John Smoltz: Strange But True Cardinals History

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Last night, young Michael Wacha struck out 9 batters in the first 3 innings of the Cardinals' game against the Mets.

They were not consecutive strikeouts, but it brought something else to mind.

The Cardinals franchise has been around since 1882. That's 133 seasons.

In all of that time (1882-present), who holds the all-time Cardinals franchise record for most consecutive strikeouts in a game?

Is it Bob Gibson ??? Grover Cleveland Alexander ??? Jesse Haines ??? Dizzy Dean ???

No.

While those superstars shined brightly for many years and many games for the Redbirds (especially Gibson and Haines), none of them holds the franchise record (1882-present) for the most consecutive strikeouts in a game.

If not one of them, then who ??? Perhaps Bob Forsch, Steve Carlton, Mort Cooper, or John Tudor ???

Nix again.

Believe it or not, it is none other than JOHN SMOLTZ.

In 2009, in the twilight of his career and well past his prime, future Hall-of-Famer Smoltz struck out 7 consecutive batters on August 23rd against the Padres ........ IN HIS VERY FIRST GAME AS A CARDINAL.

And mind you, this WAS NOT vintage John Smoltz. This was a 42 year-old pitcher who was hanging on at the end of his storied career, probably for no other reason than wanting to get every inch of love out of the game that he had been playing for the better part of his life. In fact, previous to the Cardinals signing him as a free agent that August, Smoltz has been absolutely dreadful pitching for the Red Sox (which is why they released him in the first place), going 2-5 with an 8.33 ERA.

Smoltz pitched 6 more games for the Cardinals, and retired at the end of the season.

Strange, but true.

o

I forgot that he even pitched for the Cards. Neat trivia.

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Last night, young Michael Wacha struck out 9 batters in the first 3 innings of the Cardinals' game against the Mets.

They were not consecutive strikeouts, but it brought something else to mind.

The Cardinals franchise has been around since 1882. That's 133 seasons.

In all of that time (1882-present), who holds the all-time Cardinals franchise record for most consecutive strikeouts in a game?

Is it Bob Gibson ??? Grover Cleveland Alexander ??? Jesse Haines ??? Dizzy Dean ???

No.

While those superstars shined brightly for many years and many games for the Redbirds (especially Gibson and Haines), none of them holds the franchise record (1882-present) for the most consecutive strikeouts in a game.

If not one of them, then who ??? Perhaps Bob Forsch, Steve Carlton, Mort Cooper, or John Tudor ???

Nix again.

Believe it or not, it is none other than JOHN SMOLTZ.

In 2009, in the twilight of his career and well past his prime, future Hall-of-Famer Smoltz struck out 7 consecutive batters on August 23rd against the Padres ........ IN HIS VERY FIRST GAME AS A CARDINAL.

And mind you, this WAS NOT vintage John Smoltz. This was a 42 year-old pitcher who was hanging on at the end of his storied career, probably for no other reason than wanting to get every inch of love out of the game that he had been playing for the better part of his life. In fact, previous to the Cardinals signing him as a free agent that August, Smoltz has been absolutely dreadful pitching for the Red Sox (which is why they released him in the first place), going 2-5 with an 8.33 E.R.A.

Smoltz pitched 6 more games for the Cardinals, and retired at the end of the season.

Strange, but true.

More strange Cardinals history ........

(vs. PADRES, 7/18)

Mike Leake joined Bob Gibson as only pitchers in Cardinals history to have 10 K and 0 BB in back-to-back games.

:eektf: oooooo :eektf: oooooo :eektf:

Strikeouts are like dollars. In 1928 you could buy Yugoslavia for $6.75. Now to buy the same thing it's a lot more because of inflation.

In the 1920s fireballing Dazzy Vance led the league in strikeouts like every year and averaged 6.42 K/9. This year Wei-Yin Chen is striking out 7.22 per nine; that's 61st among qualifiers. You'd do well to just say all strikeout records before 1995 don't really count, or, rather, you don't need to count them because the league rates have gone up like 50% since then. When I was a kid Rich Dauer struck out 19 times in 1980. I'm pretty sure Mark Reynolds once struck out 19 times in a doubleheader, but don't quote me on that.

Strikeouts are like dollars. In 1928 you could buy Yugoslavia for $6.75. Now to buy the same thing it's a lot more because of inflation.

In the 1920s fireballing Dazzy Vance led the league in strikeouts like every year and averaged 6.42 K/9. This year Wei-Yin Chen is striking out 7.22 per nine; that's 61st among qualifiers. You'd do well to just say all strikeout records before 1995 don't really count, or, rather, you don't need to count them because the league rates have gone up like 50% since then. When I was a kid Rich Dauer struck out 19 times in 1980. I'm pretty sure Mark Reynolds once struck out 19 times in a doubleheader, but don't quote me on that.

Thats funny.

I went and checked.

Reggie Jackson is the all-time strikeout leader, with 2,597.

Thome-2,548,

Adam Dunn-2,379

Sammy Sosa-2,306

Alex Rodriguez-2,277

and Andres Galarraga -2,003

Lot of HRs in the list above, too.

Thats funny.

I went and checked.

Reggie Jackson is the all-time strikeout leader, with 2,597.

Thome-2,548,

Adam Dunn-2,379

Sammy Sosa-2,306

Alex Rodriguez-2,277

and Andres Galarraga -2,003

Lot of HRs in the list above, too.

That Reggie is still the leader is astonishing. A way to check the vulnerability of a career record is to see how many years of league-leading performance that represents. Today's leaders in Ks are now usually around 200 or a bit more, say 215. That means Reggie's record is about 12 years of league-leading performance. That means the record will almost certainly fall in the relatively near future.

Homers are about 15 years, moderately vulnerable.

Steals are 23 or 24 years, no way.

Pitcher wins are 25+ years, no chance.

Batter walks are over 20 years, unlikely.

Doubles are similar to homers, so maybe.

Sac hits are 40 or 50 years or more... Eddie Collins had 512 and whole teams don't sacrifice 30 times in a season now.

And oddly, pitcher strikeouts are over 20 years because starter innings have declined at a similar rate that Ks have gone up and Nolan Ryan was a freak of nature.

That Reggie is still the leader is astonishing. A way to check the vulnerability of a career record is to see how many years of league-leading performance that represents. Today's leaders in Ks are now usually around 200 or a bit more, say 215. That means Reggie's record is about 12 years of league-leading performance. That means the record will almost certainly fall in the relatively near future.

Homers are about 15 years, moderately vulnerable.

Steals are 23 or 24 years, no way.

Pitcher wins are 25+ years, no chance.

Batter walks are over 20 years, unlikely.

Doubles are similar to homers, so maybe.

Sac hits are 40 or 50 years or more... Eddie Collins had 512 and whole teams don't sacrifice 30 times in a season now.

And oddly, pitcher strikeouts are over 20 years because starter innings have declined at a similar rate that Ks have gone up and Nolan Ryan was a freak of nature.

Pitchers regularly completed their games, unless they were getting shelled, and nobody cared too much about pitch counts and the number of innings a year.

Gibson completed 28 out of 34 & 35 GS in 68 & 69 and threw over 300 inning both years, he was always in the high 200.

17 years and average 262 innings a year, which is even more crazy that his first 2 seasons, he only started a total of 21 games and threw 150 innings total.