Jamie Moyer: Future Hall Of Famer? Part Two

To see Part One, click here .

Jamie Moyer, 47, has been in baseball for almost 25 years. Before he was in drafted, he pitched for Souderton High School, which is very close to my house. He then went on to pitch for St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.  

 Moyer was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 1984 when he was 21. He dominated in the minors during his first three seasons. He was called up in 1986 and pitched against the Philadelphia Phillies and his childhood idol, Steve Carlton. He collected his first win that day.

He found limited success over the next few years. After being traded to the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals, Moyer found himself back in the minors in 1992.

At this point, with a record of 34-54 and an ERA of 4.56, Moyer was considering retiring. His father-in-law told him to retire, but Moyer remained faithful to baseball.

In 1993, Moyer, found rebirth with the Baltimore Orioles. He had a record of 12-9 and posted a 3.43 ERA. He then spent two more mediocre years with the Orioles before signing with the Boston Red Sox.

Moyer now 33 years old, was a starter and reliever for the Red Sox and did a pretty good job but was traded to the Mariners before the trade deadline. This was a move that he will never regret.

Moyer became a full-time starter and finished the season strong. He then had a record of 59-32 with an ERA of 4.08 over the next four years, including winning 17 games in 1997.

Jamie then had a terrific year in 2001. He was 20-6 with a 3.43 ERA and finished fourth in Cy Young Award voting. He continued his dominance the next year as well.

In 2003, Moyer had his best season. He had a record of 21-7 with a 3.27 ERA and made his only All-Star team. He also finished fourth in Cy Young Award voting.

Over the next few seasons, Moyer began to fall from grace. He had yet another rebirth after being traded to the Phillies in 2006. During his career in Seattle, he had a 145-87 record with a 3.97 ERA and 2093.0 innings pitched.

After helping the Phillies with an unsuccessful playoff push in 2006, Moyer helped them make the playoffs in 2007. He didn’t have the best season, but he managed 14 wins and an ERA of 5.01. He also won the last game of the season for the Phillies, which clinched them the division title.

In 2008, Moyer had his best season since 2003. He was 16-7 with a 3.71 ERA. Yet again, he won the division clinching game for the Phillies that year. He also became tied with Phil Niekro for most wins by a pitcher who is 45 or older.

Moyer then pitched a pivotal game in the World Series for the Phillies, which helped them win their second world championship.

In 2009, Moyer had a drawback. He won 12 games, but lost his starter’s job and injured himself in the last month.

At this point, Moyer is set to pitch in spring training. He is under contract for next year, and has every intention of coming back. Unless his injury sets him back, he will be ready for 2010.

Beyond that, it is unclear for Moyer’s future. He will be 48 when his contract ends and will have to show the Phillies that he can still pitch next year to let them consider resigning him.

After 23 major league seasons, Moyer has a record 258-195, which is surely good enough for the Hall of Fame, considering how many others have made it with a worse record. He also has plenty of innings pitched and plenty of strikeouts.

The only thing that could keep him from the Hall of Fame would be his ERA. You could also make the argument for his lack of awards, yet he has won the Hutch, Lou Gehrig, and Roberto Clemente Award, which the voters will surely look at because they also look for character.

Plus, he’s made an All-Star team, though he should’ve made more in my opinion. He’s had the stats to be on the team many times.

You could say he wasn’t a dominant pitcher during his career, yet that would be false. Dominance isn’t defined by strikeouts. It is defined by a pitcher’s ability to get outs. That’s exactly what Moyer did. He got outs. The only reason he wasn’t as known was because of the other pitchers in the league.

Anyway, back to his ERA.

During his career, Moyer has a 4.22 ERA, which won’t go away soon. If he was elected, yes he would have the highest ERA of all Hall of Fame pitchers. The fact is though, ERA isn’t everything. Sure, it’s important, but the fact is that it doesn’t define a pitcher.

Also, Moyer had only 34 wins by the time he was 30, and he didn’t pitch in the bigs when he was 29. That means that over the last 16 seasons, he won 224 games. That’s not half bad, especially if you believe a pitcher gets worse with age. He’s sixth all-time in wins after the age of 30.

94 of those 224 wins came after he was 40. That’s third all-time, and he’ll be second all-time next year. All he needs is two more wins to pass Jack Quinn.

But the main thing to look at is the stats. Here’s a quick look:

Record: 258-195 ERA: 4.22 IP: 3908.2 K: 2342 GP: 667

That seems like Hall of Fame stats to me. But there is another stat I want to mention. His 491 home runs allowed.

Out of the top ten players with the most home runs allowed, six of them are in the Hall of Fame, and two of them are Randy Johnson and Bert Blyleven, who are both future Hall of Famers.

Coincidence? Maybe…maybe not. No, I’m not suggesting you make the Hall of Fame by giving up a lot of home runs. I’m only saying it’s something to look at.

I also want to add that in the poll conducted in the other article, 62% said Moyer is a future Hall of Famer. (It was out of 98 votes.)

If Jamie Moyer can manage to stick around in baseball until he’s 50, then great. It’ll help add to his Hall of Fame resume.

All I can say is good luck to Jamie Moyer.

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