It hasn’t been a great week (or a great year) for great pitchers

The dazzling Whitey Ford, he of the lifetime .690 winning percentage, has passed away. He was 91.

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That .690 is the highest of all time among the 200-game winners.

Whitey’s 2.75 lifetime ERA is the best among the modern 200-game winners.

Among all post-WW2 pitchers with at least 250 decisions, only 11 have posted ERAs below 3.00. One of them (Clayton Kershaw) is still active and another (Hoyt Wilhelm) was primarily a reliever. Among retired starters, Whitey is #1, just edging out Koufax, who finished at 2.76. The list is below.


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Ford was just as effective in the post-season. His 2.71 World Series ERA nearly matched his regular season numbers, and he won 10 World Series games, which is the all-time record by a wide margin (nobody else has won more than seven).

3 thoughts on “It hasn’t been a great week (or a great year) for great pitchers

  1. KInd of nice Whitey checked out while watching last night’s game, not the one just concluded. Waygo Rays. And couldn’t have happened to a nicer lout than Chapman.

  2. RIP Whitey. But nothing could get me to root for the Bummers tonight, particularly with the employee of the Boras Corporation on the mound.

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