Tom Brennan - even immortals are sometimes mortal

THE FRANCHISE

 “The great Tom Seaver.” 

So often described as such. 

“THE FRANCHISE”.

He certainly was that. But some guys nonetheless owned him, as hard as it is to believe, even if briefly.

Guess which 4 hitters combined to go 25 for 49 against Tom Seaver? (source for all stats…Baseball Reference)

Ray Sadecki, Steve Ontiveros, Daryl Sconiers, and Chico Ruiz, the 4 of whom also walked 13 times vs. 8 Ks vs. the Franchise. 

Domination from very unlikely hitter sources.

And there were 7 other mostly nondescript hitters (so nondescript I won’t name them here) who combined to go 21 for 35 against him. They owned Seaver, even if just for a few at bats each. Also…

Terry Puhl was 20 for 45 vs. Seaver.

Damaso Garcia, Jesse Barfield, Clay Dalrymple, and Tim Teufel combined for a rip-roaring 26 for 56 with just 2 Ks. Owned Seaver, one might say.

Speedy Willie Davis? .389 in 108 at bats.

Rick Monday? .349 with 11 HRs and 17 walks in 104 PAs. Who exactly is your daddy?

So, you can’t be great against everybody, no matter how great you are.

Record of  12-20 against the super tank known as the Big Red Machine, too.

Moving on…

Jerry Koosman?

Dave Winfield in 61 at bats hit .410, with 7 HRs and 20 RBIs off the Kooz. To Jerry’s credit though, he only surrendered as many as 7 HRs to two hitters…Winfield and Willie Stargell.

5 guys (Willie McGee, Gary Roenike, Bob Bailor,  Brian Downing, and Dwight Evans) went 57 for 107 (.500+) with 11 HRs vs. Koosman. Ouch. Full ownership.

Jake deGrom was pretty stingy, but Christian Yelich got to him for 15 for 37 (.405).

Sandy Koufax?  The GOAT?

Hank Aaron hit .362 with 7 HRs in 116 at bats off him, and had just 12 Ks in 130 PAs. And Bill Virdon hit .404 against Sandy in 52 at bats. Against those 2, Sandy wasn’t especially dandy.

Dwight Gooden? 

Chili Davis hit .444, and Hubie Brooks hit .392, against Doc.

Nolan Ryan?

Dick Allen completely owned Ryan:

16 for 44 with TWENTY TWO walks, 7 extra base hits, and 16 RBIs, and just 11 Ks. 

(Anyone remember the screaming high line drive that hit 1/3 of the way up the Shea light tower? STRONG dude. I once remember Allen in the old Phillies stadium in a sequence of 3 at bats.)

1) Flew out to the 447 sign in dead center. 

2) Flew out to the 447 sign in dead center. 

3) 500 foot bomb to 447 dead center, easily clearing the 20 foot high fence.

Carl Yazstremski ditto. 17 for 50, 4 HR, 14 RBI, 12 BB, just 7 Ks.

Jack Clark? His 11 for 44 included 9 extra base hits; he walked 12 times.

Joe Morgan? Just 5 for 28, BUT 14 walks vs. just 6 Ks.

Mike Schmidt? Just 9 for 50, but 5 HR, 15 RBI, and a whopping 21 walks.

On the other hand, I saw a guy who posted on Facebook a list of truly impressive hitters who couldn’t hit a lick against Ryan. Roughly, the 25 top hitters went something 20 for 357. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. 

I copied his full list at the end of my article below, unverified as to statistical accuracy by me.

Babe Ruth?

He was a fine pitcher, but household name Ping Bodie was 11 for 24 with 3 walks and no Ks vs. the Bambino. Ping, as I am sure you all know, was an outfielder who hit .275 in over 4,000 plate appearances, while missing a few years for World War 1 service.  

Every time the Babe pitched to Ping, the ball went PONG.

Ty Cobb, though?

He was just 4 for 17 vs. the Babe, and Cobb was in his prime at the time.

Amazing, huh?

Some guys, both great and marginal, can somehow hit the greats like they were facing Anthony Young. 

One of the wonders of baseball. The unexpected, when immortals are mortal.

Don’t forget to look at that list below. But as far as last night goes:

“HAIL! HAIL! ALL IS WELL!”  

“SIR EDWIN, LORD OF METSVILLE, HAS RETURNED!”

Edwin Diaz was relying primarily on killer sliders last night, mixed with the occasional fastball in the high 90s. Of course, if you hadn’t looked, you could guess of course that Edwin faced 3 batters and struck out three batters. Nasty. It was good to hear Tommy trumpet music again, too. 

Tylor Megill was excellent for four innings, allowing just a homer. Rest of the pictures put up zeros. Sadly, all the Mets put up offensively was zeros. 

Baty had a 75 foot infield dinker hit. Joe Suozzi had a lined single on a hanger that outfielder played into a double. Phil Bickford, who I’m pulling for, faced two hitters and fanned them both.

Mets lose 1-0. Keith said the park plays big…don’t ALL Mets parks?

I did not watch the entire game, but the wind was blowing in heavily from right field, so that was probably a factor. Lastly, Francisco Alvarez now lifts up his knee when he sees a runner going, so that he’s quicker to throw to second with the cannon he has. He probably now can be considered a superior defensive catcher. 

OK, on the list: 

HITTERS WHO STRUGGLED MIGHTILY AGAINST RYAN, IN TERMS OF BA:

From a Facebook poster, unverified by me:

Player AB/Hit Average

Paul O’Neill 10-0 .000

Mark McGwire 9-0 .000

Mo Vaughn 9-0 .000

Jesse Barfield 12-0 .000

Paul Blair 11-0 .000

Frank Thomas 12-0 .000

Sammy Sosa 16-0 .000

Eric Davis 21-1 .048

Doug DeCinces 19-1 .053

B.J. Surhoff 19-1 .053

Edgar Martinez 19-1 .053

Rico Petrocelli 35-2 .057

Brady Anderson 17-1 .059

Dante Bichette 14-1 .071

Willie Stargell 14-1 .071

Dave Henderson 13-1 .077

Shawon Dunston 25-2 .080

Tony Fernandez 12-1 .083

Danny Tartabull 21-2 .095

Don Baylor 21-2 .095

Tino Martinez 10-1 .100

Gary Mathews 20-2 .100

John Olerud 19-2 .105

Norm Cash 27-3 .111

Elrod Hendricks 18-2 .111

Devon White 35-4 .114

Willie Randolph 26-3 .115

Dave Winfield 26-3 .115

Vince Coleman 17-2 .118

Rickey Henderson 17-2 .118

Wally Joyner 25-3 .120

Roberto Clemente 16-2 .125

Dwight Evans 40-5 .125

Tony Oliva 40-5 .125

Terry Pendleton 23-3 .130

Gary Gaetti 15-2 .133

Willy McCovey 15-2 .133

Johnny Bench 29-4 .138

Wally Bachman 36-5 .139

Jorge Orta 79-11 .139

Tony Pena 35-5 .143

Darryl Strawberry 35-5 .143

Thurman Munson 49-7 .143

Claudell Washington 90-13 .144

Kirby Puckett 20-3 .150

Jim Rice 40-6 .150

Al Bumbry 46-7 .152

Lance Parrish 39-6 .154

Steve Lyons 19-3 .158

Robin Ventura 19-3 .158

Lou Piniella 38-6 .158

Dusty Baker 37-6 .162

Chili Davis 80-13 .163

Rafael Palmiero 12-2 .167

Jesus Alou 12-2 .167

Chuck Knoblauch 18-3 .167

John Kruk 18-3 .167

Bobby Grich 35-6 .171

Lyman Bostock 29-5 .172

Robby Thompson 23-4 .174

Bobby Bonds 23-4 .174

Alfredo Griffin 17-3 .176

Dave Kingman 17-3 .176

Tony Phillips 17-3 .176

Boog Powel 34-6 .176

Joe Morgan 28-5 .179

Cecil Cooper 39-7 .179

Mike Schmidt 50-9 .180

Mike Scioscia 55-10 .182

Harmon Killebrew 27-5 .185

Keith Hernandez 43-8 .186

Richie Zisk 16-3 .188

Ron Hassey 16-3 .188

Orlando Cepeda 32-6 .188

Tim Wallach 48-9 .188

Willie Horton 37-7 .189

Billy Williams 37-7 .189

Graig Nettles 79-15 .190

Mike Greenwell 21-4 .190

Bob Boone 21-4 .190

Rupert Jones 42-8 .190

Darrell Porter 84-16 .190

Carlton Fisk 57-11 .193

John Mayberry 88-17 .193

Dan Driessen 41-8 .195

Bert Campaneris 61-12 .197

Again, while the hits for those guys were amazingly low, Ryan walked and hit close to a record 3,000 hitters in his career, so assuredly the walk totals for this group were high, too, but not included.

Ryan’s 2,795 walks, in fact, were 962 more than # 2 all time and fellow HOF Steve Carlton. That was Ryan’s one flaw…walks a-plenty. I still, though, loved him from when he was a 19 year old facing the thundering Braves in 1966.