No. 133 Early Wynn (Number 29 Pitcher)

I was surprised to see Wynn rank so high in my formula. Quite frankly it appears it is his longevity that helps him quite a bit. He is one of 24 pitchers to win 300 games in their career. So that is quite an accomplishment. However, I didn’t think Wynn had much else other than winning games. However, I decided to check the 24 pitchers who won 24 games and figure out why I ranked them where I ranked them:

1. CY Young: 511 victories, 4^th on my list for pitchers. Reasonable. Bill James also had Young 4^th in his last Historical Abstract.
2. Walter Johnson: 414 victories, 1^st on my list for pitchers. This is pretty much where most people rate him.
3. Pete Alexander: 373 victories, 6^th on my list for pitchers. Reasonable
4. Christy Mathewson: 373 victories, 14^th on my list for pitchers. A little lower than some ratings. Bill James had him 7^th and Alexander 3^rd in the last Historical Abstract. All methods I look at have Alexander slightly ahead. I have 3 pitchers in my top 10 who hadn’t completed their careers when Bill made his list. I think I have a tougher time line penalty then he did.
5. Pud Galvin: 365 victories, 80th on my list of pitchers. I have a big timeline penalty for 19^th century pitchers. Pud Galvin who is in the hall of fame, didn’t make Bill James top 100 pitchers. I don’t have him in my hall of fame, but he is in the group who I don’t mind if elected. However, in my opinion he is at the bottom of the group.
6. Warren Spahn: 363 victories, 8^th on my list, reasonable.
7. Kid Nichols: 362 victories, 36th on my list. I have 41 pitchers over 750 automatically in my hall of fame, as well as being in the regular hall of fame. Bill James had him 9^th. I have them spread further apart. Nichols was the best pitcher in the 1890’s and Galvin pitched earlier in the 19^th So, James probably gave Galvin a stronger penalty than Nichols, which is probably right. I would have probably done that if I wasn’t so lazy and had a better method to figure a time penalty.
8. Greg Maddox: 355 victories, 2^nd on my list, reasonable.
9. Roger Clemons: 354 victories, 7^th on my list, with a steroid penalty. Reasonable.
10. Tim Keefe: 342 victories, 64^th on my list. Of course, a 19^th century pitcher. Like Galvin he is in the hall of fame, and in the big border of mine. Bill James had him 54^th so we are close.
11. Steve Carlton: 329 victories, 9^th on my list, which is reasonable.
12. John Clarkson: 328 victories, 60^th on my list. Another pitcher in the 19^th Same old story. He is in the hall of fame. Bill James has him ranked 42^nd, which means I am tougher on 19^th century pitchers than he was.
13. Eddie Plank: 326 victories, 30^th on my list. He is my next pitcher. For his era he didn’t really have outstanding seasons, but stayed around a long time. Basically, his career was similar with Wynn’s except years before. I think his placement is reasonable. Bill James had him 34^th because I put more emphasis on career.
14. Nolan Ryan: 324 victories, I have him 15^th, so that is reasonable.
15. Don Sutton: 324 victories, I have him 23^rd, which is also reasonable. Ryan beats with a slightly longer career and a ton more strikeouts. The strikeouts are made up for in some other categories like walks and errors.
16. Phil Niekro: 318 victories, I have him 14^th, so that is reasonable.
17. Gaylord Perry: 314 victories, I have him 11^th which surprised me he did so well.
18. Tom Seaver: 311 victories, I have him 11^th which seems right to me.
19. Old Hoss Radbourn: 310 victories. I have 88^th. He is in the hall of fame. To get to 200 players, now 199, which is another story, I added 19 players to the ones who had already qualified. Hoss Radbourn was the last of the 19 added because he won 60 games in 1884 to win the pennant for his team. I actually elected him because of what he accomplished at the end of the 1884 season. He started 41 of the last 51 games, winning 35 of them. He then won 3 exhibition, “World Series” games against the American Association Champions the New York Metropolitans.
20. Mickey Welch: 307 victories. I have him 148^th and not even eligible for the hall of fame. I didn’t think Welch was in the hall of fame, but he isn’t. I don’t agree. Bill James didn’t agree either saying Tony Mullane was a lot better pitcher. I have Mullane at 111th place. Bill has Mullane at 82^nd. So, we both agree Mullane was better. Both WAR formulas also have Mullane ahead of Welch. I don’t think either one is a hall of famer. But Welch probably got selected because he had over 300 victories and Mullane had “only” 287.
21. Tom Glavine: 305 victories. I have him 22^nd which is reasonable.
22. Randy Johnson: 303 victories. I have him 5^th, due to strikeouts and being a dominate pitcher when Pedro Martinez was. He had a longer career then Martinez.
23. Lefty Grove: 300 victories. I have him 10^th, which is about right. The man won a lot of strikeout and ERA titles in his career.
24. Early Wynn: 300 victories. After going through this I would say based on my formula it makes sense that Wynn is in 29^th