Kansas City’s Paul Byrd has been the best starter on a struggling team this season. Through Friday, the Royals had won just 14 games of their first 39 for a dismal winning percentage of .359. Byrd, however, has recorded seven of those 14 victories to account for 50 percent of the team’s victories. If the right-hander maintains his winning ways while his team continues to flounder, he could become the 12th starter since 1920 to account for more than 33 percent of his club’s victories in a season. The 11 pitchers were:
YEAR TEAM WINS PITCHER RECORD PERCENTAGE
1972 Phillies 59 Steve Carlton 27-10 45.76%
1922 Phillies 65 Eddie Rommel 27-13 41.54
1921 White Sox 62 Red Faber 25-15 40.32
1951 Browns 52 Ned Garver 20-12 38.46
1946 Indians 68 Bob Feller 26-15 38.24
1938 Browns 55 Bobo Newsom 20-16 36.36
1920 Cubs 75 Grover Alexander 27-14 36.00
1930 White Sox 62 Ted Lyons 22-15 35.48
1921 Browns 81 Urban Shocker 27-12 33.33
1941 Indians 75 Bob Feller 25-13 33.33
1972 Indians 72 Gaylord Perry 24-16 33.33
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The bash is over
Jose Canseco retired from baseball Monday with 462 career homers in the majors. In 1988, he was the AL MVP as he became the first big-leaguer to hit 40 homers and steal 40 bases in the same season. He is one of only nine major-leaguers to hit 400 homers and steal 200 bases in his career. The nine are:
PLAYER HRs SBs
Hank Aaron 755 240
Willie Mays 660 338
Frank Robinson 586 204
Barry Bonds 567 484
Reggie Jackson 563 228
Dave Winfield 465 223
Sammy Sosa 465 233
Jose Canseco 462 200
Andre Dawson 438 314
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Homers’ odyssey
Homer Bush was released by the Toronto Blue Jays on May 10. Bush is only the 10th Homer to play big-league ball and his 11 career homers are good for third place among his namesakes. Below are the homer totals for the 10 Homers who played in the majors:
HOMER POS. SEASONS HRs
Summa OF 1920-30 18
Smoot OF 1902-06 15
Bush 2B 1997-2002 11
Peel OF 1927-34 2
Hillenbrand P 1905-06 0
Davidson C 1908 0
Thompson C 1912 0
Blankenship P 1922-28 0
Ezzell 3B 1923-25 0
Spragins P 1947 0
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Runaway train
When the Anaheim Angels shellacked the White Sox 19-0 on May 10, they joined the 1923 Cleveland Indians, 1939 New York Yankees and 1950 Boston Red Sox as the only teams to beat two opponents by 19 or more runs in the same season. Earlier this year, the Angels beat the Indians 21-2.
