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Last Man Standing

Posted by Raphy on November 22, 2009

At the end of every game, no matter the result, the two pitchers who pitched last have a tally added to their stat sheet. If the pitcher started the game it is  called a "complete game" and if the pitcher entered in relief it's called a "game finished."  With the exception of baseball's very early years, it is very rare for a pitcher to complete all of his starts. Yet, even among relief pitchers  it is extremely uncommon  for a pitcher to relieve a significant number of games and  finish off  every single one of them.

Once upon a time,  pitchers frequently  completed all of their starts. The most prolific performance of this type was by  Will "Whoop-La" White, who in 1879 completed all 75 of his starts. However, as baseball progressed the number of the pitchers who started a significant number of games and completed them all drastically diminished. In fact, since 1908,  only  2 pitchers with more than 8 starts have completed them all.

Rk Player CG GS Year Age Tm Lg G SHO GF W L W-L% SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA ERA+
1 Walter Johnson 29 29 1918 30 WSH AL 39 8 10 23 13 .639 3 326.0 241 71 46 70 162 1.27 214
2 Ted Lyons 20 20 1942 41 CHW AL 20 1 0 14 6 .700 0 180.1 167 52 42 26 50 2.10 173
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 11/22/2009.

Obviously, this feat has become extremely rare with the current setup of modern pitching. The last player to complete his only start of the season was Greg W. Harris in 1988. The last pitcher to make 2 starts and complete them both was Tom Tellman in 1980.

Relievers who finish every game have also been  a rarity. Here are the all time seasonal leaders in games relieved=game finished.

Rk Player GF GR Year Age Tm Lg G GS CG SHO W L W-L% SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA ERA+
1 Mike Williams 59 59 2002 32 PIT NL 59 0 0 0 2 6 .250 46 61.1 54 24 20 21 43 2.93 144
2 Doc Crandall 26 26 1911 23 NYG NL 41 15 9 2 15 5 .750 5 198.2 199 82 58 51 94 2.63 128
3 Curt Schilling 21 21 2005 38 BOS AL 32 11 0 0 8 8 .500 9 93.1 121 59 59 22 87 5.69 80
4 Ed Walsh 19 19 1911 30 CHW AL 56 37 33 5 27 18 .600 4 368.2 327 125 91 72 255 2.22 146
5 Larry Cheney 18 18 1913 27 CHC NL 54 36 25 2 21 14 .600 11 305.0 271 117 87 98 136 2.57 123
6 Dizzy Dean 17 17 1936 26 STL NL 51 34 28 2 24 13 .649 11 315.0 310 128 111 53 195 3.17 124
7 Slim Sallee 16 16 1914 29 STL NL 46 30 18 3 18 17 .514 6 282.1 252 92 66 72 105 2.10 132
8 Paul Fittery 15 15 1917 29 PHI NL 17 2 1 0 1 1 .500 0 55.2 69 36 28 27 13 4.53 62
9 Rube Manning 15 15 1908 25 NYY AL 41 26 19 2 13 16 .448 1 245.0 228 114 80 86 113 2.94 84
10 Clark Griffith 15 15 1906 36 NYY AL 17 2 1 0 2 2 .500 2 59.2 58 30 20 15 16 3.02 98
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 11/22/2009.

In 2002, Mike Williams entered 59 games as a reliever and finished them all. No other player has ever gone an entire season and accomplished that  in even half as many games. In fact, if the list is limited to pitchers who only relieved,  no player other than Williams, has gone an entire season  with more than 10 appearances  and finished each one.

Allowing for one unfinished game in a season does expands the list a bit. Here are the pitchers who relived in at least 50 games and finished all but one.

Rk Player GF GR Year Age Tm Lg G GS CG SHO W L W-L% SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA ERA+
1 Duane Ward 70 71 1993 29 TOR AL 71 0 0 0 2 3 .400 45 71.2 49 17 17 25 97 2.13 203
3 Rick Aguilera 51 52 1995 33 TOT AL 52 0 0 0 3 3 .500 32 55.1 46 16 16 13 52 2.60 186
4 Lee Smith 51 52 1995 37 CAL AL 52 0 0 0 0 5 .000 37 49.1 42 19 19 25 43 3.47 135
5 Dan Plesac 51 52 1989 27 MIL AL 52 0 0 0 3 4 .429 33 61.1 47 16 16 17 52 2.35 164
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 11/22/2009.

As far as  2009 goes, there wasn't much there. This past season no pitcher relived more than 2 games and finished them all. Only 5 pitchers were able to do so in 2 games.

Rk Player GF GR Year Age Tm Lg G GS CG SHO W L W-L% SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA ERA+
1 Paul Janish 2 2 2009 26 CIN NL 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.0 9 11 11 2 3 49.50 9
2 Enrique Gonzalez 2 2 2009 26 BOS AL 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.2 5 2 2 2 1 4.91 96
3 Josh Wilson 2 2 2009 28 TOT NL 2 0 0 0 0 1 .000 0 2.0 3 3 3 2 0 13.50 30
4 Ernesto Frieri 2 2 2009 23 SDP NL 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.0 0 0 0 1 2 0.00
5 Josh Towers 2 2 2009 32 NYY AL 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 5.1 6 3 2 1 2 3.38 132
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 11/22/2009.

Related posts:

    Last Champion Standing

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 22nd, 2009 at 10:25 pm and is filed under Season Finders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

8 Responses to “Last Man Standing”

  1. BoondockSaint Says:
    November 23rd, 2009 at 9:06 am

    Looking at Will White's team, the 1879 Reds, he was the only starting pitcher and he started 75 of their 81 games. That team only had 5 people pitch all year too. Talk about getting your pitching done on the cheap.

  2. TheGoofyOne Says:
    November 23rd, 2009 at 9:09 am

    Walter Johnson's 1918 season is remarkable in that not only did he finish all his starts, but all the games he relieved.

  3. nicolax24 Says:
    November 23rd, 2009 at 5:59 pm

    Curt Schilling finished all of his games in which he was a reliever in 2005? Was he the Boston closer or just a solid reliever?

  4. SpastikMooss Says:
    November 23rd, 2009 at 10:45 pm

    Keith Foulke pitched badly and then got hurt, so a semi hurt himself Schilling came in to try to save the day. He did...alright.

    Also, I love when a guy like Mike Williams holds an obscure record like that. I thought that in today's one (inning) and done closer world, a lot more guys would be finishing all of their games. But I thought wrong, so very very wrong.

  5. Andy Says:
    November 24th, 2009 at 10:20 am

    This post and the one right before it (my post on pitcher taking the mound twice) reminds me that the Retrosheet article I linked to in my post talks about how some of those games featured a guy getting a GS and a GF in the SAME GAME. Usually that would be impossible becuase if the guy started and was on the mound at the end, he gets a CG, not a GF. However, if he was moved off the mound and to another position, then brought back in the finish the game, he gets both. Very odd and strange.

    Sam McDowell did it in this 1970 game.

  6. Raphy Says:
    November 24th, 2009 at 2:37 pm

    Very cool Andy,

    According to the PI streak finder (the only way I know of to use PI to find this) it has happened 7 times since 1954 (none since 1972).
    http://bbref.com/pi/shareit/FmT2X

  7. gerry Says:
    November 25th, 2009 at 12:02 am

    Was it in a situation like this that some broadcaster who didn't realize what he was saying remarked that the pitcher had relieved himself on the mound?

  8. sav2880 Says:
    November 25th, 2009 at 2:49 pm

    In fairness to Paul Janish ... four pitchers and a utilityman!

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