January 10, 2018

Please Note: No Pitcher Has Ever Had A 6.74 ERA

Grant Brisbee, The ERAs That Have Never Existed In Baseball History:
I'm a huge nerd, and I feel like it is my mission to discover the ERAs that haven't yet been achieved.
While plenty of pitchers have ended a season with a 0.00 ERA, no one has ever had an ERA of 0.01. Or 0.02. Or 0.03. Or 0.04 ...

The lowest ERA in history that is higher than zero is 0.38, achieved by Buck O'Brien in 1911 and Joba Chamberlain in 2007. Brisbee points out that Chamberlain holds the mark because his ERA was rounded up from 0.375 and O'Brien's was 0.378, "which is just a midge higher". 🏆
We've moved into the area of possible ERAs, now. These are the ERAs that could exist, in theory, but don't.
I did not think I needed a list of the non-existant ERAs between 0.00 and 10.00, but I'm now rooting for at least one of the unprecedented numbers to be claimed at the end of next season.

Also: A 6.66 ERA has been posted 21 times, with the most recent being Brad Lincoln in 2010. (The first pitcher on the list was also named Brad! Brad Hogg in 1911. (All-Animal Team.)) The innings pitched range from 174.1 to 24.1 (which was done in seven of the 21 seasons!).

2 comments:

allan said...

Now someone has to do batting average, right?

.123 = 67 times (almost all pitchers).
.183 = 131 times.
.264 = 403 times.
.341 = 60 times.
.382 = 5 times (only 2 in a full season: Ty Cobb, Joe Jackson).
.404 = 1 time (Duke Farrell, Boston AL, 1903)
.452 = never.

allan said...

24 triples in a season?
Ty Cobb, 1911
Ty Cobb, 1917

147 runs scored in a season?
Ty Cobb, 1911

(Okay, THAT is weird! What are the odds of that? Random numbers in two random categories.)

What about 59 SB?
10 times, none of them Cobb. (Whew.)