Monday, March 14, 2016

Happy Pi Day!

Ben Van Dyke was a pitcher for the Red Sox. 

He didn't have a very long career with the team. But, he was a member of the fantastic 1912 World Championship team. Although, he did not appear in that World Series. 

(He also pitched for the 1909 Philadelphia Phillies. That team finished below .500.)

He actually pitched pretty well in his one season in Boston. He struck out five guys per nine innings. He didn't lose a game. He was also the victim of a bit of bad luck, as he gave up the same number of unearned runs as he did earned runs.

Of course, he only pitched in three games that season. He started one, and finished two. Which, I suppose, happened when you were a pitcher for the 1912 Red Sox, but your name wasn't Joe Wood. You may need to star t a game, and you may need to pitch an inning were and there when Wood's arm was completely falling off. Otherwise, there wasn't much to do.

Why do we care? Well, we probably don't. But, there's one little factoid that might be a little interesting today.

You see during that one season for the Sox, Van Dyke pitched 14.1 innings, and surrendered 5 earned runs. Can you do the math?

Yup.

That's an ERA of 3.14

Happy Pi Day!

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