Reader Steve Ryan sent this Chicago Cubs 1975 Bob Locker card to me. At first glance, I thought “yeah, a D*ZZ is pretty rare” until Steve pointed out Locker’s stats to me. Then it hit me. It’s probably a mistake on the card.
Baseball Reference confirms that Bob Locker walked 16 batters in 32 2/3 innings far above what should qualify him for a Z let alone a ZZ rating. I can only attribute this to a card error.
Perhaps a W was in order for Bob Locker?
I told Steve that back in 1997, John Burkett was on my league team and he was a DZZ starter. Our league which limited players to their actual playing time, had a rule which doubled the innings of D pitchers because who would want to pitch a D, right? So I could essentially pitch Burkett as much as I wanted.
Thanks for the suggestion, Steve!
Crazy! Two of his walks were intentional, so I don’t think he quite deserves a W, but yes, even one Z would have been overly generous.