Read what Heyman recently wrote regarding Jack Morris and the Hall of Fame:
Morris' detractors generally point to one unextraordinary number, and while it's an important number, it should not define his career. His lifetime ERA of 3.90 would be the highest of any pitcher in the Hall of Fame, and his ERA plus of 105 is barely above average. But Morris pitched deep into his games and deep into his middle age, trampling his lifetime ERA. Morris is known by teammates to have pitched to the score, which enabled him to win more games than anyone else in the '80s and 254 games overall. (The leading winners in the seven preceding decades are all in the Hall.) In seven seasons, he received Cy Young votes. So he had plenty of great years.Ugh. I am at a loss of things to say. It's not fair to simply excuse Jack Morris' "barely above average" ERA while also giving him complete credit for all of his wins. They go hand in hand, we can't say his ERA would have been better if he retired earlier while also fawning over his career win total which had to happen at the expense of his ERA.
By Heyman's logic, Jack Morris would have a much better ERA if his career ended early, you know before trampled his lifetime ERA. So let's take a look at the numbers.
Jack Morris, if his career ended in 1988 after his age 33 season: 177-118 3.59 ERA, 113 ERA+
Jack Morris complete career: 254-186, 3.90 ERA, 105 ERA+
Heyman is right, sort of. While Morris' ERA obviously increased it still wasn't all that great, at least not Hall of Fame great as a 113 ERA+ would still only rank 247th all time. There are a few pitchers who's end of career numbers really derail what was a magnificent peak, but Jack Morris is not one of those pitchers.
The best thing a pitcher can do is to not let runners score and I find it highly amusing that Heyman is ready and willing to throw that all of that out the window because, well, Morris pitched deep into his middle age!
Oh, I almost forgot about the whole "pitch to the score" argument! Did you notice how Heyman says "Morris is known by teammates to have pitched to the score"? That's because actual evidence would only disagree with Heyman's statement, who woulda thunk it?
At this point I think Heyman's analysis is suffering as he enters his middle age and I wouldn't be opposed if he retired.
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