Both were aces for several years on Tigers teams, both had won World Series rings as a member of the Tigers and neither had won a Cy Young Award. Morris holds a record as the most wins during the 1980s and Lolich also holds a record as the most strikeouts in the American League by a left-handed pitcher. Morris, however, has more All-Star games (5 to Lolich's 3, including starting 3 of them), and 2 additional World Series rings, with the Minnesota Twins (1991) and the Toronto Blue Jays (1992).
Here are some traditional stats:
IP | W | L | ERA | WHIP | CG | SHO | K% | BB% | HR% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jack Morris
|
3824
|
254
|
186
|
3.90
|
1.30
|
175
|
28
|
15.4%
|
8.6%
|
2.4%
|
Mickey Lolich
|
3638 1/3
|
217
|
191
|
3.44
|
1.23
|
195
|
41
|
18.7%
|
7.3%
|
2.3%
|
The 3.90 ERA for Morris is high, high enough for some people to say that he doesn't belong in the Hall of Fame. The other side of that argument is that Morris pitched in a more offensive era. Lolich pitched in a more pitcher-dominant era during the 1960's, with a higher mound and a slightly bigger strike zone. Meanwhile, Morris pitched in a time where he never faced a pitcher-batter during the regular season. From the time the DH-rule came about to right before Interleague Play started (1973-1996), if a pitcher spent his entire career in the American League, he never faced a pitcher-batter during the regular season. This is exactly what happened to Morris, who pitched his entire career in the American League from 1977 to 1994.
There aren't a lot of advanced stats out there to normalize the different eras (like batted ball data), but there are a few:
ERA+ | ERA- | FIP | FIP- | fWAR | rWAR | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jack Morris
|
105
|
95
|
3.94
|
97
|
52.7
|
43.8
|
Mickey Lolich
|
104
|
96
|
3.20
|
87
|
62.0
|
48.8
|
ERA+ is a Baseball-Reference stat, the higher the number the better. FIP- is a FanGraphs stat, the lower the number the better. Both are calculated to reflect how the pitcher did relative to the league, with 100 being average. In Morris' case, he was about 5% better than the league and Lolich was about 4% better than the league. That's only a 1% difference. Therefore a 3.90 ERA in Morris' era wasn't that much different than a 3.40 ERA in Lolich's era.
Fielding Independence Pitching (FIP) uses the three "true" outcomes of strikeouts, walks and homeruns - the three stats that pitchers have the most control over. This stat favors Lolich since he had better strikeout rates and walk rates while having about equal homerun rates to Morris. FIP- is calculated by FanGraphs and uses the same premise of ERA-. Lolich was about 13% better than his peers while Morris was only 3% better.
Split data has become more and more available from past seasons. Baseball-Reference has just about every split imaginable for both Morris and Lolich. Going back to Morris never facing a pitcher-batter, we can actually subtract that out of Lolich's numbers and only compare what he did against "real" hitters.
Here are Morris' batting against line versus non-pitchers:
Here are Morris' batting against line versus non-pitchers:
I | Split | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | SB | CS | BB | SO | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
vs. Non-P | 549 | 16120 | 14443 | 1711 | 3567 | 572 | 91 | 389 | 373 | 142 | 1390 | 2478 | 1.78 | .247 | .313 | .380 | .693 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/8/2014.
I | Split | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | SB | CS | BB | SO | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
vs. Non-P | 586 | 14321 | 12975 | 1410 | 3248 | 550 | 71 | 335 | 156 | 147 | 1059 | 2516 | 2.38 | .250 | .309 | .381 | .690 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/8/2014.
We can also use that split data to show how well each performed in pressure situations, using leverage index. Leverage is split into 3 different levels, high, low and medium. High leverage situations are the close games, where one hit can be the difference in the game. Low leverage are the blowouts, where a homerun is really inconsequential. Medium leverage is somewhere in between.
Jack Morris' Leverage Splits:
I | Split | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | SB | CS | BB | SO | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
High Lvrge | 471 | 2860 | 2509 | 712 | 649 | 99 | 11 | 65 | 10 | 9 | 209 | 416 | 1.99 | .259 | .310 | .385 | .695 | |
Medium Lvrge | 544 | 7096 | 6380 | 635 | 1569 | 256 | 42 | 169 | 13 | 6 | 618 | 1094 | 1.77 | .246 | .313 | .379 | .692 | |
Low Lvrge | 548 | 6163 | 5553 | 324 | 1349 | 217 | 38 | 155 | 1 | 0 | 563 | 968 | 1.72 | .243 | .315 | .379 | .694 | |
Unk Lvrge | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/8/2014.
Mickey Lolich's Leverage Splits:
I | Split | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | SB | CS | BB | SO | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
High Lvrge | 485 | 3049 | 2636 | 646 | 654 | 96 | 13 | 62 | 0 | 10 | 231 | 551 | 2.39 | .248 | .306 | .365 | .671 | |
Medium Lvrge | 531 | 6345 | 5778 | 526 | 1446 | 221 | 25 | 163 | 0 | 10 | 442 | 1168 | 2.64 | .250 | .307 | .382 | .689 | |
Low Lvrge | 551 | 5744 | 5271 | 255 | 1265 | 247 | 36 | 122 | 0 | 0 | 426 | 1113 | 2.61 | .240 | .301 | .370 | .670 | |
Unk Lvrge | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 2.000 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/8/2014.
Jack Morris pitched twice as many innings in the playoffs as Mickey Lolich and won 2 more World Series rings. His most memorable game was in game 7 of the 1991 World Series, defeating John Smoltz in a 10-inning shutout. Lolich also has a memorable World Series, with 3 CG victories including defeating Bob Gibson in game 7 of the 1968 World Series. Lolich's stats are a little bit more shiny:
IP | W | L | ERA | WHIP | K% | BB% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jack Morris
|
92 1/3
|
7
|
4
|
3.80
|
1.25
|
16.8%
|
8.4%
|
Mickey Lolich
|
46
|
3
|
1
|
1.57
|
0.98
|
17.2%
|
6.1%
|
I was not a fan of baseball during the time both of these pitchers pitched. The only way I can evaluate them is with stats, with no emotion attached. And with the stats presented to me, it's hard to imagine how one can garner so much Hall of Fame attention while the other is a forgotten pitcher.
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