By Tom Ruane
Among people who take their baseball analysis seriously, pitching wins and losses are not a fashionable statistic. They argue that there are a host of better metrics for evaluating pitchers (ERA+, FIP and so on), and they certainly have a point. Still, I suspect that even they are not immune to the simple charms of a won-loss line, and would be much more likely to watch a meaningless season-ending game if one of the starting pitchers began the day with nineteen rather than eighteen wins.
For the most part, wins and losses are pretty straightforward and understandable. If you were the last pitcher on the mound for your team when they take the lead for good, you get the win. If you are charged with the last go-ahead run, you lose. Oh, things can get complicated if the first pitcher for the winning team fails to last five innings, but even then, the situation is almost always pretty clear-cut.
It wasn't always that way. There was a time when the rules weren't so straightforward, when official scorers (and sometimes even league presidents) could be creative in their choices of winners and losers. Or could they?
In the spring of 1916, John Heydler, the Secretary of the National League, sent a letter of instructions to his official scorers. In the section entitled "Basic Rules for Determining Games Won and Lost Where Two or More Pitchers Participate on a Side," he wrote:
"While it is not possible to make hard and fast rules for determining which pitcher should be credited with winning, or charged with the loss of a game, yet there are certain fundamental rules in arriving at a decision which have stood the test of criticism and which are as follows:
"1. When one pitcher is relieved by another with runners on bases, charge up all such runners, in case they score, to the first pitcher. The relieving pitcher, coming into the game 'cold,' and possibly in the midst of a batting rally, cannot be held responsible for runners he may find on the bases; nor should he be charged up with the first batsman he faces reaching first if such batsman had any advantage because of the wild pitching of the first pitcher.
"2. Where the relieving pitcher goes in with the score tied on even innings, he must win or lose the game, regardless of the number of innings or how effectively the first pitcher may have pitched. If the first pitcher is relieved with the score in his favor,and later the score is tied up off second pitcher, then the latter wins or loses. A tie game at any stage (with no one on bases) must be considered tor all intents and purposes the start of a new game for the second pitcher.
"3. Where the first pitcher is retired after pitching. say, seven innings, he is entitled to the benefit of all runs by his side in an equal number of innings. For instance, Brown of the home club has pitched seven innings, with the score 2 to 0 against him. He is taken out when his turn at bat comes in the seventh. Before close of that inning his team has scored two runs. Brown retires with the game a tie, and the next pitcher becomes responsible.
"4. Do not give the first pitcher credit for a game won, even if score is in his favor, unless he has pitched at least the first half of the game. A pitcher retired at close of fourth inning, with the score 2 to 1 in his favor, has not a won game. If, however, he is taken out because of his team having secured a commanding and winning lead in a few innings, then he is entitled to the win. The good judgement of the scorer must determine in such cases, as much depend on whether the pitcher is relieved because of ineffectiveness, or because he has a commanding lead, or because it becomes necessary, at a critical stage, to replace him by a stronger batsman.
"5. Regardless of how many innings the first pitcher may have pitched, he is charged with the loss of the game, if he is retired with the score against him, and his team is unable thereafter either to tie or overcome that lead."1
For the most part, this is a pretty modern view. The basic areas of difference between his letter and the practices of today are:
1) It seems as if he doesn't think a visiting pitcher should get credit for any runs scored in the top half of an inning if he doesn't at least take the mound for the start of the bottom half, and
2) He has no problem awarding a victory to a pitcher making a short start as long as the pitcher was removed because of his team's commanding lead and not due to ineffectiveness.
I give the modern rules a split decision over Heydler here. Giving the visiting starter credit for any runs scored before another pitcher takes the mound for his team makes more sense than what his letter described. But the modern rule requiring that a starter pitch at least five innings is not really an improvement over the common sense approach outlined above. Why should a relief pitcher be able to retire a single batter and pick up a win, while an effective starter is not worthy if he retires with a fat lead after four innings?
But these differences don't begin to explain some of things we see once we start examining the decisions of the official scorers during these years and there are two reasons for this. First, not all official scorers in the National League paid attention to those directions. The other reason? Ban Johnson.
Ban Johnson, the president of the American League from its inception until 1927, didn't like pitching wins and losses. That didn't prevent him from having strong opinions on the subject, however, opinions that were often unpopular. On August 26, 1912, Walter Johnson came on in relief of Tom Hughes in the top of the seventh with two men on, one out and Washington holding a 3-2 lead. Johnson struck out the first batter he faced before giving up a two-run single. Another strikeout ended the inning, but the Browns now had a 4-3 lead they would not relinquish.
Today, both runs in that inning, as well as the loss, would have been charged to Hughes. But Ban Johnson ruled that the runs and loss should be the responsibility of the reliever. Since this questionable loss broke Johnson's American League record sixteen game winning streak, the ruling was very unpopular in Washington. According to the Washington Post: "Washington fans are slow to accept President Johnson's decision in the Walter Johnson case of Monday, and probably will resent it during their lifetime...."
It didn't help that when John Heydler was asked for his opinion, he responded that the "Rule invariably followed by me holds pitcher responsible for all runners on bases when he retires from game, and first pitcher, therefore, must be charged with the defeat. It is an unfair proposition, under such conditions, to expect the second pitcher to prevent runs."2
It became less of an issue when Walter proceeded to lose his next four starts, but the league president's intercession at the expense of his namesake, as well as the reaction to it, were not forgotten.
Ban would make it up to Walter the following July 16th, when he awarded the pitcher a win he wouldn't have gotten today. This time, the league president was following the policy outlined in Heydler's earlier note, and did not give the previous reliever, who departed in the bottom of the eighth inning, the benefit of the decisive runs scored in the top of the next inning. The pitcher who would have won the had not Johnson interceded? Tom Hughes, the pitcher saved from a loss the previous August.
By that time, Ban Johnson had already instructed his official scorers to stop awarding pitching wins and losses. A practice that continued until 1919. So where did the wins and losses for these missing years come from? Well, Baseball Guides and newspaper continued to publish unofficial totals, and then during the 1960s, ICI, Information Concepts Incorporated, the group responsible for the first edition of the Macmillan Baseball Encyclopedia, went through the official dailies, assigning wins and losses on the sheets. And when I say "on the sheets," I mean just that: they marked up the originals of the fifty-year old dailies.
So much for the preamble. This article will document three classes of pitching decisions:
1) starting pitchers who were credited with the win despite being gone by the time their team took their last lead,
2) starting pitchers who were not credited with the win despite pitching at least five innings and leaving with a lead his team would not lose, and
3) losing pitchers who didn't give up the run that cost their team the game. Note: this will not include games like the Walter Johnson loss described above because he was charged with the inherited runners who scored.
First things first. From 1916 to 1949, there were 31 instances of a starting pitcher getting a win in games in which he had been replaced on the mound before his team took the lead for good. Here are the games, the winning pitcher ("Winner"), his won-loss record that season, the pitcher who normally would have received credit for the victory ("Unwinner"), and his record:
Game Team Oppon Winner W L Unwinner W L 4-22-1916 CHI N CIN N Tom Seaton 6 6 Jimmy Lavender 10 14 6-16-1916 CHI A BOS A Lefty Williams 13 7 Jim Scott 7 14 6-22-1916(2) BRO N PHI N Sherry Smith 14 10 Wheezer Dell 8 9 6-25-1916(2) STL A DET A Bob Groom 13 9 Ernie Koob 11 8 7- 1-1916(2) STL N CHI N Red Ames 11 16 Lee Meadows 12 23 7-15-1916 DET A NY A Hooks Dauss 19 12 Bernie Boland 10 3 8- 7-1916 STL A WAS A Carl Weilman 17 18 Bob Groom 13 9 8-13-1916 DET A CHI A Bill James 8 12 Harry Coveleski 21 11 8-13-1916 CLE A STL A Otis Lambeth 4 4 Jim Bagby 16 17 9-15-1916 CLE A PHI A Ken Penner 1 1 Pop-boy Smith 1 2 o 9-21-1916 CLE A WAS A Pop-boy Smith 1 2 Al Gould 5 6 o 9-30-1916(2) CHI A CLE A Lefty Williams 13 7 Eddie Cicotte 15 7 5-16-1918 PHI A CLE A Vean Gregg 9 14 Scott Perry 20 19 9-26-1919 NY N BOS N Rosy Ryan 1 2 Jean Dubuc 6 4 f 9-12-1920 BOS A STL A Waite Hoyt 6 6 Bullet Joe Bush 15 15 6- 3-1921 BOS A CLE A Allen Russell 6 11 Herb Pennock 13 14 7- 7-1921(2) DET A CHI A Red Oldham 11 14 Jim Middleton 6 11 5- 3-1922 STL N CIN N Bill Doak 11 13 Lou North 10 3 5-27-1924(1) STL N CIN N Jeff Pfeffer 9 8 Bill Doak 13 6 8-10-1924 STL A PHI A Dave Danforth 15 12 Elam Vangilder 5 10 9- 5-1926 CHI N PIT N Bob Osborn 6 5 Walt Huntzinger 1 5 8-19-1928 DET A WAS A Vic Sorrell 8 11 George Smith 1 1 5-23-1930 PHI N NY N Ray Benge 11 15 Phil Collins 16 11 7-18-1930 NY N STL N Pete Donohue 8 9 Joe Heving 7 5 8- 9-1930 STL N BRO N Flint Rhem 12 8 Bill Hallahan 15 9 4-18-1931 STL N CHI N Bill Hallahan 19 9 Paul Derringer 18 8 7-14-1931 STL N BRO N Jesse Haines 12 3 Jim Lindsey 6 4 5-12-1933 PHI N CHI N Jack Berly 2 3 Phil Collins 8 13 6-21-1933 PHI N CIN N Cy Moore 8 9 Snipe Hansen 6 14 7-29-1933 NY N BOS N F.Fitzsimmons 16 11 Hi Bell 6 5 6-27-1934 STL N NY N Dizzy Dean 30 7 Jim Mooney 2 4 f - first major league win o - first and only major league win
And here are the 28 starters who under modern rules should have been credited with a win (pitched at least five innings and left with a lead his team would not relinquish) but weren't:
Game Team Oppon Unwinner W L Winner W L 4-16-1916 STL A CHI A Carl Weilman 17 18 Eddie Plank 16 15 5- 7-1916 CLE A CHI A Fritz Coumbe 7 5 Willie Mitchell 9 10 v 5-30-1916(1) CHI A DET A Lefty Williams 13 7 Reb Russell 18 11 v 6- 4-1916 CHI A NY A Reb Russell 18 11 Red Faber 17 9 6-11-1916 CHI A WAS A Jim Scott 7 14 Reb Russell 18 11 6-18-1916 BOS A CHI A Ernie Shore 16 10 Carl Mays 18 13 v 6-22-1916 CLE A DET A Stan Coveleski 15 13 Fritz Coumbe 7 5 v 8-14-1916 WAS A BOS A Bert Gallia 17 13 Joe Boehling 11 15 v 9- 1-1916 BOS N NY N Pat Ragan 9 9 Tom Hughes 16 3 9-17-1916 CLE A NY A Pop-boy Smith 1 2 Joe Boehling 11 15 9-21-1916 NY A STL A Urban Shocker 4 3 Bob Shawkey 24 14 v 9-24-1916 CLE A BOS A Joe Boehling 11 15 Jim Bagby 16 17 h 9-28-1919 DET A CHI A Doc Ayers 5 9 Slim Love 6 4 v 8-14-1923(2) CHI N BOS N Vic Keen 12 8 Nick Dumovich 3 5 9- 7-1923 DET A CLE A Hooks Dauss 21 13 Ray Francis 5 8 v 8-13-1925 STL A PHI A Milt Gaston 15 14 Elam Vangilder 14 8 v 8- 2-1927(2) CIN N BRO N Ray Kolp 3 3 Dolf Luque 13 12 7-28-1928(1) WAS A CHI A Lloyd Brown 4 4 Firpo Marberry 13 13 v 6-13-1930 CIN N BRO N Jakie May 3 11 Archie Campbell 2 4 f 4-25-1933 CIN N CHI N Benny Frey 6 4 Ray Kolp 6 9 h 7-13-1933 PHI N CIN N John Jackson 2 2 Phil Collins 8 13 8- 6-1933(2) NY N BRO N Roy Parmelee 13 8 Dolf Luque 8 2 7- 8-1934(1) PIT N CHI N Larry French 12 18 Ralph Birkofer 11 12 v 8-21-1936 DET A CHI A Schoolboy Rowe 19 10 Roxie Lawson 8 6 5-13-1940 BRO N PHI N Hugh Casey 11 8 Vito Tamulis 8 5 h 8-26-1941(1) NY N CIN N Bill McGee 2 10 Hal Schumacher 12 10 8-18-1944 PHI A STL A Don Black 10 12 Joe Berry 10 8 h 4-20-1948 BRO N NY N Rex Barney 15 13 Hugh Casey 3 0 v v - visiting team went ahead for good when pitcher was removed for a pinch-hitter. h - home team went ahead for good when pitcher was removed for a pinch-hitter. f - first major league win
So what can we say about these lists? Well, I noticed one thing immediately: a LOT of these games (24 of 59) took place in 1916. And the overwhelming majority of those (20 of 24) involved American League teams. Much of this had to do with Ban Johnson's opinion of pitching wins and losses, but he had pretty much the same opinion in 1917, and that year had exactly zero of these questionable wins. I'm not sure why there is such a big difference between 1916 and 1917.
There were other clusters of note. In the second half of September 1916, there were five questionable win assignments during Cleveland Indians' games. And three of those involved Pop-boy Smith. He made his season debut on September 15th, entering a tie game in the top of the eighth inning and holding the Athletics scoreless until he could knock in the winning run with one out in the bottom of the ninth. So who got credit for the victory? Ken Penner, the starting pitcher. Two days later, he made his first start of the season, leaving the game in the seventh, having squandered most (but not all) of what had once been a 9-1 lead. When Joe Boehling held the opposition scoreless in the eighth and ninth, he was rewarded with the 9-7 win. Smith's third appearance came on September 21st. He pitched well, but left the game after nine innings with the score tied at two. The Indians eventually won the game in the thirteenth, after Al Gould had pitched four scoreless innings. Who was credited with that win? Well, Smith of course.
So in each of his first three games of that season, Smith was either denied or given a victory because of the peculiar scoring practices of the day. But were they really so peculiar? What was the justification for those decisions? Well, in the first and third games, the feeling was that the pitcher who threw the most innings in the game, barring a large difference in their relative effectiveness, was most responsible for the team's victory and so should be rewarded with the win regardless of the timing of the run support. And in the second game, Boehling was rewarded for performing better in his two innings than Smith had in his six and a third.
In an 1982 article in "The National Pastime," Frank J. Williams discussed the scoring practices of the Deadball Era and came up with a set of eleven practices that were different than what we do today. Apart from the first practice (the starting pitcher didn't need to go five innings to get credit for the win), all of the rest fall into the same category: regardless of when each team took or lost the lead, the league officials were free to grant a win to the pitcher they felt was most responsible for the win and charge the loss to the pitcher who was most responsible for the loss.3
The last questionable win given to an American League starter came in 1928. The nine after that all occurred in the senior circuit, five of those involving the Cardinals. The last one occurred on June 27, 1934 and the beneficiary was Dizzy Dean. I must admit that one of the things I was looking for when I did this research were pitchers who either reached or were denied milestone wins due to these decisions. And if you scan the records of the winners and unwinners above, you'll see there was only one, but it was (as my mother used to say) a doozy.
Of course, there's no way to know how a different scoring decision would have altered the rest of the season (and that's one of the hazards of attempting to "correct" things like this), but I think it's safe to say that his distinction of being the last National League pitcher to win as many as thirty games in a season would have a rather large asterisk alongside it if this game had occurred in late September rather than June. As it was, it gave Dean his twelfth win of the season, and by the time he had racked up his thirtieth victory three months later, few still remembered this game.
By the way, the funny stuff officially stopped in 1950, when the rules committee outlined rules for determining wins and losses and decided to enforce them.
So much for the questionable winners. Here are the sore losers, pitchers who got tagged with the defeat in a game despite not giving up the final go-ahead run. Note: this won't flag games like Walter Johnson's loss that ended his 1912 winning streak, games in which inherited runners are charged against the pitcher who let them score and not the pitcher responsible for putting them on base in the first place.
This is a long list, and actually includes one game after the rules were clarified in 1950. I suspect that a few of the games below owe their appearance to errors in the box score events files, but I'm confident that the vast majority of them are legitimate.
Game Team Oppon Unloser W L Loser W L 4-21-1916 CHI A DET A Jim Scott 7 14 Dave Danforth 6 5 4-21-1916 WAS A NY A Bert Gallia 17 13 George Dumont 2 3 4-27-1916 PHI A WAS A Elmer Myers 14 23 Rube Bressler 0 2 4-28-1916 PHI A WAS A Cap Crowell 0 5 Jack Nabors 1 20 4-29-1916 CLE A DET A Fritz Coumbe 7 5 Stan Coveleski 15 13 5- 2-1916 PHI N BOS N George Chalmers 1 4 Al Demaree 19 14 5- 9-1916 CIN N CHI N Al Schulz 8 19 Pete Schneider 10 19 5-13-1916 CHI A BOS A Reb Russell 18 11 Jim Scott 7 14 5-15-1916 DET A WAS A Jean Dubuc 10 10 Harry Coveleski 21 11 5-21-1916 CHI N PHI N George McConnell 4 12 Jimmy Lavender 10 14 5-22-1916 CHI N PHI N Tom Seaton 6 6 Claude Hendrix 8 16 6-10-1916 WAS A CHI A George Dumont 2 3 Jim Shaw 3 8 6-16-1916 BOS A CHI A Rube Foster 14 7 Vean Gregg 2 5 6-26-1916(1) BRO N NY N Sherry Smith 14 10 Duster Mails 0 1 6-26-1916(1) PHI N BOS N Chief Bender 7 7 Eppa Rixey 22 10 6-28-1916(1) CHI N PIT N Hippo Vaughn 17 15 Jimmy Lavender 10 14 7-10-1916 STL N PHI N Steamboat Williams 6 7 Hi Jasper 5 6 7-20-1916(1) CHI A WAS A Reb Russell 18 11 Eddie Cicotte 15 7 7-23-1916 DET A CHI A George Cunningham 7 10 Jean Dubuc 10 10 8- 1-1916 NY A STL A Allen Russell 6 10 George Mogridge 6 12 8- 3-1916 BOS A STL A Carl Mays 18 13 Dutch Leonard 18 12 8- 4-1916(2) CHI A WAS A Joe Benz 9 5 Lefty Williams 13 7 8-13-1916 CHI A DET A Lefty Williams 13 7 Jim Scott 7 14 8-19-1916 STL A WAS A Ernie Koob 11 8 Earl Hamilton 6 9 8-22-1916(2) PHI N PIT N George McQuillan 1 7 Chief Bender 7 7 8-23-1916 CHI A NY A Red Faber 17 9 Reb Russell 18 11 9- 7-1916 CLE A CHI A Guy Morton 12 6 Jim Bagby 16 17 9-16-1916(1) CHI N PHI N Paul Carter 2 2 Jimmy Lavender 10 14 9-30-1916(2) WAS A PHI A Claude Thomas 1 2 Jim Shaw 3 8 4-19-1917 CHI A STL A Reb Russell 15 5 Jim Scott 6 7 5-22-1917 CHI N PHI N Vic Aldridge 6 6 Tom Seaton 5 4 5-26-1917 STL A BOS A Dave Davenport 17 17 Earl Hamilton 0 9 6- 5-1917 CLE A BOS A Guy Morton 10 10 Al Gould 4 4 6-18-1917(1) CHI A BOS A Lefty Williams 17 8 Dave Danforth 11 6 7- 1-1917 PHI N BRO N Eppa Rixey 16 21 Jimmy Lavender 6 8 7- 2-1917 CHI N CIN N Tom Seaton 5 4 Mike Prendergast 3 6 7-12-1917(2) NY A CHI A Nick Cullop 5 9 Bob Shawkey 13 15 7-15-1917 CHI A WAS A Dave Danforth 11 6 Lefty Williams 17 8 7-18-1917(1) BOS N PIT N Jesse Barnes 13 21 Lefty Tyler 14 12 7-20-1917 BOS A CHI A Herb Pennock 5 5 Rube Foster 8 7 7-30-1917 BOS N CHI N Pat Ragan 6 9 Frank Allen 3 10 8-11-1917 BRO N CHI N Jack Coombs 7 11 Rube Marquard 19 12 8-18-1917(1) BOS A CLE A Herb Pennock 5 5 Dutch Leonard 16 17 8-18-1917(2) CLE A BOS A Otis Lambeth 7 6 Guy Morton 10 10 8-27-1917 STL N PHI N Bill Doak 16 20 Oscar Horstmann 9 4 9-21-1917 PHI A CLE A Bullet Joe Bush 11 17 Rube Schauer 7 16 4-26-1918 STL N CHI N Red Ames 9 14 Bill Sherdel 6 12 5- 2-1918 CIN N CHI N Snipe Conley 2 0 Mike Regan 5 5 5- 7-1918 CIN N STL N Hod Eller 16 12 Rube Bressler 8 5 5- 8-1918 BOS A WAS A Carl Mays 21 13 Bullet Joe Bush 15 15 5- 8-1918 STL N CIN N Lee Meadows 8 14 Jakie May 5 6 6-24-1918 STL N CHI N Jakie May 5 6 Lee Meadows 8 14 7-16-1918 BOS N STL N Dick Rudolph 9 10 Pat Ragan 8 17 8- 8-1918 STL N BOS N Bill Doak 9 15 Bill Sherdel 6 12 4-28-1919 PHI N BRO N Mike Prendergast 0 1 Frank Woodward 9 14 5-15-1919 DET A NY A Rudy Kallio 0 0 Willie Mitchell 1 2 5-20-1919 STL N PHI N Bill Sherdel 5 9 Marv Goodwin 11 9 5-31-1919 CLE A CHI A Guy Morton 9 9 Tom Phillips 3 2 6- 2-1919 STL N CIN N Jakie May 3 12 Lee Meadows 12 20 6-13-1919 NY A DET A Jack Quinn 15 14 George Mogridge 10 9 7-12-1919 CHI A BOS A Dave Danforth 1 2 Dickey Kerr 13 7 7-25-1919 WAS A PHI A Ed Gill 1 1 Eric Erickson 6 13 7-25-1919 PHI N BRO N Brad Hogg 5 12 Gene Packard 6 8 9-15-1919 PHI N CHI N George Smith 5 13 Lee Meadows 12 20 5- 8-1920 STL A DET A Bill Burwell 6 4 Hod Leverette 0 2 6-19-1920 NY A CHI A Jack Quinn 18 10 George Mogridge 5 9 6-22-1920 NY N CHI N Jesse Barnes 20 15 Rube Benton 9 16 7-13-1920 PHI A CLE A Eddie Rommel 7 7 Dave Keefe 6 7 8- 4-1920 NY A CHI A Rip Collins 14 8 George Mogridge 5 9 8-11-1920 WAS A CHI A Tom Zachary 15 16 Eric Erickson 12 16 9-19-1920 PHI A CHI A Scott Perry 11 25 Eddie Rommel 7 7 5-23-1921 CHI A WAS A Dickey Kerr 19 17 Lum Davenport 0 3 5-27-1921 STL A CLE A Bill Burwell 2 4 Dixie Davis 16 16 5-31-1921 CHI A STL A Shovel Hodge 6 8 Lum Davenport 0 3 6- 2-1922 CHI N CIN N Buck Freeman 0 1 Tony Kaufmann 7 13 6- 8-1922 CHI N NY N George Stueland 9 4 Vic Aldridge 16 15 7-22-1922 CHI N BRO N Tiny Osborne 9 5 Virgil Cheeves 12 11 8- 4-1922(1) NY N CHI N Claude Jonnard 6 1 Hugh McQuillan 11 15 8-15-1922 BOS A CHI A Rip Collins 14 11 Herb Pennock 10 17 8-29-1922 DET A CHI A Ole Olsen 7 6 Red Oldham 10 13 9- 4-1922(1) WAS A PHI A Walter Johnson 15 16 Ray Francis 7 18 9- 5-1922(2) DET A CHI A Ole Olsen 7 6 Syl Johnson 7 3 9- 6-1922 CHI A DET A Lum Davenport 1 1 Charlie Robertson 14 15 9-18-1922(2) PIT N PHI N Johnny Morrison 17 11 Earl Hamilton 11 7 5- 9-1923 PHI A STL A Rollie Naylor 12 7 Walt Kinney 0 1 6- 2-1923 PHI N NY N Ralph Head 2 9 Bill Hubbell 1 6 6-29-1923 STL N CHI N Clyde Barfoot 3 3 Jesse Haines 20 13 7-12-1923 BOS N STL N Tim McNamara 3 13 Dick Rudolph 1 2 8-28-1923 DET A WAS A Herman Pillette 14 19 Ray Francis 5 8 9-14-1923 WAS A DET A Allen Russell 10 7 Tom Zachary 10 16 5-16-1924 CHI N NY N Vic Keen 15 14 Sheriff Blake 6 6 7- 2-1924(1) NY A PHI A Waite Hoyt 18 13 Bullet Joe Bush 17 16 7- 6-1924 WAS A NY A Firpo Marberry 11 12 John Martina 6 8 7- 8-1924 CHI N BRO N Elmer Jacobs 11 12 Vic Aldridge 15 12 9- 2-1924(2) DET A CHI A Dutch Leonard 3 2 Lil Stoner 11 11 9-11-1924 PHI N BRO N Lefty Weinert 0 1 Hal Carlson 8 17 5-13-1925 STL N BRO N Bill Hallahan 1 0 Pea Ridge Day 2 4 6-18-1925 WAS A STL A Dutch Ruether 18 7 Firpo Marberry 9 5 6-23-1925 NY A WAS A Urban Shocker 12 12 Alex Ferguson 9 5 7- 9-1925 CHI A WAS A Ted Lyons 21 11 Sarge Connally 6 7 7-17-1925 PHI N CHI N Johnny Couch 5 6 Jack Knight 7 6 4-29-1926 STL N CHI N Jesse Haines 13 4 Duster Mails 0 1 6-24-1926 CLE A CHI A Garland Buckeye 6 9 Dutch Levsen 16 13 7- 1-1926 DET A CLE A Augie Johns 6 4 Sam Gibson 12 9 8- 5-1926 BOS A CHI A Tony Welzer 4 3 Red Ruffing 6 15 9- 1-1926 PHI A NY A Lefty Grove 13 13 Sam Gray 11 12 4-20-1927 NY A PHI A Wilcy Moore 19 7 Urban Shocker 18 6 7-13-1927(2) WAS A DET A Garland Braxton 10 9 Sloppy Thurston 13 13 8- 2-1927 WAS A DET A Walter Johnson 5 6 Garland Braxton 10 9 8-20-1927(1) CHI N BOS N Hal Carlson 16 13 Charlie Root 26 15 4-28-1928 STL A CHI A Ernie Nevers 1 0 General Crowder 21 5 6-22-1928(1) DET A STL A Lil Stoner 5 8 Vic Sorrell 8 11 6-26-1928(2) PIT N CHI N Bill Burwell 1 0 Johnny Miljus 5 7 7-25-1928(2) NY A DET A Myles Thomas 1 0 Hank Johnson 14 9 7-26-1928(2) NY A DET A Hank Johnson 14 9 Wilcy Moore 4 4 8-25-1928(1) PHI A CHI A Lefty Grove 24 8 Howard Ehmke 9 8 8-25-1928(1) WAS A CLE A Sad Sam Jones 17 7 Firpo Marberry 13 13 5-15-1929 PHI A DET A Ossie Orwoll 0 2 Rube Walberg 18 11 6-10-1929 BOS N CHI N Bunny Hearn 2 0 Art Delaney 3 5 6-16-1929 PHI A CLE A Ossie Orwoll 0 2 Bill Shores 11 6 6-25-1929(2) BOS N PHI N Art Delaney 3 5 Johnny Cooney 2 3 8-10-1929 CHI A BOS A Bob Weiland 2 4 Ed Walsh 6 11 9-24-1929 BRO N PHI N Johnny Morrison 13 7 Watty Clark 16 19 5-21-1930(1) NY A PHI A Hank Johnson 14 11 Roy Sherid 12 13 5-30-1930(2) PHI N BRO N Harry Smythe 0 3 Ray Benge 11 15 7- 7-1930 PHI N NY N Hap Collard 6 12 Snipe Hansen 0 7 7-23-1930 CHI N NY N Bob Osborn 10 6 Sheriff Blake 10 14 9-16-1930 PIT N PHI N Jim Mosolf 0 0 Spades Wood 4 3 8- 5-1931 CIN N CHI N Si Johnson 11 19 Ray Kolp 4 9 8-12-1931(2) NY A CLE A Ed Wells 9 5 Hank Johnson 13 8 8-13-1931 BOS A STL A Jack Russell 10 18 Wilcy Moore 11 13 4-23-1932 CIN N CHI N Biff Wysong 1 0 Whitey Hilcher 0 3 5-19-1932 BRO N PIT N Jack Quinn 3 7 Joe Shaute 7 7 8-18-1932 BOS N CHI N Huck Betts 13 11 Socks Seibold 3 10 7-23-1933 BRO N NY N Joe Shaute 3 4 Boom-Boom Beck 12 20 8-11-1935(1) CIN N PIT N Si Johnson 5 11 Tony Freitas 5 10 4-30-1936 STL A PHI A Earl Caldwell 7 16 Sugar Cain 15 11 7- 9-1937 CIN N STL N Gene Schott 4 13 Lee Grissom 12 17 8-22-1937(2) PIT N STL N Jim Weaver 8 5 Ed Brandt 11 10 8- 5-1938 DET A BOS A Harry Eisenstat 9 6 Tommy Bridges 13 9 8-25-1939 BOS A CHI A Lefty Grove 15 4 Emerson Dickman 8 3 5-30-1940(2) NY A BOS A Monte Pearson 7 5 Steve Sundra 4 6 6-14-1940 PIT N NY N Ken Heintzelman 8 8 Bob Klinger 8 13 6-23-1940(1) STL N BOS N Jack Russell 3 4 Carl Doyle 3 3 7-29-1940 DET A PHI A Al Benton 6 10 Fred Hutchinson 3 7 4-15-1941 WAS A BOS A Danny MacFayden 0 1 Sid Hudson 13 14 7-16-1942 BOS N CIN N Lefty Wallace 1 3 Tom Earley 6 11 7-20-1944(2) PIT N PHI N Nick Strincevich 14 7 Xavier Rescigno 10 8 8-26-1944 CHI N CIN N Red Lynn 5 4 Paul Erickson 5 9 6-26-1946 CHI N BOS N Red Adams 0 1 Hank Wyse 14 12 4-18-1947 CIN N PIT N Clayton Lambert 0 0 Joe Beggs 3 6 9- 4-1947 PIT N CIN N Jim Bagby 5 4 Mel Queen 3 7 5- 9-1948(2) BRO N PIT N Ralph Branca 14 9 Willie Ramsdell 4 4 5-19-1949 CIN N NY N Johnny Vander Meer 5 10 Eddie Erautt 4 11 7- 6-1949 CHI N CIN N Monk Dubiel 6 9 Warren Hacker 5 8 8-28-1949(1) CHI A NY A Billy Pierce 7 15 Max Surkont 3 5 8- 5-1951(2) PIT N PHI N Bill Werle 8 6 Ted Wilks 3 5
Apart from documenting these decisions, there's not much more I have to say about them. I did want to do one more thing before wrapping this up. I thought it might be interesting to focus on 1916, the year with the most of these differences, and compare the official record of each pitcher with his record using the modern interpretation of wins and losses. In addition, I listed their record as shown in the 1917 Spalding Guide.
Here's the list for the AL:
Pitcher Official Modern Spalding Jim Bagby 16 17 16 16 16 17 Joe Benz 9 5 9 6 9 5 Joe Boehling 11 15 10 15 10 15 Bernie Boland 10 3 11 3 10 3 Rube Bressler 0 2 0 1 - - Eddie Cicotte 15 7 16 6 17 7 Fritz Coumbe 7 5 7 6 6 6 Harry Coveleski 21 11 22 10 23 10 Stan Coveleski 15 13 16 12 16 13 Cap Crowell 0 5 0 6 - - George Cunningham 7 10 7 11 7 11 Dave Danforth 6 5 6 4 5 5 Hooks Dauss 19 12 18 12 18 12 Jean Dubuc 10 10 10 10 10 10 George Dumont 2 3 2 3 2 2 Red Faber 17 9 16 10 17 9 Rube Foster 14 7 14 8 14 7 Bert Gallia 17 13 18 14 18 14 Al Gould 5 6 6 6 6 6 Vean Gregg 2 5 2 4 2 3 Bob Groom 13 9 13 9 13 9 Earl Hamilton 6 9 6 8 7 8 Bill James 8 12 7 12 7 12 Ernie Koob 11 8 12 9 11 9 Otis Lambeth 4 4 3 4 2 5 Dutch Leonard 18 12 18 11 18 12 Carl Mays 18 13 17 14 17 13 Willie Mitchell 9 10 8 10 8 10 George Mogridge 6 12 6 11 6 11 Guy Morton 12 6 12 7 12 6 Elmer Myers 14 23 14 24 15 23 Jack Nabors 1 20 1 19 1 19 Ken Penner 1 1 0 1 - - Eddie Plank 16 15 15 15 15 15 Allen Russell 6 10 6 11 6 11 Reb Russell 18 11 17 12 17 11 Jim Scott 7 14 9 13 8 12 Jim Shaw 3 8 3 6 3 5 Bob Shawkey 24 14 23 14 23 14 Urban Shocker 4 3 5 3 5 2 Ernie Shore 16 10 17 10 17 9 Pop-boy Smith 1 2 2 2 - - Claude Thomas 1 2 1 3 - - Carl Weilman 17 18 17 18 18 18 Lefty Williams 13 7 12 7 13 8
In order to get some idea which set, official or modern, came closest to matching what was listed in the Spalding Guide, I computed the total differences for each. The official totals differed from the Spalding Guide by 47 wins and losses; the modern totals, by 33.
Here's the list for the NL, without the Spalding column, since in every case they agreed with the official statistics.
Pitcher Official Modern Red Ames 11 16 10 16 Chief Bender 7 7 7 7 Paul Carter 2 2 2 3 George Chalmers 1 4 1 5 Wheezer Dell 8 9 9 9 Al Demaree 19 14 19 13 Claude Hendrix 8 16 8 15 Tom Hughes 16 3 15 3 Hi Jasper 5 6 5 5 Jimmy Lavender 10 14 11 11 Duster Mails 0 1 0 0 George McConnell 4 12 4 13 George McQuillan 1 7 1 8 Lee Meadows 12 23 13 23 Pat Ragan 9 9 10 9 Eppa Rixey 22 10 22 9 Pete Schneider 10 19 10 18 Al Schulz 8 19 8 20 Tom Seaton 6 6 5 7 Sherry Smith 14 10 13 11 Hippo Vaughn 17 15 17 16 Steamboat Williams 6 7 6 8
Despite the fact that there were far more differences in the AL, an NL hurler, Jimmy Lavender, would have been most affected by a more modern view of wins and losses. By adding a win and subtracting three losses, his 10-14 mark would have become an even 11-11.
And finally, I would like to make it clear that I am not advocating that we go back and modernize these statistics. There are some mistakes here to be sure, but where the decisions made by the scorers and (in case of the AL from 1913 to 1919) researchers reflect common practices of the day, they should be left alone. That doesn't mean we can't attempt to discover what their marks would have been under modern rules, only that we shouldn't rewrite the history of the period by changing the historical record.
1"1917 Spalding Official Baseball Guide," John B. Foster, editor. (New York, American Sports Publishing Co., 1917), Pages 38-39.
2"Sporting Facts and Fancies," Joe S. Jackson. The Washington Post. August 28, 1912. Page 8.
3"All the Record Books Are Wrong," Frank J. Williams. "The National Pastime" (Cooperstown, New York, The Society For American Baseball Research, 1982), Pages 50-62.