Important: This chart does not include side-by-side comparisons for Hall of Fame pitchers who spent their entire career in the Negro Leagues (Baseball Almanac does not have the data from the Negro League).Those truly elite twirlers are: Ray Brown, Andy Cooper, Leon Day, Martin Dihigo, Bill Foster, Jose Mendez, Bullet Rogan, Hilton Smith and Joe Williams. 952 games finished ranks first all-time. Teams can vary this somewhat . With the help of the survey website Qualtrics, I asked people to go position by position and rank the most-deserving players not in the Baseball Hall of Fame, ranging from 1 for most-deserving to 10 for least-deserving. Despite being the top pitcher in the league at least three times, Walters has been overlooked for the HOF. He was a product of the more relaxed "Golden Years". He led the league in ERA+ and shutouts (nine) in '73, but didnt get the attention he deserved for the Cy Young award. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. 10) Mickey Lolich (1963-1979) (217-191; 3.44 ERA; ERA+ 105; 41 SHO; 3,638 IP/ 3,366 H/ 8.3 H/9; 2,832 K/ 1,099 BB/ 2.58 K/BB ratio; 1.227 WHIP). His alleged involvement in the Black Sox Scandal cut his careers short and has prevented him from being inducted in the Hall of Fame. All of the numbers agree with this statement as he ranks first . 13)Wilbur Cooper (1912-1926) (216-178; 2.89 ERA; ERA+ 116; 35 SHO; 3480 IP/ 3415 H/ H/9 8.8; 1252 K/ 853 BB; 1.47 ratio; 1.226 WHIP). Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for RANDY JOHNSON 2009 Topps #185 Arizona Diamondbacks, HALL OF FAME GREAT PITCHER at the best online prices at eBay! Oct 14, 2022, 04:09 PM EDT. Ed Reulbach, Tommy Bridges and Bert Blyleven all fall in this category. His career K/BB ratio of 2.80 is also a mark of historical significance. Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'-CeXsjSMQXpEqN8nMfMOXQ',sig:'aPSIwiN6WT5Zl3uyeAdW_2g5nAPoP84MemQtfAdqDM8=',w:'594px',h:'395px',items:'1023432000',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); A few weeks ago, I kicked off a challenge here. He was never comfortable in Cincinnati, often being booed even though the trade was not his fault. There were numerous circumstances that held players careers back. The best players in New York just simply did not get missed by the HOF voters. But he will face the same hurdles as Bonds, Clemens and Sosa thanks to multiple transgressions with performance-enhancing drugs that included over a year-long suspension from baseball from 2013-14. He featured a fastball, curve, and change-up with excellent control. After being traded to the Pirates in the National League, he helped the team to a World Series title. After improving his control in 51, and developing a slider, he began a series of impressive years for the White Sox. Perhaps some oversights can be corrected. . He never received a vote. Jack Chesbro (198), Rube Marquard (201), and Lefty Gomez (189) were all pitchers with low career win totals who made the HOF. He was a major factor in Oaklands stretch of three straight pennants, winning the 1988 ALCS MVP award. Trevor Hoffman is getting a lot of love this year, and Lee Smith did really well by the voters . Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. He pitched Game Two of the Series, but was taken out with the score tied 2-2 in the 7th inning. Rivera was literally dominant for close to two decades in a row. Even if you dont like him (hand raised here), Jonathan Papelbon was Hall of Fame worthy dominant for his career. Reulbach had arguably a more impressive career than any of them. Cooper teamed up with Babe Adams, another pitcher on this list, to make quite a pitching combination for the Pirates of this era. the official stats partner of the NBA, NHL and MLB. Perhaps his strongest career stat is his 43 shutouts, more than Hunter, Jim Bunning, Lemon, Newhowser, and Sandy Koufax. Im struck again by the level of parity in this survey after Clemens. By 1946 they told him he was washed up-finished. He was less than stellar in the World Series though, famously giving up Kirk Gibsons home run and allowing a 5.79 ERA in six career Fall Classic appearances. Subscribe to Stathead Baseball: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Baseball Reference Database. Wagner had three of them, and they came in three consecutive years (1997, 1998, and 1999). He pitched at the height of the live ball era on and against some of the greatest offensive teams ever gathered. Honorable mention: Nathan, Papelbon, Rodrguez, Keith Foulke, Tom Gordon, Tom Henke, Firpo Marberry, Troy Percival, Kent Tekulve, John Wetteland. Honorable mentions: Munson, Tenace, Jorge Posada (Joe Mauer, Buster Posey, Yadier Molina not yet eligible). Eck didnt become a reliever until his age-32 season but still appeared in enough games to retire first on the games all-time list (1,070). He had winning streaks of 14 and 17 games, and at one point held the NL record consecutive scoreless inning streak with 44. The problem with Pierce HOF candidacy is that his career backed up into the raised mound era. He was consistently good, winning 14 or more games 11 consecutive years, 6474. He was the second great Latin pitcher, following Juan Marichal. Heres a stat for you to show Wagner was ahead of his era: There were five seasons before 2000 (38 after 2000) in which a pitcher threw at least 50 IP and had at least a 14.0 K/9 rate. First-ever unanimous National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee (Class of 2019) Mariano Rivera is the greatest relief pitcher in Major League Baseball history. How many relief pitchers are on a baseball team? Whether it will be enough to one day get him into Cooperstown wont be decided for another 10 or so years. Craig Kimbrels ranks among post-1900 pitchers with at least 500 innings pitched: Opponents batting average allowed: .158, H/9: 4.98 (1st), ERA+: 195, K/9: 14.61, opponents slugging percentage allowed: .257 (2nd). Al Lopez, the White Sox manager, refused to start Pierce in the 59 World Series. With the aid of Comiskey Park, Gary Peters, Tommy John, and Joe Horlen, they were backed up by the likes of Bob Locker, Eddie fisher, Don McMahon and none other than Hoyt Wilhelm at his peak. "With pick #132, @Brian59044 selects the first real relief pitcher of the draft, Phoenix Sanders. Fingers career ERA+ of 120 is lower than youd expect (24th among 30 closers with at least 300+ saves). Do you have a blog? (I cant imagine that happening todayleaving the potential ace of your staff in the minors for 50-plus decisions after he had shown his form had returned?). I should add that unlike most of the other positions in this survey, it was difficult to get the list of pitchers down to 10 names. Arguably Fingers most impressive statistic is his percentage of career saves that were clean saves Fingers is at 15 percent, the lowest of any Hall of Fame closer. Can you name the Best Relief Pitchers not in the MLB Hall of Fame (by Baseball Reference WAR)? Covering the latest and most controversial news around the world of sports, heavily centered on the Philadelphia Eagles and National Football League. John's pitching exploits began in Chicago where he was part of the stingiest pitching staffs ever compiled. Dave Parker, Does he belong in the Hall of Fame? However, after a year and a half out of military service, the Tigers were impatient for him to regain his form. I contemplated going 15 names just for pitchers, but thought it would look too out of sync with the rest of the survey. If thats the case, Kimbrel probably wont move down these rankings at all but he also wont move any higher. Retired: John McGraw , Bobby Cox , Earl Weaver , . Here is AJ Cassavell's ranking of the Top 5 relievers in Padres history: 1. What if Billy Pierce and Bert Blyleven had received league average run support though the peak of their careers? Among these, my favorites are Charles Buffington, a pitcher of significant quality and accomplishment from the 1880s, and Doc White, who pitched alongside Ed Walsh on the White Sox and won 189 games while tossing 45 shutouts. there are differing levels of greatness and acclaim. Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. The committee found Charles Radbourn early on in their process in '39, but where were Tim Keefe ('63) and John Clarkson ('64)? After a down year and a couple of years dealing with injury, he ended up in Boston where he re-invented himself in '72. In over 130 of his 390 starts for the team, they scored two or fewer runs. The Blue Stockings folded after one year, and he then signed with Cincinnati. I will be presenting the results here of the survey over the next week or so, going position by position. When he finished his career, his 1,999 strikeouts were fifth most for a left-handed pitcher. Note that only Not retired by 2017. Four pitchers in the HOF fall into this categoryDizzy Dean, Lefty Gomez, Sandy Koufax, and Addie Joss. Then again, you typically dont get to 112 blown saves without being a great closer. Clemens, Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer are the only three-time winners who dont have a plaque. He went on to tally 324 saves over a 13-year career, good for 20th on the all-time list, putting him squarely in the Hall of Very Good category among relief pitchers. then in Boston. This is a truly dominant statistic for this era. 2009 was his last on the HOF ballot. His 2.52 career ERA was the lowest by a pitcher with at least 2,000 innings pitched since Walter Johnson. He was a better pitcher than some of his contemporaries who made the HOFHoyt, Haines, and Ted Lyons. Today, its my pleasure to present how people voted on pitchers. He faced Ford 15 times in his career and went 7-7. Honorable mentions: Graig Nettles, Ken Boyer, Sal Bando (Adrin Beltr not yet eligible). Relief Pitcher - Don McMahon (22.4 WAR) McMahon may be the best reliever most modern baseball fans have never heard mentioned. His 287 wins are certainly HOF material with any historical perspective. That said, look for the results for catchers tomorrow. When you compare Chapman to all-time relievers, his relatively low numbers of innings pale in comparison to others. Fingers wasnt just a one-inning closer either; he holds the all-time record with 135 multi-inning saves. Theres no one since Randy Johnson who puts fear into batters like Aroldis Chapman does. He pitched his no-hitter in '77, as well as leading the league that year in WHIP. Bucky wasnt done there. In Chicago he helped them to two championships, mostly as a second pitcher. Cooper may be the best pitcher in Pirates history. The Reds finally won their second World Series. Warnekes career was cut short because he left to defend our country. Despite having made his MLB debut over 100 years ago (1908), "Shoeless" Joe Jackson remains one of the most controversial figures in the game. The greatest relief pitchers of all time include some of the best current MLB players, as well as some legends who are already in the baseball hall of fame. This was not a pitcher on his last legs! Many more names came up on my lists than the 15 I will cover here. In Game Three he came in to save the game, retiring all three batters he faced in the ninth inning. Opposition has cooled considerably in recent years toward enshrining Clemens, a brilliant pitcher long before rumors of performance enhancing drug use surfaced. Cooper was slender and had a remarkable smooth and graceful delivery. Pierce was often the recipient of scant run support. While he walked his share of batters during the regular season, in postseason play, he walked only nine batters in 46 innings, while striking out 27 batters. Honorable mention: Pete Rose, Manny Ramirez. He is 5-1 with a 2.47 ERA, 36 Ks against only 8 BB, and a WHIP of 1.077. His 49 career shutouts are just about automatic HOF criteria. . He was perhaps the best lefty in NL history to that date, however, not winning quite as many games as Eppa Rixey. Chapmans statistics look mind-boggling, even when you account for the fact that every reliever strikes out a ton of hitters. The committee missed his team mate, Mordecai Brown, until after his death in 1948. Kaat is at 2.3, nowhere near HoF level. The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball. Will pitched a very respectable 3500 innings, but crammed most of it into eight years of pitching. Fingers helped revolutionize the closer position, setting a trend later followed by Rivera and John Smoltz in becoming a failed starter-turned-closer. 10 Orel Hershiser 3.6. Not retired by 2017. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. Many of their careers and cases are compelling. This excludes any pitcher still on the mound today, and those like Greg Maddux who are retired but not yet eligble. By the next year in 1939 he was the best pitcher in the National League, going 27-11 with a 2.29 ERA and 31 complete games. He pitched over 400 innings six times, and won over 30 games five times (three times he won 40 games or more). He had ample zip on his fastball. Even though others have won Cy Young awards (and even regular season MVPs), Rivera was as close as youll find to a perfect closer, and he did this all with just the legendary cutter. Pitching multiple innings per relief appearance was Wilhelms trademark. Along with those pitchers, Ill evaluate others with a case to be considered among the 10 best ever, which can be broken into categories of the modern (Craig Kimbrel, Aroldis Chapman, Kenley Jansen, Francisco Rodriguez, Billy Wagner, and Joe Nathan), and the throwbacks (Sparky Lyle and Dan Quisenberry). He ended up nostalgically back in Minnesota for the '86 season, and helped the team to the World Series title in '87. . 3 Curt Schilling 4.9 The 43 voters who ranked Tommy John, Jim Kaat, or Luis Tiant top overall gave Clemens an average ranking of 6.74, again ahead of only Ferrell and Reuschel. Plus, it just doesnt feel right that Alan Trammell is in the Hall without his double-play partner. What if Bucky Walters had started his career in Cincinnati rather than struggling in Philadelphia? Mccormick ended up in Pittsburgh where he ended his career the next year. Heck, you can easily make the argument he's the best pitcher in baseball, and that's not even his primary position. The reserve clause was so restrictive in his era that once you signed with a team, unless they traded or sold you, you belonged to them. The top four candidates were all foreign born. . Stats: 368 saves, 2.44 ERA, 1.043 WHIP, 4.37 K:BB, 177 ERA+. But even Michael Jordan missed game-winning shots. He was voted the league MVP as the Reds won the pennant. Pitching in an era before closers were sexy, McMahon pitched 872 games out of the bullpen won . Hes unlike any relief pitcher weve seen to date, allowing fewer hits per nine innings than Aroldis Chapman and striking out more batters per nine innings than Billy Wagner. Part of this is probably due to the distraction of the war years. His dominance was evident with every 100 MPH fastball he threw. In 35 he won two games against the Cubs, and in 40 he won his only appearance against the Reds. Research is still ongoing and well continue to publish updates as more information becomes available. Find out more. Required fields are marked *. Wagner is sixth on the all-time list with 422 saves (a number that could have been much higher if he didnt retire after arguably his best year). Sign up to receive our daily Morning Lineup to stay in the know about the latest trending topics around Major League Baseball. Four of them (Harold Baines, Edgar Martinez, David Ortiz and Frank Thomas) are already in the Hall following Big Papis election in 2022, while Nelson Cruz remains active. Its commonplace in todays game for a manager to turn to the bullpen as early as the sixth inning. and the most games started75. Still, many big names remain outside the Hall's hallowed Plaque Gallery, so here is a rosterof the best non-Hall of Fame players in baseball history at every position. During the season he went 12-0 for the team at Candlestick Park. Get Jay Jaffe's book The Cooperstown Casebook The man who stood 6 feet, 6 inches tall and rocked a mean Jheri curl dominated batters courtesy of his gargantuan hands. 8) Tommy John (1963-1989) (288-231; 3.34 ERA; ERA+ 110; 46 SHO; 4710 IP/ 4783 H/ H/9 9.1; 2245 K/ 1259 BB/ 1.78 ratio; 1.283 WHIP). Pierce accomplishments, although very worthy, were overlooked because of the change of era. Sabathia is at 3.5 right now. Hes insanely dominant against both righties and lefties as well. By the late '50s Pierce had come out on top, beating Ford more often than losing, and in '59 winning the game against Ford that put the White Sox ahead for good in the pennant race. My last article studied The Worst Pitchers in the HOF: Searching for Historys Bottom Line . Honorable mentions: Bill Dahlen, Omar Vizquel, Jimmy Rollins, Nomar Garciaparra, Miguel Tejada, Jim Fregosi. In '41 Lon pitched a no-hitter against the Reds. Rivera allowed zero runs in 22 of his 32 postseason series. He relented, signed with St. Louis, but they then shipped him off to the expansion Toledo Blue Stockings. Also, lets take a good look at our current candidate on this list and give him his due before it is too late, before the HOF voting body truly looks out of touch with what it takes to be in the Hall of Fame. But for some reason, he was not free of the reserve clause which stated he had to re-sign with St. Louis after Toledo folded. McMahon pitched 18 seasons between 1957 and 1974 and was named to the 1958 All-Star team in his second big league season. Bridges continued pitching in the Pacific Coast Leaguewinning the ERA title in 47. the total count of actual and average players matches that of the most 6 Roy Oswalt 4.5 And John is at 2.6, not much better. Honorable mentions: McGwire, Don Mattingly, Todd Helton (Pujols not yet eligible). Looking at the names below, Curt Schilling is probably moving toward enshrinement. If Jack Chesbro can parlay winning 40 games into the HOF, then Will White should be an automatic selection. Next came Cy Young. Rodriguez will now have to endure the waiting game with BBWAA voters, like Bonds, Clemens and Sosa just did. He will be gone soon enough, but for now, it isn't hard to find. HOF - Indicates Player is a Hall of Famer. Babe Adams was a great pitcher who was overlooked by the veterans committee. 11) Lon Warneke (1930-1945) (192-121; 3.18 ERA; ERA+ 119; 30 SHO; 2782 IP/ 2726 H/ H/9 8.8; 1140 K/ 739 BB/ 1.54 ratio; 1.245 WHIP). Top 25 Relief Pitchers not in the Hall of Fame Can you name the Best Relief Pitchers not in the MLB Hall of Fame (by Baseball Reference WAR)? He allowed just two home runs to 527 batters in the playoffs. Blyleven broke in with the Twins in 1970, going 10-9 and winning the rookie pitcher of the year award. Tony Mullane was just inducted into the Cincinnati Reds HOF earlier this year. The HOF process seemed uneven, and somewhat political. Until the late 50s over half the teams were based on the East Coast. The most-deserving players not in the Hall of Fame: Pitchers Embed from Getty Images see more Roger Clemens, pitcher for the Boston Red Sox prepares to throw a pitch during the Major League Baseball American League East game against the Cleveland Indians on 27 May 1987 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Curiously enough, Eckersley didnt win the Cy Young award in his best year but then won the award along with the league MVP two seasons later in 1992 when he went 7-1 with a 1.91 ERA and 51 saves, then the second-best single-season total of all-time. Supporting evidence also shows that John was an effective pitcher. He was a 20 game winner in 11 and 13 but he didnt get to pitch in the World Series again until 25 at the age of 43. He featured a low three-quarters delivery that made it hard for left-handed batters to pick up the ball. However, Smokey Joe Wood is not among those pitchers given a bye for the length of their careers. This gives us a cut off of 2500 innings to. There are seventh inning guys, lefty specialists, setup men, long relievers, and traditional closers. That said, here are some names I wanted to put in but didnt have space for this time: Verlander, Johan Santana, Dave Stieb, Andy Pettitte, Orel Hershiser, and Dwight Gooden. What if Lon Warnekes and Tommy Bridges careers had not been interrupted by WWII? His initial surgery came after the 1974 season. They were equally as important and masterful as Radbourn, but overlooked for 25 more years. 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