CC versus 1927 Murderer's Row at Yankee Stadium

Seeing that it's New Year's Eve and a slow day news-wise, I thought it would be a good time to run a simulation at whatifsports.com for kicks.

CC Sabathia of 2008 faced the 1927 Murderer's Row 10 times at Yankee Stadium, an era when would have likely been called upon to go on 2/3 days rest through the whole season (so think tail end of last season for a full 6 months).

Murderer's Row:

CF Earle Combs .356, 6 HR, 64 RBI, 231 H
SS Mark Koenig .285, 3 HR, 62 RBI
RF Babe Ruth .356, 60 HR, 164 RBI
1B Lou Gehrig .373, 47 HR, 175 RBI
LF Bob Meusel .337, 8 HR, 103 RBI, 47 2B
2B Tony Lazzeri .309, 18 HR, 102 RBI
3B Joe Dugan .269, 2 HR, 43 RBI
C Pat Collins .275, 7 HR, 36 RBI

Average result from the series of trials:

4.3 IP 4.5H 1.7R 1.6ER 0.9BB 4.7K 0.2HR ERA:367 Pitch Count: 63.7 WHIP:1.25 9.8k/9 IP

First knee-jerk reactions:

-Impressive 10 whiffs per 9 IP
-Why did he only pitch 4.3 IP a game (63 pitches)? Did he have a baby being born mid-game to rush out to every time? Not enough innings to even earn a 'win', Especially surprising back in'27 teams before we had ultra-specialists in the pen. [I am presuming this was because the model simulates games as a 'Must-Win' 1 game series scenario and feels the need to include as many arms in the attempt]
-0.2 HR per innings pitched. Not bad at all against these boppers


Happy New Year. Stay tuned for more updates in 2009!! Let's hope the Yanks pull off a monster season.