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BASEBALL'S 2015 GOLDEN ERA COMMITTEE BALLOT: ARE THERE ANY HALL OF FAME PLAYERS LEFT?

BASEBALL'S 2015 GOLDEN ERA COMMITTEE BALLOT: ARE THERE ANY HALL OF FAME PLAYERS LEFT?
30 Nov
2014
Not in Hall of Fame

Index



Golden Era Hall of Fame Shortstops

Moving back to the infield, we shift gears in our look at shortstop Maury Wills, the sparkplug for the Los Angeles Dodgers of the first half of the 1960s who reputedly revived the stolen base during those low-scoring, pitching-dominant seasons. Wills was the first player in the modern era (since 1901) to steal 100 or more bases in a single season when he swiped 104 in 1962, breaking Ty Cobb's modern-day record of 96 set in 1915. Wills ranks 20th all-time in stolen bases with 586, and he was 10th all-time when he retired following the 1972 season.

Here are the four Hall of Fame shortstops associated with the Golden Era and Wills, ranked by bWAR, with other qualitative statistics, including fWAR, listed alongside it.

Golden Era Hall of Fame Shortstops and 2015 Shortstop Candidate on the 2015 Golden Era Ballot, Ranked by bWAR

Position Player

Slash Line

wOBA

bWAR

fWAR

OPS+

wRC+

Banks, Ernie

.274/.330/.500

.359

67.5

63.3

122

118

Reese, Pee Wee

.269/.366/.377

.350

66.3

61.3

99

103

Aparicio, Luis

.262/.311/.343

.296

55.8

49.1

82

83

Rizzuto, Phil

.273/.351/.355

.335

40.6

41.3

93

96

Wills, Maury

.281/.330/.331

.301

39.5

35.7

88

91

The table below lists these four Hall of Fame shortstops associated with the Golden Era and Wills, ranked by bWAR, along with their JAWS statistics and ratings for the Hall of Fame Monitor and the Hall of Fame Standards. Also included are the JAWS statistics for all shortstops in the Hall of Fame.

2015 Golden Era Shortstop Candidate, Qualitative Comparisons to Hall of Fame Shortstops (Ranked by bWAR)

Player

No. of Years

From

To

bWAR

WAR7

JAWS

JAWS Rank

HoF Mon.

(≈100)

HoF Std.

(≈50)

Banks, Ernie

19

1953

1971

67.5

51.9

59.7

7

170

46

Ave of 21 HoFers

NA

NA

NA

66.7

42.8

54.7

NA

NA

NA

Reese, Pee Wee

16

1940

1958

66.3

41.0

53.6

17

100

39

Aparicio, Luis

18

1956

1973

55.8

32.7

44.2

22

150

36

Rizzuto, Phil

13

1941

1956

40.6

33.7

37.2

35

87

23

Wills, Maury

14

1959

1972

39.5

29.5

34.5

46

104

29

In this group, and apart from his being above the average of all 21 Hall of Fame shortstops in terms of JAWS statistics, Ernie Banks is the outlier in two other respects. First, he actually played more games at first base, having switched to that position full-time by the 1962 season, but, again, Jaffe's JAWS assigns him greater value as a shortstop. But even as a shortstop, Banks was atypical for his era—he was a power hitter, with five years with 40 or more home runs, more of a prototype for contemporary shortstops rather than indicative of Golden Era shortstops. In fact, Banks hit almost twice as many home runs in his career, 512, than did the other four Golden Era shortstops in this sample combined—they hit a collective 267 homers.

So, let's look at Maury Wills in terms of what shortstops were expected to deliver during the Golden Era, which was primarily a solid glove in the field and table-setting abilities at the top of the batting order, with their ability to get on base and then steal a base.

The table below lists the Golden Era Hall of Fame shortstops and Wills, ranked by dWAR, or Wins Above Replacement based on defensive effectiveness only, with other defensive metrics (explained below the table) and their career stolen base totals and stolen base percentages.

Defensive and Stolen-Base Statistics for Golden Era Hall of Fame Shortstops and 2015 Shortstop Candidate on the 2015 Golden Era Ballot, Ranked by dWAR

Player

Putouts

Assists

Double Plays Turned

dWAR

Rtot

Def. Runs

Total Zone

Stolen Bases

Stolen Base Pct.

Aparicio, Luis

4548

8016

1553

31.6

149

302.7

149

506

78.8

Reese, Pee Wee

4040

5891

1246

25.6

22

241.7

107

232

83.8*

Rizzuto, Phil

3219

4666

1217

22.9

7

207.9

107

149

72.0

Wills, Maury

2550

4804

859

12.0

0

99.8

4

586

73.8

Banks, Ernie

2087

3441

724

4.9

62

48

62

50

48.5

* NOTE: Caught-stealing statistics for Pee Wee Reese are unavailable from 1940 to 1950; percentage is calculated using available statistics from 1951 to 1958.

dWAR: Wins Above Replacement for defensive play only, as calculated by Baseball Reference.

Rtot: Total Zone Total Fielding Runs above Average, the number of runs above or below average a fielder was worth based on the number of plays made, as calculated by Baseball Reference.

Defensive Runs Above Average: Number of runs above or below average a fielder is worth on defense; it combines fielding runs and positional adjustment, as calculated by FanGraphs.

Total Zone Number of Runs Saved: Indexed to a league-average of 0, with a seasonal 15 TZ equivalent to a Gold Glove-caliber defender, as calculated by FanGraphs.

Luis Aparicio leads the field both in the counting statistics and in the qualitative statistics for fielding, which should not be a surprise—Aparicio played the third-most games at shortstop in major-league history with 2581 (he retired after the 1973 season as the leader in that category and has since been surpassed by Omar Vizquel and Derek Jeter), and Aparicio's dWAR of 31.6 ranks sixth all-time; it is no surprise that Aparicio won nine Gold Gloves at shortstop, the highest number at the time of his retirement although he has since been passed by Ozzie Smith and Vizquel.

Maury Wills won two Gold Gloves, in back-to-back years including his second in 1962, the year in which he stole a then-record (for the modern era) 104 bases and was also the National League Most Valuable Player that year, although almost immediately the outcry began that Willie Mays, who finished second in voting, should have been the NL MVP (Frank Robinson and Hank Aaron would have been viable winners as well). Wills does rank 159th in dWAR with 12.0, tied with Hall of Fame shortstop Arky Vaughan, although Vaughan, possessor of a career .318/.406/.453 slash line, is a much more potent offensive player than was Wills.

Wills did lead the NL in stolen bases for six consecutive years, from 1960 to 1965, including 94 steals in 1965, and he stole 40 or more bases a total of seven times. Wills is often credited with reviving the art of the steal, of returning the stolen base to baseball's offensive arsenal, particularly on those light-hitting Dodgers teams of the early 1960s that succeeded through pitching and defense.

But here is an interesting point: Luis Aparicio led the AL in steals for nine consecutive years, from 1956 to 1964, with four of those years involving swipes of 50 or more including a career-high of 57 in 1964, and he stole 40 or more five times during that span. Moreover, Aparicio led the majors in swipes four times in the six seasons between 1959 and 1964, when Wills had begun playing—although in fairness Wills was a part-time player with seven steals in his debut year of 1959. Aparicio bested Wills on the basepaths in 1960 (beating Wills by one steal, 51 to 50), 1961 (53 to 35), and 1964 (57 to 53), while both tied in 1963 with 40 swipes apiece. Wills ended up with 80 more steals over his entire career to finish 20th with 586 while Aparicio ranks 36th with 506. But as indicated in the table above, Aparicio finished with a better stolen-base percentage than Wills; Aparicio led the AL in times caught stealing four times while Wills led the NL in that category seven times. And Aparicio was a much better defender, which in the Golden Era was a much more vital commodity.

Simply put, Maury Wills lacks sufficient credentials for the Hall of Fame.

Golden Era Hall of Fame Starting Pitchers

We close out our look at the Golden Era playing candidates with a visit to the mound and the three starting pitchers under consideration by the Committee: Jim Kaat, Billy Pierce, and Luis Tiant.

I had looked at all three pitchers, particularly Pierce and Tiant, in an article I wrote last year that examined pitching wins as an indicator of Hall of Fame worth. For our purposes here, though, let's continue to evaluate these three pitching prospects against their contemporaries from the Golden Era who are already in the Hall of Fame.

Here are the fourteen Hall of Fame starting pitchers associated with the Golden Era and 2015 Golden Era starting pitcher candidates Kaat, Pierce, and Tiant, ranked by bWAR, with other qualitative statistics, including fWAR, listed alongside it.

Golden Era Hall of Fame Starting Pitchers and 2015 Starting Pitcher Candidates on the 2015 Golden Era Ballot, Ranked by bWAR

Pitcher

W-L (S), ERA

bWAR

fWAR

ERA+

ERA–

FIP–

Niekro, Phil

318–274 (29), 3.35

96.6

80.8

115

86

95

Spahn, Warren

363–245 (29), 3.09

92.6

81.2

119

84

94

Perry, Gaylord

314–265 (11), 3.11

91.0

103.7

117

85

86

Gibson, Bob

251–174 (6), 2.91

89.9

91.1

127

78

71

Roberts, Robin

286–245 (25), 3.41

86.0

78.3

113

89

81

Drysdale, Don

209–166 (6), 2.95

67.2

66.4

121

83

88

Tiant, Luis

229–172 (15), 3.30

66.7

53.9

114

87

90

Feller, Bob

266–162 (21), 3.25

63.6

69.3

122

82

89

Marichal, Juan

243–142 (2), 2.89

63.1

69.9

123

81

88

Newhouser, Hal

207–150 (26), 3.06

63.0

62.6

130

76

81

Wynn, Early

300–244 (15), 3.54

61.3

62.8

107

94

97

Bunning, Jim

224–184 (16), 3.27

59.4

71.4

115

88

88

Ford, Whitey

236–106 (10), 2.75

57.3

55.4

133

75

88

Pierce, Billy

211–169 (32), 3.27

53.2

54.7

119

84

90

Koufax, Sandy

165–87 (9), 2.76

49.0

57.9

131

75

75

Lemon, Bob

207–128 (22), 3.23

48.8

34.6

119

84

99

Kaat, Jim

283–237 (18), 3.45

45.3

69.4

108

93

90

What is notable is that, although Pierce's value as determined by Baseball Reference's and FanGraphs's version of WAR is roughly comparable, both Kaat and Tiant experience reversals of fortune—Tiant drops more than 12 wins while Kaat rises by nearly twice as many as that.

The table below re-orders the 14 Golden Era Hall of Fame starting pitchers and the three 2015 candidates Kaat, Pierce, and Tiant ranked by fWAR.

Golden Era Hall of Fame Starting Pitchers and 2015 Starting Pitcher Candidates on the 2015 Golden Era Ballot, Ranked by fWAR

Pitcher

W-L (S), ERA

bWAR

fWAR

ERA+

ERA–

FIP–

Perry, Gaylord

314–265 (11), 3.11

91.0

103.7

117

85

86

Gibson, Bob

251–174 (6), 2.91

89.9

91.1

127

78

71

Spahn, Warren

363–245 (29), 3.09

92.6

81.2

119

84

94

Niekro, Phil

318–274 (29), 3.35

96.6

80.8

115

86

95

Roberts, Robin

286–245 (25), 3.41

86.0

78.3

113

89

81

Bunning, Jim

224–184 (16), 3.27

59.4

71.4

115

88

88

Marichal, Juan

243–142 (2), 2.89

63.1

69.9

123

81

88

Kaat, Jim

283–237 (18), 3.45

45.3

69.4

108

93

90

Feller, Bob

266–162 (21), 3.25

63.6

69.3

122

82

89

Drysdale, Don

209–166 (6), 2.95

67.2

66.4

121

83

88

Wynn, Early

300–244 (15), 3.54

61.3

62.8

107

94

97

Newhouser, Hal

207–150 (26), 3.06

63.0

62.6

130

76

81

Koufax, Sandy

165–87 (9), 2.76

49.0

57.9

131

75

75

Ford, Whitey

236–106 (10), 2.75

57.3

55.4

133

75

88

Pierce, Billy

211–169 (32), 3.27

53.2

54.7

119

84

90

Tiant, Luis

229–172 (15), 3.30

66.7

53.9

114

87

90

Lemon, Bob

207–128 (22), 3.23

48.8

34.6

119

84

99

When ranked by fWAR, Kaat and Tiant exchange places in the rankings, with Kaat now shouldering alongside Juan Marichal and Bob Feller while Tiant drops just slightly below Pierce, who remains near the bottom in these rankings as well as in the previous rankings by bWAR. Clearly, for some pitchers there are significant differences in valuation between the two WAR methods that can alter perceptions of them. This indicates not only that WAR is not the definitive statistic to assess players but that other evaluation criteria are necessary.

That said, as we have done with the position players previously, the table below lists the fourteen Hall of Fame starting pitchers associated with the Golden Era and 2015 Golden Era starting-pitcher candidates Kaat, Pierce, and Tiant, ranked by bWAR, along with their JAWS statistics and ratings for the Hall of Fame Monitor and the Hall of Fame Standards. Also included are the JAWS statistics for all starting pitchers in the Hall of Fame. And we should keep in mind that a JAWS system based on fWAR would most likely produce different results.

2015 Golden Era Starting Pitcher Candidates, Qualitative Comparisons to Hall of Fame Starting Pitchers (Ranked by bWAR)

Player

No. of Years

From

To

bWAR

WAR7

JAWS

JAWS Rank

HoF Mon.

(≈100)

HoF Std.

(≈50)

Niekro, Phil

24

1964

1987

96.6

54.5

75.6

15

157

52

Spahn, Warren

21

1942

1965

92.6

51.7

75.9

13

260

66

Perry, Gaylord

22

1962

1983

91.0

52.8

71.9

20

177

57

Gibson, Bob

17

1959

1975

89.9

61.6

75.8

14

222

54

Roberts, Robin

19

1948

1966

86.0

54.8

70.4

22

128

47

Ave of 59 HoFers

NA

NA

NA

73.4

50.2

61.8

NA

NA

NA

Drysdale, Don

14

1956

1969

67.2

44.7

55.6

49

134

42

Tiant, Luis

19

1964

1982

66.7

44.6

55.6

51

97

41

Feller, Bob

18

1936

1956

63.6

51.8

57.7

41

180

51

Marichal, Juan

16

1960

1975

63.1

51.9

57.5

43

159

57

Newhouser, Hal

17

1939

1955

63.0

52.5

57.8

40

140

34

Wynn, Early

23

1939

1963

61.3

38.6

50.0

70

141

44

Bunning, Jim

17

1955

1971

59.4

48.9

54.2

57

98

42

Ford, Whitey

16

1950

1967

57.3

34.7

46.0

94

208

56

Pierce, Billy

18

1945

1964

53.2

37.8

45.5

97

82

35

Koufax, Sandy

12

1955

1966

49.0

46.1

47.5

85

227

46

Lemon, Bob

15

1941

1958

48.8

39.0

43.9

110

118

34

Kaat, Jim

25

1959

1983

45.3

38.4

44.9

101

130

44

But if a JAWS system keyed to fWAR were to yield similar results as the existing JAWS system, all three Golden Era pitching candidates would fall below the threshold of the averages of the 59 starting pitchers already in the Hall of Fame. Let's look at the individual candidates more closely.

In 25 seasons, often with mediocre teams, Jim Kaat was a workhorse whose durability netted him 898 career games played (26th all-time) with 625 of those starts (17th all-time), which added up to 4530.1 innings pitched (25th all-time) and earned him 283 wins (31st all-time). Kaat won 15 or more games seven times and 20 or more games three times, including a career-high 25 wins in 1966, which led the American League. That year Kaat also led the AL in games started (41), complete games (19), and innings pitched (304.2), although he did not receive any Cy Young consideration for two related reasons: 1966 was the last year that the award was given to only one pitcher across both leagues, and in 1966 that pitcher happened to be another left-handed starter, the Los Angeles Dodgers' Sandy Koufax, who had probably his best season ever. Kaat did finish fifth in AL Most Valuable Player voting, although 1966 was the year Frank Robinson won the batting Triple Crown in his first year in the American League with the Baltimore Orioles..

Yet Kaat never finished in the top ten for Cy Young voting except once, in 1975, in his age-36 season, when he won 20 games for a Chicago White Sox team that finished in fifth place in the AL West, six games under .500. Kaat finished fourth in AL Cy Young voting, and his record was strong enough to merit a high finish although not enough to claim that that year's winner, the Baltimore Orioles' Jim Palmer, did not deserve the honor. Kaat did win 16 Gold Gloves, the most ever by a pitcher at the time Kaat retired following the 1983 season, although Greg Maddux has since surpassed him. Kaat did win a World Series ring in 1982 with the St. Louis Cardinals, although by then the 43-year-old southpaw was pitching short relief from the bullpen.

There are five modern-era starting pitchers who are within 20 wins of 300 career wins. Three of them—Bert Blyleven, Ferguson Jenkins, and Robin Roberts—are in the Hall of Fame, with only Tommy John and Kaat not in the Hall. Bert Blyleven's career had similarities to Kaat's: Blyleven pitched for a lot of mediocre teams, although he too was a World Series winner (twice, in fact), but apart from delivering greater value—Blyleven's bWAR of 96.5 is 11th-best among all pitchers, and 38th among all players—Blyleven is distinguished among traditional counting statistics as well, ranking ninth all-time in shutouts with 60 (Kaat ranks 103rd with 31), and fifth all-time in strikeouts with 3701 (Kaat ranks 34th with 2461). Fergie Jenkins was not included in our list of Golden Era Hall of Fame pitchers—his career began in 1965, one year after our cutoff based on Luis Tiant's 1964 start—but if he was, he would only add to the deck stacked against Kaat. Jenkins's bWAR of 82.8 is 23rd-best among pitchers and 51st among all players, while his 3192 career strikeouts are 12th all-time and his 49 shutouts are tied for 21st all-time (interestingly enough, tied with Luis Tiant and Hall of Famers Don Drysdale and Early Wynn).

In terms of win-loss record and ERA, Kaat and Robin Roberts are almost identical, but as we've seen in terms of value, either bWAR or fWAR, Roberts is the more valuable pitcher. Roberts ranks 29th all-time in shutouts with 45 and 45th in strikeouts with 2357, behind Kaat by just over 100 strikeouts, and Roberts did pitch almost 160 more innings over his career. In the last analysis, though, Jim Kaat is most similar to Tommy John (whom I detailed at length in my assessment of pitching wins and the Hall of Fame): Like John, Kaat is a compiler, whose career probably would have been shorter had he, like John, not have been a left-handed pitcher. Compared to his Golden Era contemporaries, Jim Kaat is not distinguished enough to be a Hall of Fame pitcher.

Billy Pierce is the definite dark-horse candidate among the three pitchers, as his name does not carry the same recognition as does Kaat's or Tiant's. Pierce was the left-handed ace of the "Go-Go" Chicago White Sox teams of the 1950s, and he tangled often with a more celebrated southpaw, Whitey Ford of the New York Yankees, so it is fitting that Pierce and Ford should be so closely aligned in the tables above. Those 1950s White Sox teams are usually regarded as underdogs, particularly in relation to the Yankees dynasty of the period, but from 1952 to 1960 the White Sox never finished below third place in the American League and took the pennant in 1959, losing the World Series to the Dodgers in six games. In that nine-year period Pierce led the AL in strikeouts (186) in 1953, in earned run average (1.97) in 1955, in wins (20) in 1957, and in complete games in three consecutive years from 1956 to 1958. Pierce won 15 or more games eight times, and 20 games twice, in back-to-back years (1956 and 1957). Pierce finished among Cy Young candidates once, in 1962, his first year with the San Francisco Giants; he placed third with a 16–6 record and a 3.49 ERA, but he was hardly robbed by Don Drysdale's winning campaign, and Pierce's finish is noteworthy as in 1962 the Cy Young was awarded only to one pitcher across both leagues.

Would Billy Pierce have looked like a more effective pitcher had he been on a stronger club? That is difficult to say. During his 13 years with the White Sox, from 1949 to 1961, he received run support on an average of 4.2 runs per game in games he started; that was the same run support he received during the innings that he actually pitched; meanwhile, the Major League averages were 4.4 for both run support per game and for the innings a pitcher pitched. By contrast, Ford received 4.8 runs in both categories. Pierce had 241 of his total of 260 quality starts, or starts in which he pitched at least six innings while allowing three or fewer earned runs, with the White Sox, which represented 62 percent of his 390 starts with the White Sox. Ford, who had spent his entire career with the Yankees, pitched 282 quality starts in 438 total games started, a 64 percent ratio. With the White Sox, Pierce endured 60 "tough losses," or losses of games in which he had a quality start; those 60 tough losses with the White Sox account for all but one of his 61 career tough losses. And while Pierce left 16 games in which he had the lead and seemed in line for the win, but the bullpen then blew the lead, that same bullpen saved 40 games in which Pierce was slated to be awarded the loss but the White Sox then rallied offensively to tie the score. For Ford, he endured just 39 tough losses while he left 20 games with the lead that was subsequently lost by his bullpen, a bullpen that also rescued Ford from a potential loss a whopping 61 times.

Pierce may have won the ERA title in 1955 with that 1.97 ERA, but he posted an ERA under 3.00 only three other times in seasons in which he pitched at least 50 innings. His career ERA is 3.27; however, his career FIP is 3.50, nearly a quarter-run higher than his career ERA, indicating help from his fielders to keep the other team from scoring, and indeed he posted a sub-3.00 FIP in only three seasons, including a 2.83 in 1955, the same season in which he recorded that 1.97 ERA—nearly a full run lower than his 2.83 FIP, and suggesting a lot of help from those "Go-Go" White Sox fielders. Similarly, Pierce posted an ERA+ of 140 or better only three times in seasons of 50 or more innings pitched while posting an ERA+ of 110 or worse eight times. His career ERA+ of 119 is respectable, and that sums up Billy Pierce's career: Respectable, but not a Hall of Fame career.

A star pitcher for the Boston Red Sox in the 1970s, underscored when he started three of the seven games in the vaunted 1975 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds, Luis Tiant battled injuries throughout his career yet still compiled an excellent career record—although one that positions him squarely on the threshold of the Hall of Fame: He is not an obvious Hall of Fame pitcher, yet neither can his record be easily dismissed.

Tiant came up with the Cleveland Indians primarily as a starting pitcher, although in 1966 he was used as a spot starter 16 times in 46 total appearances and still managed to tie (with eight other pitchers) for the major-league lead in shutouts with five while also notching eight saves. In 1968, Tiant led the American League in shutouts with nine as he posted an outstanding record of 21 wins against only nine losses (a .700 winning percentage) and, more significantly, he led the AL in ERA with 1.60, the lowest mark in the league during the live-ball era as he struck out 264 batters in 258.1 innings pitched, a strikeouts-per-nine-innings pitched of 9.2, against only 73 bases on balls for an excellent 3.27 strikeouts-to-walks ratio. Tiant finished fifth in AL Most Valuable Player voting that year, and he may have had a bit better year than MVP winner Denny McLain, the Detroit Tigers pitcher who remains the last 30-game winner in MLB history as he won 31 games in 1968—McLain, not surprisingly, also won the AL Cy Young Award—although in retrospect, Tiant's teammate Carl Yastrzemski may have been the most valuable player in terms of bWAR.

Part of Tiant's ascendancy stemmed from the change in his delivery, enacted to compensate for a shoulder injury, that resulted in his distinctive half-turn, looking directly at second base, before turning back to deliver the ball to the plate. But 1968 was also "the year of the pitcher"—apart from McLain, the St. Louis Cardinals' Bob Gibson had a historic season, going 22–9 with 13 shutouts and with the lowest ERA ever recorded by a starting pitcher in the live-ball era, a miniscule 1.12—and 1968 was the last year the pitching mound was 15 inches high. In 1969, the mound was lowered to 10 inches, and the strike zone contracted, both moves instituted to boost offense, which had been flagging throughout the 1960s. (In 1968, Yastrzemski led the AL in batting with a .301 average, the only AL hitter who qualified for the batting title to hit .300 or better.) And although injuries have been offered as the reason why Tiant's performance suffered in 1969 (even if he did start five more games than he had in 1968), it is curious that he did in fact experience a reversal in 1969, practically inverting his win-loss record, winning just nine games while leading the majors in losses with 20, while his ERA more than doubled to 3.71 as he also led the majors in home runs allowed (37) and in walks allowed (129, the only time Tiant posted triple digits in this category).

Dealt to the Minnesota Twins, Tiant began strongly but soon fractured his shoulder blade and started only 17 games in 1970. Dropped by the Twins in 1971, the Red Sox took a chance on Tiant; they stuck with him through an awful season, and they were rewarded the following year. As a spot starter, starting 19 of his 43 appearances, Tiant won 15 games while losing only six (a .714 winning percentage) as he led the AL—and the majors—in ERA with a 1.91 mark, the second time he posted a sub-2.00 ERA. By 1973 his was in the starting rotation almost exclusively and would remain there through his 1980 season. With the Red Sox, Tiant won 20 or more games three times and finished in the top ten for Cy Young voting three times between 1972 and 1976, leading the AL in shutouts in 1974 with seven.

And while his 1975 campaign may not have been as strong as the other four during this five-year halcyon period—plagued by back problems, he posted an 18–14 record with a 4.02 ERA, although his FIP of 3.62 suggests that his defense might not have been as supportive as perhaps it should have been—Tiant was regarded as the staff ace for the Red Sox: He started Game One of the AL Championship Series against the Oakland Athletics, the three-time defending world champions, and allowed only one unearned run in a complete-game victory as the Red Sox went on to sweep the A's in three games and face the Reds in one of the greatest World Series ever.

Tiant shone in Game One of the Series, hurling a five-hit shutout in Boston's Fenway Park, and picked up another complete-game win in Game Four with a 5–4 victory in Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium. Then, following rains that delayed the start of Game Six back in Boston, Tiant got the start on full rest; staked to a first-inning three-run home run by Fred Lynn, Tiant cruised until the fifth inning, when he allowed the Reds to tie the game; they took the lead in the seventh, and after giving up a lead-off home run by Cesar Geronimo to lead off the eighth, Tiant was pulled. The Red Sox tied the game in the bottom half of the inning on Bernie Carbo's memorable pinch-hit, three-run blast, although that would be overshadowed by Carlton Fisk's twelfth-inning homer, which forced a Game Seven, and which remains one of the most famous home runs ever hit.

After a decent 1978 season, in his age-37 year, Tiant spent two years with the New York Yankees before finishing his career with a season each for the Pittsburgh Pirates and the (then-) California Angels.

Luis Tiant is poised on the cusp of greatness: As we have seen, his qualitative numbers are just under the threshold of those already in the Hall of Fame. His counting numbers are impressive but not remarkable; he ranks 21st in shutouts (49), 39th in strikeouts (2416), 64th in wins (229), and 157th in complete games (187). Tiant had an excellent five-year run with Red Sox from 1972 to 1976, all the more impressive for occurring between his age-31 and age-35 seasons, but he was never a dominant starter. Luis Tiant is certainly a better candidate than our other two Golden Era pitchers Jim Kaat (whose sheer longevity enabled him to amass his counting numbers) and Billy Pierce, but in the last analysis Tiant falls short of the Hall of Fame.

Last modified on Saturday, 13 June 2015 13:33

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