Talk:Starting pitcher

Bob Feller
While I realize my decision to remove Bob Feller from the list of well-known pitchers may be hotly contested, I felt he was simply not well known enough to be described as well-known. Since Wikipedia is a free-content encyclopedia, if there are any notable snubs from said list(s), anyone can add or detract as appropriate.

Z. Dan 22:55 CDT 13.8.2005

Greg Maddux
Added Greg Maddux. Why he wasn't there in the first place is a complete mystery to me.

If anyone reads this anymore, could someone make an article on "spot starters" since I have no clue what they are and I can't find helpful information on them?

300 innings pitched
"In the early decades of baseball, it was not uncommon for a starting pitcher to accumulate an incredible number of innings- often 300 or more." I think innings here is supposed to be pitches in a game. Does anybody know for sure? &mdash;Brim 01:04, 24 October 2005 (UTC)

No, I think it is refering to the innings pitched in a season. Pitchers were expected to pitch the entire game or at least most of it, and had a lot more starts besides. Also, it is less likely that it refers to the number of pitches in a game because toward the end of a game, a pitcher would naturally get tired, and just "toss" the ball to home plate, increasing the chances of pop-ups.

What's the rhyme? What's the reason?
I have no idea what the standards are for the last 2 grafs here, "well-known starting pitchers in the Hall of Fame" and "well-known current pitchers".

The former list seems to have left out such giants of the game as Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, Warren Spahn, Tom Seaver and Gaylord Perry as well as, say, Don Sutton, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Lefty Grove, Jim Palmer, Bob Feller, Robin Roberts, Juan Marichal, etc. To single out Whitey Ford, incidentally, above all of the above is a bit of a head-scratcher.

The same goes for the second list -- Tom Glavine and John Smoltz should be here, probably Mussina, and then there other old guys like Kenny Rogers, Tim Wakefield and Jamie Moyer. Guys like Andy Pettitte, Freddy Garcia fall in the middle here.

For a "rising stars" list, Mark Prior is notably absent, as is Seattle phenom Felix Hernandez. Also Brandon Webb, Zach Duke. Jon Garland merits no place here, in my opinion.

But that's sort of the problem with this. It looks like a hodgepodge of starters that came off the top of someone's head as noteworthy. There doesn't appear to be a lot of rhyme or reason. And there are some glaring omissions.

Either remove it entirely (my preference), or make a more "bulletproof" list that only lists those with a broad consensus of "well-known"ishness. Probably 5-7 guys per category.

Other positional pages are doing this type of listing better. Link to Pitcher for a list of HOF pitchers and notable actives. Or how about Top_100_winning_pitchers_of_all_time? Or reproduce the HOF list of starters here.

(Same probably goes for the relief pitcher article. Jon Papelbon? In his first ML season? But no mention of Lee Smith, Goose Gossage, John Franco, Troy Percival, Flash Gordon, John Smoltz-as-closer, Jeff Reardon, John Wetteland, Billy Wagner, Dan Quisenberry, etc. etc.? At least that list is more contained to HOF relievers, plus "current" "notables".) Woodshed 10:30, 27 May 2006 (UTC)


 * I concur, only mention a few or get rid of both. --Awiseman 19:34, 30 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Agreed. Get rid of at least the second part unless someone is going to maintain it constantly and wants to defend every decision from angry fans.  The Hall of Fame section should not be controversial (and yes, Bob Feller was well known enough to count).  Papercrab 02:01, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Is pitching stressful?
I don't understand, is pitching stressful? The article seems to imply that it is difficult to pitch more than 100 or 300 pitches. It also seems to imply that starting pitchers do not pitch on two consecutive days, is this true? Maybe someone should add this info to the article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.17.110.223 (talk) 00:18, 16 December 2007


 * Pitching more than about 100 pitches or pitching on consecutive games creates an injury risk that most players and coaches want to avoid. --67.165.6.76 (talk) 08:17, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

Left handed starters succeeding with only two pitches
I tried finding citations for this on my own and didn't have much luck, but is it worth mentioning that some lefty starters (Randy Johnson comes to mind) have had success with only two pitches? Kansan (talk) 18:31, 16 May 2011 (UTC)