Best Pitchers By Half-Decade: 1900-1924

As a historian, I like to have a record of which players and teams excelled in a given time period. I'm making this available in case other people care about those records, too. I looked up the top five pitchers in FanGraphs' fWAR and RA9-WAR. For those of you who prefer bWAR, it's usually pretty close to RA9. I'll add some minimal commentary, but this isn't a deep dive where I went back and, like, broke down film of Three Finger Brown.

All tables are ranked by fWAR.

1900-1904

Top 5 fWAR:

1. Cy Young, 35.3
2. Rube Waddell, 31.4
3. Noodles Hahn, 30.8
4. Christy Mathewson, 23.3
5. Jack Chesbro, 22.6

Four of these five are Hall of Famers. Hahn is the exception.

Top 5 RA9-WAR:

1. Cy Young, 53.7
2. Joe McGinnity, 43.0
3. Noodles Hahn, 39.6
4. Jack Chesbro, 36.1
5. Bill Dinneen, 34.5

I realize it is not an earth-shattering news bulletin that Cy Young was the greatest pitcher of the early 20th century.

Leaders

Innings: Iron Man Joe McGinnity, 1,918 2/3
Wins: Joe McGinnity, 141-74
Strikeouts: Rube Waddell, 1,163

Best RHP: Cy Young
Best LHP: Rube Waddell
Best Non-HOF: Noodles Hahn

I don't imagine Young is a surprising, or controversial, choice as the best pitcher of this period, though it is perhaps a small upset that he doesn't lead in innings, wins, or strikeouts. He does have the best ERA of anyone with at least 1/3 as many innings, and he leads in shutouts (29) and WHIP (1.01). He has huge leads for K/BB ratio (4.21) and fewest BB/9 (0.96). Compared with McGinnity, Young's ERA is half a run lower, and his strikeout rate is 50% higher.

I was surprised that Kid Nichols didn't show up on these leaderboards, but I misremembered how much of his peak was in the 19th century, plus I either didn't know or had forgotten that from 1902-03, he pitched (by choice) in the Western League, so he has no MLB stats — including WAR — during those years.

1905-1909

Top 5 fWAR:

1. Christy Mathewson, 35.7
2. Cy Young, 29.2
3. Rube Waddell, 27.3
4. Mordecai Brown, 26.2
5. Ed Walsh, 24.9

Christy Mathewson had a relatively short career, but at his best he was marvelous. Rube Waddell continues to shine by fWAR.

Top 5 RA9-WAR:

1. Christy Mathewson, 45.1
2. Mordecai Brown, 43.8
3. Ed Reulbach, 36.6
4. Ed Walsh, 35.9
5. Addie Joss, 35.9

Three Finger Brown would have been a great pitcher no matter who was fielding behind him, but the Cubs' excellent defense gives him a boost in RA9-WAR.

Leaders

Innings: George Mullin, 1,629 1/3
Wins: Christy Mathewson, 139-50
Strikeouts: Rube Waddell, 1,088

Best RHP: Christy Mathewson
Best LHP: Eddie Plank
Best Non-HOF: Orval Overall

Plank is a close call over Rube Waddell as the best lefty of this era.

Plank and Waddell were teammate with the A's for six seasons. Waddell was traded to the St. Louis Browns after the '07 season, but that still leaves three years from this period in which he and Plank were teammates, 1905-07:

It's a close call, with reasonable arguments for both players.

Ed Reulbach obviously had a greater career than Orval Overall, but in this five-year span, I'd take Overall. He had a much better FIP and fWAR (20.8), because he had to get outs without relying on Tinker, Evers, and Chance. He pitched almost exactly the same number of innings as Reulbach, with a similar walk rate but many more strikeouts. This one's close, too.

1910-1914

Top 5 fWAR:

1. Walter Johnson, 41.1
2. Christy Mathewson, 29.0
3. Grover Cleveland Alexander, 24.8
4. Ed Walsh, 23.2
5. Babe Adams, 21.9

I don't think it was until the 21st century that it became common to refer to Grover Cleveland Alexander by anything other than his full name. Alexander was nicknamed "Old Pete," and Bill James always calls him Pete Alexander, which seems to have influenced many people. Baseball Reference and FanGraphs both list him as Grover Alexander.

Top 5 RA9-WAR:

1. Walter Johnson, 62.1
2. Christy Mathewson, 36.2
3. Ed Walsh, 33.7
4. Babe Adams, 29.2
5. Grover Cleveland Alexander, 29.1

Adams' real name was Charles. Christy Mathewson was Christopher.

Leaders

Innings: Walter Johnson, 1,779
Wins: Walter Johnson, 147-67
Strikeouts: Walter Johnson, 1,291

Best RHP: Walter Johnson
Best LHP: Nap Rucker
Best Non-HOF: Babe Adams

Walter Johnson's statistical leads in this time period are titanic. No one is within 200 innings of him. Johnson has 147 wins, and Christy Mathewson is the only other pitcher with 100. Johnson has a 1.50 ERA, and Ed Walsh is the only other qualified pitcher under 2.00. Johnson has 50% more strikeouts than 2nd-best Smoky Joe Wood. Just ridiculous, probably the most dominant and far ahead of his peers any pitcher has ever been.

What's almost as crazy is that if you move ahead by just one year, 1911-15, Grover Cleveland Alexander is pretty close behind him.

There are no really overwhelming left-handed pitchers at this time. Eddie Plank and Rube Marquard are somewhere in the mix, but for these five seasons, specifically, advanced stats suggest Rucker, who went 78-78 for a Brooklyn team that was 248-356-9 (.411) in its other games.

Rucker led all major-league pitchers in bWAR in 1911 and 1912.

Among this trio, Rucker issued the most walks and the fewest strikeouts, so I'm guessing his WAR advantage has to do with workload (about 100 innings more than Marquard or Plank) and the Dodgers not being able to field. Anyway, those three are all somewhat close, at least over these five seasons. A more traditional reading of the numbers would obviously suggest Eddie Plank.

1915-1919

Top 5 fWAR:

1. Walter Johnson, 37.1
2. Grover Cleveland Alexander, 32.1
3. Hippo Vaughn, 25.4
4. Eddie Cicotte, 24.2
5. Dick Rudolph, 19.3

Eddie Cicotte, as you probably know, was expelled from baseball for his part in the Black Sox scandal. It seems likely that he would be in Cooperstown if his full career had played out absent the conspiracy to throw the 1919 World Series.

Top 5 RA9-WAR:

1. Walter Johnson, 47.7
2. Grover Cleveland Alexander, 45.2
3. Eddie Cicotte, 32.4
4. Hippo Vaughn, 31.6
5. Fred Toney, 26.3

I was curious whether Babe Ruth (89-46, 2.19 ERA) might crack the top five in this era, and his RA9-WAR ranked 7th (25.4), but his fWAR wasn't close (12.3). Ruth had almost as many walks (425) as strikeouts (483).

Leaders

Innings: Walter Johnson, 2,020 1/3
Wins: Walter Johnson, 146-94
Strikeouts: Walter Johnson, 1,153

Best RHP: Walter Johnson
Best LHP: Hippo Vaughn
Best Non-HOF: Hippo Vaughn

Here, Johnson and Alexander are way ahead of everyone else. Curiously, no other Hall of Famers appear in the top 5 for either fWAR or RA9-WAR, though Stan Coveleski is 6th for both, and I would rank him comfortably ahead of Rudolph or Toney.

James "Hippo" Vaughn was both tall and heavy for this era. He won the NL's triple crown in 1918.

1920-1924

Top 5 fWAR:

1. Urban Shocker, 25.8
2. Stan Coveleski, 24.3
3. Wilbur Cooper, 24.1
4. Eppa Rixey, 23.5
5. Red Faber, 22.8

The next three are all HOFers: Pete Alexander, Burleigh Grimes, and Walter Johnson.

Top 5 RA9-WAR:

1. Red Faber, 34.5
2. Urban Shocker, 32.8
3. Grover Cleveland Alexander, 30.8
4. Stan Coveleski, 30.2
5. Wilbur Cooper, 30.1

Leaders

Innings: Wilbur Cooper, 1,512
Wins: Urban Shocker, 107-64
Strikeouts: Bob Shawkey, 621

Best RHP: Urban Shocker
Best LHP: Wilbur Cooper
Best Non-HOF: Urban Shocker

Neither Shocker nor Cooper is in the Hall of Fame. There are a lot of HOF pitchers in or near their primes at this time: Coveleski and Rixey and Faber, Burleigh Grimes, Waite Hoyt, Rube Marquard ... Alexander and Johnson weren't at their peaks, but they were still pitching at a high level. It's a little early for Herb Pennock and Dazzy Vance, but they pitched a combined 2,000 innings in this time period. How did Shocker and Cooper come out on top?

Well, some of those HOF pitchers were put in by the Veterans Committee, with less than overwhelming credentials, and who is in or out from this era, among the marginal cases, can feel pretty random if you aren't familiar with the committee's history of cronyism.

Shocker, who had serious health problems, went 18-6 for the famous '27 Yankees and died in '28. He won 20 games four times, including a major league best 27-12 in 1921, with the Browns. The next year, he led the majors in strikeouts, and led the AL in lowest walk rate and best K/BB ratio. The year after that, he led in walk rate and K/BB ratio again, as well as FIP. He was never Johnson or Alexander, but if his health had held up, he probably would be in Cooperstown.

Looking at the table above, we can compare the stats for Cooper and Rixey, the premier southpaws of the early '20s. Cooper pitched more innings. He has more wins, and a better winning percentage. The ERAs are almost identical, 3.08 and 3.12. BB are very similar, too: 304 for Cooper and 292 for Rixey. But Cooper has a lot more strikeouts, 516-419. Cooper pitched more complete games and more shutouts. Keep in mind, this is a five-year sample. Over the remainder of their careers, I don't think anyone would disagree that Rixey was the greater pitcher. But during this period, it's Cooper.

1900-24

So over the first quarter of the 20th century, who were the greatest pitchers?

Top 10 fWAR:

1. Walter Johnson, 107.4
2. Christy Mathewson, 90.0
3. Grover Cleveland Alexander, 79.1
4. Cy Young, 69.2
5. Eddie Plank, 67.8
6. Rube Waddell, 58.7
7. Babe Adams, 49.4
8. Three Finger Brown, 49.3
9. Ed Walsh, 49.2
10. Eddie Cicotte, 47.3

Top 10 RA9-WAR:

1. Walter Johnson, 145.7
2. Christy Mathewson, 109.1
3. Grover Cleveland Alexander, 105.1
4. Eddie Plank, 93.9
5. Cy Young, 86.1
6. Three Finger Brown, 71.9
7. Ed Walsh, 71.1
8. Eddie Cicotte, 61.8
9. Babe Adams, 61.0
10. Rube Waddell, 58.7

Leaders

Innings: Walter Johnson, 5,317
Wins: Walter Johnson, 377-250
Strikeouts: Walter Johnson, 3,228

Greatest RHP: Walter Johnson
Greatest LHP: Eddie Plank
Greatest Non-HOF: Babe Adams

Adams played from 1906-26, all but one game with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He retired with a modest 194-140 record, and a 2.76 ERA. He was a great control pitcher, with very few walks or wild pitches, and he was an excellent fielder (.976 FP). He probably would have been MVP of the 1909 World Series if the award had existed, throwing three complete games, including a shutout in the decisive Game 7. He was a great old pitcher, winning 81 games after his 35th birthday.

Adams ranks 89th all-time in fWAR (50.0), 82nd in RA9-WAR (59.9), and 102nd in bWAR (50.2). He's 89th in JAWS (45.2), between Dwight Gooden and Mark Langston. He's only a little behind Brown (47.8) and McGinnity (47.3), and he's ahead of Burleigh Grimes (44.1), Eppa Rixey (43.2), Waite Hoyt (42.9), and Herb Pennock (40.2). He's way ahead of Rube Marquard (30.1).

This era is already very well-represented in Cooperstown. Adams was just as good as some of his contemporaries who have been enshrined, but he's not a snub by historical standards. He's just the best pitcher of the early 1900s who missed the gravy train. Cicotte, who accrued similar WAR in an unnaturally abridged career, may have been even better, but they're close enough that "didn't collude with gamblers to fix the World Series" is a reasonable tiebreaker in Adams' favor.

This series will continue next week with 1925-49.

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