December 5, 200520 yr So, I'm bored and looking around baseball-reference because I wanted to check the answer to a question a friend of mine asked, and I stumble upon this man John Coleman. The man is a statistical marvel. In 1883 he set the record most losses in a season (48) most earned runs allowed (291) most hits allowed (772) and most amazingly, he allowed 17 homeruns in that season (good for the league lead), while the league leader in homeruns hit only had 10 (remember, this is when the game was mostly played without fences). Combine this with his amazing 12-48 record, and you might have one of the most amazing seasons all time for a pitcher, but on top of this, he closed 5 games that season as well (which is almost unheard of in the era without closers), meaning the man threw 539 innings...and this was his rookie year! I mean, 200 innings in a season is taboo for a rookie starter, he probably had that many by May. Not to be outdone, in 1885 he hit .299, good for 8th in the league, finished 10th in OBP and slugging, second in triples and 6th in RBI. And, when he wasn't pitching in that "magical" season of 1883, he registered an astounding 14 assists and 13 errors in only 31 games! We're talking about, statistically, one of the most amazing players in history.
December 5, 200520 yr The Marlins are probably going to need Dontrelle to throw 539 innings this year. :plain
May 3, 200620 yr Cool stats. I wonder if he threw overhand. 1883 was the first year pitchers could throw overhand. It was also 8 balls for a base on balls and the pitcher's box was 50 feet from home plate.
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