The 10 worst ERAs of all time

48 Replies

Responding to a reader question, here are the 10 worst seasonal ERAs for pitchers who qualified for the ERA title:

Rk Player ERA Year Tm G GS W L IP H R ER BB SO ERA+ HR
1 Les Sweetland 7.71 1930 PHI 34 25 7 15 167.0 271 164 143 60 36 71 24
2 Jim Deshaies 7.39 1994 MIN 25 25 6 12 130.1 170 109 107 54 78 66 30
3 Jack Knott 7.29 1936 SLB 47 23 9 17 192.2 272 174 156 93 60 73 15
4 Jose Lima 6.99 2005 KCR 32 32 5 16 168.2 219 140 131 61 80 63 31
5 LaTroy Hawkins 6.66 1999 MIN 33 33 10 14 174.1 238 136 129 60 103 76 29
6 Jose Lima 6.65 2000 HOU 33 33 7 16 196.1 251 152 145 68 124 75 48
7 Greg Harris 6.65 1994 COL 29 19 3 12 130.0 154 99 96 52 82 75 22
8 Darryl Kile 6.61 1999 COL 32 32 8 13 190.2 225 150 140 109 116 88 33
9 Chubby Dean 6.61 1940 PHA 30 19 6 13 159.1 220 136 117 63 38 67 21
10 Nels Potter 6.60 1939 PHA 41 25 8 12 196.1 258 163 144 88 60 71 26
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/11/2012.

That’s an interesting set, considering that all 10 seasons are from either 1930-1940 or 1994-present.

Let’s look, instead, at the 10 worst ERA+ values, which corrects for overall scoring and ballpark:

Rk Player ERA+ Year Tm G GS W L IP H R ER BB SO ERA HR
1 Rube Bressler 56 1915 PHA 32 20 4 17 178.1 183 133 103 118 69 5.20 3
2 Gene Wright 58 1903 TOT 23 20 6 15 162.2 195 123 90 74 79 4.98 3
3 Pol Perritt 61 1913 STL 36 21 6 14 175.0 205 123 102 64 64 5.25 9
4 Elmer Myers 62 1917 PHA 38 23 9 16 201.2 221 122 99 79 88 4.42 2
5 Oscar Jones 62 1905 BRO 29 20 8 15 174.0 197 121 90 56 66 4.66 6
6 Dan Griner 63 1913 STL 34 34 10 22 225.0 279 150 127 66 79 5.08 12
7 Jose Lima 63 2005 KCR 32 32 5 16 168.2 219 140 131 61 80 6.99 31
8 Happy Finneran 63 1918 TOT 28 15 3 8 128.0 156 69 63 43 36 4.43 7
9 Irv Young 64 1907 BSN 40 32 10 23 245.1 287 131 108 58 86 3.96 5
10 Tom Fisher 64 1904 BSN 31 21 6 16 214.0 257 165 101 82 84 4.25 5
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/11/2012.

So now these guys are all from 1918 or earlier, with the exception of Jose Lima in 2005, who made both lists. This tells you that a lot of bad pitchers were allowed to keep on pitching early in baseball history. (I should mention that both of these lists are 1901-present.)

I think that the first list above basically tells you when the two high-scoring eras of baseball were, and the second list basically tells you that pitchers were used differently (i.e. not allowed to finish out the year if they were horrible) come the 1920s.

48 thoughts on “The 10 worst ERAs of all time”

  1. Theron

    I always thought Colby Lewis winning 10 games and finishing over .500 with an ERA over 7 in 2003 was pretty impressive. It’s too bad he didn’t square off against Chris George that season.

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  2. Doug

    The two Jose Lima seasons in your first list were his only ERA-qualifying seasons with an ERA+ under 80. His 2001 season, when he spent time in both leagues, is not considered ERA-qualifying, but he did log 165.2 IP with 79 ERA+.

    Other pitchers not on your lists with 3 or more such seasons.

    4 – Bob Knepper, 1979,82,87,89
    3 – Livan Hernandez, 2001,08,09
    3 – Bob Walk, 1982, 89, 93
    3 – Tom Hughes, 1904, 06, 07

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    1. Andy Post author

      Lima’s early death is a tragedy. Purely in terms of his widespread legacy among baseball fans, his death probably helps his reputation, for just the reason you stated–nobody really wants to pick on the guy too much.

      It’s sort of like Darryl Kile, who was a pitcher who had some major ups and downs. He’s pretty much remembered as a really good pitcher, though, because nobody feels like digging into the negatives of his stats.

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  5. CursedClevelander

    One day, when I have grandchildren, I’ll be able to sit them down and tell them grand tales about how I saw Jose Lima pitch in person.

    I don’t expect my grandchildren to like me very much.

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  6. Jeff H

    Is Lima’s two-year ERA+ swing from 125 to 75 from 1999 to 2000 (for qualified seasons) the largest downward swing?

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    1. Andy Post author

      No easy way to find this, but in the back of my mind I feel that someone studied this on the old B-R blog and found that indeed Lima’s swing was the worst ever.

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      1. Richard Chester

        My limited research shows that Walter Johnson’s ERA+ dropped from 215 to 119 from 1919 to 1920. Wilbur Wood, Luis Tiant and Steve Carlton all had drops of more than 50.

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    2. Richard Chester

      From 1940 to 1941 Bobo Newsom’s ERA+ dropped from 168 to 98. I don’t know if that’s the largest drop.

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      1. MikeD

        The 70 point drop is big, but at least in Bobo’s case he was still basically a league-average pitcher (a good thing), where Lima went from good to very bad.

        I don’t think the 50-point swing is a record, in fact I’m positive. As John noted, Pedro’s drop from ’00 to ’01 was greater, although ’01 wasn’t a qualfying season. He did have another large drop ’03 to ’04, both qualfying seasons, when his ERA+ dropped 87 points from 211 to 124. Pedro was so dominant that even when suffering probably some of the single-greatest ERA+ losses from one season to next, he still was an excellent pitcher. I’m sure Pedro holds a number of records like this simply because of his dominance. Meaning largest point drop season-to-season, while still registering as a top-flight pitcher.

        I’d imagine the greatest point losses were scored by top pitchers coming off elite seasons. In addition to Pedro, Roger Clemens dropped 72 points (174-102) from ’98 to ’99. The largest point drop I can find with random searching is Zack Greinke, dropping 105 points, 205 to 100, ’09 to ’10. Next closest I found was Dwight Gooden’s 103 point drop from ’85 to ’86 (229 to 126). Walter Johnson had two drops of 96 and 95 points. Basically, the greater the pitcher, the better opportunity for a significant drop.

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        1. nightfly

          The Gooden drop is particularly insane. The guy lost the equivalent of a league-average pitcher and was still All-Star quality. (1985 Gooden – 1984 Walt Terrell = 1986 Gooden.) Really highlights how much of a force of nature young Doctor K really was. And Pedro was even more ridiculous, especially considering the league he was pitching in. If not the most elite stretch of starting pitching in history, it’s in the top five.

          Part of me wants to say that hanging “K” signs started with Gooden, and it caught on – but it sounds like something fans would have done for the Ryan Express as well. IOW, not true, but it sounds good.

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          1. Ed

            Tim Lincecum is in the midst of dropping from 127 to 59. Granted there’s a lot of season left and it wouldn’t be the largest drop ever; but 59??? I’m sure that would be the worst ever for a Cy Young winner.

    3. John

      It’s not in the spirit of the question — someone going from good to bad — but Pedro Martinez’s ERA+ dropped 103 points from 2000 to 2001.

      Of course, he started at a must-be-a-typo 291, so his “down” season in 2001 still would have competed for league-class, had he not been hurt.

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    4. Doug

      Zack Greinke dropped 105 points, from 205 to 100, in 2009-10.

      Steve Carlton went from 182 to 97 in 1972-73. He also went from 97 to 164 in 1968-69 (obviously had no trouble adjusting to lower mound and smaller strike zone).

      Bert Blyleven went from a 75 to 140 in 1988-89 at age 37-38. Similarly, Don Sutton went from 95 to 161 in 1979-80 at ager 34-35.

      A long way to go this season, but Adam Wainwright is currently at 77 after a 160 in 2010. More happily, Ryan Dempster is currently at 173 after an 81 last year.

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      2. Richard Chester

        Billy Pierce went from 108 t0 200 in 1954-1955.
        Dean Chance went from 107 to 200 in 1963-1964 and then back to 107 in 1965.

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        1. MikeD

          Gibson beats Greinke’s number. I should have checked him. I was trying to think of pitchers who scored 200+ ERA+ seasons, figuring they’d be the target group to identify the largest drop ever. I can’t imagine anyone having a greater drop than 140 points, since even having an ERA+ of 140 for a season is a great season. So to drop 140 points means the pitcher had to have one of the greatest seasons ever.

          Yet maybe we’re missing someone here?

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          2. Doug

            Actually, Gibson improved 140 points – his drop was 94 points.

            In comment #31 below, bstar found a guy who dropped 160 points.

          3. bstar

            Andy’s list of the worst ERA+ seasons of all-time shows us that 56-64 ERA+’s are the worst of all-time, and we know none of the pitchers on this list had a great 200+ ERA+ season. So for there to be a larger drop-off than Dutch Leonard’s 160 point plunge from 1914-15, it is only necessary to check the ERA+ seasons greater than 225, since 225-160=65. 65 is the next possible worst season after Andy’s top 10.

    5. bstar

      The largest downward swing of all has to be from Tim Keefe, who holds the single-season ERA+ record at 293(it’s listed at 293 on his player page but 295 on the leaderboards. Keefe went from 293 down to 90 in 1880-81 for the Troy Trojans.

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      1. Doug

        Keefe pitched only 105 innings in 1880. It was his rookie season and his first game was on Aug 6th. Also, while Keefe allowed only 10 ER, he did allow 27 runs in total. But, definitely a great way to start – he also had 0.800 WHIP.

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      2. MikeD

        I guess that answers my question from above, although I’m surprised that Keefe’s 293 ERA+ qualifies. He only pitched about 105 innings and started 12 games during a time when 400 innings was a slacker.

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        1. bstar

          OK, if you’re not sure that Tim Keefe should qualify, then it’s probably Dutch Leonard of the 1914-15 Red Sox. Leonard went from 279 to 119(-160).

          This Dutch Leonard, however, was probably the lesser of the pitching Dutch Leonards. The first pitched for Boston and Detroit from 1913-25 and recorded 139 wins and 33.7 WAR. The second Dutch Leonard made 4 all-star teams from 1933-53 while pitching for 4 different teams and recorded
          191 wins and 46.7 career WAR.

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  7. Purple Rox

    Thanks for the response…is there anyway to look at starting pitching staffs rather than individuals? What were the 10 worse starting pitching staffs?

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    2. Doug

      These teams all had 4 qualifying pitchers who started in 60% of their games and had ERA+ of 90 or less.

      – 1981 AL Milwaukee Brewers – Mike Caldwell / Moose Haas / Randy Lerch / Jim Slaton
      – 1975 NL Houston Astros – Larry Dierker / Doug Konieczny / J.R. Richard / Dave Roberts
      – 1965 AL Kansas City Athletics – John O’Donoghue / Diego Segui / Rollie Sheldon / Fred Talbot
      – 1906 AL Boston Americans – Joe Harris / Jesse Tannehill / George Winter / Cy Young
      – 1906 NL Brooklyn Superbas – Mal Eason / Harry McIntire / Jim Pastorius / Doc Scanlan
      – 1905 NL Brooklyn Superbas – Mal Eason / Oscar Jones / Harry McIntire / Elmer Stricklett
      – 1905 NL St. Louis Cardinals – Wish Egan / Chappie McFarland / Jack Taylor / Jake Thielman

      To Andy’s point, those 4 teams in 1905 and 1906 are indicative of teams then just sticking it out with their players, regardless of performance.

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      1. Doug

        Those poor starting pitchers didn’t hurt the ’81 Brewers too much. They made the playoffs that year, and were AL champions the next with 3 of the same pitchers, who were again all under 100 ERA+ as was the replacement, Bob McClure, at 90.

        The Brewers ace in both of those seasons was Pete Vickovich, with a 97 ERA+ in ’81 and 114 in ’82.

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        1. bstar

          The Brewers also swept the Cy Young voting in ’81 and ’82, with Rollie Fingers winning in ’81(also won MVP) and Vuckovich winning in ’82.

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      2. Purple Rox

        According to B-R.com the 81 Brewers had a starting pitching ERA of 4.15, 75 Astros had a 4.34, the 65 Royals had a 4.30. These are all pretty stellar compared to my Rockies this year who have a starting pitching ERA of 6.17. The local newspaper in town claims the 1930 Phillies had the worse starting pitching ERA of 6.15. Just wondering, is this true and what are the top 10 worse starting pitching ERAs?

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        1. Doug

          You can figure an approximate ERA+ for a subset of pitchers by averaging their individual ERA+ weighted by number of IP.

          None of the Rockies starters have currently reached even 90 ERA+, so it would seem they certainly are off to a fast start for being the worst starters ever. In comparison, the 1930 Phillies had two starters at ERA+ of 97 and 114, and two others below 75.

          The Rox stiffest competition may be the 1905 Superbas, with 120 starts by pitchers with an ERA+ of 86 or less, and 57 starts by pitchers at ERA+ of 67 or less.

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        2. Phil Gaskill

          Not to be too picky here, but the Royals were barely a gleam in someone’s eye, if that, in 1965. . . .

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          1. Hartvig

            But the Kansas City Athletics were 11 years old…

            although they weren’t going to get much older, either.

  8. Cyril Morong

    Maybe when ERAs are really low like before 1920, it is easy to be really high relative to the league average. Just a few more runs and you get hit pretty hard.

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  9. Richard Chester

    Rube Bressler, on the second chart above, has the lowest ERA+ for a qualifying pitcher. Nevertheless there is feat that only he, Babe Ruth, George Sisler and Ben Chapman have achieved. Anyone care to determine what it is? I don’t think it will take long to solve.

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  10. topper009

    If you lower the limit to 50+ IP, the worst ERA of all-time belongs to Roy Halladay in 2000 at 10.64. That is the only season with a 10+ ERA with over 51 IP.

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    1. Hartvig

      That would be one of the two seasons I had him on my Rotisserie League team. The second was 2004, when I spent big $$$ on him.

      If I had drafted him every year he’d probably have been out of the league years ago.

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