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Jack Morris "pitching to the score"

This, and Game 7 against my Braves, is the reason why Morris is getting HOF consideration. I know others have shown that he did not have a uncanny ability to allow runs more often only when he had sizable leads. I am showing another, even if it's a less arduous, way that this wasn't true. Using B-R's HR Log, I found the mini-table that shows how far ahead/behind a team is when the home runs are allowed. For this study, I only counted the HR allowed when the pitcher was up 4+ runs. For example, Morris allowed 57 of his 389 HR - 14.7% - up 4 or more runs. Here is a table of 19 pitchers who primarily played from 1960-1995 and their respective percentages.

Name Total HR HR >4 R %
Tiant 346 56 16.2%
Kaat 395 61 15.4%
Blyleven 430 65 15.1%
D. Martinez 372 56 15.1%
Morris 389 57 14.7%
Palmer 303 43 14.2%
Tanana 448 63 14.1%
John 302 41 13.6%
Niekro 482 65 13.5%
Hunter 374 50 13.4%
D. Alexander 324 43 13.3%
Eckersley 347 46 13.3%
Viola 294 38 12.9%
Carlton 414 51 12.3%
Sutton 472 56 11.9%
Hough 383 45 11.7%
Seaver 380 44 11.6%
Ryan 321 36 11.2%
G. Perry 399 32 8.0%

Morris is high on the list, but not enough to warrant his "pitch to the score" reputation. Of the pitchers ahead of him, Blyleven was much, much better, Tiant was better, and Kaat and Martinez were nearly as good. There are many limitations to this statistic, but it's pretty safe to say Morris was not the pitcher many people think he was.

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