percentage was too low, why is King's just right?
ReplyDeleteI am also very skeptical of 19th century players, as I have had said before.
King and Tiant are both human, and human arms wear out with time and overuse. King threw a ridiculous amount of innings and kept his ERA incredibly low. If you want, I can publish one on Tiant (special requests might help viewership). Look at the DID YOU KNOW? section. One of them says,
Delete-went 2-6 despite a 2.18 ERA in nine career postseason starts, eight of which were complete games
King was better than Tiant, but is it really worth getting so worked up over?
I'm not getting worked up about it; I just enjoy a good argument. Which is important for you to know. If I'm arguing about something, it doesn't mean I'm angry or anything like that; I really just like arguing. And everything is worth arguing over :)
DeleteKing did throw a ton of innings, but not for his era. If you were the ace of a team, you threw 600 innings. His era of 3.18 (ERA+ of 121) is very, very good, but 203 wins, in an era when you could get 40 a season, is not very impressive. And do you really want to advertise that he had a 2-6 post-season record? :)
Tiant was way better than King (again, not getting worked up or at least not trying to-just my objective opinion-which is an oxymoron.)
Okay, now for my rebuttal.