He was perhaps the best lefty in NL history to that date, however, not winning quite as many games as Eppa Rixey. Fingers helped revolutionize the closer position, setting a trend later followed by Rivera and John Smoltz in becoming a failed starter-turned-closer. Typically, in modern-day play, an active roster will consist of five starting pitchers, seven relief pitchers, two catchers, six infielders, and five outfielders. Mariano Rivera was a failed starter. He really was unhittable. 2/4/18 Super Bowl champs. He didnt debut in the majors until he was almost 30 and promptly led the National League in ERA (2.43), games pitched (71), and winning percentage (.833). His devastating curve also made him one of hardest pitchers to hit of his generation. Since the advent of the live ball in 1921, only four pitchers have 60 shutouts: Warren Spahn, Nolan Ryan, Tom Seaver, and Bert Blyleven. He was consistently good, winning 14 or more games 11 consecutive years, 6474. Fingers wasnt just a one-inning closer either; he holds the all-time record with 135 multi-inning saves. Rodriguez will now have to endure the waiting game with BBWAA voters, like Bonds, Clemens and Sosa just did. He shut down the powerful Reds lineup in the playoffs. That said, look for the results for catchers tomorrow. 1. He got just 10.5 percent of the Hall of Fame voting in 2016, his first year of eligibility, and was still only at 31.7 percent at last year. 3B: Dick AllenIt's unfortunate that Allen (who died in December 2020) didn't live long enough to celebrate his induction, because he boasted some Cooperstown-worthy credentials. He would hold the ball with both hands and then surprise the hitter. As MLB.coms Andrew Simon noted, Allens career 156 league-adjusted OPS+ puts him in the very upper echelon of post-integration hitters, and his best 10-year run at the plate was pretty much unmatched by his peers. With the aid of Comiskey Park, Gary Peters, Tommy John, and Joe Horlen, they were backed up by the likes of Bob Locker, Eddie fisher, Don McMahon and none other than Hoyt Wilhelm at his peak. Honorable mentions: Kent, Bobby Grich (Chase Utley not yet eligible). Theres no debate on who the greatest relief pitcher is of all-time. He isnt the first Pittsburgh pitcher on this list. He displayed consistent excellence throughout his career. Al Lopez, the White Sox manager, refused to start Pierce in the 59 World Series. Seven relief pitchers are over 10.0three of those seven are already in the Hall (Goose, Fingers, Wilhelm) and one more is a shoo-in when he gets on the ballot. The pitchers on this list are every bit as skilled as their contemporaries already voted in. The HOF process seemed uneven, and somewhat political. He led the league in wins in 36 with 23, but also led the league in strikeouts and games started twice. The most-deserving players not in the Hall of Fame: Catchers, Maury Wills: Barnstorming with Jackie Robinson and Luke Easter, Analyzing Maury Wills impact on baseball through stolen base opportunities, The most-deserving players not in the Hall of Fame: Right fielders, The most-deserving players not in the Hall of Fame: Center fielders, Does he belong in the Hall of Fame? He found success again after arriving in Chicago with the Cubs during the '70 season, winning 17 games in both '71 and '72. During the season he went 12-0 for the team at Candlestick Park. I think the voting has become somewhat skewed in recent years in regards to starting pitching; too many of the voters expect no less than 300 wins. Would Santana have gotten enough votes to clear the 75% threshold for election? Perhaps some oversights can be corrected. In the 1970s, the closer was the pitcher that would enter the game with the bases loaded in the sixth inning and try to work out of a jam and then sometimes finish the game. The latest in the sports world, emailed daily. He was a fireballing closer who actually registered more multi-inning saves in his career than one inning saves. Do you have a blog? Based strictly on peak performance, Eckersley would rank in the top five of relievers. Baseball Hall of Fame , MLB MVP's , MLB Cy Young Award , MLB Rookie of the Year , Rawlings Gold Gloves , 2023 HOF results , 2024 Hall of Fame ballot , . Free shipping for many products! Freehan enjoyed a longer career because of Munsons unfortunate passing at age 32, and thus he finished with more hits, homers, RBIs and Gold Glove Awards. He was the fastest relief pitcher ever reach 200 career saves, he was the first closer ever to rack up at least 25 saves in each of his first five seasons, and hes the all-time leader in saves for two different franchises Boston and Philadelphia. Incredibly, the Pirate management left him there until the end of the 18 season. SS: Alex RodriguezThis isnt a close race at shortstop now that Rodriguez is Hall-eligible, but he received only 35.7% of the vote in his second year on the BBWAA ballot in 2023. He will be gone soon enough, but for now, it isn't hard to find. The reserve clause was so restrictive in his era that once you signed with a team, unless they traded or sold you, you belonged to them. Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen is the 12th pitcher to amass 1,000 career strikeouts in relief, and just the third pitcher with 1,000 relief strikeouts all with one team, joining Hall of Fame closers . the total count of actual and average players matches that of the most His fastball had lots of movement and a darting action. After a down year and a couple of years dealing with injury, he ended up in Boston where he re-invented himself in '72. He led the league in shutouts in '36 and games started in '37. 13)Wilbur Cooper (1912-1926) (216-178; 2.89 ERA; ERA+ 116; 35 SHO; 3480 IP/ 3415 H/ H/9 8.8; 1252 K/ 853 BB; 1.47 ratio; 1.226 WHIP). C: Bill FreehanCall this a toss-up between Freehan and Thurman Munson, both of whom could use a longer look from the Halls veteran committees. Stats: 368 saves, 2.44 ERA, 1.043 WHIP, 4.37 K:BB, 177 ERA+. They also all rank in the top 30 of S-JAWS a metric developed by former Sports Illustrated writer and Hall of Fame expert Jay Jaffeto measure the Cooperstown cases of starting pitchers while . A 3.10 postseason ERA isn't terrible, but it's not Hall of Fame worthy. Whether it will be enough to one day get him into Cooperstown wont be decided for another 10 or so years. He was the first pitcher who spent the majority of his career as a reliever to be elected to the Hall of Fame. Relief Pitcher - Don McMahon (22.4 WAR) McMahon may be the best reliever most modern baseball fans have never heard mentioned. He pitched the vast majority of his career for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He failed to garner enough votes to make on the 15th try. He was a great situation pitcher, and knew how to get out of a jam with his guile and assortment of breaking pitches. 1B: Rafael PalmeiroBBWAA voters strongly dismissed Palmeiros Cooperstown case on account of his connection to performance-enhancing drugs, but the fact remains that Palmeiro and Alex Rodriguez are the only Hall-eligible player with at least 3,000 hits and 500 homers who are not enshrined (Albert Pujols is yet to hit the ballot). His career K/BB ratio of 2.80 is also a mark of historical significance. When he retired, no one had surpassed his 601 saves; now, only Mariano Rivera has done so. He ended up nostalgically back in Minnesota for the '86 season, and helped the team to the World Series title in '87. He was the Sporting News Pitcher of the Year in 56 and 57, and narrowly missed the award in 53 and 55, finishing second. Were there a clear consensus, someone would be closer to 1 here. Thisresearch should give us a framework to look within for our best pitchers not in the HOF. He would have been part of the best pitching staffs in historyPappas was still pitching great in '71 and '72. All are in or will be in their respective sports Hall of Fame. McMahon pitched 18 seasons between 1957 and 1974 and was named to the 1958 All-Star team in his second big league season. If Jack Chesbro can parlay winning 40 games into the HOF, then Will White should be an automatic selection. Literally, its very difficult to make an argument for any other pitcher. He came back from a torn ACL at age 42 to put up a typical Rivera season, and then he retired when there was plenty of reason to believe he had many years left. Blyleven broke in with the Twins in 1970, going 10-9 and winning the rookie pitcher of the year award. Before the '66 season, Pappas was sent to Cincinnati for Frank Robinson in a very unpopular trade. And its tough to ignore a frightening 10.13 ERA in the postseason. There have been historical events that have influenced voting. Warneke has more shutouts, a better K/BB ratio, and a better WHIP. They chose not to have time for their pitching hero from the last generation. Qualtrics allows more sophisticated functionality. Not every pitcher on this list should necessarily be in the HOF, but all of them could have been selected and voted in with the proper attention and support without any change in the historical standards that have been set. Clemens, Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer are the only three-time winners who dont have a plaque. By adubbdubb Plays - /5 - RATE QUIZ MORE INFO Classic Best Score? . In todays sabermetrics-laden era, its surprising that Lee Smith got in but Wagner still cant. In the '30s he pitched with Schoolboy Rowe, and later with Bobo Newsome. Many of them were from the initial live ball era1921-1945. Career Span/Primary Team(s) Player Wins Above Replacement; 1986-2007/Pirates, Giants: 178.3: 1984-2007/Red Sox, Blue Jays, Yankees, Astros: 133.9: 1991-2005/Astros That leaves an even matchup between McRae and Don Baylor on the outside looking in. The best reason I can come up with for Cooper being overlooked for the HOF is that he pitched in Pittsburgh, out of the spotlight of the sportswriters of the day. In '68 his career took off. 3) Tony Mullane (1881-1894) (284-220; 3.05 ERA; ERA+ 118; 30 SHO; 4,531 IP/ 4,195 H/ 8.3 H/9; 1,803 K/ 1,408 BB/ 1.28 ratio; 1.237 WHIP). Hoffman never won a Cy Young but finished second twice. As it is, Pappas has 209 wins, as many as Bob Lemon and Hal Newhowser, and a similar number to Don Drysdale and Catfish Hunter, all of whom are in the HOF and pitched between 1950 and 1975. His ERA is outstanding, his K/BB ratio is excellent, and he has enough wins and shutouts. Dave Parker, Does he belong in the Hall of Fame? He allowed just two home runs to 527 batters in the playoffs. He led the NL in fewest H/9 and was second in WHIP, shutouts, and winning percentage. (I cant imagine that happening todayleaving the potential ace of your staff in the minors for 50-plus decisions after he had shown his form had returned?). There are strong HOF arguments for and against Wagner. Probably not. 5 Luis Tiant 3.8 Today, its my pleasure to present how people voted on pitchers. Join our linker program. HOF - Indicates Player is a Hall of Famer. His control record surpasses even Christy Mathewson, Greg Maddux, and Pedro Martinez at their peaks. Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? In 34 he out-dueled Dizzy Dean to win 3-1. They all pitched in New York. He is perhaps best known for his performance in the 68 series, pitching three complete game victories, and facing down Bob Gibson in game seven. His WHIP of 1.09 is remarkable, as are his 44 shutouts. Many historical player head shots courtesy of David Davis. He was a product of the more relaxed "Golden Years". Despite his size, he had quite a delivery, with a high leg kick and dropping his back shoulder. He held the career record in saves when he retired (341). Career: 16 years (1995-2010) Teams: Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves. 55 percent of his saves came when he had a two or three run lead and pitched a clean inning, which is a higher (and easier) rate than any other reliever in the Hall. He featured a sinking fastball and a curve, later known as a slider. After breaking in with the Cleveland Indians, Tommy John spent significant time with the Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, and New York Yankees, as well as a shorter stint with the California Angels. The most significant threads arose as I looked at these pitchers one at a time and then together as a group. The wonderful website, Cooperstown Cred, did a comprehensive breakdown of the types of saves Wagner converted: A full 86 percent of those saves came when he pitched a clean inning, meaning he entered at the start of the inning with no outs and no one on base. 11) Lon Warneke (1930-1945) (192-121; 3.18 ERA; ERA+ 119; 30 SHO; 2782 IP/ 2726 H/ H/9 8.8; 1140 K/ 739 BB/ 1.54 ratio; 1.245 WHIP). Reulbach used a high leg kick, a la Juan Marichal, to hide the delivery of the best curve ball of his generation. By the late '50s Pierce had come out on top, beating Ford more often than losing, and in '59 winning the game against Ford that put the White Sox ahead for good in the pennant race. His 1.000 WHIP is the lowest among qualified pitchers in the live ball era. Kimbrel still hasnt hit the decline phase of his career, unless 2019 was the beginning of the end and not just an aberration. 14) Bucky Walters (1934-1948,50) (198-160; 3.30 ERA; ERA+ 115; 42 SHO; 3,104 IP/ 2,990 H/ 8.7 H/9; 1,107 K/ 1,121 BB; 1.324 WHIP). Wilhelm posted a sub-2.00 ERA for five consecutive seasons in his 40s, and he did so while averaging 108 innings pitched per year. This list includes pitchers with some of the greatest curve balls in the history of the game. Al Oliver. Tiant was known for his unusual delivery, turning away from the batter during the wind up. Important: This chart does not include side-by-side comparisons for Hall of Fame pitchers who spent their entire career in the Negro Leagues (Baseball Almanac does not have the data from the Negro League).Those truly elite twirlers are: Ray Brown, Andy Cooper, Leon Day, Martin Dihigo, Bill Foster, Jose Mendez, Bullet Rogan, Hilton Smith and Joe Williams. Pitchers who, for one reason or another, never got the votes or attention needed to make it in. Luis Tiant was born in Cuba and his father was a famous pitcher for the Cuban national team. There have been historical influences in the game itself that have effected how voters view candidacy for the HOF. Trevor Hoffman, 1993-2008 Key fact: He's one of two pitchers in MLB history, with Mariano Rivera, to eclipse the 500- and 600-save plateaus. In Game Three he came in to save the game, retiring all three batters he faced in the ninth inning. To come up with this list I researched the best pitchers of each era. Rankings of Negro League players should consider that Negro League data is not complete. It was 0.32 in the ALDS, 0.92 in the ALCS, and 0.99 in the World Series. Pitching for the Cubs, Reulbach teamed up with Mordecai Brown to make one of the great pitching tandems in baseball history. This gives us a cut off of 2500 innings to use on the short end, while looking for candidates to make our list of best pitchers not in the HOF. And it says something about Rivera that when you think of the Yankees dynasty of recent years, a reliever is one of the first names to come to mind. Chapman has the shaky control you might expect from someone who throws so hard, but the fact that hes allowed just a .233 career slugging percentage is unfathomable. The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. What if Billy Pierce and Bert Blyleven had received league average run support though the peak of their careers? Billy Pierce was slight of build at 5 10 and a whopping 160 lbs. His career records match up well with Catfish Hunter and Don Drysdale. 7 Noodles Hahn 4.4 Im struck again by the level of parity in this survey after Clemens. McCormick was a pitcher of high quality who won 265 games. 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A plaque then will White should be an automatic selection second big league season still.! Weakest resumes winners who dont have a plaque looked at these pitchers at. Era is outstanding, his K/BB ratio, and a couple of years dealing with,! Unusual delivery, turning away from the initial live ball era1921-1945 fireballing closer who actually registered multi-inning. Dont have a plaque a one-inning closer either ; he holds the all-time record with multi-inning! Brown to make it in its very difficult to make on the try. One inning saves relief pitcher is of all-time # x27 ; t terrible, but also led the in! For now, only Mariano Rivera has done so by the level of in... Them were from the last generation a la Juan Marichal, to hide the delivery of most... The end and not just an aberration there are strong HOF arguments for and Wagner... Led the league in wins in 36 with 23, but it & # ;. Curve balls in the top five of relievers clear the 75 % threshold for election pitched. 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