The Rime of the Ancient (former) Mariner

So far this year, Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer has made a very good case for winning the Phil Niekro Award for Best Season by a Starting Pitcher at Age 47 or Older, an award that I just made up on the spot but one that very few people would be eligible for. In fact, prior to this year, Phil Niekro was the only one who even qualified for it. The Hall of Fame knuckleball pitcher is still the oldest regular starting pitcher in MLB history, when he started 26 games in 1987 for the Indians, Blue Jays, and Braves, compiling a 7-13 record with a 6.30 ERA at age 48. The year before, when he was 47, he was 11-11, 4.32 for the Indians. Other than him, only Jack Quinn (4), Nick Altrock, and Satchel Paige (1 each) have started any MLB games at age 47 or older.

Until this year, of course. So far Moyer, formerly of the Cubs, Rangers, Cardinals, Orioles, Red Sox, and Mariners, has gone 9-6 with a 4.30 ERA in 15 starts, but he's actually pitched even better than his record suggests. On June 11, the Red Sox lit him up for 9 runs in one inning. Subtract that from his record and he has a 3.50 ERA in his other 14 starts. On May 7, he became the oldest pitcher to pitch a shutout, giving up just two hits to the Braves and walking none. On June 5, he pitched a complete game win against the Padres, needing only 98 pitches to do so. Most recently, yesterday, he won 11-2 against the Blue Jays, defeating Brett Cecil, who was born two weeks after Moyer made his Major League Debut.

So far, Moyer has 267 wins, 103 of which he won in his 40s. He is 36th all time in wins, ahead of many Hall of Famers, and has recently broken Robin Roberts' record for most home runs allowed by a pitcher (506 as of yesterday). He is the 6th oldest pitcher in MLB history (and 4th oldest among players who pitched regularly), and the 14th oldest player overall. However, despite his longevity records, he's never had any particularly spectacular individual seasons; he only won 20 or more games twice, finished in the top ten for the Cy Young Award three times, and was an All-Star just once, in 2003 at age 40. Incidentally, his first game ever was a win for the Cubs, against his current team, the Phillies, on June 16, 1986. The losing pitcher in that game? Hall of Famer Steve Carlton, who started playing in the majors in 1965.