A Baseball Stat That Really Hurts – IOTW Report

A Baseball Stat That Really Hurts

Thursday, 4 April 2019, 17:24 BFH Uncategorized 9

Trevor Rosenthal, a pitcher with the Washington Nationals, has an era of infinity.

That’s right, INFINITY. This is a rare one.

What this means is that Rosenthal hasn’t retired a batter yet while giving up at least one run. He’s faced 7 batters this year and all 7 reached base.

Statisticians cannot calculate what this means in terms of how many runs he gives up per inning because, technically, he hasn’t pitched even a third of an inning. (You have to record at least an out or, as far as the stats are concerned, your numbers cannot be calculated, not on this earth. lol)

This got me wondering. Were there any pitchers who finished their careers with an ERA of infinity?

Turns out there are more than a dozen, but one of the most famous ones was a position player that was tasked to pitch and earned the dubious stat.

That player was Billy Sunday, the Baseball Evangelist.

WIKI-

William Ashley Sunday (November 19, 1862 – November 6, 1935) was an American athlete who, after being a popular outfielder in baseball’s National League during the 1880s, became the most celebrated and influential American evangelist during the first two decades of the 20th century.[1]

Born into poverty in Iowa, Sunday spent some years at the Iowa Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home before working at odd jobs and playing for local running and baseball teams. His speed and agility provided him the opportunity to play baseball in the major leagues for eight years, where he was an average hitter and a good fielder known for his base-running.

Converting to evangelical Christianity in the 1880s, Sunday left baseball for the Christian ministry. He gradually developed his skills as a pulpit evangelist in the Midwest and then, during the early 20th century, he became the nation’s most famous evangelist with his colloquial sermons and frenetic delivery. Sunday held widely reported campaigns in America’s largest cities, and he attracted the largest crowds of any evangelist before the advent of electronic sound systems. He also made a great deal of money and was welcomed into the homes of the wealthy and influential. Sunday was a strong supporter of Prohibition, and his preaching likely played a significant role in the adoption of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1919.

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…and now you know the rest of the story. (Apologies to the late, great Paul Harvey.)

 

 

9 Comments on A Baseball Stat That Really Hurts

  3. Just to add to the conversation…. Rosenthal is a mid-reliever. He will appear in a game sometime after the starting pitcher hits the showers. A guy like Rosenthal will be involved usually around 60-70ish games a year. The most critical stat, in my opinion, for a mid-reliever is the WHIP (walks/Hits- innings pitched). The league average in whip is about 1.3-1.4.

    Now, the thing with Rosenthal; he doesn’t even have a WHIP because he hasn’t even recorded an out yet. When he finally gets his first out, (and lets assume the next batter he faces is retired), his WHIP will be 21. That’s much worse than even the shittiest beer league softball pitchers.

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  6. There should be statistics like this on presidential candidates. Like billions spent per election. Imagine how bad the stat must be for losers like Biden and Hillary Clinton. Talk about bush league.

    Enough to make a fan hurl.

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