Voters took a chance on Charles Arthur “Dazzy” Vance, but it was a very safe bet. Vance’s blistering fastball bedazzled National League batters in the 1920s and early 1930s, earning the right-hander a first ballot victory in the 99th round of COG balloting. Vance compiled over 2000 strikeouts and almost 200 wins after the age of 30, both pre-expansion live ball era records and marks more impressive for having been preceded by almost no major league experience. Among 345 retired pitchers like Vance with 25 to 50 IP in 15 or fewer games thru age 30, Vance easily leads in career Wins and Strikeouts, far ahead of the second place career marks of 185 strikeouts by Marlin Stuart and 25 wins for Ed Holley and Bob Spade.
More on Vance after the jump.
After more than 1500 IP in the minors, including three straight seasons (1919-21) with WHIP under 1.25 in over 250 IP, Vance finally caught on with the Robins in 1922. That year would be the first of seven straight leading the NL in strikeouts and SO/9. And, Vance didn’t just lead, he ran away and hid from all his rivals, as shown below for Vance’s SO/9 rates for those seasons.
Vance Second Lead % Lead 1922 4.91 4.19 (Jimmy Ring) 0.72 17.2% 1923 6.32 4.22 (Dolph Luque) 2.10 49.8% 1924 7.65 3.91 (Burleigh Grimes) 3.74 95.7% 1925 7.50 4.33 (Dolph Luque) 3.17 73.2% 1926 7.46 5.53 (Jakie May) 1.93 34.9% 1927 6.06 4.73 (Jumbo Elliott) 1.33 28.1% 1928 6.42 5.57 (Pat Malone) 0.85 15.3%
Bear in mind that those leads are not how much better Vance was than the league average, it’s how much better he was than the second best strikeout pitcher in the league.
Another indication of how Vance separated himself from the competition are his two seasons (1924 and 1928) with 10 WAR and 7.5 WAA. Only five other pitchers have two such live ball era seasons, with Bob Gibson in 1968-69 the first to match Vance’s feat. Between Vance and Gibson, only Lefty Grove (1936), Hal Newhouser (1945) and Sandy Koufax (1963) posted as dominating a campaign.
Vance’s career best season was 1924, taking the pitcher’s triple crown with a 28-6 record and 2.16 ERA to go with a career best 262 strikeouts. That strikeout total eclipsed Vance’s own live ball era record, establishing a standard that would not be surpassed until 1946, and not surpassed in the NL until 1961.
Vance’s peak over his age 33-39 seasons shows a 128-78 record (.621) with 2.89 ERA (144 ERA+) and 3.04 FIP, while compiling 48.9 WAR in almost 1800 IP. Among 34 pitchers since 1893 with 1500 IP for those ages, Vance ranks top 5 in Wins, CG, ERA+ and WAR, and top 10 in IP, ERA, FIP, SO and W-L%.
Vance’s 150 strikeouts in 1931 tied Cy Young‘s record for most by an age 40+ pitcher. It was a mark that would not be surpassed until Early Wynn‘s 1960 season, and not surpassed in the NL until Phil Niekro topped 200 strikeouts in 1979.
Quiz time: Until Max Scherzer matched the feat this season, Dazzy Vance was the last pitcher to record consecutive 9-inning CG starts allowing no more than one hit and one walk in each. Which pitcher has allowed the fewest total hits and walks in consecutive CGs in the post-season?
