Development of the Relief Pitcher,
some Win Shares statistics
This article is in rapid progress and the headings can't keep up.
"Relief pitcher" and "reliever" refer to players identified as relief
pitchers "RP" by Bill James in the book Win Shares (2002). Those are the
player-team-seasons who appeared in more games as relief pitcher than in any
other defensive role. So the article informs ambiguously about the
achievements of relievers, taken for granted, and about pitcher usage: which
of the best pitchers qualify as relievers?
The article features team-season and league-season *win shares rankings*,
which are replete with ties. I break ties in favor of the relievers; only a
few notes provide information about tie ranks.
A "team" is all of the players fielded by one club in one year and a "staff"
is all of the pitchers in a team; "whole team" is redundant but may be
useful to emphasize difference from the staff.
The clerical work embodied here is error-prone but let me get to it.
Pitching Staff Leaders
In 1940 no relief pitcher led any of the 16 major league staffs in Win
Shares, not to mention leading any of the teams. How many starting pitchers
on each staff ranked above all of its relievers? One to six, varying from
team to team as shown in the histogram (. and ; represent AL and NL teams).
Number of starters leading staff relievers
0 (none; s=0 would be a pitching staff led by a reliever)
1 .;
2 .;;
3 ..;
4 ..;;;
5 .;
6 . (on one team the leading reliever was seventh on the staff)
The AL-leading relievers were Joe Heving of Boston and Atley Donald of New
York with 10 WiSh, the former being second on the staff one WiSh behind
Lefty Grove. (So Boston is the "1" in the AL distribution.) Bill Beckmann
of Philadelphia was third on his staff (the AL "2") with but 7 WiSh.
Four relievers led the NL with 13 WiSh, no better than third on their
staffs: Hugh Casey and Vito Tamulis of Brooklyn, Joe Beggs of Cincinnati,
and Clyde Shoun of StLouis. Mace Brown of Pittsburgh was second on his
staff with 11. The five teams in both leagues that provided the six
league-leading relievers finished 3-4 in the AL and 1-2-3 in the NL.
The distribution in the histogram may also be represented in a row using
numbers "0 2 3 3 5 2 1" --the numbers of teams with pitching staffs
led by 0, 1, 2, to 6 starters above the best reliever. That distribution
for every ten years 1910 to 2000 is given in the right half of the table.
The first column in the right half (column head "0") gives the number of
pitching staffs led by a reliever: practically none through 1950, about
one-quarter in 1960-1980 and 2000, and eleven of 26 in 1990 (42%).
The left half of the table gives the date, the "Total" number of starters in
the majors who outranked all the relievers on their staffs (which is derived
from the distribution at right), the per-team "Average" of same, and the
number "N" of major league teams. The third column at left shows that more
than four starters normally outranked every reliever on a deadball era
staff, declining to 3.3 starters in 1940 and to 1.1 starters in 1990, only
28 on 26 teams.
Number of Starters above the leading Reliever on the staff
(or, staff rank of the leading reliever minus one):
Yr . Tot Avg . tms. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Nstarters who lead all staff relievers
------------------------------------
1910 . 71 4.4 . 16 . 0 2 0 2 3 5 2 2 distribution of teams
1920 . 68 4.2 . 16 . 1 0 1 3 3 4 3 1
1930 . 58 3.6 . 16 . 0 0 3 4 6 2 1
1940 . 53 3.3 . 16 . 0 2 3 3 5 2 1 (1940 featured in histogram above)
1950 . 43 2.7 . 16 . 1 4 3 2 3 3
1960 . 33 2.1 . 16 . 4 3 2 3 3 1
1970 . 39 1.6 . 24 . 6 6 5 5 2
1980 . 31 1.2 . 26. 8 10 5 2 0 1
1990 . 28 1.1 . 26. 11 5 7 3
2000 . 37 1.2 . 30. 7 13 6 4
The count is limited to pitchers who earned at least one Win Share.
That matters for a few early teams with no "reliever" on staff.
The outlier in 1920 is Eddie Rommel with but 14 Win Shares, leading his
staff and his whole team, the "Cy Young" and "MVP" of the very weak
Philadelphia Athletics. The outlier in 1980 is Billy Martin, manager of the
Oakland Athletics, who tried not to use relief pitchers.
Yr . Tot Avg . tms. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Nstarters who lead all staff relievers
------------------------------------
1940 . 53 3.3 . 16 . 0 2 3 3 5 2 1 distribution of teams
1950 . 43 2.7 . 16 . 1 4 3 2 3 3
By 1950 in contrast to 1940, the best relief pitchers --that is, the best
pitchers qualifying as relievers-- are well known players. Murry Dickson of
last-place Pittsburgh led his staff with 16 WiSh, second on his whole team.
NL-leading relievers Jim Konstanty of Philadelphia (23) and Sal Maglie of
New York (21) ranked 4 and 6 among league pitchers and would have led five
and four of the eight NL pitching staffs. The AL-leading reliever Ellis
Kinder of Boston (17) ranked 11 among league pitchers and would have led
three AL staffs. Konstanty, Maglie, and Kinder were second on the staffs of
strong teams behind aces Robin Roberts, Larry Jansen, and Mel Parnell.
Konstanty was honored as league MVP by the baseball writers and only he
among relievers was close to leading a 1950 team by win shares, three behind
pitcher Roberts and outfielder Del Ennis.
Yr . Tot Avg . tms. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Nstarters who lead all staff relievers
----------------------------------
1950 . 43 2.7 . 16 . 1 4 3 2 3 3 distribution of teams
1960 . 33 2.1 . 16 . 4 3 2 3 3 1
In 1960 relievers led four of 16 pitching staffs. In the AL, Mike Fornieles
of Boston and Frank Baumann of Chicago with 16 WiSh ranked tie for 4 to 9
among all AL pitchers, good enough to lead six AL staffs. In the NL, Turk
Farrell of last-place Philadelphia was the team MVP with 15 WiSh. Lindy
McDaniel (25) and Ernie Broglio (24) led the strong StLouis staff and ranked
1-3 among all NL pitchers, the former tied with Drysdale as the Win Shares
Cy Young. Elroy Face of Pittsburgh with 17 WiSh would have led three NL
staffs.
Yr . Tot Avg . tms. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Nstarters who lead all staff relievers
----------------------------------
1960 . 33 2.1 . 16 . 4 3 2 3 3 1 distribution of teams
1970 . 39 1.6 . 24 . 6 6 5 5 2
By 1970 the major leagues comprised 24 teams, up 50% during the decade.
Relievers led six of 24 staffs, the same one-quarter share as in 1960. Jim
Grant of Oakland (20) and Lindy McDaniel of New York (19) led the staffs of
two strong teams and ranked 5-7 among all AL pitchers; Ken Sanders led the
staff of a very bad Milwaukee team with 15. Grant would have led 9 AL
staffs. In the NL, Dick Selma was MVP of a weak Philadelphia team with 21
WiSh and Barry Lersch ranked second on the staff with 13. Selma ranked 6
among all NL pitchers and would have led eight staffs. Dave Giusti and Luke
Walker (15) and Jim Brewer (13) led the staffs of strong Pittsburgh and Los
Angeles teams.
Yr . Tot Avg . tms. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Nstarters who lead all staff relievers
----------------------------------
1970 . 39 1.6 . 24 . 6 6 5 5 2 distribution of teams
1980 . 31 1.2 . 26. 8 10 5 2 0 1
In 1980 relievers led eight of 26 staffs, more than one-quarter, with Doug
Corbett the MVP of mediocre Minnesota. Corbett with 24 WiSh also ranked
second among AL pitchers only one behind Mike Norris. Dan Quisenberry (19)
and Rich Gossage (18) ranked 6 and 9 among AL pitchers but did not lead the
division-winning Kansas City and New York staffs. On the otherhand, two
relievers, Tom Burgmeier and Bob Stanley with 17 and 15 WiSh, led the staff
for middling Boston while Andy Hassler and Mark Clear with 10 and 9 did the
same for a bad Angels team. Rick Camp (20), Tom Hume (19), and Tug McGraw
(18) ranked 3-6-7 among all NL pitchers, the first two leading the staffs of
mediocre Atlanta and strong Cincinnati, McGraw ranking second to Steve
Carlton for champion Philadelphia.
Yr . Tot Avg . tms. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Nstarters who lead all staff relievers
----------------------------------
1980 . 31 1.2 . 26. 8 10 5 2 0 1 distribution of teams
1990 . 28 1.1 . 26. 11 5 7 3
In 1990 relievers led eleven of 26 staffs, or 42%, with Bobby Thigpen of
Chicago AL (21) and Danny Darwin of Houston (17) both one Win Share short of
team MVP. Relief trios Darwin, Dave Smith and Larry Andersen for Houston
and Mike Henneman-Jerry Don Gleaton-Edwin Nunez for Detroit were the three
leading pitchers on their staffs with 17-12-10 and 12-9-8 WiSh. Only 28
starters outranked all the relievers on their staffs, only 1.1 per staff,
after steady decrease from 3.3 in 1940.
Yr . Tot Avg . tms. 0 1 2 3 4 Nstarters who lead all staff relievers
------------------------------
1990 . 28 1.1 . 26. 11 5 7 3 distribution of teams
2000 . 37 1.2 . 30. 7 13 6 4
By 2000 the majors expanded to 30 teams. Relievers led seven staffs, about
the same portion as in 1960 to 1980, significantly down from 1990. No
reliever was close to team MVP or league-best pitcher. With the best relief
pitchers now working very little, the time may have passed when they might
be team MVP or league Cy Young according to Win Shares.
In the AL, Keith Foulke and Mariano Rivera with 16 WiSh led the staffs of
strong Chicago and New York teams while four relievers led the mediocre
Angels: Shigetoshi Hasegawa, Troy Percival, Alan Levine, and Mark Petkovsek
with 11-8-7-7 win shares. League-leader Derek Lowe of Boston (19) was the
second-best pitcher in the league and on his staff, far behind league-MVP
candidate Pedro Martinez. Robb Nen (15) led the staff of NL-best San
Francisco while Jose Jimenez and Gabe White (15) and Trevor Hoffman (13) did
the same for ordinary Colorado and San Diego. Four relievers led 85-77
Cincinnati: Danny Graves, Scott Williamson, Elmer Dessens, and Scott
Sullivan with 18-11-10-10 win shares. League-leader Graves (18) ranked 6
among all pitchers and would have led twelve NL staffs.
Notable Win Shares ranks by Relief Pitchers
1910 second-best pitcher on staff: Crandall, NY1 (19)
- - and Hall and Wood, BOS (14)
1920 every team has a win share earned by a "relief pitcher"
1920 BEST PLAYER on team: Rommel, PHA (14 Win Shares, tie)
1930
1940 second-best pitcher on staff: two
1950 best pitcher on staff: Dickson, PIT
1960 BEST PITCHER IN LEAGUE: McDaniel, SLN (25 WiSh, tie)
1960 BEST PLAYER on team: Farrell, PHI (15, tie)
1970 BEST PLAYER on team: Selma, PHI (21, tie)
1970 two best on staff : Selma and Lersch, PHI
1980 BEST PLAYER on team: Corbett, MIN (24)
1990 three best on staff: Henneman, Gleaton, Nunez, DET
- - and Darwin, Smith, Anderson, HOU
2000 four best on staff : Hasegawa, Percival, Levine, Petkovsek, ANA
- - and Graves, Williamson, Dessens, Sullivan, CIN
*
Numbers of Relief Pitchers with 10 or more Win Shares
The number of relievers with 10+ win shares peaked in 1980 and 1990, judging
by the decennial census.
Yr . Tot Avg . tms.
1910 . _5 0.3 . 16 .
1920 . _6 0.4 . 16 .
1930 . _4 0.2 . 16 .
1940 . _7 0.4 . 16 . _5 teams have one; 11 none
1950 . 10 0.6 . 16 . _7 teams have one; 9 none
1960 . 14 0.9 . 16 . 10 teams have one; 6 none
1970 . 27 1.1 . 24 . 16 teams have one; 8 none (mere expansion)
(a few teams have three 10-WiSh relievers beginning 1970)
1980 . 36 1.4 . 26 . 23 teams have one; 3 none
1990 . 34 1.3 . 26 . 24 teams have one; 2 none
2000 . 30 1.0 . 30 . 22 teams have one; 8 none (significant turnabout)
League leader boards with other Staff leaders
What about the "best" relief pitchers in the league? Already in 1910 and
1920 a few pitchers with about 15 WiSh qualified as relievers and only a few
relief pitchers earn more Win Shares today. Today they are specialists who
work only in relief including several with very light loads measured in
innings.
In each league table, the first column is Win Shares, the second is rank on
staff (1 means staff-leading pitcher), and rank among league pitchers is in
parentheses where notable.
NL 1900
9 4 Howell, BRO
Contraction in 1900 cut the majors from 12 teams to eight and cut their
schedule from 154 to 140 games. Harry Howell started 25 games in the
preceding year and 242 games in the eight following years but only 10 games
with 11 in relief working for the Brooklyn champions in 1900. Only Howell
qualified as a reliever among all pitchers who earned more than one Win
Share. Ed Poole earned two Win Shares in two games played for Pittsburgh,
one as outfielder and one as relief pitcher.
AL 1910 NL 1910
14 2 Hall, BOS (team tie) 19 2 Crandall, NY1 (9t)
14 2 Wood, BOS (team tie) 13 4 Phillippe, PIT
12 4 Richie, CHN
In 1910, the variation from team to team was extraordinary as only twelve
teams (5 AL, 7 NL) had a "relief pitcher" earn one Win Share.
Doc Crandall ranked 9 among all NL pitchers with 18 starts and 24 relief
games; with adusted earned run average ERA+ = 116. The other listed leading
"relievers" carried broadly similar workloads with broadly similar success:
Charley Hall 16 starts and 19 relief games at ERA+ 133; Joe Wood 17 and 18
(152), Deacon Phillippe 8 and 23 (135), Lew Richie 13 and 21 (108).
AL 1920 NL 1920
14 1 Rommell, PHA (team MVP) 16 3 Mamaux, BRO
10 4 *Keefe, PHA 15 5 *Smith, BRO
14 4 Douglas, PHI
* second reliever on staff 10 4 Sherdel, SLN
In 1920, thirteen teams had a "relief pitcher" earn at least two Win Shares.
For the very weak Philadelphia Athletics, rookie and team MVP Eddie Rommel
started 12 of his 33 games with overall ERA+ 141. Teammate Dave Keefe
started 13 of 31 (135), Al Mamaux 18 of 41 (119) and Sherry Smith 12 of 33
(173) for NL-best Brooklyn, Phil Douglas 21 of 46 (111), Bill Sherdel 7 of
43 with ERA+ only 91. Only Sherdel was no more than a spot starter and his
work was mediocre in quality (working more than 3 innings per relief game,
his earned runs should be a reliable measure of quality). Except for the
NL-winning Brooklyn, these leading relievers did not play for good teams:
StLouis finished fifth and the two Philadelphia teams last.
AL 1930 NL 1930
12 3 Rommel, PHA 13 3 Teachout, CHN
10 5 Bell, SLN
10 6 Thurston, BRO
In 1930, only four teams had a reliever earn 10 WS: the champion
Philadelphia Athletics and three of the four strong teams in the NL. But
every AL team had a reliever with at least six Win Shares and six NL teams
had one. The details reveal wide adoption of the spot starter with heavy
relief workload.
Now-veteran Eddie Rommel of the now-champion Philadelphia Athletics led the
AL in 1930 as in 1920, now merely a spot starter with 9 starts in 35 games.
His ERA+ 110 was below his norm and far below his work in the preceding and
following seasons when the Athletics won two more pennants. Bud Teachout
started 16 of 40 games with ERA+ 120; Hi Bell 9 of 39 (129), Sloppy Thurston
11 of 24 (145).
AL 1940 NL 1940
10 2 Heving, BOS 13 3 Casey, BRO (team tie)
10 4 Donald, NYA 13 3 Tamulis, BRO (team tie)
13 3 Shoun, SLN
13 5 Beggs, CIN
11 2 Brown, PIT
Again in 1940, good teams produced the leading relievers: two of the
five winning AL teams and the first division of the National League.
Only twelve teams had a reliever with six or more WiSh but the list of
Win Shares earned by all pitchers who qualify as relievers reflects
rapid evolution along the same lines.
AL 1940 NL 1940
Tot Tot
DET 24 . 8 7 5 2 1 1 CIN 22 . 13 4 4 1
CLE 10 . 6 2 1 1 BRO 40 . 13 13 5 3 2 2 1 1
NYA 22 . 10 8 2 1 1 SLN 33 . 13 8 5 5 1 1
BOS 32 . 10 9 7 3 2 1 PIT 32 * 11 6 6 5 4
CHA 10 . 7 3 NY1 19 . 5 5 4 3 2
SLA 16 . 7 4 3 1 1 CHN 13 . 7 4 2
WAS 4 . 3 1 BSN 2 . 2
PHA 11 . 7 4 PHI 9 . 4 3 1 1
*Pittsburgh relievers earned 32 win shares and other pitchers only 26
(15 8 2 1); the best batting team in the majors by a wide margin
didn't have anything like a starting rotation and finished 78w-76l.
Beginning in 1950 it seems appropriate to list the leading reliever on every
staff as well as every reliever with 10 Win Shares.
AL 1950 NL 1950
17 2 Kinder, BOS (11t) 23 2 Konstanty, PHI (2)
10 4 *McDermott, BOS 21 2 Maglie, NY1 (6t)
------------------------ 16 1 Dickson, PIT
_9 3 Hooper, PHA 16 3 Palica, BRO
_9 3 Harris, WAS 13 2 Hiller, CHN
_8 4 Aloma, CHA (tie) 11 3 *Werle, PIT
_8 4 Judson, CHA (tie) 11 4 Brazle, SLN
_8 5 Gromek, CLE 10 5 *Boyle, SLN
_7 6 White, DET ------------------------ other best relievers on staff
_7 6 Ferrick, NYA _6 5 Smith,F, CIN
_3 7 Johnson, SLA _4 5 Chipman, BSN
* second reliever on staff
Five of the seven teams with 10-WiSh relievers are strong ones, the old
pattern, but Pittsburgh and Chicago are the weakest teams in the NL, and
Philadelphia and Washington, led by 9s, the weakest in the AL.
In 1950 at last, a few relievers are among the league-leading pitchers.
Unlike Del Crandall in 1910, they do not also play as hitters, but they are
not pure relief pitchers either. Konstanty wins the official league MVP
award but starts the first game of the World Series (a brilliant 1-0
defeat). The relievers of later generations will rarely match their Win
Shares.
AL 1960 NL 1960
16 1 Fornieles, BOS (4t) 25 1 McDaniel, SLN (1t)
16 1 Baumann, CHA (4t) 24 2 *Broglio, SLN (3)
14 3 *Staley, CHA 17 3 Face, PIT (10t)
11 3 Aguirre, DET 15 1 Farrell, PHI (team MVP)
11 4 Lee, WAS 14 2 Brosnan, CIN
11 5 Wilhelm, BAL 13 4 Roebuck, LA
10 5 *Sisler, DET 11 5 *Sherry, LA
------------------------ ------------------------
_9 2 Klippstein, CLE _9 2 Elston, CHI
_8 6 Shantz, NYA _7 4 Jay, MIL
_5 5 Johnson, KC _7 5 Antonelli, SF
* second reliever on staff
Teammates McDaniel and Broglio rank 1-3 among all NL pitchers, the former
tying Drysdale for WiSh Cy Young, and rank 7-11 among all NL players.
AL 1970 NL 1970
20 1 Grant, OAK (5t) 21 1 Selma, PHI (6t) (team MVP)
19 1 McDaniel, NYA (7t) 15 1 Giusti, PIT (11t, team tie)
16 2 Williams, MIN 15 1 Walker, PIT (11t, team tie)
15 1 Sanders, MIL 15 2 Granger, CIN (11t)
15 2 Knowles, WAS 14 2 McMahon, SF
15 3 *Perranoski, MIN 14 5 *Carroll, CIN
14 2 Wood, CHA 13 1 Brewer, LA
14 4 **Hall, MIN 13 2 *Lersch, PHI
13 2 *Segui, OAK 12 3 Taylor, SLN
11 3 Tatum, CAL 11 4 Wilhelm, ATL
11 3 Timmermann, DET 10 7 **Gullett, CIN
10 4 Richert, BAL 10 5 **Hoerner, PHI
10 4 *Fisher, CAL ------------------------
10 4 *Hiller, DET _9 2 Ray, HOU
10 5 *Aker, NYA _9 3 Raymond, MON
------------------------ _9 3 Reed, MON
_9 4 Brett, BOS _9 3 Roberts, SD
_9 4 Chance, CLE _9 5 McGraw, NY
_8 4 Abernathy, KC _6 5 Colborn, CHI
_6 5 Regan, CHI
* second reliever on staff
** third reliever on staff
Oakland, New York, and Minnesota were the strongest teams after champion
Baltimore but Milwaukee, Washington, and Chicago were woefully weak.
AL 1980 NL 1980
24 1 Corbett, MIN (2) 20 1 Camp, ATL (3t)
19 2 Quisenberry, KC (6t) 19 1 Hume, CIN (6)
18 2 Gossage, NYA (9t) 18 2 McGraw, PHI (7t)
17 1 Burgmeier,BOS (13t) 16 1 Sutter, CHN (10t)
17 3 *May, NYA (13t) 15 1 Fingers, SD (12t)
15 2 *Stanley, BOS 14 2 Sambito, HOU
14 2 Farmer, CHA 14 2 *Soto, CIN
14 3 Stoddard, BAL 13 2 Minton, SF
13 2 Lopez, DET 13 3 Fryman, MON
12 2 Rawley, SEA 13 4 *Smith,D, HOU
12 2 Darwin, TEX 12 2 Romo, PIT
12 3 *Proly, CHA 12 3 *Caudill, CHN
12 5 **Davis, NYA 11 1 Reardon, NY
11 3 Garvin, TOR 11 4 Howe, LA
10 1 Hassler, CAL 11 4 *Holland, SF
10 3 Cruz, CLE (team tie) 11 4 **Tidrow, CHN
10 3 Monge, CLE (team tie) 10 2 *Allen, NY
------------------------ 10 3 *Tekulve, PIT
_9 4 Cleveland, MIL 10 5 *Castillo, LA
_7 6 Lacey, OAK ------------------------
_7 3 Kaat, SLN
* second reliever on staff
** third reliever on staff
AL 1990 NL 1990
21 1 Thigpen, CHA (3t) 17 1 Dibble, CIN (4t) (team tie)
19 2 Eckersley, OAK (5t) 17 1 Myers, CIN (4t) (team tie)
15 2 Jones,D, CLE (12) 17 1 Darwin, HOU (4t)
14 1 Olson, BAL (13t) 15 1 Brantley, SF (9t)
14 3 Henke, TOR (13t) 14 2 Harris, SD
13 1 Farr, KC 14 2 Smith,L, SLN
12 1 Henneman, DET 14 4 **Charlton, CIN
12 1 Aguilera, MIN 13 3 Assenmacher, CHN
12 3 Swift, SEA 13 4 *Lefferts, SD
12 3 Rogers, TEX 12 2 *Smith,D, HOU
12 3 *Montgomery, KC 11 1 Cook, PHI
11 3 Harvey, CAL 11 4 Franco, NY
11 4 *Jones, CHA 10 2 Howell, LA
11 4 *Ward, TOR 10 2 Landrum, PIT
10 1 Guetterman, NYA 10 3 Burke, MON
10 4 Reardon, BOS 10 3 **Andersen, HOU
10 4 *Nelson, OAK ------------------------
10 5 *Schooler, SEA _5 4 Mercker, ATL
------------------------
_7 3 Crim, MIL * second reliever on staff
** third reliever on staff
AL 2000 NL 2000
19 2 Lowe, BOS (2) 18 1 Graves, CIN (6t)
16 1 Foulke, CHA (5t) 17 2 Benitez, NY (8t)
16 1 Rivera, NYA (5t) 15 1 Jimenez, COL (12t) (team tie)
16 2 Koch, TOR (5t) 15 1 White, COL (12t) (team tie)
12 2 Hawkins, MIN 15 1 Nen, SF (12t)
12 2 Hernandez, TB 14 2 Veres, SLN
11 1 Hasegawa, ANA 13 1 Hoffman, SD
11 2 Sasaki, SEA 12 2 Leskanic, MIL
11 4 Karsay, CLE 12 3 Remlinger, ATL
10 2 Jones,T, DET 11 2 Williams, PIT
10 3 *Garces, BOS 11 2 *Williamson, CIN
10 4 *Wells, MIN 10 2 Alfonseca, FL
10 4 Isringhausen, OAK (tm tie) 10 3 Herges, LA
10 4 Tam, OAK (team tie) 10 3 **Dessens, CIN
------------------------ 10 3 **Sullivan, CIN
_9 3 Reichert, KC 10 5 **Tavarez, COL
_8 3 Wetteland, TEX ------------------------
_6 4 Groom, BAL _9 2 Kline, MON
_8 3 Kim, ARI
_7 2 Worrell, CHN
* second reliever on staff _7 3 Dotel, HOU
** third reliever on staff _7 4 Brock, PHI
The best four relievers are now among the best eight pitchers in the league,
because the workload for starters continues to diminish.
The End, 2006-06-11
========================================================================
STARTERS
By the way, four starting pitchers were team MVPs including league-MVP Bob
Feller in the AL and Bucky Walters on the strongest team and world series
champion Cincinnati. Four Cincinnati starters ranked 1-4-7-7 among all
players on that team and 1-3-6-6 among all NL starters.
1950 starters were the MVPs of two teams in each league. Garver of StLouis
AL, Ewing of Cincinnati, and Roberts of Philadelphia NL, with 25-26 WiSh,
ranked 9th in league among all players; Pierce led Chicago AL with 16 WiSh.
1960 starters were the MVPs of one team in each league, indeed ranking 1-2
on Detroit and 1-2-3 on Los Angeles. Bunning led Detroit with 20 WiSh;
Drysdale with 25 led the Dodgers and ranked 7th among all NL players.
Frequency of 20 and 30 Win Shares
[
HOM:
This report, decennial from 1910 to 2000, begins with 1892 and 1899, the first and last 154-game season of the 19th century. In 1890 and 1900, first three 8-team leagues and then one played 140-game seasons, making the scope of the major leagues too different from the 20th century norm for comfort.
]
This table includes the first and last 154-game season of the 19th century, 1892 and 1899. (In 1890 and 1900, first three 8-team leagues and then one played 140-game seasons.) Columns 'Tot' and 'Avg' give the number of 20- or 30- Win Shares players in the major leagues and the number per team. Columns 'oth' and 'P' give the distribution between non-pitchers and pitchers. It seems that the frequency of 20-WiSh pitchers decreased sharply between 1899 and 1910 and steadily in the second half of the 20th century. 30 Win Share pitchers were practically extinct by 1950.
20 Win Shares 30 Win Shares
Yr oth P Tot Avg . Tm . oth P Tot Avg
1892 30 23 53 4.4 . 12 . 4 8 12 1.00 :
1899 25 20 45 3.7 . 12 . 7 6 13 1.08 : MVP Ed Delahanty, the first non-pitcher
1910 34 14 48 3.0 . 16 . 7 5 12 0.75 :
1920 38 16 54 3.4 . 16 . 9 5 14 0.87 :
1930 38 11 49 3.1 . 16 . 9 2 11 0.69 :
1940 40 10 50 3.1 . 16 . 7 2 _7 0.44 : 0.62 pitchers per team with 20 WiSh
1950 38 15 53 3.3 . 16 . 6 0 _6 0.37 : 0.94
1960 34 _7 41 2.6 . 16 . 6 0 _6 0.37 : 0.44
1970 52 14 66 2.7 . 24 . 13 1 14 0.57 : 0.57
1980 51 10 61 2.3 . 26 . 8 0 _8 0.31 : 0.38
1990 52 _6 58 2.2 . 26 . 5 0 _5 0.19 : 0.23
2000 58 _5 63 2.1 . 30 . 11 0 11 0.33 : 0.17
The frequency of 20+ seasons by pitchers has decreased by about 80% since the deadball era, from about one per team (30/32 in 1910 and 1920) to one per division (11/56 in 1990 and 2000). We know that has happened mainly by a decrease in workload, but the the frequency of those seasons has decreased for other players, too. The next table examines the non-pitchers more closely. The focal number of Win Shares is 19 rather than 20 through 1960 because a complete team-season was 154 rather than 162 games played to a decision.
Threshold 19 Win Shares through 1960; then 20 Win Shares
Yr pitchers non-pitchers
1892 23 1.92 . . 12 . . 35 2.9 per team
1899 24 2.00 . . 12 . . 28 2.3
1910 19 1.19 . . 16 . . 39 2.4
1920 22 1.37 . . 16 . . 40 2.5
1930 13 0.81 . . 16 . . 40 2.5
1940 12 0.75 . . 16 . . 43 2.6
1950 17 1.06 . . 16 . . 45 2.7
1960 _8 0.50 . . 16 . . 39 2.4
1970 14 0.57 . . 24 . . 52 2.2
1980 10 0.38 . . 26 . . 51 2.0
1990 _6 0.23 . . 26 . . 52 2.0
2000 _5 0.17 . . 30 . . 58 1.9
The correction confirms a decrease in frequency of big seasons for non-pitchers in the second half of the 20th century, perhaps specifically during the expansion era, for it is not clear that the number ever differed significantly from 2.5 per team in the 154-game epoch.
(The correction also highlights a decrease in big seasons for pitchers in the 1920s rather than a steady decrease in the first half of the 20th century.)
2006-06-08
Last update: 2006-06-11 (version 2)
© Paul Wendt, 2006