Quiz – “10-40, Good Buddy” (solved)

All of these pitchers had a career winning record with 100 ERA+, all played in the American League, and all but three played for the Yankees. But, what distinguishes these pitchers among all others since 1914?

Congratulations to Richard Chester! He knew that these ten pitchers were the fastest to win 40 starts from the beginning of their careers. Specifically, they are the only pitchers since 1914 to do so within their first 75 games.

Incidentally, if you’re thinking that the old CB radio sign-off was 10-4 and not 10-40, you are right. Except ten-four is actually short for ten-forty, the police code for acknowledging a received radio transmission.

Here are how these pitchers fared in the victorious starts in the first 75 games of their careers.

Rk Player Wins ERA CG SHO IP HR BB SO WHIP SB CS Tm
1 Dwight Gooden 46 Ind. Games 1.07 25 13 380.0 11 92 395 0.89 30 10 NYM
2 Dave Ferriss 44 Ind. Games 2.07 42 11 396.0 12 97 147 1.10 3 3 BOS
3 Vic Raschi 43 Ind. Games 2.10 38 10 364.1 19 117 187 1.06 8 6 NYY
4 Tim Hudson 43 Ind. Games 1.88 4 2 312.0 20 90 267 0.97 24 6 OAK
5 Tiny Bonham 43 Ind. Games 1.65 40 12 381.1 11 54 123 0.93 5 8 NYY
6 Roger Clemens 42 Ind. Games 2.30 17 4 336.2 25 91 310 0.96 15 12 BOS
7 Chien-Ming Wang 41 Ind. Games 2.44 2 1 287.2 11 55 129 1.09 12 11 NYY
8 Mike Mussina 41 Ind. Games 2.04 11 6 322.1 20 71 199 0.98 10 10 BAL
9 Barry Zito 40 Ind. Games 1.65 4 3 273.0 18 99 248 1.02 13 12 OAK
10 Hank Borowy 40 Ind. Games 1.53 36 9 364.1 11 108 174 1.09 9 6 NYY
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/15/2015.

Incidentally, yet another Yankee is on pace to join this group. In his 37th game, Masahiro Tanaka picked up career win no. 22 today in Toronto. So, he’s half-way to 75 games and could get there by the end of next season.

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Richard Chester
Richard Chester
8 years ago

Is it a game accomplishment in the WS?

The Goof
8 years ago

Does it involve winning percentage in the early part of their careers?

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
8 years ago

Looks like it’s something like most wins in his first x number of games for a RH AL pitcher.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
8 years ago
Reply to  Doug

I ran most wins in first 100 games from start of career in the live ball era. They all had 52 wins but so did 6 others. Perhaps the 10-40 in the title is somewhat of a clue.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
8 years ago

I made the same run for first 75 games. They all had 40+ wins and 40+ starts, no one else did.

Mark
Mark
8 years ago

Bucco fan here – unless I’m reading something wrong somewhere, our favorite young ace Gerrit Cole still has a chance here: 37-20 in 69 career starts (so an outside chance he could knock out joining the group by the end of this season, and/or move up the list by 75). Good stuff here as always, Doug!