| Where are the Iron Men of baseball? |
| Came across an interesting PCL baseball article online at the Modesto Bee . Actually found it via twitter. One of those stories that makes you think, where have the Iron men of baseball gone. Back in the old days of the game it was a badge of honor for a pitcher to be regarded as an “Ironman”. The article talks about Clarence Henley's 1-0 victory for the San Francisco Seals in 1909. 24 innings pitched and never once more than a hit in an inning. Today, if you were to look at the hits per innings you'd think Henley was the inventor binary code...101001... Equally amazing is that Henley only walked one batter in 24 innings. On the day he allowed 9-hits and struck out seven batters. Not a bad days work, 24 innings is almost a season for todays professional. Almost equal to Henley's feat was the pitching performance of Wiggs, Oaklands pitcher who is credited with pitching 24-innings and walking off the mound with a loss. Wiggs struck out 13 men, walked six and gave up eleven hits. Wiggs also allowed no more than a hit in any inning until the 24th. I doubt if we'll ever see anything like this again – the game is different now. |
