THE HERALD OUTLOOK Saturday May 26 1990 Baseballs young guns take aim at tradition In My Years In the Big Leagues Hall of Famer Connie Mack wrote Any minute any day some players may break a longstand ing record Thats one of the fascina about the game the unexpect surprises Unexpected surprises Of course You might even be unex surprised to learn which bat ter had the most hits in his first five full major league seasons Or which pitcher the most strikeouts First let define a player first complete big league season as his first year with a minimum of cither 130 at bats or 50 innings pitched Thus we find that only three play ers have ever collected a total of 1000 or more hits in their first five years Does that include either Pete Rose or Ty Cobb the top two in all tune career hits In point of fact Rose had 899 hits in his first five years and Cobb 735 What about Wade Close but no cigar with only hits in his rookie year finished his first five seasons with a total of highest among active players but still just No 8 on the all tune list The unexpected surprise is that the top young gun ever was Joe Med wick the man who ranks on the all time hit list Ducky stroked 198 224 223 and hits in his first five complete years with the St Louis Cardinals 193337 It gave him a to of hits or 212 per season Paul Waner had 057 hits in his first five seasons 1926 30 with the Pittsburgh Pirates for the No 2 posi tion Interestingly enough Pauls brother and teammate Lloyd ties for the fifth spot with hits from to 1931 with Pittsburgh The only other man in history to av erage more than 200 hits a year through his first five full seasons is perhaps the most unexpected surprise of all Earle Combs of the New York Yankees recorded marks of 203 194 and from to 1029 for a total of 1 hits Combs mulated only other hits in his re seven seasons in the majors Now let s turn to strikeouts Which pitcher holds the record for during his first five seasons Chances are most fans would guess one of the three usually considered the hardest throwers ever Walter Johnson Bob Feller or Nolan Ryan Good guesses But with 973 Feller Johnson and Ryan none of the three even ranks in the top 10 for the first five seasons For that matter neither does Steve Carlton 758 who stands second to Ryan on the all time career strikeout list With batters current infatuation with the long ball its not surprising to find that five of the early K men are active pitchers Bert ven Dwlght Gooden 1 Frank Mark Langston 018 and Fernando Valenzuela respectively rank third fourth sixth eighth and ninth in strikeouts their first five seasons Young Guns Basebairs leading hitlers Firsts seasons if Batter years Total hits Joe 1064 Paul 192630 Combs Ralph Tin Chuck Klein 192S 32 Lloyd 63 985 Wade 1982 8i Stan 1942 1547 Joe 193640 Noli Mm mum Ml lull A new spirit of giving JOHN GRABOWSKI The runner up spot is held by the all time No K man Tom Seaver who fanned 1 in his early seasons or 231 per year Not bad at all but still 38 short of the unexpected surprise leader Who is this mystery man If you guessed Ferguson Jenkins go to the head of the class This often over looked strikeout artist is usually best remembered by trivia fans as being the only pitcher with more than career strikeouts and fewer than 1 bases on balls His strikeout totals of 236 260 273 and 274 gave him a mark of 193 for an average of per season each of his first five full years in the majors Nobody ever done it better 1W0 NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE BEARLY USED WE BUY USED DISABLED VEHICLES Georgetown AutoGlass COMPLETE AUTO UPHOLSTERY SEAT COVERS VINYL TOPS SUN ROOFS WINDSHIELDS CIA WELCOMED ARMSTRONG AVE mm ft POMPEI PIZZERIA FAST FREE LOCAL DELIVERY 8775281 BUCCANEER DIVE SHOP SALES SERVICE TRAVEL All Lew I Training Beginner Professional 7400 SERVO PARCEL EAGLE LANDSCAPING LTD Complete Maintenance Professional Landscaping And Design Quality Workmanship E 8731200 YOUR COMPLETE CENTRE FOR HOME IMPROVEMENT DO IT YOURSELF Main St N acton 8531970 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