Sunday, June 10, 2012
Gopher Phil
Back in 1986, Bert Blyleven set the record for most home runs allowed by a pitcher in a single season, with 50. It earned him the nickname Gopher Bert. Here’s a list of all the pitchers who allowed at least 40 HRs in a single season.
At his current pace, Phil Hughes would make this list with 42 homers allowed.
From September 8, 1986 through June 10, 1987 Blyleven had 20 straight starts where he allowed at least one homer. It’s the longest streak in MLB history.
Baseball Reference: Longest Streak with HR≥1 From 1918 to 2012
After yesterday’s game, Hughes has a streak of 12 straight games allowing a homer, which puts him in a tie with nine other pitchers for the sixth longest streak of such games.
You can still be a pretty valuable pitcher despite allowing a lot of homers if you are able to keep your walks and hits down so that they’re mostly solo shots. Blyleven was worth 3.9 WAR in 1986 despite his gopheritis. But it’d be cool if Hughes could stop allowing so many of them.
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