Fewest Wins by Pitchers with a Shutout Debut

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Andy’s and John’s posts from earlier today made me curious about the career stats of pitchers who debuted with a shutout. Since 1919, 44 pitchers have thrown a shutout in their pitching debut (1 was a five inning game another a seven inning game, the rest were 9 innings). 1/4 of those pitchers never won 5 games in the majors, including 4 who never won another game. Here are the career stats for the 44:

Rk	Player	W	From	To	Age	G	GS	CG	SHO	L	W-L%	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA	ERA+
1	Andy Van Hekken	1	2002	2002	22-22	5	5	1	1	3	.250	0	30.0	38	13	10	6	5	3.00	143
2	Dave Downs	1	1972	1972	20-20	4	4	1	1	1	.500	0	23.0	25	7	7	3	5	2.74	134
3	Dick Rusteck	1	1966	1966	24-24	8	3	1	1	2	.333	0	24.0	24	10	8	8	9	3.00	122
4	Don Loun	1	1964	1964	23-23	2	2	1	1	1	.500	0	13.0	13	4	3	3	3	2.08	184
5	Mark Brownson	2	1998	2000	23-25	11	9	1	1	2	.500	0	48.0	65	37	37	13	32	6.94	81
6	Jim Cosman	2	1966	1970	23-27	12	6	1	1	0	1.000	0	41.1	26	15	14	27	16	3.05	114
7	Niles Jordan	2	1951	1952	25-26	8	6	2	1	4	.333	0	43.0	49	22	20	11	13	4.19	93
8	Billy Rohr	3	1967	1968	21-22	27	8	2	1	3	.500	1	60.2	61	43	38	32	21	5.64	60
9	Charlie Beamon	3	1956	1958	21-23	27	5	1	1	3	.500	0	71.1	64	35	31	36	45	3.91	95
10	Hal Kelleher	4	1935	1938	21-24	50	9	4	1	9	.308	0	134.2	174	111	89	81	49	5.95	76
11	George Hockette	4	1934	1935	26-27	26	7	3	2	4	.500	0	88.1	105	48	40	18	25	4.08	117
12	Nick Willhite	6	1963	1967	22-26	58	29	3	1	12	.333	1	182.0	195	104	92	75	118	4.55	71
13	Karl Spooner	10	1954	1955	23-24	31	16	4	3	6	.625	2	116.2	86	50	40	47	105	3.09	133
14	Jeff Pico	13	1988	1990	22-24	113	26	3	2	12	.520	5	295.1	327	153	139	105	132	4.24	91
15	Wally Burnette	14	1956	1958	27-29	68	27	5	1	21	.400	1	262.2	259	124	104	97	122	3.56	116
16	Bill McCahan	16	1946	1949	25-28	57	40	17	2	14	.533	0	290.2	297	142	124	145	76	3.84	104
17	Jackie Collum	32	1951	1962	24-35	171	37	11	2	28	.533	12	464.0	480	247	214	173	171	4.15	101
18	Tot Pressnell	32	1938	1942	31-35	154	42	17	4	30	.516	12	526.1	547	247	222	134	157	3.80	102
19	Earl Caldwell	33	1928	1948	23-43	200	49	18	5	43	.434	25	587.2	656	347	306	259	202	4.69	92
20	Russ Van Atta	33	1933	1939	27-33	207	76	17	3	41	.446	6	712.1	838	498	443	368	339	5.60	83
21	Wayne Simpson	36	1970	1977	21-28	122	107	13	2	31	.537	0	636.0	606	342	309	315	353	4.37	86
22	Dave Morehead	40	1963	1970	20-27	177	134	19	6	64	.385	1	819.1	730	430	378	463	627	4.15	90
23	Vito Tamulis	40	1934	1941	22-29	170	70	31	6	28	.588	10	691.2	758	340	305	202	294	3.97	102
24	Jimmy Jones	43	1986	1993	22-29	153	118	7	3	39	.524	0	755.0	809	431	374	239	376	4.46	82
25	Eric Rasmussen	50	1975	1983	23-31	238	144	27	12	77	.394	5	1017.2	1033	489	435	309	489	3.85	94
Rk	Player	W	From	To	Age	G	GS	CG	SHO	L	W-L%	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA	ERA+
26	Sandy Consuegra	51	1950	1957	29-36	248	71	24	5	32	.614	26	809.1	811	346	303	246	193	3.37	119
27	Mike Remlinger	53	1991	2006	25-40	639	59	4	2	55	.491	20	879.0	784	412	381	430	854	3.90	111
28	Tom Phoebus	56	1966	1972	24-30	201	149	29	11	52	.519	6	1030.0	888	427	381	489	725	3.33	101
29	Mike Norris	58	1975	1990	20-35	201	157	52	7	59	.496	0	1124.1	972	542	486	499	636	3.89	97
30	Jason Jennings	62	2001	2009	22-30	225	180	6	3	74	.456	1	1128.1	1253	661	621	505	749	4.95	98
31	Bob Weiland	62	1928	1940	22-34	277	179	66	7	94	.397	7	1388.1	1463	794	654	611	614	4.24	100
32	Mike Fornieles	63	1952	1963	20-31	432	76	20	4	64	.496	55	1156.2	1165	567	509	421	576	3.96	101
33	Dave Ferriss	65	1945	1950	23-28	144	103	67	12	30	.684	8	880.0	914	392	356	314	296	3.64	103
34	Johnny Marcum	65	1933	1939	23-29	195	132	69	8	63	.508	7	1099.1	1269	630	569	344	392	4.66	102
35	Lew Krausse	68	1961	1974	18-31	321	167	21	5	91	.428	21	1283.2	1205	635	571	493	721	4.00	86
36	Al Worthington	75	1953	1969	24-40	602	69	11	3	82	.478	110	1246.2	1130	546	469	527	834	3.39	110
37	Ray Benge	101	1925	1938	23-36	346	248	102	12	130	.437	19	1875.1	2177	1108	941	598	655	4.52	96
38	Stu Miller	105	1952	1968	24-40	704	93	24	5	103	.505	154	1693.1	1522	697	610	600	1164	3.24	115
39	Van Mungo	120	1931	1945	20-34	364	260	123	20	115	.511	16	2113.0	1957	955	815	868	1242	3.47	110
40	Pedro Astacio	129	1992	2006	23-37	392	343	31	12	124	.510	0	2196.2	2292	1213	1140	726	1664	4.67	98
41	Schoolboy Rowe	158	1933	1949	23-39	382	278	137	22	101	.610	12	2219.1	2332	1075	955	558	913	3.87	110
42	Dave McNally	184	1962	1975	19-32	424	396	120	33	119	.607	2	2730.0	2488	1070	982	826	1512	3.24	106
43	Luis Tiant	229	1964	1982	23-41	573	484	187	49	172	.571	15	3486.1	3075	1400	1280	1104	2416	3.30	115
44	Juan Marichal	243	1960	1975	22-37	471	457	244	52	142	.631	2	3507.0	3153	1329	1126	709	2303	2.89	123

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Generated 2/9/2012.

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DaveR

12 years ago

I remember Eric Rasmaussen was one of the last pitchers I saw that used the full ’20s-style windup, with the swinging arms and hands over his head. His windup reminded me of Dizzy Dean. Not quite the results, though.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

I remember the 1977 Strat-O-Matic cards of Eric Rasmussen and his Cardinals teammate Bob Forsch as one of my first lessons in the randomness of W-L records.

Their ERAs were identical, 3.48, and Rasmussen had more IP, better SO & BB rates, more CG and shutouts. But Forsch got a 20-7 record, while Rasmussen went 11-17.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Complete tangent, but — Raphy, do you know any P-I tricks for finding events in a player’s last game or last N games?

I recently noticed Fred Kuhaulua, who tossed 8 scoreless innings in a 1-0 win over Fernando at the end of 1981, in what turned out to be his last MLB game. But I can’t think of any way to find other impressive finales.

Author

Raphy

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

Sorry, can’t help you with that one.
I know that Steve requested that feature a number of times, but it never happened.

Evil Squirrel

12 years ago

Woohoo! I thought of Andy Van Hekken when I saw the earlier post about flameouts. Glad to see him atop this list…

I drafted him for my fantasy team prior to the start of the 2003 season after all the hoopla over his big debut the previous season. That was literally the last I had heard of him….

Kahuna Tuna

12 years ago

Bill McCahan’s only other career shutout was a no-hitter.

Steven

12 years ago

When Eric Rasmussen came to the majors, his first name was Harry. Wayne Simpson was an overpowering rookie sensation for the first half of 1970. Bill Rohr threw a one-hitter for Boston against the Yankees. Elston Howard had the hit, and ended up being the Red Sox catcherin the World Series that year (1967).

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Steven

… and in that ’67 Series, Elston Howard became one of 8 players ever to have 7 games of negative WPA in a 7-game World Series.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.cgi?id=howarel01&t=b&post=1

James Smyth

12 years ago

Ya gotta love any list that has Van Lingle Mungo on it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKzobTlF8fM

Hartvig

12 years ago

I had it in my head that Bo Belinsky’s no-hitter was in his first start (but not his first appearance) but it was actually his 4th appearance, all starts. In his second game he only allowed 1 earned run in 9 innings. And I’m glad DaveR mentioned about Rasmaussen. Growing up in the early 60’s pretty much everyone used a huge windup and when I came back to the game (after a hiatus during my high school & college years in the ’70’s when I developed other interests) in the early 80’s no one did. I imagine once the pitchers… Read more »

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to Hartvig

Bobo Holloman’s no-hitter in 1953 was also in his first start but it was his fifth appearance. By the end of July he was out of the majors for good.

Hartvig

12 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Dammit, I KNEW there was a Bo(bo) with a no-hitter in his first start!

One can never have too many Bobos.

Hartvig

12 years ago

Reply to Hartvig

Or apparently Bumbus’s , for that matter (see cc @14)

Doug

12 years ago

Andy Etchebarren caught Dave McNally in his 1962 debut shutout. Etchebarren was also making his ML debut. Both were only 19.

Doug

12 years ago

Lew Krausse is the youngest pitcher with a 9-inning shutout,7 weeks after his 18th birthday. Joey Jay was a few months younger when picthed a 7-inning shutout in 1953.

CursedClevelander

12 years ago

I thought for sure Bumpus Jones would be on this list (no-hitter in his first career game, only 1 other win in his career), but it turns out his no-hitter wasn’t a shutout since he gave up an unearned run.

Luis Gomez

12 years ago

I remember Fernando shutting out the Astros on opening day ’81, but forgot the few innings he threw the season before. By the way, those were 17.2 innings and two uneraned runs.

Luis Gomez

12 years ago

Meant “unearned” but you get the idea.

deal

12 years ago

Apparently Van Hekken is still kicking (as of 2011 anyway)
check out is minor league page has over 100 Ws in the minors. Man that is persaverance

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=vanhek001and

Tmckelv

12 years ago

I would have never guessed Mike Norris only had 58 wins. What a shame.

Did we recently have a post like this for least career wins for a 20-game winner?

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

Reply to Tmckelv

I believe that there was a pitcher for the (Trolly?)Dodgers very early in the 20th century who came from the minors out west, won 20+, but decided he didn’t like big-city life, so that was his only year in MLB. That would have to be the record for fewest career wins for a 20-game winner. Time to hit the yearly team pages to verify…

I believe that Juan Marichal’s first start was a one-hitter.

Author

Raphy

12 years ago

Reply to Lawrence Azrin

Henry Schmidt
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/schmihe01.shtml

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

Reply to Raphy

Raphy, Wow! That was fast! I just found Henry Schmidt in the 1903 Brooklyn _Superbas_ roster a few minutes ago, and you had already posted that! He spent the 1901, 1902, 1904 and 1905 years pitching for an independent team in Oakland, so that would fit in with the theory of him liking life “back west”. He went 35-20 for Oakland in 1902, which would explain why he was in MLB in 1903. Most fans nowadays don’t understand that there wasn’t always a drastic difference in quality (or pay) between the majors and minors, back 80/100/10 years ago. A number… Read more »

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Raphy

12 years ago

Reply to Lawrence Azrin

I used PI. Schmidt has the most career wins for any player whose Year of Debut=Final Season.

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Tmckelv

Excluding active players, Norris has fewest career wins among all pitchers who have won 20 since 1980. Other guys under 100 career wins include:
Jose Lima, 89
Rick Helling, 93
Bill Swift, 94
Teddy Higuera, 94
Lamar Hoyt, 98

If they don’t come back, Adam Wainwright (66) and Brandon Webb (87) could join the list.

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

If Wainwright doesn’t come back, he will join Mike Mussina as the only pitchers to win 20 in their final season. For both, it was the only 20 win season of their careers.

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Oops. Only Mussina and Wainwright have won 20 in their final season, among those pitchers winning 20 since 1980.

Other pitchers to win 20 in an earlier final season:
Sandy Koufax, 1966
Lefty Williams, 1920
Eddie Cicotte, 1920
Henry Schmidt, 1903

All of these guys saw their ML careers end prematurely, for various reasons.

oneblankspace

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Hoyt actually led the AL in wins twice: 19 in ’82, 24 in ’83. Then he was traded for Ozzie Guillen, Luis Salazar, and Tim Lollar (I may be wrong about the third player)

topper009

12 years ago

Somewhat related and this post reminded of it, in the category of most wins by a pitcher with a CG but no decisions in his first season the answer is Warren Spahn.

If you look at his first season (before he spent 3 years in the Army including seeing action in the battle of the bulge) he has 1 CG but went 0-0. Seems odd, but he got the CG for a forfeited game he was losing, but no one gets a decision in a forfeited game. The braves won the game 2-5.

Tmckelv

12 years ago

Reply to topper009

Another thing I always found notable about Spahn’s stats is that he won exactly 21 games in 8 different seasons (those 168 W’s do not even account 1/2 of his career wins!). I don’t think it is going out on too much of a limb to guess that is another record for Spahn.

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

Reply to Tmckelv

Tmckelv,

The Braves counterpoint to Spahn on the batting side was Hank Aaron, with four seasons of 44 HR (also his uniform number).

Wait a minute, Spahn’s uniform number from 1946 on, was… 21!!

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to topper009

Cool find, Topper! Short blurb about that game from ESPN: “Sept. 26, 1942: Hundreds of children, guests of the Giants in a promotion to bring scrap metal for the war effort, swarmed the field after the eighth inning, and New York forfeited to the visiting Boston Braves.” BTW, it was the 2nd game of a doubleheader on the last day of the season. The box score is a treasure trove for name-lovers like me — Boston had a Skippy, a Nanny, a Ducky and a Whitey (not to mention Clyde Kluttz and Big Poison!), while the Giants had a Buster… Read more »

Kahuna Tuna

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

The Giants’ catcher in that 1942 game was Charlie Fox, the same Charlie Fox who managed the S.F. Giants in the early ’70s. Fox played three games in the majors, with emphatically mixed results for his team: a win, a loss, and a forfeit.

Steven

12 years ago

Dick Rusteck must have set a record by appearing in eight Major League games in his career (1966) for one team (Mets) while wearing three different uniform numbers.