The Internet rules. Turns out last week Bill Parker did the research I wanted earlier, contextualizing that Jamie Moyer stat, and it’s awesome. Greg Maddux is the all-time leader in the figure. Moyer is third behind Maddux and Tom Glavine, so turns out the switching leagues thing didn’t mean as much as I thought it would.

Parker didn’t calculate the stat for Randy Johnson, but using his method I counted Johnson as having faced 1,367 of the 15,855 hitters in Major League history, some 40 shy of Moyer and good for 8.6% (Moyer has actually faced 8.9%).

Via @Ceetar.

Real facts about 49-year-old Jamie Moyer have overtaken fake facts about Chuck Norris as the Internet’s darling, but this one is particularly awesome.

Still, it’d be cool to see it contextualized. Is that the record? What pitcher has faced the highest percentage of all hitters in Major League history? It’d seem to favor guys with long careers in the contemporary baseball era, since there are more teams now and thus more hitters to face, plus more guys switching leagues more frequently and Interleague Play.

Per the baseball-reference play index, only Javier Vazquez and Livan Hernandez have thrown more innings than Moyer since Interleague Play started in 1997, but Moyer got a 10-year jump on both of them so it’s pretty safe to say he faced more hitters. Greg Maddux started in 1986, like Moyer did, and finished with nearly 1000 more innings pitched than Moyer has thrown to date. But Maddux pitched his whole career in the National League, which probably hurts him.

The only candidates who could rival Moyer in percentage of all-time Major League hitters faced are probably Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens, both of whom started in the late 80s, lasted through the late aughts, threw more total innings than Moyer has so far, and spent time in both leagues. Johnson pitched about an even number of innings in the NL and the AL, so he he seems most likely of all. But then obviously his career didn’t span the length that Moyer’s has.

Anyone I’m missing? I’m assuming the sheer difference in innings means longtime relievers like Darren Oliver and Arthur Rhodes can’t come close to Moyer or the other starters. But if anyone knows a better way to figure this out, I’m all ears.

Also, the one Jamie Moyer old-man stat I can’t get past is this one: Moyer made three starts against the 1986 Mets. He went 1-0 with a 3.74 ERA in 21 2/3 innings.