14 Responses to “Highest Pitching WAR to End a Career”

1. Frank Clingenpeel Says:
   May 25th, 2010 at 10:56 pm

   As with the other link, there was one Black Sox {Cicotte} on this list, as well as a tragedy {Don Wilson's suicide}. And there were several othe pitchers -- Herb Score and J.R. Richard immediately come to mind} whose record was marred by an unsuccessful attempt to return from a tragic occurance.

2. Frank Clingenpeel Says:
   May 25th, 2010 at 11:02 pm

   One other question; where would Addie Joss rate?

3. Raphy Says:
   May 25th, 2010 at 11:14 pm

   Due to an elbow injury Joss only played half of 1910. His 1.9 WAR ranks him 60th overall since 1910. (4 other players are listed at 1.9 before him. I don't know if the tie breaker is a hidden place value or just random.)

4. Jacques Strappe Says:
   May 26th, 2010 at 12:13 am

   There's a second Black Sox on the list--Lefty Williams. Also a second tragedy--Steve Olin.

5. Gerry Says:
   May 26th, 2010 at 12:53 am

   Number 4 on the list pitched more innings than Number 3, and with a better ERA+, yet ranks lower on WAR. In what way was Larry Jackson's 1968 better than Win Mercer's 1902?

6. DavidRF Says:
   May 26th, 2010 at 2:01 am

   A lot of interesting stories here.

   Win Mercer committed suicide.

   Monty Stratton accidentally shot himself while hunting and had to have his leg amputated. He tried to make a comeback with a wooden leg. Made it to class C in the minors. Hollywood made a movie about the story and had Jimmy Stewart play him.

   Britt Burns had a degenerative hip condition.

   Phil Douglas got into a feud with McGraw his final season. He wrote a letter to a friend on the Cardinals that he planned to jump the team rather than try to win a pennant for McGraw. The letter found its way to Commissioner Landis who banned him for life.

7. Len Says:
   May 26th, 2010 at 4:53 am

   Larry Jackson seems to have been one of the most underrated pitchers since WW2. He's kind of the victim of bad timing/luck. He was with Cardinals during the 50's when they were mediocre and left the team right before they became great during the mid-late 60's.

   He ranked 54th all time in career WAR, right about the same as Whitey Ford.

   He's another example of why W-L record are a lousy way to judge a pitcher's productivity.

8. Johnny Twisto Says:
   May 26th, 2010 at 11:46 am

   Gerry, here's my best guess at answering that. About 10% of Jackson's runs allowed were unearned, compared to about 13% league average, so their RA+'s would be a bit closer than their ERA+'s (Mercer gave up about an average # of UER). Jackson apparently pitched in front of a terrible defense, while Mercer's was about average. And finally, the '68 NL was the superior league. I think the AL overtook the NL after a few years, but in '02 it was probably still even with the NL at best.

9. DavidRF Says:
   May 26th, 2010 at 11:51 am

   @8
   I too am struggling with some of the WAR implementation details. Mainly minor quibbles but this is the forum for that type of thing.

   I'm wondering if higher-strikeout pitchers get a bonus for being more defense-independent.

10. Johnny Twisto Says:
    May 26th, 2010 at 1:02 pm

    Another thing for Jackson is that his average LI that year was 1.1, making his performance slightly more valuable. (We don't know what Mercer's LI is, and it looks like he's just assigned a 1.0.) I don't know that I agree with giving starting pitchers a boost for that, but there's no right answer I suppose.

11. Jay Says:
    May 26th, 2010 at 5:10 pm

    Mercer led Jackson in RAR 46 to 37 but the runs-to-wins conversion (3.4 R/G environment for Jackson, 4.9 for Mercer) gave him the edge in WAR.

    DavidRF, the proper adjustments do seem to have been made, however slight they may be in most cases. In a somewhat extreme example, Randy Johnson and Brian Anderson both had a 6 run defensive adjustment pitching for the 2001 Diamondbacks despite Johnson having thrown nearly twice as many innings. Johnson with his sick 13.9 K/9 took far less advantage of Arizona's +50 defense than did Anderson and his 3.7 and was credited accordingly.

12. Jay Says:
    May 26th, 2010 at 5:53 pm

    Er, gave Jackson the edge in WAR.

13. Gerry Says:
    May 26th, 2010 at 6:35 pm

    Thanks for all the answers to my question. I will try to take them on board.

14. The WAR brings you back | The Mike Mussina Hall of Fame Page Says:
    May 27th, 2010 at 1:25 pm

    [...] also has also the 5th highest pitching WAR in a pitcher’s final season the best since [...]