The 10 worst ERAs of all time

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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.

Friday performance notes, etc.

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Friday’s best and worst in Win Probability Added (WPA):

Pitchers — C.J. Wilson, 0.382 (8 IP, 1 R in a game that was fairly close until the 9th); Brian Fuentes, -0.909 (4th-worst of the year; he also owns the worst — see below).

Hitters — Ryan Roberts, 0.956 (see below); Colby Rasmus, -0.238 (0-5 in a close game, including the last out of the 9th with the go-ahead run on 3rd).

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Best and Worst Ballparks for No-Hitters

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Since the Mets finally got over the hump to record a no-hitter last week, the question has been “What took them so long?” After all, they have had no shortage of capable pitchers over the years, including several who had no-hitters for other teams, Nolan Ryan, Tom Seaver, Dwight Gooden, David Cone and Al Leiter among them.

But, actually, it’s a lot more than several – 16 pitchers who have played for the Mets have thrown no-hitters for another team or teams, but not for the Mets. So, why is that? After the jump, I’ll take a look at ballparks and see what (if anything) might be learned.

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Future Perfect: A Balanced Schedule for 2013

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Beginning next season, Houston will move to the AL West and there will be two leagues of 15 teams, each with three five-team divisions. Although my plan for how to handle this new arrangement is no more likely to be adopted than a re-make of Love Story with Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee in the roles of Ryan O’Neal and Ali McGraw, I’ll share it after the jump. Continue reading →

The Mount Rushmore of the Detroit Tigers

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1984 Topps #666 Tigers Leaders - Lou Whitaker and Jack Morris

OK…let’s get one of the big franchises out of the way. The Tigers are another team that joined MLB in 1901 (although they were founded in 1894). In 111 years, the Tigers have had only 12 first-place finishes. Three of them came in 1907 to 1909 but they lost the World Series each year. They made 7 more World Series and won it in 1984, 1968, 1945, and 1935. Continue reading →

A smattering of Wednesday games

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Wish I had more time for this. Here I try to cover some of the teams that don’t always make it into the roundup.

@Diamondbacks 6, Rockies 1: Paul Goldschmidt hit RBI doubles in his first 2 ABs, then closed the scoring with his 7th HR in the 7th. Wade Miley (7-2, 2.53) has won 4 of his last 5 starts, averaging 7 IP and 1 walk; here he set a new personal best with a 77 Game Score.

  • Goldschmidt weathered a rough April that had some folks saying he needed more seasoning. His bat woke up on April 30 and hasn’t slept since, lifting his BA/OPS from .185/.540 to a healthy .288/.872. He leads the team’s regulars in BA, SLG and OPS, as well as doubles and HRs.
  • Since scoring at least 11 runs in 3 straight games last week, the Rox have scored a total of 10 in their next 5 games.

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