Fun with Pi Day

Hey, math fans. It’s Pi Day today, so I thought I’d indulge in that a little bit. It’s not that I’m a fan of math; I’m really not. At two universities across four years, I took two math classes, the bare minimum for my major. My freshman year at Hofstra, I took a math class that was labeled as so easy, that math, business, and science majors couldn’t take it. I got a B+, I think. It was the first time I’d gotten at least a B in math since my freshman year of high school when I took Algebra 1. Fast forward to my senior year at UConn; I took Stats 101 and (ironically enough) got a D. Still, Pi Day sparks some decent high school memories of math teachers geeking out and, of course, bringing in pie. With that in mind, and with an assist from Diane at Value Over Replacement Grit, let’s take a look at some pitching Pi Day fun as it relates to the Yankees.

I ran to the Play Index at Baseball-Reference and searched for Yankee pitchers with an ERA of exactly 3.14. The search returned two hits. The most recent one came first, and that was from reliever Hipolito Pena in 1988.

Pena, 24 during the ’88 campaign, was acquired by the Yankees on March 30 of that year for future Little League World Series commentator Orestes Destrade. He made his Yankee debut on June 1 in a game at Oakland. He pitched one inning, gave up one hit, and that was all. He next pitched on June 4 and June 6, going a combined 3.1 innings, surrendering 3 hits, 3 runs (all unearned, all on June 4), while walking 1 and striking out 3. After June 6, he was sent down to the minors and wouldn’t return until September 3. From then until the end of the season, Pena threw 10 innings, allowed 6 hits, 5 R/ER, 7 walks, 1 HR, and struck out 7. He never again pitched in the Majors after 1988, though he did play minor league and independent league ball until 1996.

The only other Yankee pitcher to end the season with an ERA of exactly 3.14 was Marshall Bridges in 1962. The Yankees traded for Bridges in December of 1961, sending Jesse Gonder to the Reds. Bridges racked up 18 saves in 1962, which were the second most in the American League. He pitched in 52 games, finishing 35 of them and totaling 71.2 innings. He was hardly a master of control, with 48 walks (6.0 BB/9), but he managed to strike out 66 (8.3 K/9). Bridges also threw 3.2 innings in the ’62 World Series win over the Giants, though he didn’t exactly pitch well (4 H, 2 BB, 1 HR). In November of 1963, the Washington Senators purchased Bridges from the Yankees.

After ERA, I punched in a search for Yankee pitchers with a K/BB of exactly 3.14; the search returned just one name/season: in 2002. Duque displayed fantastic control that year, walking just 2.2 per nine, while striking out 7.0 batters. He tossed 146 innings for the Bombers in 24 games (22 starts).