The 10 worst ERAs of all time

Responding to a reader question, here are the 10 worst seasonal ERAs for pitchers who qualified for the ERA title:

Rk	Player	ERA	Year	Tm	G	GS	W	L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA+	HR
1	Les Sweetland	7.71	1930	PHI	34	25	7	15	167.0	271	164	143	60	36	71	24
2	Jim Deshaies	7.39	1994	MIN	25	25	6	12	130.1	170	109	107	54	78	66	30
3	Jack Knott	7.29	1936	SLB	47	23	9	17	192.2	272	174	156	93	60	73	15
4	Jose Lima	6.99	2005	KCR	32	32	5	16	168.2	219	140	131	61	80	63	31
5	LaTroy Hawkins	6.66	1999	MIN	33	33	10	14	174.1	238	136	129	60	103	76	29
6	Jose Lima	6.65	2000	HOU	33	33	7	16	196.1	251	152	145	68	124	75	48
7	Greg Harris	6.65	1994	COL	29	19	3	12	130.0	154	99	96	52	82	75	22
8	Darryl Kile	6.61	1999	COL	32	32	8	13	190.2	225	150	140	109	116	88	33
9	Chubby Dean	6.61	1940	PHA	30	19	6	13	159.1	220	136	117	63	38	67	21
10	Nels Potter	6.60	1939	PHA	41	25	8	12	196.1	258	163	144	88	60	71	26

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/11/2012.

That’s an interesting set, considering that all 10 seasons are from either 1930-1940 or 1994-present.

Let’s look, instead, at the 10 worst ERA+ values, which corrects for overall scoring and ballpark:

Rk	Player	ERA+	Year	Tm	G	GS	W	L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA	HR
1	Rube Bressler	56	1915	PHA	32	20	4	17	178.1	183	133	103	118	69	5.20	3
2	Gene Wright	58	1903	TOT	23	20	6	15	162.2	195	123	90	74	79	4.98	3
3	Pol Perritt	61	1913	STL	36	21	6	14	175.0	205	123	102	64	64	5.25	9
4	Elmer Myers	62	1917	PHA	38	23	9	16	201.2	221	122	99	79	88	4.42	2
5	Oscar Jones	62	1905	BRO	29	20	8	15	174.0	197	121	90	56	66	4.66	6
6	Dan Griner	63	1913	STL	34	34	10	22	225.0	279	150	127	66	79	5.08	12
7	Jose Lima	63	2005	KCR	32	32	5	16	168.2	219	140	131	61	80	6.99	31
8	Happy Finneran	63	1918	TOT	28	15	3	8	128.0	156	69	63	43	36	4.43	7
9	Irv Young	64	1907	BSN	40	32	10	23	245.1	287	131	108	58	86	3.96	5
10	Tom Fisher	64	1904	BSN	31	21	6	16	214.0	257	165	101	82	84	4.25	5

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/11/2012.

So now these guys are all from 1918 or earlier, with the exception of Jose Lima in 2005, who made both lists. This tells you that a lot of bad pitchers were allowed to keep on pitching early in baseball history. (I should mention that both of these lists are 1901-present.)

I think that the first list above basically tells you when the two high-scoring eras of baseball were, and the second list basically tells you that pitchers were used differently (i.e. not allowed to finish out the year if they were horrible) come the 1920s.

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Theron

12 years ago

I always thought Colby Lewis winning 10 games and finishing over .500 with an ERA over 7 in 2003 was pretty impressive. It’s too bad he didn’t square off against Chris George that season.

Doug

12 years ago

The two Jose Lima seasons in your first list were his only ERA-qualifying seasons with an ERA+ under 80. His 2001 season, when he spent time in both leagues, is not considered ERA-qualifying, but he did log 165.2 IP with 79 ERA+.

Other pitchers not on your lists with 3 or more such seasons.

4 – Bob Knepper, 1979,82,87,89
3 – Livan Hernandez, 2001,08,09
3 – Bob Walk, 1982, 89, 93
3 – Tom Hughes, 1904, 06, 07

tim

2 years ago

Reply to Doug

there’s a pitcher named bob walk?!

Max

12 years ago

Either way, Lima Time was a bad bad time had by all.

MikeD

12 years ago

Poor Jose Lima. I don’t want to pick on him too much. Way too early an exit.

Author

Andy

12 years ago

Reply to MikeD

Lima’s early death is a tragedy. Purely in terms of his widespread legacy among baseball fans, his death probably helps his reputation, for just the reason you stated–nobody really wants to pick on the guy too much.

It’s sort of like Darryl Kile, who was a pitcher who had some major ups and downs. He’s pretty much remembered as a really good pitcher, though, because nobody feels like digging into the negatives of his stats.

CursedClevelander

12 years ago

One day, when I have grandchildren, I’ll be able to sit them down and tell them grand tales about how I saw Jose Lima pitch in person.

I don’t expect my grandchildren to like me very much.

Jeff H

12 years ago

Is Lima’s two-year ERA+ swing from 125 to 75 from 1999 to 2000 (for qualified seasons) the largest downward swing?

Author

Andy

12 years ago

Reply to Jeff H

No easy way to find this, but in the back of my mind I feel that someone studied this on the old B-R blog and found that indeed Lima’s swing was the worst ever.

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to Andy

My limited research shows that Walter Johnson’s ERA+ dropped from 215 to 119 from 1919 to 1920. Wilbur Wood, Luis Tiant and Steve Carlton all had drops of more than 50.

-1

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to Jeff H

From 1940 to 1941 Bobo Newsom’s ERA+ dropped from 168 to 98. I don’t know if that’s the largest drop.

MikeD

12 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

The 70 point drop is big, but at least in Bobo’s case he was still basically a league-average pitcher (a good thing), where Lima went from good to very bad. I don’t think the 50-point swing is a record, in fact I’m positive. As John noted, Pedro’s drop from ’00 to ’01 was greater, although ’01 wasn’t a qualfying season. He did have another large drop ’03 to ’04, both qualfying seasons, when his ERA+ dropped 87 points from 211 to 124. Pedro was so dominant that even when suffering probably some of the single-greatest ERA+ losses from one season… Read more »

nightfly

12 years ago

Reply to MikeD

The Gooden drop is particularly insane. The guy lost the equivalent of a league-average pitcher and was still All-Star quality. (1985 Gooden – 1984 Walt Terrell = 1986 Gooden.) Really highlights how much of a force of nature young Doctor K really was. And Pedro was even more ridiculous, especially considering the league he was pitching in. If not the most elite stretch of starting pitching in history, it’s in the top five. Part of me wants to say that hanging “K” signs started with Gooden, and it caught on – but it sounds like something fans would have done… Read more »

12 years ago

Reply to nightfly

Tim Lincecum is in the midst of dropping from 127 to 59. Granted there’s a lot of season left and it wouldn’t be the largest drop ever; but 59??? I’m sure that would be the worst ever for a Cy Young winner.

MikeD

12 years ago

Reply to nightfly

No way Lincecum can drop to a 59 for a full season, right? Right???!!

John

12 years ago

Reply to Jeff H

It’s not in the spirit of the question — someone going from good to bad — but Pedro Martinez’s ERA+ dropped 103 points from 2000 to 2001.

Of course, he started at a must-be-a-typo 291, so his “down” season in 2001 still would have competed for league-class, had he not been hurt.

John

12 years ago

Reply to John

… and, of course, the question specifically mentioned qualifying seasons. So ignore me.

Editor

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Jeff H

Zack Greinke dropped 105 points, from 205 to 100, in 2009-10.

Steve Carlton went from 182 to 97 in 1972-73. He also went from 97 to 164 in 1968-69 (obviously had no trouble adjusting to lower mound and smaller strike zone).

Bert Blyleven went from a 75 to 140 in 1988-89 at age 37-38. Similarly, Don Sutton went from 95 to 161 in 1979-80 at ager 34-35.

A long way to go this season, but Adam Wainwright is currently at 77 after a 160 in 2010. More happily, Ryan Dempster is currently at 173 after an 81 last year.

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Ron Guidry went from 140 to 208 from 1977 to 1978.

12 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

And then Guidry dropped back down to 146 the following year.

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Billy Pierce went from 108 t0 200 in 1954-1955.
Dean Chance went from 107 to 200 in 1963-1964 and then back to 107 in 1965.

bstar

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Bob Gibson went from 110 to 258(+140) in 1967-68 and dropped back from 258 to 164(-94) in 1968-69.

MikeD

12 years ago

Reply to bstar

Gibson beats Greinke’s number. I should have checked him. I was trying to think of pitchers who scored 200+ ERA+ seasons, figuring they’d be the target group to identify the largest drop ever. I can’t imagine anyone having a greater drop than 140 points, since even having an ERA+ of 140 for a season is a great season. So to drop 140 points means the pitcher had to have one of the greatest seasons ever.

Yet maybe we’re missing someone here?

bstar

12 years ago

Reply to MikeD

MikeD, here’s the list of single-season ERA+ leaders. That’s what I’ve been keying off of:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/earned_run_avg_plus_season.shtml

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to MikeD

Actually, Gibson improved 140 points – his drop was 94 points.

In comment #31 below, bstar found a guy who dropped 160 points.

bstar

12 years ago

Reply to MikeD

Andy’s list of the worst ERA+ seasons of all-time shows us that 56-64 ERA+’s are the worst of all-time, and we know none of the pitchers on this list had a great 200+ ERA+ season. So for there to be a larger drop-off than Dutch Leonard’s 160 point plunge from 1914-15, it is only necessary to check the ERA+ seasons greater than 225, since 225-160=65. 65 is the next possible worst season after Andy’s top 10.

bstar

12 years ago

Reply to Jeff H

The largest downward swing of all has to be from Tim Keefe, who holds the single-season ERA+ record at 293(it’s listed at 293 on his player page but 295 on the leaderboards. Keefe went from 293 down to 90 in 1880-81 for the Troy Trojans.

Editor

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to bstar

Keefe pitched only 105 innings in 1880. It was his rookie season and his first game was on Aug 6th. Also, while Keefe allowed only 10 ER, he did allow 27 runs in total. But, definitely a great way to start – he also had 0.800 WHIP.

MikeD

12 years ago

Reply to bstar

I guess that answers my question from above, although I’m surprised that Keefe’s 293 ERA+ qualifies. He only pitched about 105 innings and started 12 games during a time when 400 innings was a slacker.

bstar

12 years ago

Reply to MikeD

OK, if you’re not sure that Tim Keefe should qualify, then it’s probably Dutch Leonard of the 1914-15 Red Sox. Leonard went from 279 to 119(-160).

This Dutch Leonard, however, was probably the lesser of the pitching Dutch Leonards. The first pitched for Boston and Detroit from 1913-25 and recorded 139 wins and 33.7 WAR. The second Dutch Leonard made 4 all-star teams from 1933-53 while pitching for 4 different teams and recorded
191 wins and 46.7 career WAR.

-1

Editor

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to bstar

That looks like our winner. Thanks, bstar.

Purple Rox

12 years ago

Thanks for the response…is there anyway to look at starting pitching staffs rather than individuals? What were the 10 worse starting pitching staffs?

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to Purple Rox

The worst may possibly be the 1930 Phillies, 6.71.

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Ignore my post #14, that was the ERA for the whole team not the starters.

Editor

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Purple Rox

These teams all had 4 qualifying pitchers who started in 60% of their games and had ERA+ of 90 or less. – 1981 AL Milwaukee Brewers – Mike Caldwell / Moose Haas / Randy Lerch / Jim Slaton – 1975 NL Houston Astros – Larry Dierker / Doug Konieczny / J.R. Richard / Dave Roberts – 1965 AL Kansas City Athletics – John O’Donoghue / Diego Segui / Rollie Sheldon / Fred Talbot – 1906 AL Boston Americans – Joe Harris / Jesse Tannehill / George Winter / Cy Young – 1906 NL Brooklyn Superbas – Mal Eason / Harry… Read more »

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Those poor starting pitchers didn’t hurt the ’81 Brewers too much. They made the playoffs that year, and were AL champions the next with 3 of the same pitchers, who were again all under 100 ERA+ as was the replacement, Bob McClure, at 90.

The Brewers ace in both of those seasons was Pete Vickovich, with a 97 ERA+ in ’81 and 114 in ’82.

bstar

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

The Brewers also swept the Cy Young voting in ’81 and ’82, with Rollie Fingers winning in ’81(also won MVP) and Vuckovich winning in ’82.

Purple Rox

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

According to B-R.com the 81 Brewers had a starting pitching ERA of 4.15, 75 Astros had a 4.34, the 65 Royals had a 4.30. These are all pretty stellar compared to my Rockies this year who have a starting pitching ERA of 6.17. The local newspaper in town claims the 1930 Phillies had the worse starting pitching ERA of 6.15. Just wondering, is this true and what are the top 10 worse starting pitching ERAs?

Editor

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Purple Rox

You can figure an approximate ERA+ for a subset of pitchers by averaging their individual ERA+ weighted by number of IP. None of the Rockies starters have currently reached even 90 ERA+, so it would seem they certainly are off to a fast start for being the worst starters ever. In comparison, the 1930 Phillies had two starters at ERA+ of 97 and 114, and two others below 75. The Rox stiffest competition may be the 1905 Superbas, with 120 starts by pitchers with an ERA+ of 86 or less, and 57 starts by pitchers at ERA+ of 67 or… Read more »

Phil Gaskill

12 years ago

Reply to Purple Rox

Not to be too picky here, but the Royals were barely a gleam in someone’s eye, if that, in 1965. . . .

Hartvig

12 years ago

Reply to Phil Gaskill

But the Kansas City Athletics were 11 years old…

although they weren’t going to get much older, either.

Hartvig

12 years ago

Reply to Phil Gaskill

Sorry, Phil. I see now you were replying to Purple Rox

Cyril Morong

12 years ago

Maybe when ERAs are really low like before 1920, it is easy to be really high relative to the league average. Just a few more runs and you get hit pretty hard.

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Rube Bressler, on the second chart above, has the lowest ERA+ for a qualifying pitcher. Nevertheless there is feat that only he, Babe Ruth, George Sisler and Ben Chapman have achieved. Anyone care to determine what it is? I don’t think it will take long to solve.

topper009

12 years ago

If you lower the limit to 50+ IP, the worst ERA of all-time belongs to Roy Halladay in 2000 at 10.64. That is the only season with a 10+ ERA with over 51 IP.

Hartvig

12 years ago

Reply to topper009

That would be one of the two seasons I had him on my Rotisserie League team. The second was 2004, when I spent big $$$ on him.

If I had drafted him every year he’d probably have been out of the league years ago.

simon

4 years ago

This is all BS there have been worse

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