Like Joe, I looked at run support while Hunter was in the game and for the entire game. My work was a lot easier, just downloading the data Baseball Reference. At the time, I think Joe had to search through Retrosheet’s databases. I entered every one of Catfish Hunter’s 476 career starts and 24 relief appearances into an Excel file. I’m going to use this post to explain how the Hall failed as it relates to Jim “Catfish” Hunter. Joe asked about Jack Morris and the Hall of Fame. Joe asked if Jack received a disproportionate amount of run support, and I’m wondering the same thing about Catfish. Joe asked if Morris’ wins were the result of his durability and pitching for good teams. But I’m trying to determine if I’ve missed something, if my coworker is right and Hunter really did “pitch to the score” in a way that shows his record as inferior to his actual ability. The Hall failed when Hunter was elected – at least that’s my position. And in homage to Joe, my research and this post will mirror his great work from 2003. One of my favorite things in the history of the Interwebs was Joe Sheehan’s post from more than eleven years ago about Jack Morris pitching to the score. Then it dawned on me – the guy Hunter is really like. He told me that Hunter was better than his stats look because he pitched to the score. My colleague Gerry mentioned something that I couldn’t quickly refute. I should have known that I wasn’t going to get off that easy. They’re within one bWAR of each other – both around the 160 th best pitcher ever.
They have the exact same ERA+ of 104 (only 4% above league average). I explained that the guy was a fine pitcher and all, but we’re looking at Fernando Valenzuela with about 500 extra inconsequential innings.
And as you may be able to determine from reading our 1985 obituaries or the title of this post, I was on the side disapproving of Hunter’s inclusion. Recently I was discussing Catfish Hunter’s Hall of Fame case with some colleagues at work.
Did he pitch to the score? Does he belong in the Hall? Read on to find out.
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