Great Black Pitchers

[Tired old White]

I can only think of one black pitcher who had a really successful career. That would be Bob Gibson. Were there others. I am thinking that whites dominate Major Leauge pitching and always have. It might also be intersting to see how often these great black pitchers got burned for home runs. Edited by: jaxvid

 

[Don Wassall]

I posted this in the Dontrelle Willis thread a few days ago about this topic:


The few black pitchers that have had any success rarely have any endurance. Out of the top 100 most winning pitchers in baseball history, just four are black, five if you count Luis Tiant, an hispanic black. Bob Gibson, who is almost always included in any media discussion of the greatest pitchers ever, is only 44th all-time in wins.


The most consistently goodblack pitcher ever over time was Canadian-born Ferguson Jenkins, who had seven 20-win seasons (including six in a row) and 284 winslifetime.


Willis won 14 games his first season, and just 10 his second before his 22 wins last year. Will he be another Dwight Gooden, who quickly lost it? Or remember Ken Hill? He had a few good seasons in the '90s before fading. Let's see if Willis is still on top of his game 20 yearsinto his careerwhen he's in his 40s like so many great white pitchers have been.


I would put Jenkins ahead of the over-rated Gibson, and then it's a big dropoff.Edited by: Don Wassall

 

[jaxvid]

JB Cash wrote this in "Whitewashing History"

The presence of black pitchers affecting Ruth's career totals is laughable! Who would that have been? There have been very few good black pitchers in the nearly 60 years since the sport was integrated. Quick, name the five best black baseball pitchers in the history of baseball â€â€￾ Bob Gibson, Ferguson Jenkins, Vida Blue, Don Newcombe and who? Satchel Paige? Okay, say Satchel Paige managed to get Ruth out a few times. That would mean that Ruth could clean up against the likes of Dontrelle Willis and any other black pitchers that would have somehow made their way to the big leagues.

Thus if there had been more black pitchers during Ruth's career, and since black pitchers are not historically very good, we can assume once again that Ruth's offensive stats would be greater then they are. Humorously, one can also say that Barry Bonds has benefited from not having to face black pitchers. What really good black pitchers has he had to face? By this logic Bonds' records should be suspect because there are so few American blacks playing Major League Baseball. What difference does it make if blacks are barred from the game due to segregation or don't play the game due to disinterest â€â€￾ the result is the same â€â€￾ none of all those (supposedly) superior black pitchers that would have deflated offensive stats.

 

[Tired old White]

Using the four black pitchers jaxvid named I did an analysis of their home runs allowed per iniing pitched. I also selected four extremely talneted white pitchers Roger Clemmons, Bob Feller, Hoyt Wilhelm and Nolan Ryan
here is the comparison.

white pitchers&nbs p;

PitcherIP&nb sp;HR IP per HR
Clemmons4704150&nb sp;31.4
Feller3827&n bsp;22417.1

Ryan5386&nbs p;32116.8

Wilhelm2259& nbsp;15015.1

Totals16176& nbsp;84519.1


black pitchers&nbs p;

PitcherIP&nb sp;HR IP per HR
Gibson3884&n bsp;25715.1

Blue3343&nbs p;25912.9

Jenkins4500& nbsp;4849.3

Newcombe 2154259&nbsp ;8.3
Totals13881& nbsp;125911.0


From this data it can be infered that Babe Ruth's Home run production was artificially low because there were no blacks pitchers who give up almost twice as many home runs as their white counter parts for him to compette against. It could also be infered that any record that Bonds might set and Hank Arron's life time home record should bear an asterik due to the fact that they set these records with the following advantages. They played 162 game seasons versus Ruth playing a 154. They hit some of their home runs off of inferior black pitchers.

 

[Maple Leaf]

The truth does not matter much to the sports media. If at any given time the top 25 pitchers in the game are made up as 20 Euro, 3 Latino, and 2 Afro, the media would see it as a 50:50:50 mix. And those 2 afros would get as much if not moreattention as the 20 Euros.
Don reminded me of Dwight Gooden. I had forgotten him. But I remember when he played it seemed every day I would hear something about "Doc". Doc-Doc, Doc-Doc, polly want a Doc? Like parrots the columnists chirped about him. Much in the same way sports writers can't talk about golf without first mentioning that Japanese guy today. It was almost as if they had to. It didn't last very long in Gooden's case anyway.
Why does this happen? Is it follow the leader? Simple copy-cats? Are they trying to attract as diverse a clientel as possible knowing all the while the Euros will not object? Does the media feel they will be perceived as unfair if they are not constantly praising the unworthy? Are they brainwashed? Who knows?