Jack Nabors and Unlikely Opening Day Matchups |

Yes, I did say Opening Day. As New Year approaches, we can also celebrate that winter’s end is in sight; the days are getting longer and Opening Day is now less than 100 days away.

Meanwhile, the folks over at Retrosheet.org continue their painstaking labor of poring through images of old newspapers and recording the published boxscores in the Retrosheet database. The database is available to all and the people at Baseball-Reference.com do the programming work so people like me can pull up boxscores online and run searches of these games. This little preamble is by way of mentioning that, just in time for the holidays, B-R recently updated their games database to include all boxscores back to the 1916 season.

So, hold those thoughts, 1916 and opening day, and I’ll tell you more after the jump of an unusual opening day matchup that year and in some others as well.

That 1916 season opened with these starting pitchers.

Rk	Player	Date	Tm	Opp	Rslt	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	GSc
1	Pete Alexander	1916-04-12	PHI	NYG	W 5-4	9.0	8	4	2	1	5	1	63
2	Fred Anderson	1916-04-12	NYG	PHI	L 4-5	2.0	4	3	2	1	0	0	37

3	Walter Johnson	1916-04-12	WSH	NYY	W 3-2	11.0	5	2	2	0	10	0	89
4	Ray Caldwell	1916-04-12	NYY	WSH	L 2-3	11.0	10	3	2	4	5	1	68

5	Dick Rudolph	1916-04-12	BSN	BRO	W 5-1	9.0	6	1	1	1	4	0	74
6	Larry Cheney	1916-04-12	BRO	BSN	L 1-5	9.0	9	5	4	5	5	0	51

7	Harry Coveleski	1916-04-12	DET	CHW	W 4-0	9.0	3	0	0	2	2	0	81
8	Reb Russell	1916-04-12	CHW	DET	L 0-4	1.2	4	4	4	2	3	0	32

9	Bill Doak	1916-04-12	STL	PIT	W 2-1	9.0	6	1	0	4	3	0	72
10	Erv Kantlehner	1916-04-12	PIT	STL	L 1-2	8.1	8	2	1	2	1	0	60

11	Bob Groom	1916-04-12	SLB	CLE	W 6-1	9.0	3	1	0	6	5	0	78
12	Willie Mitchell	1916-04-12	CLE	SLB	L 1-6	6.0	3	4	3	4	1	1	49

13	George McConnell	1916-04-12	CHC	CIN	W 7-1	9.0	7	1	1	0	5	0	74
14	Fred Toney	1916-04-12	CIN	CHC	L 1-7	5.0	5	5	3	4	3	0	40

15	Babe Ruth	1916-04-12	BOS	PHA	W 2-1	8.1	4	1	0	2	6	0	77
16	Jack Nabors	1916-04-12	PHA	BOS	L 1-2	4.0	2	0	0	3	0	0	55

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/23/2012.

Some all-time greats there, and also some obscure names as well. Among the latter category is the last name on the list, opposing the Babe on this day. Jack Nabors caught my eye because Ed, one of our regular contributors here, pointed Jack out to me a week or so ago, and did so for the reason that Jack has the distinction of having the most career losses (25) of all pitchers with exactly one career win. Not exactly a group in which you would expect to find many opening day starters.

For the record, on opening day 1916, that one career win was still in Jack’s future. Here in fact, are the career records of all of these pitchers prior to opening day 1916.

Rk	Player	WAR	From	To	Age	G	GS	CG	SHO	W	L	W-L%	IP	ERA	ERA+	Tm
1	Walter Johnson	79.6	1907	1915	19-27	371	309	266	60	206	128	.617	2778.2	1.61	176	WSH
2	Pete Alexander	39.4	1911	1915	24-28	236	188	147	37	127	63	.668	1715.0	2.32	138	PHI
3	Ray Caldwell	21.4	1910	1915	22-27	171	128	101	14	69	63	.523	1140.0	3.02	105	NYY
4	Willie Mitchell	14.1	1909	1915	19-25	207	142	73	9	61	71	.462	1257.2	2.81	108	CLE
5	Dick Rudolph	12.9	1910	1915	22-27	123	102	79	11	62	43	.590	941.0	2.59	112	NYG-BSN
6	Reb Russell	11.2	1913	1915	24-26	131	84	44	12	40	38	.513	713.1	2.36	122	CHW
7	Larry Cheney	10.8	1911	1915	25-29	179	136	81	14	76	53	.589	1088.0	2.71	112	CHC-TOT
8	Harry Coveleski	10.0	1907	1915	21-29	135	100	58	10	56	37	.602	840.2	2.52	113	PHI-CIN-DET
9	Bob Groom	9.4	1909	1915	24-30	274	229	138	17	96	120	.444	1843.0	3.10	98	WSH-SLM
10	Bill Doak	9.2	1912	1915	21-24	90	82	40	11	37	32	.536	627.0	2.34	122	CIN-STL
11	George McConnell	6.5	1909	1915	31-37	105	77	50	4	37	39	.487	670.2	2.60	118	NYY-CHC-CHI
12	Fred Toney	6.1	1911	1915	22-26	70	34	21	6	21	11	.656	352.2	2.48	122	CHC-CIN
13	Fred Anderson	3.5	1909	1915	23-29	84	65	39	7	32	34	.485	565.2	3.10	102	BOS-BUF
14	Babe Ruth	2.2	1914	1915	19-20	36	31	17	1	20	9	.690	240.2	2.58	108	BOS
15	Erv Kantlehner	1.7	1914	1915	21-22	50	23	13	3	8	14	.364	230.0	2.50	109	PIT
16	Jack Nabors	-1.4	1915	1915	27-27	10	7	2	0	0	5	.000	54.0	5.50	53	PHA

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/24/2012.

Indeed, there is Jack at the bottom again with his 0-5 career record and -1.4 WAR in only 54 IP. Are there any other pitchers who started on opening day without a win on their career resume? That’s not a question that P-I can answer readily, except to say that the answer includes at least the pitchers below, who had their career debuts on opening day.

Rk	Gcar	Player	Date	Tm	Opp	Rslt	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	GSc
1	1	Lefty Grove	1925-04-14	PHA	BOS	W 9-8	3.2	6	5	4	4	0	27
2	1	Jim Bagby	1938-04-18	BOS	NYY	W 8-4	6.0	5	4	3	6	5	47
3	1	Al Gerheauser	1943-04-24	PHI	BRO	L 4-11	4.0	7	5	5	3	2	27

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/24/2012.

So, Nabors actually betters these three in game score in their opening day starts.

Who else might have been looking for their first win on opening day? Turns out Nabors isn’t the only opening day pitcher with only one career win. He shares that honor with these guys.

Rk	Player	W	From	To	Age	G	GS	CG	GF	L	W-L%	IP	ERA	ERA+	Tm
1	Red Evans	1	1936	1939	29-32	41	6	0	25	11	.083	111.2	6.21	74	CHW-BRO
2	Carroll Yerkes	1	1927	1933	24-30	25	3	1	14	1	.500	58.0	3.88	108	PHA-CHC
3	Eddie Eayrs	1	1913	1921	22-30	11	3	0	6	2	.333	39.0	6.23	51	PIT-BSN
4	Jack Nabors	1	1915	1917	27-29	52	37	13	11	25	.038	269.2	3.87	74	PHA

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/24/2012.

Each of these pitchers was, in fact, looking for his first career win when making his lone opening day start. And one, Eddie Eayrs, got what he was looking for, the only one-win pitcher to get that victory as an opening day starter. Eayrs went 8.1 IP for the Braves at the Polo Grounds on Apr 14, 1920 to beat Giants’ ace Jesse Barnes, who had posted a 25-9 mark in 1919.

Who are some of the other obscure opening day starters? Here are the lowest ranked by career WAR.

Rk	Player	WAR	From	To	Age	G	GS	CG	SHO	GF	W	L	IP	BB	SO	ERA	ERA+	HR	Tm
1	Kevin Jarvis	-5.4	1994	2006	24-36	187	118	4	3	22	34	49	780.2	262	453	6.03	73	149	CIN-OAK-COL-SDP-STL-TOT
2	Jim Bullinger	-3.9	1992	1998	26-32	186	89	6	4	41	34	41	642.0	306	392	5.06	81	65	CHC-MON-SEA
3	Chubby Dean	-3.7	1937	1943	21-27	162	68	23	1	66	30	46	685.2	323	195	5.08	80	52	PHA-TOT-CLE
4	Dewon Brazelton	-3.6	2002	2006	22-26	63	43	0	0	5	8	25	271.0	151	145	6.38	70	42	TBD-SDP
5	Hal Elliott	-3.6	1929	1932	30-33	120	30	4	0	42	11	24	322.1	174	90	6.95	73	22	PHI
6	Chris Codiroli	-3.4	1982	1990	24-32	144	108	13	2	13	38	47	670.1	261	312	4.87	79	76	OAK-CLE-KCR
7	Les Sweetland	-3.2	1927	1931	25-29	161	96	38	3	36	33	58	740.2	358	159	6.10	77	68	PHI-CHC
8	Rex Cecil	-2.7	1944	1945	27-28	18	16	5	0	1	6	10	106.0	60	63	5.18	67	9	BOS
9	Dick Newsome	-2.6	1941	1943	31-33	85	74	36	4	5	35	33	526.0	214	138	4.50	84	32	BOS
10	Grover Lowdermilk	-2.5	1909	1920	24-35	122	73	30	3	25	23	39	590.1	376	296	3.58	83	4	STL-CHC-SLB-TOT-CHW
11	Jeff Ballard	-2.1	1987	1994	23-30	197	118	10	2	22	41	53	773.1	229	244	4.71	84	92	BAL-PIT

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/27/2012.

Kevin Jarvis tops this list and is also #1 in worst career HR/9 among all pitchers with at least 375 career IP. Rex Cecil (#8) has the second lowest ratio of career WAR to IP (min. 100 IP), behind only Andy Larkin, unique in having career marks including WHIP above 2 and ERA+ below 50. Note that Bullinger, Dean and Codiroli all managed multiple opening day starts, despite their modest career achievements.

Other opening day starters with career ERA+ of 80 or less.

Rk	Player	ERA+	WAR	From	To	Age	G	GS	CG	SHO	GF	W	L	IP	BB	SO	ERA	HR	Tm
2	Wayne LaMaster	73	-0.7	1937	1938	30-31	71	42	11	2	17	19	27	295.1	116	173	5.82	32	PHI-TOT
2	Phil Ortega	75	0.1	1960	1969	20-29	204	141	20	9	29	46	62	951.2	378	549	4.43	131	LAD-WSA-CAL
3	Luke Hochevar	78	-0.3	2007	2012	23-28	132	128	5	2	1	38	59	771.0	257	531	5.39	95	KCR
4	Bill Greif	79	-1.6	1971	1976	21-26	231	97	18	5	67	31	67	715.2	287	442	4.41	70	HOU-SDP-TOT
4	Jake Arrieta	79	0.1	2010	2012	24-26	64	58	0	0	1	19	23	334.1	142	254	5.33	46	BAL
5	Elmer Myers	80	-1.5	1915	1922	21-28	185	127	78	8	39	55	72	1102.0	440	428	4.06	30	PHA-CLE-TOT-BOS

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/27/2012.

Looking for the most unlikely opening day matchup, I first looked to see if any two of the underachievers I’ve mentioned faced each other on opening day, but no such luck. So, I offer this combination for your consideration: Dave Lemanczyk of the Blue Jays going against Mike Parrott of the Mariners on opening day 1980. Here are their records prior to that tilt, in the immediately preceding season, and for their whole careers.

Rk		WAR	From	To	Age	G	GS	CG	SHO	GF	W	L	IP	BB	SO	ERA	ERA+	HR	Tm
1	Mike Parrott	3.8	1977	1979	22-24	68	40	13	2	13	15	17	316.0	120	170	4.10	104	25	BAL-SEA
2	Dave Lemanczyk	3.1	1973	1979	22-28	154	93	30	3	29	33	54	803.0	321	400	4.61	88	75	DET-TOR

1	Mike Parrott	4.8	1979	1979	24-24	38	30	13	2	4	14	12	229.1	86	127	3.77	117	17	SEA
2	Dave Lemanczyk	2.4	1979	1979	28-28	22	20	11	3	1	8	10	143.0	45	63	3.71	117	12	TOR

1	Mike Parrott	1.4	1977	1981	22-26	119	68	14	2	27	19	39	495.0	190	266	4.87	86	44	BAL-SEA
2	Dave Lemanczyk	2.7	1973	1980	22-29	185	103	30	3	39	37	63	913.0	363	429	4.62	88	87	DET-TOR-TOT

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/27/2012.

Their identical 117 ERA+ scores in the 1979 season perhaps explain their selection to start the following opening day (though each had compiled close to or more than his entire career WAR in that one season). But, not much good happened for either pitcher after this day; each was done before the age of 30, with an ERA+ below 90 and with fewer than 1000 IP.

Parrott’s 4.8 WAR in 1979 is particularly stunning considering what happened in the next (and last) 179 IP of his career – a 4-22 mark (including a W in this opening day game) that lowered his career ERA+ by 18 points. In fact, of the 843 pitchers to compile a 4 WAR season since 1901, Parrott’s 1.4 career WAR ranks as the 5th lowest total, and the lowest since Karl Drews (1946-1954) posted 0.3 WAR.

Lemanzcyk did not make it through the first inning of this opening day contest, the second of his career after opposing former teammate Mark Fidrych to start the 1978 season. It was a forgettable start to a forgettable final major league season of 4-9 with an 87 ERA+ in only 110 IP. Since 1901, Lemanczyk is one of just 13 pitchers with careers of at least 7 seasons of 75 innings or more that include only one season with an ERA+ score of 100 or better.

That’s my pick. What unlikely opening day matchups do you remember?

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Mike L

11 years ago

Wasn’t there, but this one wasn’t too bad. 1940, Bob Feller beats Eddie Smith 1-0.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHA/CHA194004160.shtml

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Doug

Reply to Mike L

Another Eddie Smith OD start was one of the games I debated about. Eddie faced Joe Cascarella on opening day 1937, at which point Eddie had all of 19 IP in 2 career starts, both complete games. But, Smith turned out to be a useful pitcher despite a 73-113 career mark. He finished with over 1500 IP, a 108 ERA+ and 20+ starts in 6 straight seasons. He was also twice an All-Star, once in a 7-20 season with a 90 ERA+, the only 20-game loser to make the A-S game with an W-L% below 0.300.

Editor

John Autin

Doug — Great post, I loved the lead-in! Incidentally, Elmer Myers (on the 80-or-less ERA+ list) is a guy I’d never heard of until a post I was drafting this evening. What I noticed then was that he was #2 in MLB strikeouts in 1916, his rookie year; unfortunately, he led the bigs in walks and earned runs allowed. And was a teammate of the 1-20 Jack Nabors on the 1916 A’s. Also, Myers debuted in 1915 with a 2-hit, 12-K shutout. It’s not searchable, but it’s knowable ’cause it’s his only game that year. The searchable database shows just… Read more »

Reply to John Autin

Elmer Myers also has the lowest career ERA+ of any pitcher since 1901 with at least 1000 IP. Myers’ mark of 80 is tied with contemporary Bill Bailey. Here are the top (or bottom) 10, one of whom has a W/L% over .500. Rk Player ERA+ IP From To Age G GS CG SHO GF W L W-L% BB SO ERA HR Tm 1 Elmer Myers 80 1102.0 1915 1922 21-28 185 127 78 8 39 55 72 .433 440 428 4.06 30 PHA-CLE-TOT-BOS 2 Bill Bailey 80 1084.1 1907 1922 19-34 203 117 70 8 56 38 76 .333… Read more »

Our first record of Jack Nabors in organized ball is 1915, going 12-1 for two teams in the class-D Georgia-Alabama league. (Naturally, he pitched for one team in each state.)

By year’s end, he was pitching for the defending (cough, cough) AL champions. His career would never again seem so bright.

After going 0-5 in 10 games as a rookie, Nabors had the 1-20 nightmare in 1916. By 1917 he was back in the minors, going 9-21 over his last 2 years. Alas, poor Yorick!

And of course, my old “friend” Jim Bullinger, mentioned in recent comments. The surprise O.D. starter for the 1997 Expos, he came up strong that day, but was more or less pummeled over his next 11 starts, taking a 7.35 ERA into a June 6 game. Whereupon he shut out the Cubs, and two starts later, blanked the Reds, the latter on 4 hits with zero strikeouts. (There’s been just one K-free shutout on 4 hits or less since then.) But it was downhill from there, as Bullinger pitched to a 5.68 ERA and finished 1997 at 5.56. In his… Read more »

Voomo Zanzibar

The pitching staff for the 1916 Athletics not named Elmer Myers or Bullet Joe Bush had a combined record of 9-70 _________________ Form June 1st to August 8th the team went 4-59 Their record that day was 19-80 _________________ Their best head to head record was vs the Yankees, against whom they managed: 7-15 ____________________ The team had 3 saves. Jack Nabors’ got one of them in his final appearance of the year. ____________________ They were so bad they made every other team good. The ONLY other AL team with a losing record that year was the Senators, who squeaked… Read more »

Hartvig

Reply to Voomo Zanzibar

I was amazed to see that those 1916 Athletic’s teams actually had some pretty decent position players. At second base a 41 year old Nap Lajoie was proving that he had played one season too many but they also had a 25 year old Stuffy McInnis at 1st base and a 26 year old Wally Schang and a 27 year old Amos Strunk patrolling the outfield plus a left-handed hitting, 20 year old shortstop who managed an OPS+ of over 100 who was good enough to score an average of 100 runs a year over a 4 year stretch and… Read more »

Reply to Hartvig

Jack Nabors: 1-20 with an ERA+ of 82.
Tom Sheehan: 1-16 with an ERA+ of 77.
Elmer Myers: 14-23 with an ERA+ of 77.

All three pitched for the A’s in 1916. If that doesn’t convince you that wins and loses are largely meaningless, nothing will.

Reply to Ed

Was wondering how close Myers was for wins in a season that bad. Actually, not really that close.

ERA+ <= 59, 7 wins, Andy Benes 2001, Max Macon 1943 60-64, 10, Dan Griner 1913 65-69, 14, Byron Houck 1913 70-74, 15, Wes Farrell 1938, Bullet Joe Bush 1913, Snake Wiltse 1902 75-79, 19, Jim Bibby 1974 80-84, 22, Henry Schmidt, 1903 85-89, 24, Christy Mathewson 1914

I missed this the first time around:

Voomo: “Jack Nabors got one of [the 1916 A’s 3 saves] in his final appearance of the year.”

His final appearance was also the team’s last game. I wonder how many pitchers besides Nabors started on Opening Day, then got a save in the season finale? No easy way to check, but I know that Lefty Grove never did it.

P.S. Coincidentally, Babe Ruth was the opposing starter in both games. In that finale, Ruth — the AL champ in ERA and H/9 — surrendered a season-high 11 hits.

Eddie Eayrs definitely has one of the stranger careers I’ve seen. He first appears in the minor league record in 1913, the same year he made his major league debut for Pittsburgh (perhaps we’re missing data on some earlier minor league seasons?). He did a decent job as a pitcher in 1913, throwing 8 innings across two games with a 142 ERA+. You would think that would get him more opportunities in the majors but it didn’t. He continued playing in the minors both as a pitcher and as an outfielder for several years. And that brings us to his… Read more »

Looking at teammates of Eddie Eayrs on those 1920 Braves, I noticed the non-brothers Townsend, Ira and Leo. How odd that, out of 4 Townsends ever to play in the majors, two were pitchers whose entire careers were a handful of games on the 1920 and ’21 Braves. And then there’s Mule Watson, who was somehow born in Arizona, Louisiana, and is buried in Arlington Cemetery … in Homer (not Houma), Louisiana. And Dana Fillingim, who was a bit of a phee-nom in 1918, when he allowed 1 ER over a stretch of 6 starts (including 4 shutouts) and after… Read more »

I don’t know if his picture was taken when he was an active player but if it was I’d say there was a really good chance that he had lied about his age and he was actually born around 1870 instead of 1890 like it says.

Love these little mysteries.

T-Bone

As a hitter, he had a 1.4 career WAR, but as a pitcher it was -1.1, leaving him with a total career WAR of 0.3. Whew! Just made it into positive territory. That picture of him on BR looks looks it was from an old-timers game, even for a time when people looked older than they do today at similar ages.

Reply to T-Bone

Sorry T-Bone. I didn’t see your comment until after I had posted mine but his picture was the first thing that I noticed as well. If he looked like that at 30 there ain’t no way that he stuck around another 50 years like it says he did.