What was Carlton's run support in 1972? About league average, actually. Carlton wasn't an outlier; he just pitched great. And Murry Dickson 1951 is an even worse example (though it's hilarious that Chass reached that far back in his memory to come up with him). The Pirates hitting wasn't inept at all (they had Kiner, after all), and when Dickson pitched, it was half a run above league average (lucky for him, because he didn't actually pitch all that well that year). I know Murray Chass is a busy man these days, but if he wants help looking things up, he should give me a call. It took me about 45 seconds to find that stuff.