Quiz – Who was the last pitcher to … ? (solved)

Pitching trends are constantly evolving. Part of the reason is changes in game strategy, player usage, or even equipment. Part of it is improvement in players’ skills which, in turn, results in changes in expectations of player performance.

This quiz identifies pitchers who, like James Fenimore Cooper’s Mohican, were the last of a breed. In our case, “breed” is a statistical “feat” that the pitcher accomplished during a season of play.

Thanks to those who played and succeeded in solving 6 of the 10 quizzes (bolded). Here is the solution, for pitcher seasons since 1901:

  1. Hank Wyse (1950) is the last pitcher (of 38) with twice as many walks as strikeouts (min. 162 IP).
  2. Hugh Mulcahy (1937) is the last pitcher (of 7) to both start and relieve in 25 or more games.
  3. Omar Daal (1995) is the only pitcher to appear in 20 or more games and not start or finish any of them
  4. David Wells (1998) is the last pitcher (of 41) to have more shutouts than losses (min. 162 IP)
  5. Byron Houck (1913) is the only pitcher with an ERA+ lower than 100 times his W-L% (min. 162 IP)
  6. Elmer Jacobs (1917) is the last pitcher (of 10) with an ERA under 3.00 that is greater than 10 times his W-L% (min. 162 IP)
  7. Ted Wingfield (1927) is the only pitcher with a WHIP higher than his strikeout total (min. 20 games)
  8. Bill Lee (1945) is the last pitcher (of 23) with a WHIP higher than his SO/9 ratio (min. 162 IP)
  9. Carl Lundgren (1907) is the only pitcher with a BB/9 ratio 3 times as high as his ERA (min. 162 IP)
  10. Matt Keough (1982) is the last pitcher (of 7) with a HR/9 ratio twice as high as his SO/BB ratio (min. 162 IP)

Some rules:

  • feats are those achieved in seasons, based on either 162 IP, or 20 appearances and less than 162 IP
  • feats are based on either one or two metrics that can be seen on Baseball-Reference or FanGraphs, on a main player page.
  • none of these feats has been achieved in this century
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Josh
Josh
11 years ago

Daal…last to finish 15 games below .500?

Josh
Josh
11 years ago
Reply to  Doug

How about for Daal…20 or more appearances without a decision?

Ed
Ed
11 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Thought Daal might be the last with an ERA under 3.00 and a losing record. But 8 pitchers have done it since him, including Doug Fister and Linceum in 2011.

RJ
RJ
11 years ago
Reply to  Doug

That Lincecum finished with a losing record in 2011 was just bizarre, the fault predominantly being some Cain-esque run support. Going into his final game, a loss which gave him his losing season, his ERA was 2.59. If his season had ended there he would have been the first player in 22 years to have that low an ERA and W-L% of .500 or worse. As it was, he beaned Justin Upton in the first, gave up five runs in five innings and his ERA rose to 2.74 for the year. Little did we know what we were in for… Read more »

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
11 years ago

For Hugh Mulcahy: Last pitcher with 4 consecutive years of less than .400 W-L percentage.

Ed
Ed
11 years ago

Thought Keough might have been the last pitcher with 20 complete games in a season (1980). But it was actually Fernando in ’86.

Hartvig
Hartvig
11 years ago

Hank Wyse is the last pitcher to appear in a World Series game as a Cub.

John Nacca
John Nacca
11 years ago

For Mulcahy, is it the last man to lose 20 with an ERA+ of over 100?….or the last man to lose 20 with an ERA under 3.75?

John Nacca
John Nacca
11 years ago

For Wingard, is it the last pitcher to post a BB/K ratio of 1:3.33 or worse?

John Nacca
John Nacca
11 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Haha….Wingard, Wingfield….tomato, tomahhto

Ed
Ed
11 years ago

Houck is the ONLY pitcher in MLB history to have a winning percentage of .700 or higher and an ERA+ below 70.

Ed
Ed
11 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Thanks Doug! Oddly the pitcher with the second worst ERA+ combined with a .700+ winning percentage was Bullet Joe Bush who had his season the same year as Houck (1913).

Ed
Ed
11 years ago
Reply to  Doug

I’d say let us keep trying for a bit. If we get stuck, you can give us the year.

Ed
Ed
11 years ago

Wingfield is the last pitcher with IP greater than 8x his Ks. (1925)

John Nacca
John Nacca
11 years ago

Wingfield was the last pitcher to walk 3 times as many as he whiffed?

Ed
Ed
11 years ago
Reply to  John Nacca

John N – I thought that might be in for Wingfield but someone named Sugar Cain did it in 1933.

John Nacca
John Nacca
11 years ago

Jacobs last pitcher to have a w% under .250 and allow less hits then innings?

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
11 years ago

Hank Wyse: Last pitcher to strike out fewer than 35 batters in a season.

John Autin
Editor
11 years ago

For Keough — Last with 200+ IP and ERA+ less than 70.

bstar
11 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

Off-topic: JA I’m about to start my Braves tape so I haven’t seen any scores. How did Harvey do tonight?

John Autin
Editor
11 years ago
Reply to  bstar

Very nicely, b, very nicely indeed. Strasburg wasn’t sharp and threw a ton of pitches in the early innings. Mets got 2 unearned in the 1st, ran it to 4-0 in the 6th with HRs by Davis & Duda. Through 5, the only hit off Harvey was Strasburg’s double. He faltered a bit in the 7th — leadoff walk and a couple of singles produced a run, and an infield error loaded the bases with no outs. Then he rallied: strikeout, foul pop, groundout. Davis & Duda homered again in the 8th, and the Mets won, 7-1. Harvey, 4 hits,… Read more »

bstar
11 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

I would say something like, “Never mind the stuff, Harvey sure looks like he’s got his head screwed on straight. This guy just GETS it. He already knows how to pitch.” (That certainly appears to be true at this point.)

Why wouldn’t I say that? Because that’s what everyone was saying about Tommy Hanson four years ago.

But I do believe you’ve got a keeper there (probably an understatement). Thanks for the mini game note!

John Autin
Editor
11 years ago
Reply to  bstar

b, I haven’t seen all Harvey’s games, but I have yet to see him flustered on the mound or off it. Tonight, I was watching to see if he got caught up in the buzz of the Strasburg matchup and his own run of low-hit games. I saw no sign of it; he just pitched his game and trusted his stuff. (The latter shouldn’t be hard.) In the 4th, up 2-0, my buddy Mike and I both sensed a danger spot. Two outs and none on, with 5 Ks in the books, he got ahead 0-2 on Ian Desmond, but… Read more »

John Autin
Editor
11 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Sheesh — You’d think folks would bother to read the criteria. 🙂

Anyway, my next guess on Keough was 100+ walks with less than 100 Ks, but that’s been done 4 times since then.

And then I thought, HRs more than .5 * strikeouts — but that’s another whiff.

Have to come back tomorrow.

no statistician but
no statistician but
11 years ago

Probably not what you’re looking for, but I’d guess it’s true: Carl Lundgren—the last pitcher to have an ERA under 1.20 and not lead the league.

no statistician but
no statistician but
11 years ago

Wingfield: 1(?) SO in 74.2 innings ought to have something to do with the answer.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
11 years ago

How about Wingfield is the only pitcher with a BB/SO ratio greater than 10, in 1927.

Ed
Ed
11 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Would be interesting to know who Wingfield’s lone strikeout victim was! Too bad we don’t have play by play data for the game. But since the As only struck out 3 times in the game, we know it was either Max Bishop, Chick Galloway or Lefty Grove. Bishop and Galloway were both tough to strikeout whereas Grove wasn’t. So I’m guessing Grove was his victim.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
11 years ago
Reply to  Ed

The Charlton Chronology made special mention of that strikeout. It was Chick Galloway.

Ed
Ed
11 years ago

Thanks Richard! Wonder if Chick got razzed by his teammates for that strikeout?

Howard
Howard
11 years ago

Mulcahy: Last to both start and relieve over 25 games in the same season?

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
11 years ago

David Wells.
Only pitcher to throw a perfect game while drunk.

John Autin
Editor
11 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

So, I guess being drunk was the seasonal feat, there.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
11 years ago

Doug: You could have also included Slim Sallee on that list. He is the last pitcher to win 20 or more games while striking out fewer than 25 (in 1919).

Paul E
Paul E
11 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Re Bill Lee?
Last pitcher to get 12+ starts in the same season with two different teams and have an ERA+ 50 points greater with one team versu the other?
Or is it last guy with 162+ IP and 25 or less strikeouts?

I think I am reaching…..

Paul E
Paul E
11 years ago
Reply to  Doug

162+ IP and a ratio of BB/K > 2.6 ??

Doug
Doug
11 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Think about ratio between two stats, not comparing a stat to a constant.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
11 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Lee is the last pitcher with a GS/SO ratio of more than 1.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
11 years ago

And you also could have included Ted Lyons who in 1942 was the last pitcher to complete all of his starts (minimum of 20 starts. Lyons completed all 20 of his starts.

Paul E
Paul E
11 years ago

Not for anything, and totally off topic, but has anyone happened to notice that Jethroe Lowrie is currently sporting a .413/.479/.683 slash line AND THE GODS OF WAR HAVE DETERMINED HIM TO BE THE WORST PLAYER (-0.6) IN ALL OF MLB?

w t f

Paul E
Paul E
11 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Sorry, my mistake. ESPN, apparently attempting to use baseball-reference values has Lowrie at -0.6, however, he’s approximately -0.6 for dWAR at baseball-reference and +0.8 WAR overall.

Lowrie, has the lowest RF/9 among starting SS’s thus far at a fairly putrid 3.74/9 innings.

ReliefMan
ReliefMan
11 years ago

Jacobs 1917: 10 CG and 10 GF? (Though really, it would make sense to redesignate the stat and have that count as 20 GF.)

leatherman
leatherman
11 years ago

In 1998, David Wells was the last pitcher to have more shutouts than losses.

leatherman
leatherman
11 years ago

Matt Keough is the last pitcher with 100 BB and 75 or fewer Ks.

leatherman
leatherman
11 years ago

Omar Daal is the only pitcher with 20+ appearances, a 1.000 winning percentage, and 0 games finished.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
11 years ago

Lundgren: For more than 162 IP, last pitcher with ERA+ greater than 200 and more BB than SO.

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
11 years ago

Jacobs

era+ better than 100
and a WAR of 3+
with a win% less than .250