One minute he's random molecules floating around, the next he's zapped into existence as a 32 year-old digital baseball player with a combination rocket launcher and rubber hose for a right arm.
Nen was one of the original players in the formation of Major Leagues - maybe the best player in its history, and certainly its best pitcher.
Among his many accomplishments:
- Won the first 6 AL Cy Young's
- Averaged 20 wins a season
- Single-season records for the lowest ERA (1.15, Season 4), Innings Pitched (320.3, Season 3 - Seasons 1 and 2 are #'s 2 and 5), OBA Allowed (.223 - Season 3), Shutouts (9, Season 3), WHIP (.80, Season 3)
- 37 Quality Starts in Season 3 (#1 All-time), 36 in Season 4 (#2 All-time)
- Won 31 games in his Age-40 season (admittedly as a middle reliever); his Season 3 28 wins and Season 4 26 wins are #'s 2 and 3 all-time
- Did all this in the most explosive hitting era in our history, and half of it after age 36 and in decline.
There were a few "anomalies" in the early days of HBD...remember the "triples" bug (in the first couple of HBD seasons there were players in most leagues who had 40-50 triples). The creation of a super-player like Nen may have been one of them. In recent years I've only seen 1 other player rival the dominance of a Nen (an he was a hitter, so has less influence on the outcome of a single game than a SP). In any event, he's the #1 hurler in Major Leagues history.
No comments:
Post a Comment