Justin Verlander Becomes Sixth Hurler With Three No-Hitters

Justin Verlander had felt this feeling before -- in the very same building, in fact. When the final out was made, capping his third-career no-hitter in Houston's 2-0 win over the Blue Jays on Sunday, he raised his arms skyward, let a smile spread across his face and awaited a mob scene with his teammates.

Houston Official Site

Justin Verlander Overtakes Cy Young On Strikeout List

Talk about being in elite company.

Houston Official Site

Ten Players You Forgot Were Cardinals

A recent article by MLB.com's Will Leitch highlighting 10 former Yankees who you may not remember as former Yankees got us thinking about what such a list might look like for other baseball franchises.

St. Louis Official Site

Cardinals Hall Of Fame Gets Tribute To Women In Baseball Addition

If it is so that behind every good man stands a good woman, the 11-time World Series champion Cardinals have fallen right into lockstep. As a one-year addition to their Hall of Fame and Museum at Ballpark Village, they will add beginning on Friday a new exhibit titled, “Women in Baseball: How They Made History.”

Post-Dispatch

Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, Rogers Hornsby, & Stan Musial Named Cardinals Franchise Four

St. Louis Official Twitter

It was one of those moments in All-Star history that will be talked about for many years to come, and what made Major League Baseball's Franchise Four unveiling even more special Tuesday night was the way it happened in the most traditional baseball town and the way it led right into Mike Trout's home run.
MLB Official Site

While the 2015 All-Star Game offered it’s own moments, the lasting memory actually occurred before the game as Henry Aaron, Johnny Bench, Sandy Koufax, and Willie Mays were honored on the field after being voted as the Franchise Four: Greatest Living Players in Baseball. Over 25 million votes were cast during between April and May for the recognition.
STL Baseball Weekly

Did Cy Young Throw The First Pitch In Cardinals History?

The last time the Cardinals started a season with a record this good (19-6), they weren’t called the Cardinals but they sure did look familiar.

Bird Land

More Unbreakable Pitching Records

So my paean to Mariano Rivera led some readers to comment that I'd missed a few key pitching records of the last few decades, and they were right. So, as a mea culpa, below is my homage to Nolan Ryan. Okay, I'll cover more than just the Ryan Express, but his exploits are a key part of the conversation.

The Hardball Times

Baseball's Biggest Losers Deserved Better

It’s often said that you have to be a pretty good pitcher to lose 20 games in a season. If you weren’t any good, you’d be out of the rotation long before you hit 20 in the loss column.

The Hardball Times

Carlos Baerga Elected To Indians Hall Of Fame

Former second baseman Carlos Baerga and seminal general manager John Hart were elected to the Indians Hall of Fame by a 17-member committee of Cleveland baseball historians, the club announced on Wednesday morning.

MLB Official Site

Deep Time Baseball Venues In St. Louis

The collective memory of the Cardinal Nation only goes back so far. If all you know is what you hear and read in the normal course of being a fan, recorded baseball history started at Sportsman’s Park in the 20’s. Everything before that has mostly faded into the mist. But consider that, at the time, St. Louis fans supported two Major League teams, and had for some time. So where did they come from? Let’s have a look at the ooze which gave life to the primordial fans.

The Cardinal Nation Blog

The Hall Of wWAR: Pitchers

It's here! The last installment of Hall of wWAR series. The conversion from the Hall of Fame to the Hall of wWAR involved kicking 66 of the 206 members of the Hall of Fame out and replacing them with new, more deserving players. That means 32.0% of this new Hall is not in the old one. 19 of the 66 newcomers (28.8%) are pitchers.

Beyond The Boxscore

Top 30 Best Single Seasons Using Adjusted Pitcher Runs

Prior to the begining of the Modern Era, there were a bounty of pitchers who dominated hitters more than you can imagine. For just about every pitcher in the Modern Era who was on the list of best Adjusted Pitcher Runs by season, there were about three times as many before 1901. However, that doesn't mean the past century featured a bunch of duds -- just the opposite...

Beyond The Boxscore

Who Was Black Baseball's Best Pitcher?

In the wake of "The Year of the Pitcher" and in a salute to Black History Month, MLB.com posed the following question to a panel of 20 of the most respected authorities on "black baseball," a term that encompasses baseball before Rube Foster founded the Negro Leagues in 1920: Who were the top five black pitchers prior to the integration of the Major Leagues? Based on a compilation of their rankings, the countdown toward No. 1 begins Tuesday. Today, we start with a preview of the series.

Cardinals Official Site

wWAR II: The Pitchers List

Yesterday, I posted rankings of all Hall of Fame position players by Weighted WAR (wWAR), with this year's Hall of Fame ballot mixed in for some perspective. Wait, what's wWAR again?

Beyond The Boxscore

Larry Walker's Hall Cred Goes On Trial

Larry Walker is the latest of the Blake Street Bombers to stroll down baseball's most glamorous runway, making his first appearance this year on the Hall of Fame ballot.

Denver Post

The Predictably Unpredictable Career of Jamie Moyer

Sometimes my timing stinks. This is one of those times.

Last Friday afternoon I finished the rough draft of a column on Jamie Moyer that began by noting how incredible it is that a 47-year-old could be 6-5 with a 3.98 ERA so deep in the season. Then I made some comments about his overall career before concluding that as nice and heartwarming as his season was, he was incredibly unlikely to keep his performance up, because his 2010 performance was entirely dependent on a BABIP that was more than 50 points lower than his career marker.

The Hardball Times

More WAR As A Rate Stat: Top Pitchers All Time (WAR Per 200 IP)

The other day, I posted the top position players all time in terms of WAR per 700 plate appearances. Inevitably, in the comments I was asked to draw up a list of pitchers by WAR/200 IP.

Beyond The Boxscore

Career Leaders In Wins Above MVP Level (WAM), Pitchers

A little while back, I published the career leaders in Wins Above MVP Level (WAM) among position players. Let's take a look at the career leaders for pitchers.

Beyond The Boxscore

Best Single Season WAR (Without Winning The MVP)

When I first started talking about Wins Above MVP Level, commenter bdunc8 asked:

Which 10 non-MVP’s had the highest WAR?

Beyond The Boxscore

Prospectus Hit & Run: Hall Of Fame Cases For Pitchers

In a tradition as old as my Hall of Fame ballot analysis series itself predating even the JAWS acronym, we come to the pitchers on the BBWAA ballot for the Hall of Fame mere hours ahead of the announcement of the voting results. As with last year, it's a short list, featuring three holdovers and four newcomers.

Baseball Prospectus