41. Bob Ewing

In an era when the "spitball" was a legal and lethal weapon, "Long" Bob Ewing emerged as its most sophisticated practitioner for the Cincinnati Reds. Standing tall on the mound during the first decade of the 1900s, he utilized his height and a deceptive delivery to keep the National League in a state of perpetual frustration.

Ewing’s tenure in Cincinnati was defined by a remarkable three-year stretch of dominance beginning in 1905, a summer where he secured 20 victories and established himself as a premier tactical force. During this window, he was a model of specialized excellence, consistently ranking among the top five National League pitchers in bWAR. He possessed a rare ability to neutralize hitters through movement rather than just velocity, utilizing the dampened baseball to create unpredictable breaks that led to a sustained run of top-ten finishes in FIP.

The true magnitude of his skill was found in his surgical command of the strike zone. Ewing was a master of the "free pass" refusal, appearing in the top ten for strikeout-to-walk ratio six times during his nine seasons in a Reds uniform. This craftsmanship was not merely about volume; it was a high-frequency display of precision that kept his career FIP among the elite in the sport's history. He served as the primary engine of the Cincinnati rotation, providing the high-leverage durability required to navigate over 1,900 innings for the franchise, despite the era’s physical demands.

The story in Cincinnati drew to a close in 1909 when he was traded to the Phillies, but he left behind a legacy as the most refined right-hander of the club’s first great decade. He departed with 108 wins and a reputation for being the ultimate "pitcher's pitcher" of the early 20th century.

With the Reds, Ewing compiled 108 wins and 159 complete games while maintaining a historic top-tier ranking in career FIP. The organization provided the ultimate punctuation on his career nearly a century after his final pitch by inducting him into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 2001.