20-Game Losers

You have to be a very good pitcher to lose 20 games in one season. Why would a manager keep putting you out there to pitch, time after time, if you didn’t have a chance to win the game? More than 25 percent of the pitchers in the National Baseball Hall of Fame are pitchers who lost 20 or more games in a single season. One of them even lost 20 or more games for 10 years in a row The names in this book are often well-known names. Cy Young lost more than 20 games in three different seasons. Other 20-game losers were Steve Carlton, Walter Johnson, Phil Niekro, Robin Roberts, and Red Ruffing, to name a few. We’ve included here every one of the 23 Hall of Famers who are 20-game losers, as well as some lesser-known names, over sixty biographies in all. Mike Maroth and Brian Kingman, the two most recent pitchers to lose 20 games, are here. So is Jack Nabors thanks to his 1-20 season. You will find Guy Hecker, whose record of 52-20 constituted the best winning percentage of any 20-game loser. And we feature one woebegone pitching staff which had four 20-game losers in the same season. By our count 499 major-league pitchers have had seasons in which they lost 20 or more games. Only two of them had ERAs over 6.00. This take on pitching records offers plenty of quirks to explore. 53 members of SABR combined their efforts to create this truly fascinating book. Contents: 20-GAME LOSER, PROFILES OF THE 20-LOSS SEASONS by David E. Skelton THE VANISHING 20-GAME LOSER by Barry Mednick PITCHERS: STEVE ARLIN by Gregory H. Wolf BILL BAILEY by Eric Frost GEORGE BAUMGARDNER by Joe Schuster BOOM-BOOM BECK by Paul E. Doutrich GEORGE BELL by John Struth BILL BONHAM by Joel Rippel ED BRANDT by C. Paul Rogers III BUSTER BROWN by Mark S. Sternman HARRY BYRD by Armand Peterson GEORGE CASTER by Chris Rainey JOHN COLEMAN by Justin Mckinney CLIFF CURTIS by Alan Drude ART DITMAR by David E. Skelton GUS DORNER by Paul Hofmann CECIL FERGUSON by Jeff Findley DANA FILLINGIM by Niall Adler SAM GRAY by Gregory H. Wolf DAN GRINER by Gregory H. Wolf GUY HECKER by Bob Bailey RANDY JONES by Alan Cohen VERN KENNEDY by Joel Rippel HENRY KEUPPER by Emmet R. Nowlin BRIAN KINGMAN by Chad Moody DON LARSEN by Charles F. Faber MIKE MAROTH by Barbara Mantegani and Dave Raglin AL MATTERN by Bob LeMoine JIM MCCORMICK by Chris Rainey STONEY MCGLYNN by Steve Schmitt HARRY MCINTIRE by John Struth JACK NABORS by Stephen V. Rice ROLLIE NAYLOR by Phil Williams SUNNY JIM PASTORIUS by Glen Sparks ORLANDO PE A by Joel Rippel SCOTT PERRY by Phil Williams FRED SANFORD by Warren Corbett JACK SCOTT by Skip Nipper GEORGE ALLEN SMITH by Jeff English JIM TOBIN by Gregory H. Wolf CLYDE WRIGHT by Paul E. Doutrich HALL OF FAMERS: 20-GAME LOSERS POPULATE THE BASEBALL HALL OF FAME by Bill Nowlin STEVE CARLTON by Cosme Vivanco JACK CHESBRO by Wayne McElreavy JOHN CLARKSON by Brian McKenna CANDY CUMMINGS by David Fleitz PUD GALVIN by Charles Hausberg JESSE HAINES by Gregory H. Wolf WALTER JOHNSON by Charles Carey TIM KEEFE by Charlie Bevis TED LYONS by Warren Corbett RUBE MARQUARD by Joe Wancho JOE MCGINNITY by Don Doxsie PHIL NIEKRO by Tom Hufford HANK O’DAY by Dennis Bingham OLD HOSS RADBOURN by Brian McKenna EPPA RIXEY by Jan Finkel ROBIN ROBERTS by C. Paul Rogers III RED RUFFING by Warren Corbett AMOS RUSIE by Charles F. Faber ED WALSH by Stuart Schimler JOHN MONTGOMERY WARD by Bill Lamb MICKEY WELCH by Bill Lamb VIC WILLIS by Daniel R. Levitt CY YOUNG by Bill Nowlin and David Southwick A STAFF WITH FOUR 20-GAME LOSERS by Bill Nowlin CHICK FRASER by Mike Lynch KAISER WILHELM by Gregory H. Wolf VIC WILLIS by Daniel R. Levitt IRV YOUNG by Will Anderson and Bill Nowlin 20-GAME LOSERS IN THE MINOR LEAGUES by Bill Nowlin CHRIS ARCHER – NEARLY A 20-GAME LOSER IN 2016 by Bill Nowlin THE PROTECTION MYTH by Warren Corbett