MLB history: Celebrating Pi Day throughout the game

Finding Pi in pitching statistics

3.14, or 314, can be a significant statistic when it comes to pitching.

Over the course of MLB history, 103 pitchers have posted an ERA of 3.14 during the course of a season. The first to hit that number was Jack Jones in 1883, which was also the only season he pitched in the majors, as he left the game to become a dentist. Last year, both Adam Warren and Jonathan Holder posted a 3.14 ERA, becoming the newest members of that club. Bob Knepper is the only pitcher to have an ERA of 3.14 in more than one season, doing so in 1986 and 1988.

Only three pitchers have a career ERA of 3.14 – Mike Cuellar, Tug McGraw, and Stephen Strasburg. Chances are, Strasburg will leave that grouping by the time that Pi Day comes around next season, unless he joins Knepper by having a second year with an ERA of 3.14, which he accomplished back in 2014.

Only one pitcher has struck out 314 batters in a season. Bill Hutchinson, who was a star pitcher for the Chicago Cubs before the mound was moved back to its current distance, led the National League with 314 strikeouts in 1892. He also led the league in wins, appearances, games started, complete games, and inning pitched that year.

Finally, Gaylord Perry won exactly 314 games over his illustrious career. Perhaps it is fitting that the modern day spitballer was the one pitcher to reach that mark, as the fact that he was never caught throwing a spitter, despite his autobiography admitting such usage, is equally irrational. Perry also just missed having a career ERA of 3.14 – his ending mark was 3.11.