The fans speak out

Baseball Digest, March-April, 2005 by Eric Husby-Gerry, Patrick Kielty, Sam Aviles, Keith Castelluccio, Al Valentine, Tom Putnam, David Lynch, John Rowehl, Stephen Tarbell, Shawn Casey, Norman L. Macht, Jim Schier, Drew Masterman, Bill Frangis, John Hogan, Steve Luftig, Lewis J. Snyder, Bob Reigh, Fred Jimenez, Robert Bouret, Donald S. Buss, Robert A. Wolfe, Bob Diehl, Jerry Sills, Michael P. Pippin, Eric Sever

Robert A. Wolfe

Tavares, Fla.

The accompanying chart lists the career pitching totals of Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson and Greg Maddux through the 2004 season, including their base runners per nine innings pitched ratio.

One baseball record that will never be broken is Walter Johnson's career mark of 110 shutouts.

With the increasing reliance on pitching by committee, it also seems doubtful that any active pitcher will join Roger Clemens on the top 50 list in that category. Would you please list the other nine active pitchers who, with Clemens, are the top 10 with the most shutouts?

Bob Diehl

Richmond, Va.

Rounding out the top 10 active pitchers with the most career shutouts behind Roger Clemens' 46 are Randy Johnson (37), Greg Maddux (35), Tom Glavine (23), Mike Mussina (21), Curt Schilling (19), Kevin Brown (17), Scott Erickson (17), Pedro Martinez (16) and John Smoltz (14).

My brother brought it to my attention that in 2003, the Atlanta Braves had outfielders who each hit 25 or more homers and collected 100-plus runs and 100-plus RBI in Andruw Jones (36 HR, 101 runs, 116 RBI), Chipper Jones (27, 103, 106) and Gary Sheffield (39, 126, 132).

We have tried to find another group of outfielders who accomplished this feat, but found none. We were wondering how many times in history this occurred?

Also in your January/February 2005 Quick Quiz, it was mentioned that five New York Yankees scored 100 or more runs. The 2003 Braves also accomplished this feat. Could you please tell us ff a team has ever had more than five players score 100-plus runs in a season and how many teams have had five players do it.

Jerry Sills

Las Vegas, Nev.

The Braves' 2003 outfield of Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones and Gary Sheffield is the only trio in major league history to each hit 25 or more homers while scoring 100 or more runs and posting 100-plus RBI.

The record for most players on a team scoring 100 or more runs is six accomplished by the 1931 New York Yankees and 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers.

The six players on the '31 Yankees to score 100 runs were Lou Gehrig (163), Babe Ruth (149), Earle Combs (120), Ben Chapman (120), Joe Sewell (102) and Lyn Lary (100). The '53 Dodgers included Duke Snider (132), Jim Gilliam (125), Jackie Robinson (109), Pee Wee Reese (108), Roy Campanella (103) and Gil Hodges (101).

Since 1900, there have been ten teams with five or more players on their roster who tallied 100 or more runs scored, including the 1929 Philadelphia A's, 1934 Detroit Tigers, 1938 Yankees, 1941 Yankees, 1950 Boston Red Sox, 1997 Seattle Mariners, 1999 Cleveland Indians, 2000 Chicago White Sox, 2003 Atlanta Braves and 2004 Yankees.

I remember when I was a kid in North Dakota in the early 1960s, my dad and I listened to all the Minnesota Twins games together. Those were great times and I really miss him and those days.

The Twins had a relief pitcher they called "Old Blue." My dad and I used to get excited when he came in because he was very good. To this day, I still do not know the pitcher's real name. Can you help me?