GROVER CLEVELAND Alexander had three seasons in which he won 30 or more games.
By DAVID MILLER News Sports WriterSClBA television talking heads discussion I overheard recently included a couple guys musing about how many pitchers there are in the Major Leagues this year who have a shot at winning 20 games.
One of the experts opined that 2018 was a pitchers’ year because there were several hurlers for whom 20 wins is a good possibility.
I had no argument with the man’s opinion. But the entire discussion initiated some remembering on my part.
My mind went back to 1971 when the Baltimore Orioles had a four-man rotation and all four won at least 20 games.
Hall-of-Famer Jim Palmer had a 20-9 record that year, Dave McNally was 21-5, Mike Cuellar was 20-9 and Pat Dobson was 20-8.
After remembering that very special year, I wondered how many other teams could say they had four pitchers who had reached the 20-win total all in the same season.
The answer is only the 1920 Chicago White Sox had four 20-game winners. Those four were Red Faber (23-13), Eddie Cicotte (21-10), Lefty Williams (22-14) and Dickey Kerr (21-9).
None of the White Sox pitchers are in the category of household names. But how many people know much about the 1971 Oriole pitchers, outside of Palmer, of course?
Those who know me know that since 1955 my favorite team has been the one located in Kansas City, Unfortunately, Kansas City teams before the late 1970s were pretty poor. So it was easy for me to pick a secondary favorite team. In 1971 I was following the pursuits of the Orioles in part because of their outstanding pitching staff.
I guess my favorite of the four pitchers was Cuellar,
THE BALTIMORE ORIOLE starting pitching rotation id 1971o = stands together for this photo, All four won 20 or more games in 1971 only the second time four pitchers from the same team won that many games. The pitchers are, from left, Jim Palmer, Dave McNally, Mike Cuellar and Pat Dobson.
Cuellar was a Cuban and had left that country to pitch with the Cincinnati Reds organization. He had served in the army of dictator Fulgencio Batista before Fidel Castro too over control of that island nation.
I was intrigued by the screwball and when I was a lot younger imagined I was throwing a screwball when I pretend-pitched tennis balls against the garage door. It was only imagination as to this day I have no idea how one holds the ball before throwing such a pitch. The fact that Cuellar had great success throwing a “scroogy” endeared him to me.
Cuellar pitched for the Reds (two games in 1959), the St. Louis Cardinals (1964), the Houston Astros (1965-1968), the Orioles (1969-1976) and finished out his career with the Angels (1977).
His most successful years were spent with the Orioles. He had four seasons in which he won at least 20 games— 23 in 1969, 24 in `970, 20 in 1971 and 22 in 1974. He posted 18 wins each in 1972 and 1973.
In 1971 I became a big fan of Pat Dobson. It was his first year as an Oriole—he had toiled without much fanfare for three years as a member of the Detroit Tigers and then he was traded to the San Diego Padres in 1970. His one year in San Diego was so-so as he compiled a 14-15 record with a decent ERA of 3.76. Then came his big 20-win season with Baltimore. His ERA was even better than the year before—2.90. In 1972 he won 16 games but
CY YOUNG, the legendary pitcher for whom Major League Baseball has named its outstanding pitcher award, won more that 500 games throughout his career. He not only won 20 games in a season, but surpassed the 30-win plateau a number of times.
Palmer caught on in my fancy when he joined the Orioles as a 19-year-old. I was just three years older than he was and I really admired the guys about my age who were good enough to make it to the big leagues. That had always been my fantasy, although it was never more than a fantasy. I was a terrible baseball player, just ask anyone who knew me during my high school years. But I did have a huge amount of admiration for young players. Palmer had a 5-4 record as a 19-year old and he won 15 games a year later. All-in-all Palmer had eight 20-win seasons and his 19-year career was good enough to earn him a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
McNally was another lefthander and as I said earlier, I have always had an affinity for guys who throw from the southside. He also joined the Orioles as a 19-year old, but somehow I missed that fact at the time. McNally had four 20-win seasons, with his largest total, 24, coming in 1970. The year 1968 was known as the year of the pitcher and McNally had a season in which he won 22 games and had
DENNY MCLAIN, who won 31 games for the Detroit Tigers in 1968, throws out a ceremonial first pitch during a Major League Baseball contest a few years ago. McLain is the last pitcher to win more tha 30 games in a season and he and Dizzy Dean are the only pitchers to achieve that mark since Dean did it in 1934.
There is a sad note to this story. Palmer is the only one who survives. McNally died of lung cancer in 2002 at the age of 60, Dobson died in 2006 at the age of 64 one day have he was diagnosed with leukemia and Cuellar died in 2010 at age 73 of stomach cancer.
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Palmer had eight 20-win seasons, as was noted above. Learning that factor made me wonder if that was close to being a record. So I looked it up.
Surprise, surprise! Cy Young won 20 games or more in 15 seasons. With 13 20-win season were Oklahoma’s Warren Spahn and Christy Mathewson. Walter Johnson had 12, Kid Nichols had
11, Pud Galvin had 10 and Charley Radbourne, Grover Cleveland Alexander and Mickey Welch each had nine.
I hadn’t heard of Kid Nichols, Pud Galvin or Mickey Welch. But no wonder since they pitched pre-1900.
In 1968, the year of the pitcher, Denny McLain of the Detroit Tigers won 30 games. That was the first time anyone had won 30 since Dizzy Dean accomplished the feat in 1934.
Remembering that statistic made me wonder, how many 30-game winners have there been?
The answer is that a pitcher has won as many as 30 games 21 times since 1901.
In fact there have been two pitchers who have won 40 or more games since 1901. Jack Chesbro had a 41-12 record for the New York Highlanders in 1904 and Ed Walsh had a 40-18 record for the Chicago White Sox in 1908.
Christy Mathewson, the legendary New York Giants pitcher, reached
WARREN SPAHN, who lived most of his life somewhere in Oklahoma won 20 or more games 13 rimes during his Hall-of-Fame career.
Grover Cleveland Alexander, who supposedly pitched on occasion while rip-roaring drunk, won 30 or more three times. He won 33 in 1916, 31 in 1915 and 30 in 1917, all for the Philadelphia Phillies.
Walter Johnson had 30 wins twice— 36 in 1913 and 33 in 1912 for the Washington Senators. Joe McGinnity of the Giants won more than 30 games twice, in 1904 when he had 35 victories and 1903 when he had 31. He would have been a teammate of Mathewson. How many managers today would salivate at the prospect of having two pitchers of that stature as part of the staff?
Cy Young was a 30 game winner twice with 33 in 1901 and 32 in 1902. The parameters for this whole informational piece was since 1901. I imagine Young must have had a few more dating before then.
Those who had one 30-win season included Smoky Joe Wood, 34 in 1912 for the Red Sox, Jack Coombs, 31 in 1910 for the Philadelphia Athletics, Jim Bagby, 31 for the Cleveland Indians in 1920, Lefty Grove, 31 for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1931, McLain with his 31 in 1968 and Dean, 30 in 1934 for the St. Louis Cardinals.
It should be noted that most of these marks were made a long time ago.
With a lively baseball and managerial strategy being what it is today, it is unlikely that anyone will win 30 games in one season anytime soon. In fact I wonder if the 20-game winner will be a thing of the past in the not-to-distant future.