Consistent Starter of The 80’s

The winningest pitcher of the 1980s is none other than Detroit Tigers ace Jack Morris. Between 1980 and 1989, Morris (who celebrates his 70th birthday today) went 162-119 with 1,629 strikeouts and a 3.66 ERA. Morris was no doubt a fine pitcher, but numbers like these can be a bit deceptive. Just because Morris won the most games in a single decade doesn’t say, to us at least, that he was the *best* pitcher of the decade. Roger Clemens is likely our pick of the best overall pitcher of the 1980s but didn’t get his start until 1984. So his win total isn’t quite as high as Morris (for reference, Clemens won 163 games between 1984 and 1993, his first decade in the Majors). Morris never won a Cy Young but he was consistently good, with 3 World Series rings with 3 teams over his career and only one losing season in his first 10 full seasons as a starter. It took a while but he also finally made the Hall of Fame cut in 2018 when the Modern Era committee added him to the Cooperstown ranks. So happy birthday to one of the most consistent starters of the 80s, Jack Morris.

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