Stars, Stripes, and Strikeouts š¦
Baseballās been called āAmericaās Pastimeā for more than a hundred years.
Why? Because it was the first sport the whole country fell in love with.
Before football took over Sundays and basketball stars were global celebritiesā¦ baseball was the American sport. Kids played it in parks, grown-ups listened to it on the radio, and it felt like the heartbeat of the country.
And nowhere does that show up more than on the Fourth of July.
So today, weāve got a firework-filled triple all about baseball and one legendary number: 3,000 strikeouts. ā¬ļø
1ļøā£ The Coolest Club in Baseball ā¾
Just days ago, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw got his 3,000th career strikeout.
š What Makes 3,000 So Special
Only 20 pitchers have ever reached this milestone
Only four are left-handed (including Kershaw)
Just three did it playing for a single team (including Kershaw)
Get to 3,000ā¦ and itās almost a guarantee youāre going to the Hall of Fame!
š£ļø How Kershaw Became A Superstar
Debuted in 2008
Known for a looping curveball and for being able to throw the ball exactly where he wants
Won 3 Cy Young Awards (given to the two best pitchers each year, one in the American League and one in the National League)ā¦
Plus an MVP and a World Series
Now? Heās one of the best pitchers of all time.
š§ Will Anyone Ever Do This Again?
Experts say he might be the last pitcher to ever reach 3,000 strikeouts.
Why? Pitchers today throw fewer pitches per game and per season to try and prevent injuries. They used to play for 15 years or more. But now? Thatās pretty rare.
š„ So we better enjoy this magical moment. Take a look!
2ļøā£ Boom on the Fourth of July š
Baseball and the Fourth of July go hand in glove.
Hot dogs. Fireworks. And, sometimesā¦ history.
Two pitchers have reached 3,000 strikeouts on exactly July 4thā¦ and they couldnāt be more different from each other.
š„ The First? Nolan Ryan
He was a flamethrower. A strikeout machine. And the most feared pitcher of his era.
On July 4, 1980, pitching for the Houston Astros, Nolan Ryan became just the 4th pitcher ever to reach 3,000 Kās.
Hold on... quick timeout!
Why is a strikeout called a āKā?
In baseballās early days, sportswriters and scorekeepers used single letters to track plays.
āSā already stood for sacrifice (like a bunt, or a fly ball where a runner advances after the catch).
So, to avoid confusion, they used the last letter of struck, as in struck out.
That gave us K.
And it stuck!
A regular strikeout is marked as K. That means they swung and missed.
A backward K (ź) means the batter didnāt swing. They were called out looking.
So the next time you see a fan holding up a line of giant Ks in the stands? They're counting strikeouts!Okay, back to Nolan Ryan.
He didnāt stop at 3,000 strikeouts. He finished his career with 5,714ā¦ the most ever.
Many experts believe he threw the fastest pitch ever: 108 miles per hour. Blink and itās past you.
His fastball could still hit 100 when he was 40 years old.
š„ Ready to see some heat? Hereās Nolan Ryan in action.
š The Second? Phil Niekro
He didnāt throw 100 miles per hour. He barely cracked 70.
But Phil Niekro threw something super rare: a knuckleball.
On July 4, 1984 (four years after Ryanās moment) Niekro became the only pitcher in MLB history to reach 3,000 strikeouts with a knuckleball.
It floated. It danced. It tricked hitters and sometimes even his catchers.
š„ Watch him slow things down and make these hitters look silly!
š¤ Game on the Line! What Pitch Are You Throwing?
Youāre on the mound. Bottom of the 9th. World Series, Game 7.
Two legends. One shared date.
And one reminder: thereās more than one way to become unforgettable.
Because hereās the twistā¦
3ļøā£ The Greatest Pitcher Everā¦ Didnāt Reach 3,000 š«
Cy Youngā¦ yes, the Cy Young that the award for each seasonās best pitcher is named afterā¦ never got to 3,000 strikeouts.
He finished with 2,803.
But he holds other career records that might never be broken:
511 wins
749 complete games (that means he pitched every inning for his team)
7,356 innings pitched
Why the low strikeout total?
Because in the late 1800s and early 1900s when he playedā¦ pitchers didnāt aim for strikeouts. They aimed for quick outs.
Batters slapped singles and bunted more than they swung big.
And starting pitchers threw every few days, often for all nine innings. Way more than todayās pitchers.
He may not have cracked 3,000.
But no one else pitched like Cy Young. And no one ever will.
š§ Could You Join the 3,000 Strikeout Club?!
Imagine youāre a new pitcher on your favorite MLB team. (Congratulations, by the way!)
ā You strike out 1 batter each inning.
ā You throw 6 innings per game.
Thatās _ strikeouts per game.
___ games to reach 3,000.
If you pitch 25 games per yearā¦ it would take __ seasons to get there.
BONUS! What age would you be when you joined the 3,000 strikeout club?
š Drop your answers in the comments!
š” What We Learned Today š”
From flamethrowers to flutterballs, thereās no one path to greatness.
Happy Fourth of July, Smallballers! Weāll see you tomorrow. š
I would be older than Mimi or Pawpaw but not as old as Oma!
25 Jake!