The most average pitchers of all time
Posted by Andy on December 19, 2007
Here are all the pitchers since 1901 to finish their careers with an ERA+ between 99 and 101, as well as a W-L% between .490 and .510:
Cnt Player **IP** ERA+ W-L% From To Ages G GS CG SHO GF W L SV H R ER BB SO ERA HR BF IBB HBP BK WP Teams
+----+-----------------+----------+----+-----+----+----+-----+----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+----+----+----+----+------+---+-----+---+---+---+---+-----------+
1 Rick Wise 3127 101 .509 1964 1982 18-36 506 455 138 30 15 188 181 0 3227 1455 1281 804 1647 3.69 261 13157 83 44 9 49 PHI-STL-BOS-CLE-SDP
2 Elam Vangilder 1715.2 100 .493 1919 1929 23-33 367 187 90 13 120 99 102 19 1894 1012 815 699 474 4.28 92 7694 42 3 22 SLB-DET
3 Tom Underwood 1586 100 .497 1974 1984 20-30 379 203 35 6 68 86 87 18 1554 772 685 662 948 3.89 130 6814 38 28 12 62 PHI-TOT-TOR-NYY-OAK-BAL
4 Bob Muncrief 1401.1 100 .494 1937 1951 21-35 288 165 67 11 72 80 82 9 1503 669 592 392 525 3.80 108 5968 15 1 19 SLB-CLE-TOT-NYY
5 Dan Schatzeder 1317 100 .504 1977 1991 22-36 504 121 18 4 117 69 68 10 1257 617 548 475 748 3.74 128 5569 64 23 5 56 MON-DET-TOT-MON-HOU-TOT-KCR
6 Mike Fornieles 1156.2 100 .496 1952 1963 20-31 432 76 20 4 195 63 64 55 1165 567 509 421 576 3.96 98 4983 32 32 2 34 WSH-CHW-TOT-BOS
7 Carl Pavano 1049 100 .492 1998 2007 22-31 186 168 6 4 3 62 64 0 1126 549 498 291 677 4.27 113 4506 36 58 13 13 MON-TOT-FLA-NYY
8 Scott Karl 1002 100 .491 1995 2000 23-28 178 161 5 1 4 54 56 0 1164 594 536 369 513 4.81 120 4444 18 33 3 26 MIL-TOT
9 Bill Lohrman 990.2 101 .504 1934 1944 21-31 198 121 47 9 36 60 59 8 1048 479 406 240 330 3.69 70 4176 13 2 19 PHI-NYG-TOT
10 Don Hood 848.1 101 .493 1973 1983 23-33 297 72 6 1 84 34 35 6 840 412 357 364 374 3.79 57 3651 32 19 10 40 BAL-CLE-TOT-STL-KCR
11 Bob Miller 822 101 .500 1949 1958 23-32 261 69 23 6 79 42 42 15 889 406 362 247 263 3.96 72 3547 24 16 4 20 PHI
12 Steve Ridzik 782.2 101 .506 1950 1966 21-37 314 48 4 1 99 39 38 11 709 392 330 351 406 3.79 93 3368 19 36 1 18 PHI-TOT-NYG-CLE-WSA-PHI
13 Ira Hutchinson 610.2 100 .507 1933 1945 22-34 209 32 7 2 96 34 33 13 628 289 255 249 179 3.76 33 2648 12 1 10 CHW-BSN-BRO-STL
14 Whitey Moore 513.1 100 .508 1936 1942 24-30 133 60 18 4 42 30 29 4 450 243 214 292 228 3.75 25 2258 24 1 9 CIN-TOT
15 Roberto Novoa 141.2 100 .500 2004 2006 24-26 131 0 0 0 23 7 7 0 149 84 71 63 115 4.51 23 635 11 8 1 9 DET-CHC
16 Dewey Robinson 53.1 101 .500 1979 1981 24-26 30 0 0 0 13 2 2 0 42 27 24 28 35 4.05 4 220 3 0 0 0 CHW
17 Rufe Clarke 11.1 100 .500 1923 1924 23-24 7 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 9 5 5 11 3 3.97 0 52 2 0 0 DET
These guys are seriously average.
Let's relax the criteria a bit but require more innings:
Cnt Player **IP** ERA+ W-L% From To Ages G GS CG SHO GF W L SV H R ER BB SO ERA HR BF IBB HBP BK WP Teams
+----+-----------------+----------+----+-----+----+----+-----+----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+----+----+----+----+------+---+-----+---+---+---+---+-----------+
1 Rick Wise 3127 101 .509 1964 1982 18-36 506 455 138 30 15 188 181 0 3227 1455 1281 804 1647 3.69 261 13157 83 44 9 49 PHI-STL-BOS-CLE-SDP
2 Joe Bush 3087.1 99 .516 1912 1928 19-35 489 366 225 35 93 195 183 20 2992 1443 1205 1263 1319 3.51 96 13185 62 1 90 PHA-BOS-NYY-SLB-TOT-PHA
3 Willis Hudlin 2613.1 102 .503 1926 1944 20-38 491 328 155 11 105 158 156 31 3011 1491 1281 846 677 4.41 118 11546 44 9 41 CLE-TOT-SLB
4 Rube Benton 2517.1 101 .510 1910 1925 20-35 437 305 145 24 83 150 144 21 2472 1115 863 712 950 3.09 52 10539 95 6 66 CIN-TOT-NYG-CIN
5 Tim Belcher 2442.2 101 .510 1987 2000 25-38 394 373 42 18 13 146 140 5 2423 1253 1130 860 1519 4.16 264 10422 43 58 10 73 LAD-CIN-TOT-DET-SEA-KCR-ANA
6 Mike Caldwell 2408.2 99 .513 1971 1984 22-35 475 307 98 23 77 137 130 18 2581 1182 1020 597 939 3.81 218 10156 62 35 9 65 SDP-SFG-TOT-MIL
7 Livan Hernandez 2371 100 .511 1996 2007 21-32 351 350 43 7 0 134 128 0 2549 1206 1119 830 1546 4.25 271 10260 62 65 11 31 FLA-TOT-SFG-MON-WSN-ARI
8 Scott Erickson 2360.2 98 .511 1990 2006 22-38 389 364 51 17 10 142 136 0 2586 1306 1203 865 1252 4.59 228 10284 32 103 3 68 MIN-TOT-BAL-LAD-NYY
9 Larry Benton 2297 98 .498 1923 1935 25-37 455 258 122 13 113 127 128 22 2559 1190 1029 691 670 4.03 109 9864 25 1 47 BSN-TOT-NYG-CIN-BSN
10 Fritz Peterson 2218.1 101 .504 1966 1976 24-34 355 330 90 20 9 133 131 1 2217 947 813 426 1015 3.30 173 9103 75 42 6 33 NYY-TOT-CLE
11 Bill Singer 2174 99 .482 1964 1977 20-33 322 308 94 24 7 118 127 2 1952 944 819 781 1515 3.39 132 9143 50 63 11 67 LAD-CAL-TOT-TOR
12 Joaquin Andujar 2153 99 .518 1976 1988 23-35 405 305 68 19 37 127 118 9 2016 955 857 731 1032 3.58 155 9008 65 51 33 33 HOU-TOT-STL-OAK-HOU
13 Pat Dobson 2120.1 100 .486 1967 1977 25-35 414 279 74 14 51 122 129 19 2043 939 833 665 1301 3.54 197 8872 76 26 5 51 DET-SDP-BAL-TOT-NYY-CLE
14 Jeff Suppan 2071.1 101 .511 1995 2007 20-32 351 335 16 5 6 118 113 0 2272 1155 1060 680 1162 4.61 265 9022 39 77 5 70 BOS-TOT-KCR-STL-MIL
15 Hal Carlson 2002 99 .487 1917 1930 25-38 377 238 121 17 96 114 120 19 2256 1013 883 498 590 3.97 93 8522 36 2 18 PIT-PHI-TOT-CHC
Wow, is there a more average pitcher these days than Jeff Suppan? I'm surprised to see guys like Belcher, Hernandez, Erickson, and Andujar on there. These are guys who had some good years, who I would have expected to at least have W-L% slightly higher than the requirement.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:56 am
slightly unrelated (maybe) but the most average MGR in history would be.... Wilbert Robinson -
check it out! Or as Casey said... look it up!
December 19th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
The average pitcher would made some 30% of their games or so as starts. You might want to throw that in too.
December 19th, 2007 at 8:58 pm
Well, of course almost any player has peaks and valleys to his career. No one is just "average" all the way through. So any pitcher who has a long "average" career almost certainly had some good seasons, like Belcher, Hernandez, Erickson, Andujar. The guys who are average at their best have shorter careers and career numbers which end up below-average.