Great questions.
I want to change the subject just for a minute. Then back to trivia to our hearts' content.
It's about the Grover Cleveland Alexander (I REFUSE to call him Pete) - Tony Lazzeri confrontation that determined the outcome of the 1926 World Series.
The dominant narrative of that match-up has bothered me for a while. The story, as told by Ken Burns and others is that Alexander, on his last legs, his arm almost fallen off, old, grisled and past his prime had one last hurrah, one last moment in the sun, against the odds, against the fearsome Yankees and the awesome Tony Lazzeri.
First, the Yankees were not yet "The Yankees" - 1927 and 1928 had not happened yet. In 1924-5 the AL champs were the Washington Senators. The Yankees were back in the Series in 1926 and had to go 7 games to have a chance to win.
It is true that Lazzeri had 114 RBI in 1926 and was a very good hitter. But he hit .275 in 1926. He had a .335 OBP and struck out 92 times in 700 PA. He was a very good hitter, not a great one.
He was also a rookie playing in the World Series for the first time with the whole fate of his team, which was behind in the score late in the deciding game, resting on his shoulders and was up against one of the greatest and most famous pitchers who ever lived.
Alexander was no spring chicken in 1926, true. He had been traded to the Cards by the Cubs mid-season.
He had pitched 15 years in MLB at that point - meaning he was Roger Clemens in 1999 or 2000 if you like. Tough and far from done.
In 1926 he pitched 200 innings, 148 of them for the Cardinals. He went 12-10, with a 3.05 ERA and his WHIP was 1.08. This at the height of the hitters' era that was the 1920s.
The year before he had pitched in 236 innings and had a WHIP of 1.27, winning 15 games.
He had regularly pitched, not just 300 but in some years 400 innings in the 1910s, but granted that was a while back at that point.
But he was FAR from being on his last legs: in 1927, the following season after striking out Lazzeri in the Series, he pitched 268 innings, went 21-10, had an ERA of 2.52 and a WHIP of 1.16. In 1928 he threw 228 innings, won 16 games, had an ERA of 3.36 and a WHIP of 1.23.
In 1929, three full seasons after the Lazzeri showdown, he threw 132 innings, won 9 games and had a respectable, especially for that era, WHIP of 1.30.
He pitched less effectively in 9 games in 1930.
I would say he had a little left to pitch to one rookie batter who was under the pressure of the whole World Series in 1926, wouldn't you say so?
In other words, the odds were very much against Tony Lazzeri in that at-bat, and while Grover Cleveland Alexander belongs in the conversation of say, which 10 pitchers deserve to be considered candidates for the greatest pitcher ever, his strike out of a rookie second baseman in the World Series of 1926 was just part of the great career. The real miracle that should have gone down in baseball legend would have been if Lazzeri had doubled to give the Yankees the lead and the Series against one of the very greatest pitchers ever having a very good season.