Moyer, the oldest active player in baseball, gave up the 506th home run of his career to Toronto’s Vernon Wells on Sunday, passing Hall of Famer Robin Roberts for most homers surrendered in MLB history.
Five hundred and six home runs is certainly a lot of dingers. It’s easy to poke fun at the fact that Moyer, whose fastball tops out at 83 miles per hour, has now officially thrown more gopher balls than any other pitcher in big league history.
But in order to give up that many homers, you have to pitch for a very long time. And in order to pitch for a very long time, you have to continue to have success at the highest level.
This year, Moyer has been everything the Philadelphia Phillies could have asked for coming out of spring training.
The southpaw improved to 9-6 with an 11-2 victory over the Blue Jays on Sunday. He gave up just two runs on six hits in seven innings, walking none and tying his season high in strikeouts with seven.
Moyer’s ERA in 2010 is 4.30, which is just fine for a fifth starter. But more importantly, batters are hitting just .230 against Moyer, tied for the best mark (2002 for Seattle) in his 24-year career.
And the job hasn’t been getting easier for the aging Moyer. After being removed from the starting rotation during the Phillies’ stretch run last season, and facing the reality that his fastball velocity was dropping, Moyer entered camp in February with a battle for the fifth starter’s job with Kyle Kendrick.
But thanks to a stellar spring, Moyer won the job over Kendrick, earning himself a spot in the rotation.
The move has paid off for the Phillies. On May 7, Moyer became the oldest player in major league history to throw a shutout, blanking the Atlanta Braves 2-0, giving up just two hits in the process.
Since that night, Moyer has been absolutely tremendous, going 6-4 with a 3.66 ERA. Take out his fluke performance at Fenway Park earlier in June, when he gave up nine runs in an inning of work against the Red Sox, and Moyer has a 2.63 ERA since May 7.
So while Moyer keeps serving up long balls — he’s already given up 15 this year — remember that sometimes statistics, like the 506 home runs Moyer’s given up, don’t tell the whole story.
After all, former Celtics great, eight-time NBA champion and Hall of Famer John Havlicek missed more shots (13,417) than any other player in basketball history.
