Once again, it’s time for Baseball Roundtable’s Trivia(l) Tidbit Tuesday. I hope you are enjoying this weekly presentation of baseball occurrences that for some reason caught The Roundtable’s eye. (I’m particularly fond of unexpected performances and statistical coincidences.) These won’t necessarily be momentous occurrences, just events, statistics or coincidences that grabbed my attention. I’m also drawn to baseball “unicorns,” one-of-a-kind MLB accomplishments or statistics.
On July 2, Dodgers southpaw Clayton Kershaw – a three-time Cy Young Award winner in his 18th MLB season – notched his 3,000th career strikeout. The victim was White Sox’ 3B Vinny Capra and the historic strikeout was the final out of the sixth inning (and the final batter Kershaw faced in the game). Since that game, Kershaw has made two more starts and added five whiffs to his total.
A few things caught my eye: First, Kershaw became just the 20th MLB pitcher to reach the 3,000+ strikeout mark. However, the tidbits the Roundtable seeks are grounded in rarity. So, two, he became just the fifth MLB pitcher to record 3,000 strikeouts for one team during his career. Three, Kershaw became just the third pitcher to record 3,000 or more strikeouts for one team and have those be the only strikeouts of his MLB career.
Three-thousand strikeouts for one team: Walter Johnson, 3,509, Nationals; Bob Gibson, 3,117, Cardinals; Steve Carlton, 3,031, Phillies; John Smoltz, 3,084, Braves; Clayton Kershaw, 3,005, Dodgers. All of the 3,000+ strikeouts for the same team: Johnson, Gibson, Kershaw.
Of course, with The Roundtable, one thing always seems to lead to another. So, I took a look at MLB pitchers to record at least 2,000 strikeouts with one team. There were 90 in that group, but I also found my “unicorn” for this post. Randy Johnson is the only MLB pitcher to record at least 2,000 career strikeouts for two different teams. He notched 2, 162 whiffs for the Mariners (1989-98) and 2,077 for the Diamondbacks (1999-2004/2007-08). Along the way, the Hall of Famer led the AL in strikeouts in four seasons and the led NL in five. In eight of those nine seasons, his whiff total led MLB.
Johnson, a five-time Cy Young Award winner, had 300 or more strikeouts in six seasons and led his league in strikeouts per nine innings nine times. His final MLB stat line was 303-166, 3.29, with 4,875 strikeouts in 4,135 1/3 innings pitched. A few other Johnson facts: ten-time All Star; pitching triple-crown winner (24-5, 2.32, 334 strikeouts for the 2002 Diamondbacks); perfect game (May 18, 2004 versus Braves); no-hitter (June 2, 1990 versus Tigers.)
Bonus Tidbit.
PITCHERS WITH 3,000 OR MORE CAREER STRIKEOUTS.
Nolan Ryan 5,714
Randy Johnson 4,875
Roger Clemens 4,672
Steve Carlton 4,136
Bert Blyleven 3,701
Tom Seaver 3,640
Don Sutton 3,574
Gaylord Perry 3,534
Walter Johnson 3,509
Justin Verlander 3,483 (still active)
Max Scherzer 3,431 (still active)
Greg Maddux 3,371
Phil Niekro 3,342
Fergie Jenkins 3,192
Pedro Martinez 3,154
Bob Gibson 3,117
Curt Schilling 3,116
CC Sabathia 3,093
John Smoltz 3,084
Clayton Kershaw 3,005 (still active)
Primary Resource: Stathead.com
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