When the league as a whole is pitching better because of a confluence of events, it makes it harder to achieve a 200 ERA+ because the average gets so much better. And in the 1960s, lots of things were making it a pitcher’s era.

The strike zone was larger. Mounds were higher. And perhaps most importantly, new larger stadiums were in vogue. The Astrodome was such a pitcher’s park that it probably cost Jose Cruz a well deserved shot at the HOF. Ebbet’s Field had morphed into Dodger Stadium. Shea Stadium was a mild pitcher’s park.

Go to b-ref and sort NL on ERA. The first three seasons after WWII to come up were all in the 1960s. 1968 is surrounded by dead ball years, the only year after 1920 with a NL ERA under 3.00. All told, 5 seasons with those pitching rules are the best modern pitching seasons. The AL yields similar results.

The thing is, when you improve the average, it’s harder than ever to achieve an ERA+ of 200. The highest league ERA of the 1960s was 4.03, and the numbers are consistent between the NL and the AL, which is lower than the lowest league ERA Pedro Martinez ever pitched in.

I’m not saying that Pedro wasn’t great. I’m just saying that mathematically, everything is done in a context, and Pedro’s came at a time when it was easier to achieve 200+ ERA+ in some part because the bar was set so low by the leagues in which he pitched.

You could argue (with some validity) that this meant Pedro was facing tougher opposition overall, which is why he deserves his high ERA+. I’m in no way trying to demean Pedro, or for that matter Greinke. But what this really says (to me) is that Gibson’s achievement (for a single season) was worth more. And you could probably argue that Big Train and Pete and Christy had to work even harder to get an ERA+ of 200 back in their times of dead balls.

What steams me is that Mike Marshall was one of the smartest pitchers ever. He has a doctorate in kinesiology. He wants to help pitchers refine their pitching motion for less strain, and his career is a shining example of competence at pitching all the time without breaking down much. And yet nobody in baseball is willing to hire him, or send him somebody like Hong Chi Kuo, a guy with great stuff who has trouble staying healthy, to see if maybe Iron Mike can find a way to keep the arm sound.

Interesting to note that Marshall threw 115 or more innings four times in his career (all in relief), leading his league in games pitched each time, and was high in the CYA all four times.

1. The L/M songwriting team was a team in name only. Though there were some exceptions (A Day in the Life, notably), the vast majority of their songs were written by Lennon or McCartney, not both.

2. L&M were the alpha dogs in the Beatles. This meant they could veto George songs. While My Guitar Gently Weeps only made it because Harrison got Eric Clapton to play on it. Lots of his songs did not make it, and for a full picture of his genius, you really need to listen to All Things Must Pass which consists almost entirely of songs Lennon & McCartney wouldn’t put on Beatles records and is also, amazingly brilliant.

Greinke and Hernandez are the two horsemen of the apocolypse this year: Both enjoying excellent seasons pitching for cellar dweller teams. Mention one as a maybe getting snubbed in Cy Young balloting and you have to mention the other. Well, okay, but the thing is that King Felix just won his 16th game last night. If he gets 17 or 18 wins and Zack stays stuck at 14 or 15, well, I think Felix wins.

Look, the groundwork has already been laid. Everyone writes about how good these guys are, and how unfair it will be if they both get snubbed in the Cy balloting just because their teams suck, and yadda yadda yadda. Great. So by picking Hernandez the voters get a guy with more than 15 wins…plus they get to recognize a pitcher who everyone has been hyping for four years as the next great thing…plus they get to nod at all the internet peoples who jump up and down about win totals skewing vote tallies.