Jack Morris, the Hall of Famer

Since 2000, there has been a wide divide between the BBWAA, sabermetric analysts and Detroit Tigers’ fans over whether Jack Morris qualifies as a Hall of Famer. Detractors of his candidacy point to his career ERA of 3.94 and sabermetric WAR of 4.44.

For fans of the Detroit Tigers, these two stats led to years of disappointment. Tigers fans insisted that he was indeed a Hall of Famer.

Jack Morris, Drive to Hall of Fame

 The Early Years

Morris was drafted in the 5th round by the Detroit Tigers in 1976. It was, perhaps, the best draft in baseball history.

The Tigers selected Alan Trammell second round, Dan Petry fourth round, and Ozzie Smith 7th round, but he did not sign.

Morris was first brought up to the major league club on April 11, 1977. He replaced  Mark, the Bird, Fidrych who had gone on the disabled after tearing cartilage in his knee.

After an up and down ’77 and ’78 season, he broke into the starting rotation in 1979.  According to Morris, he was instructed by manager Sparky Anderson that it was his responsibility to go as deep into a game as possible.

This was a somewhat curious directive given by the man labeled as ‘Captain Hook’. A moniker Anderson earned through his tendency to bring in a relief pitcher, seemingly on a whim.

Morris followed that directive and went on to pitch 197.2 innings and finished the year with a 17 and 7 record and 3.28 ERA.

The 1980’s was Jack Morris’ decade. Jack was armed with a fastball, a slider, forkball and, ultimately, a split-fingered fastball.

Morris would soon develop into the intense competitor that Tigers fans relished. Between 1980 and 1982, he would go on the win 47 games and pitch 714.1 innings. Morris’ first 20 games winning season would come in 1983.

That year, he would pitch 293.2 innings with an ERA of 3.34. Before MLB and the ability to watch every game, every day, fans relied on radio and weekend televised games. If you were fortunate, as a fan, your team played in the “Game of the Week”.

It was during this weekly game on April 7, 1984, that Jack Morris pitched the only no-hit game of his career.  Tiger fans knew then there was something special about Jack Morris.During the 80’s, he would pitch an average of 244.2 innings with a 3.70 ERA per season. Jack would have the most wins, innings pitched, complete games and started more games than any other pitcher during this decade.

Following the 1987 season, he would sign a 2-year $4-million salary giving him the highest paid annual salary of any pitcher at that time. Morris was the dominant pitcher of the decade and would have every opening day starts (14 overall).

Morris led the Detroit Tigers to a World Series win in 1984 and Eastern Division championship (98 wins) in 1987.  The right-handed pitcher was also voted into 4 All-star games during this decade (’81,’84,’85 and 1987).

Subsequently, the Minnesota Twins and Toronto Blue Jays also saw the value of Morris and signed him for their successful World Series championships teams in 1991, 1992 and 1993.

On October 27, 1991, the 36-year-old Jack Morris pitched perhaps the greatest game in World Series history. ( NOTE; Doc Halladay’s perfect game was  in a playoff round and Don Larsen‘s perfect game was in the non-deciding game 5).

On that date, Morris pitched a 10 inning shutout victory in a game 7 victory by the Minnesota Twins over the Atlanta Braves. The game showed Morris’ competitive nature along with his ability to be a great pitcher.

It was his 15th year in the big leagues.

In 1991, he was voted to the all-star team, selected World Series MVP and finished the year 18 and 12 with a 3.43 ERA. He followed up that season with the Toronto Blue Jays going 21 and 6 and a 4.04 ERA.

Morris gained two more World Series titles while a member of the Toronto Blue Jays.