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 HR GSc
1 1 Lefty Grove 1925-04-14 PHA BOS W  9-8 3.2 6 5 4 4 0 0 27
2 1 Jim Bagby 1938-04-18 BOS NYY W  8-4 6.0 5 4 3 6 5 0 47
3 1 Al Gerheauser 1943-04-24 PHI BRO L  4-11 4.0 7 5 5 3 2 0 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 SHO GF L W-L% IP ERA ERA+ Tm
1 Red Evans 1 1936 1939 29-32 41 6 0 0 25 11 .083 111.2 6.21 74 CHW-BRO
2 Carroll Yerkes 1 1927 1933 24-30 25 3 1 0 14 1 .500 58.0 3.88 108 PHA-CHC
3 Eddie Eayrs 1 1913 1921 22-30 11 3 0 0 6 2 .333 39.0 6.23 51 PIT-BSN
4 Jack Nabors 1 1915 1917 27-29 52 37 13 0 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
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

John Autin
Editor
11 years ago

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 »

John Autin
Editor
11 years ago

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!

John Autin
Editor
11 years ago

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
Voomo Zanzibar
11 years ago

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
Hartvig
11 years ago
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 »

Ed
Ed
11 years ago
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.

John Autin
Editor
11 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

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.

Ed
Ed
11 years ago

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 »

John Autin
Editor
11 years ago
Reply to  Ed

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 »

Hartvig
Hartvig
11 years ago
Reply to  Ed

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
T-Bone
11 years ago

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.

Hartvig
Hartvig
11 years ago
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.