Capturing the ERA title and posting an impressive win-loss record usually go hand and hand. In fact, it is not uncommon for an ERA leader to be on the winning side of the ledger for two-thirds or more of his decisions. However, occasionally a pitcher will secure the ERA crown despite struggling to register a winning record or even finish the season south of .500. This scenario played out four times during the decade of the 1980s with Atlee Hammaker, Dave Stieb, Nolan Ryan, and Joe Magrane each capturing their league’s respective ERA titles while maintaining poor-to-mediocre win-loss marks. Back then, a lackluster win-loss record doomed a pitcher in Cy Young Award voting. However, this has changed in recent times as evidenced by Félix Hernández, Jacob deGrom, and Paul Skenes each taking home the award after securing ERA titles in spite of producing middling win-loss figures. With this in mind, I decided to explore the factors that caused these four 1980 hurlers to compile unimpressive win-loss record during their ERA crown-winning campaigns.
Some of the statistics
and acronyms I will feature on the tables in this article are not ones
that the average baseball fan is familiar with. So, for these less
common stats I will cite Baseball Reference’s definitions of each metric
on a picture below that can be clicked on and expanded for further
explanation.
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A few of the recurring themes among Hammaker’s, Stieb’s, Ryan’s, and Magrane’s highlighted ERA crown-winning campaigns are that each hurler was the victim of at least six tough losses while being the beneficiary of no more than a single cheap win. Also, varying degrees of poor run support helped relegate this quartet to pedestrian win-loss records.
Toeing the rubber in just his second full MLB season, San Francisco Giants southpaw Atlee Hammaker surprised the baseball world by leading the NL with a minuscule 2.25 ERA during the 1983 campaign. However, Hammaker’s accomplishment largely fell under the radar due to his mediocre 10-9 record. Initially signed by the Kansas City Royals as a first round draft pick in June 1979, Hammaker made his big league debut with the club in mid-August 1981. He went 1-3 with a 5.54 ERA across a half-dozen starts and four relief appearances for the Royals before being sent to the Giants in a six-player offseason trade. Hammaker opened 1982 in Triple-A but earned the call-up to San Francisco in late April and broke into the team’s starting rotation at the beginning of May. The young lefty put together a decent rookie effort, going 12-8 with a 4.11 ERA across 175 innings.
Hammaker
pitched well in his first start of the 1983 season, yielding just a pair
of runs over six frames only to be tagged with a tough loss in San
Francisco’s 2-1 defeat at the hands of the San Diego Padres. However,
he displayed sheer dominance in his next two starts, firing back-to-back
shutouts, limiting the Cincinnati Reds to two hits on April 17 and
surrendering a mere three hits against the Chicago Cubs six days later. The 26-year-old hurler continued to stifle opposing batters and gained a
measure of revenge on San Diego by spinning his third shutout of the
season on June 26. Rolling into the All-Star break with a 9-4 record
and a league-leading 1.70 ERA, the southpaw earned a spot on the NL
squad for the Midsummer Classic. Unfortunately, the All-Star Game
turned out to be a nightmare for Hammaker. Entering the game with the
senior circuit trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the third inning, he served
up a pair home runs, including a grand slam to California Angels
slugger Fred Lynn. Hammaker retired just two hitters while allowing
seven runs to score, thus giving the AL a 9-1 advantage en route to a
13-3 victory. The win represented the junior loop’s first triumph over
the NL since 1971.
Hammaker shook off his
disastrous All-Star outing with a complete game victory in his first
start of the second half. However, he then began to experience shoulder
tendinitis which affected his ability to throw breaking pitches and
sent him to the disabled list for a month in late July. After dropping
his final start before going on the DL, Hammaker took losses in each of
his next four outings to extend his losing streak to five straight. Despite those setbacks and difficulties, he remained the NL ERA leader
with a 2.24 mark. Going into his September 11 start against the Houston
Astros, the lefty finally felt comfortable enough to effectively throw
his breaking pitches. Stymying Astros hitters, Hammaker racked up a
career-high 14 strikeouts across seven and two-third innings while
allowing a pair of runs. However, opposing starter Nolan Ryan held the
Giants in check and Hammaker had to settle for a no-decision as San
Francisco’s offense did not manage to solve the veteran hurler until
breaking through with a trio of runs in the bottom of ninth to secure
the 3-2 victory. Back to firing on all cylinders with his breaking
pitches, Hammaker appeared poised to end the year on a strong note. Unfortunately, he soon learned that he had re-injured his arm during
his 14-strikeout performance versus Houston and did not pitch for the
remainder of the campaign. Although Hammaker was sidelined during the
season’s final weeks, his 2.25 ERA proved to be good enough to hold off a
late challenge from right-hander John Denny who went 19-6 with a 2.37
ERA across 242 2/3 innings for the NL East-champion Philadelphia
Phillies. With injuries limiting Hammaker to just 172 1/3 frames and a
variety of factors resulting in him accruing a middling 10-9 record, the
southpaw failed to draw any support in the NL Cy Young Award election
which was won by Denny. Though Hammaker did not amass a lofty inning
total for the year, his 7.5 frames per start placed well above the 6.2
league average, ranking fourth-highest among senior circuit moundsmen.
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Aside from leading the NL in ERA, Hammaker also paced the loop with a 159 ERA+, 2.57 FIP, and 1.039 WHIP. In addition, he issued the lowest number of walks per nine innings at 1.7 and had the highest strikeout-to-walk ratio at 3.97. What’s more, Hammaker ranked second in both quality start percentage and average game score, with his respective 78% and 61.7 figures trailing only those of Cincinnati Reds righty Mario Soto.
The Giants went 79-83 to
finish in fifth place with the offense consistently having their bats
silenced during Hammaker’s starts as he was provided a paltry 3.0 RS/IP
compared to a 3.9 NL average for the year. San Francisco also struggled
defensively, racking up a league-worst 171 errors. As a result of
those errors, 14 of the 57 runs Hammaker allowed were unearned. Thus, a
staggering 24.6% of his runs did not count against his ERA, a figure
more than double the 12.0% NL average. The lefty’s 14 unearned runs
boosted his RA9 to a less-illustrious 2.98. Nevertheless, that total
was still low enough to rank second behind the ERA-crown runner-up Denny
who ended the season with a 2.86 RA9, having had 16.9% of his runs
recorded as unearned.
Easily one of the best starting pitchers of the 1980s, Toronto Blue Jays righty Dave Stieb posted the stingiest ERA of his impressive career during the 1985 campaign, topping the AL with a 2.48 mark. Oddly, Stieb only managed to compile a mediocre 14-13 record while pitching for the junior circuit’s winningest team as the Blue Jays finished the season at 99-62, capturing the AL East division crown in the process. Fresh off an excellent 1984 effort in which he went 16-8 with a 2.83 ERA and further cemented his status as one of baseball’s premier hurlers, the 27-year-old Stieb entered 1985 among the favorites to compete for the AL Cy Young Award. However, Stieb’s campaign got off to an unlucky start as he dropped three of his initial four decisions despite pitching to a 2.77 ERA, with each defeat being of the tough loss variety. He quickly righted the ship, though, and earned the fifth All-Star selection of his career, checking into the Midsummer Classic with a 9-5 record and a junior loop-leading 1.87 ERA. Stieb ended July at 10-6 while still maintaining a sub-2.00 ERA of 1.96 as Toronto boasted a healthy seven and a half game advantage over the second place New York Yankees in the AL East pennant race.
However, Stieb suffered
through a series of rough outings during the final months of the regular
season and concluded the campaign with a 14-13 record and 2.48 ERA
across 265 frames. The Blue Jays repelled a charge from the Yankees to
sew up the division crown by a two-game margin. Despite his bumpy
late-season stretch, Stieb managed to secure the junior circuit ERA
title ahead of southpaw Charlie Leibrandt who notched a 17-9 record and
2.69 ERA for the 91-win AL West-champion Kansas City Royals. Leibrandt’s rotation-mate, righty Bret Saberhagen slotted third on the
AL ERA leaderboard, registering a 2.87 figure supported by a 20-6
record. Coincidentally, during the postseason, Stieb faced off against
the two Royals hurlers he edged out for the ERA title, starting opposite
Leibrandt in Game One and Game Four of the ALCS before matching up with
Saberhagen in the decisive Game Seven. Stieb outperformed Leibrandt in
both contests, earning credit for the win with eight scoreless innings
in Game One and not factoring into the decision of Toronto’s Game Four
victory despite surrendering just a single run over six and two-third
frames. After a pair of brilliant performances, Stieb floundered in
Game Seven, giving up six runs across five and two-third innings. Saberhagen kept the Blue Jays off the board for the initial three
innings before turning the ball over to Leibrandt. The losing pitcher
in both Game One and Game Four, Leibrandt redeemed himself by picking up
the victory after yielding a pair of runs in five and one-third frames
of relief. Kansas City advanced to the Fall Classic where the team
defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in a thrilling seven-game tilt with
Saberhagen earning World Series MVP honors.
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On top of pacing the junior loop in ERA, Stieb led the AL with an ERA+ of 171 and an average game score of 60.1 while also surrendering the lowest hits per nine innings with 7.0. Additionally, he finished runner-up in quality start percentage, RA9, and pitcher WAR. Producing a quality outing in 75% of his starts, Stieb checked in a smidge behind Chicago White Sox righty Tom Seaver’s 76% total. For RA9, Stieb and Saberhagen each posted 3.02 figures, however, the Royals hurler ended the year an eyelash lower with a 3.0213 mark compared to Stieb’s 3.0226. Saberhagen also slotted just a hair ahead of Stieb in pitcher WAR, leading the way, 7.1 to 6.8. The 1985 campaign represented the end of a superb five-season stretch in which Stieb ranked no worse than third in AL pitcher WAR while topping the category for three straight years from 1982 to 1984. Unfortunately for Stieb, because award voters overvalued pitchers’ win-loss records and the 20-victory plateau during this era, the closest he had come to capturing the Cy Young Award was a fourth-place finish in 1982. And, due to his nondescript 14-13 mark, Stieb failed to garner any meaningful Cy Young support in the 1985 vote, tying for seventh in the election with just a pair of third-place tallies. Saberhagen easily won the award, picking up 23 of 28 first-place checkmarks.
In contrast to
Hammaker, who had suffered from noticeably poor run support while
winning the NL ERA title two years before, Toronto’s offense actually
provided Stieb run support that was merely a shade below average,
affording him 4.5 RS/GS and 4.3 RS/IP. Yet, the run support was often
not of the timely variety as Stieb was consistently out-dueled in tight
contests, compiling a 1-6 record in games decided by one run and a 2-4
mark in games decided by two runs. By comparison, Saberhagen as well as
Stieb’s rotation-mate righty Doyle Alexander were each given slightly
less run support than Stieb but produced far superior win-loss records
in close contests with Saberhagen going 4-1 in games decided by a single
run and 3-1 in games decided by a pair of runs while Alexander
respectively went 4-1 and 4-3 in those outcomes. Despite registering a
3.45 ERA that was nearly a full run higher than Stieb’s 2.48 mark,
Alexander finished the year with a much better win-loss figure of 17-10
and earned five third-place votes in the AL Cy Young election to
classify one spot ahead of Stieb in sixth. Additionally, the Blue Jays
bullpen had trouble protecting leads for Stieb as he watched the relief
corps squander a handful of potential victories. Stieb’s five wins lost
dubiously tied Boston Red Sox righty Oil Can Boyd for the AL’s
second-highest total, trailing only the six of lefty Neal Heaton who
pitched for the circuit’s worst team, the 102-loss Cleveland Indians. With five potential wins lost and six tough losses—against just a
single cheap win and only one potential loss saved—Stieb’s adjusted
win-loss record works out to an impressive 18-8 figure.
After seeing his skills slowly decline over the previous few seasons, 40-year-old right-hander Nolan Ryan turned back the aging process during 1987, capturing the NL ERA title with a 2.76 mark for the Houston Astros. However, despite putting together a superb rebound campaign, Ryan’s excellent mound work was not reflected in his win-loss record as he complied an abysmal 8-16 figure that translated to a win-loss percentage of just .333. The 1987 season was a disappointing one for Houston, as the club followed up its NL West division-winning 1986 effort by suffering a major relapse, plummeting from a 96-66 mark to 76-86. In a year known for the lively “Rabbit Ball,” MLB witnessed home runs being hit at a never before seen rate as the average runs scored per game rose to its highest levels since 1950. While Ryan’s 2.76 ERA may not seem impressive for a league leader, it matched the figure of the AL ERA crown-winner, Jimmy Key. Ryan secured the senior circuit ERA honor ahead of rookie righty Mike Dunne who posted a 3.03 mark for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Although Dunne pitched for a similarly mediocre Pirates team that went 80-82, he logged a 13-6 record and managed to pace the loop in win-loss percentage with a .684 figure. The ERA title was the second of Ryan’s illustrious career, as he had finished the strike-shortened 1981 campaign atop the NL leaderboard with a microscopic 1.69 ERA while charting an 11-5 record.
Ryan
began 1987 in the unusual position of working under a pitch-count
limit. After elbow issues caused Ryan to miss time with two separate
stints on the disabled list during 1986, Astros general manager Dick
Wagner placed the veteran hurler under a 110-pitch limit to open 1987. Ever the competitor, Ryan disagreed with Wagner’s pitch limit but,
unlike the prior year, was able to avoid a trip to the DL. The 1987
season also saw the righty become a more complete pitcher. Primarily a
fastball pitcher who relied on the curve as a secondary offering, Ryan
enhanced his limited arsenal by perfecting both the changeup and sinker. However, despite staying healthy and being armed with a four-pitch
mix, Ryan had trouble earning victories. Much of his lack of success
traced to Houston’s weak offense which ranked next-to-last among NL
teams in runs scored while providing him with a meager 3.3 RS/GS and 2.9
RS/IP versus respective league averages of 4.5 and 4.2. Between June 17
and July 29, Ryan suffered through a particularly brutal patch in which
he took the loss in eight consecutive starts while the Astros plated a
total of just 13 runs. During those eight starts, he maintained a
decent 4.01 ERA that checked in slightly below the 4.08 NL average for
the year. At the conclusion of that ugly stretch, Ryan owned a steady
3.14 ERA, though his record sat at 4-13—putting the veteran on pace to
lose a mind-blowing 21 games. Fortunately, he righted the ship, going
4-3 with a 2.24 ERA over the remainder of the season, to avoid the
embarrassment of becoming a 20-game loser.
In
addition to topping the NL in ERA, Ryan led the senior circuit with a
142 ERA+, a 2.47 FIP, and an average game score of 61.2. Ryan allowed a
much lower percentage of unearned runs than Hammaker and Stieb had
during their respective ERA crown-winning campaigns, as he produced a
league-best RA9 of 3.19. The 1987 season also witnessed Ryan return to
the head of the leaderboard in a pair of categories he had regularly
fronted earlier in his career. Already MLB’s all-time strikeout leader,
the 40-year-old mowed down an eye-popping 270 batters at a rate of 11.5
per nine innings, marking the eighth season in which he simultaneously
paced his respective league in these statistics and first time since
1979. Ryan also topped another familiar category, surrendering a NL-low
6.5 hits per nine frames, becoming a nine-time leader in the metric. Exhibiting some of the best control of his career, the veteran paced
the senior loop with a 3.10 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Additionally, Ryan
came an eyelash away from leading in quality start percentage as his
73.5% figure slotted runner-up behind the 73.9% of the aforementioned
Mike Dunne.
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However, Ryan also had the misfortune of ranking among the leaders in some dubious categories as he ended the year in a four-way tie for runner-up in losses with only his Astros rotation-mate Bob Knepper sparing him the indignity of topping the NL. Knepper, who went 8-17, assembled a nearly identical win-loss record to Ryan but logged a miserable 5.27 ERA that was almost double the fireballer’s. Consistently putting together quality-start efforts as Houston’s anemic offense struggled to score, Ryan paced the circuit with eight tough losses. Working the majority of the campaign under a strict 110-pitch limit, 1987 marked the first full season of the veteran righty’s career in which he did not throw a complete game. Ryan averaged a mere 6.2 innings per start and as a result was more prone to seeing potential victories squandered by Houston’s bullpen—an unfortunate outcome that occurred on five occasions during the season, matching Dave Stieb’s total from two years earlier. Ryan’s 1987 campaign shared another dubious trait with Stieb’s 1985 as he fared poorly in close contests—going 0-4 in games decided by a single run.
In
modern times, standing atop the leaderboard in both ERA and strikeouts
would guarantee a pitcher like Ryan strong support in the Cy Young Award
election. However, with his 8-16 record, Ryan’s Cy Young case stayed
off the radar for most voters. Yet, a small number of writers decided
to break the customs of the day as Ryan garnered four second-place
tallies to finish alongside New York Mets righty Dwight Gooden in a tie
for fifth in the election. The Cy Young Award proved to be one of the
few accolades that eluded Ryan during his Hall of Fame career as the
closest he came to achieving the honor was a runner-up finish in 1973,
the year he set the all-time single season strikeout record.
One year after Ryan’s hard-luck 1987 campaign, another NL hurler led the way in ERA despite posting a poor win-loss record as southpaw Joe Magrane went 5-9 with a 2.18 mark for the St. Louis Cardinals. Like Ryan’s Astros, Magrane’s Cardinals suffered a major relapse after winning the division during the prior campaign as the club nosedived from a 95-67 record to 76-86. To capture the senior circuit ERA crown, Magrane won a tight battle that came down to the final week of the season, edging out righty David Cone and lefty John Tudor. Cone pitched for the NL East-champion New York Mets while Tudor spent the first two-thirds of the campaign sharing St. Louis’ starting rotation with Magrane before being traded to the NL West-winning Los Angeles Dodgers on August 16.
Coming off a promising
rookie effort in which he went 9-7 with a 3.54 ERA, the 23-year-old
Magrane earned the Opening Day start for 1988. In a stark contrast to
the Rabbit Ball-fueled 1987 season, 1988 saw scoring rates drop
considerably in both leagues. The young southpaw made just three starts
before being sidelined for nearly two months with a rib cage injury. Upon his return to action, Magrane pitched brilliantly but had the
misfortune of losing a sequence of close games as St. Louis’ punchless
offense struggled to plate runs—particularly when he was on the mound. Following an ugly August 7 outing, his record dipped to 1-6 while his
ERA rose from 2.36 to 2.77. However, he put himself in contention for
the NL ERA title by spinning three shutouts over his next six starts to
bring his ERA down to a sparkling 2.03 and improve his record to a
slightly less perplexing 4-8. Yet, just when it seemed Magrane was
ready to turn the corner, he followed up that stretch with a pair of
poor outings in which he lasted a combined six and one-third innings
while giving up nine runs, a half-dozen of which were earned.
Although
Magrane had placed himself among the NL ERA leaders, due to time missed
from his rib cage injury, he entered late September at the risk of
falling short of accumulating the requisite 162 frames to qualify for
the ERA title, having accrued only 148 1/3 innings. After surrendering
just a single run across eight frames in a September 23 no-decision
against the Mets, Magrane checked into his September 28 start versus the
Pittsburgh Pirates, sporting a 2.25 ERA that ranked second to David
Cone’s 2.23 mark and an eyelash ahead of John Tudor’s
fractionally-higher 2.25 figure. Magrane delivered a stellar
performance against the Pirates, going the distance in the Cardinals 2-1
win. With his complete game victory, the southpaw improved his record
to 5-9 and decreased his ERA to 2.18, in the process taking over the
lead from Cone. Magrane’s nine frames put him at 165 1/3 for the year,
thus making him eligible to win the ERA title. With a half of a week
still left in the regular season, Cone and Tudor each made one more
start, both toeing the rubber on September 30. Coincidentally, Cone
took the hill against the Cardinals and reached the 20-win plateau with a
complete game victory, beating St. Louis 4-2 to give him a final ERA of
2.22. Tudor faced the Giants but exited the game quickly after
surrendering a pair of runs in one and one-third innings of work and saw
his ERA rise to 2.32. With his 5-9 record, Magrane earned the dubious
distinction of having the lowest victory total for an AL or NL ERA
leader.
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Like Hammaker, Stieb, and Ryan before him, Magrane also paced the circuit in ERA+ while capturing the ERA title. Although he chalked up just a handful of victories, Magrane consistently gave his team a chance to win as evidenced by his impressive 79% quality start percentage rate—a number that slotted third in the senior loop, only trailing Los Angeles Dodgers righty Orel Hershiser’s 82% and Montreal Expos righty Pascual Pérez’s 81%. St. Louis’ feeble offense routinely let Magrane down as no qualified NL starter was provided with less support than the paltry 2.6 RS/GS he was given. The southpaw was also the victim of uncharacteristic errors by the usually air-tight Cardinals defense as he yielded 17 unearned runs. Those 17 unearned runs accounted for 29.8% of his total allowed, a stunning figure more than two and a half times the league average.
With
a mere five victories and a dismal .357 win-loss percentage, Magrane
drew no support in the NL Cy Young Award election which was completely
monopolized by three pitchers who collected all the votes. Hershiser
unanimously won the award, having paced the circuit in victories with a
23-8 mark while ending the campaign on a dominant note by tossing a
record-breaking 59 consecutive scoreless innings that gave him a 2.26
ERA good for third-best on the leaderboard. Cincinnati Reds lefty Danny
Jackson classified second in the election, having produced a carbon
copy of Hershiser’s 23-8 record but checking in with a higher ERA figure
of 2.73. ERA crown runner-up David Cone slotted third in the vote as
his 20-3 mark translated to a superb .870 win-loss percentage that
easily led the NL.
—by John Tuberty
—end of main article—
Just
for my own personal interest and anyone else who may find this
intriguing, the table below places Hammaker’s, Steib’s, Ryan’s, and
Magrane’s ERA crown-winning seasons side by side and also compares them
to the campaigns of four subsequent hurlers who captured the ERA title
despite posting poor-to-mediocre win-loss records.
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Stat
links to main players mentioned: Atlee Hammaker, Dave Stieb, Nolan Ryan, Joe Magrane, Félix Hernández, Jacob deGrom, Paul Skenes, John Denny, Fred Lynn, Bret Saberhagen, Tom Seaver, Dwight Gooden, David Cone, Orel Hershiser, John Tudor
Sources:
“Baseball American League Cy Young Voting,” The Montreal Gazette, November 12, 1985, p.B7 accessed via Google News Archive Search
Nick Peters, “Robby Raps Giants For Fielding Foulups,” The Sporting News, May 3, 1982, p.22
Nick Peters, “Bonehead Plays Costly to Giants,” The Sporting News, August 8, 1983, p.23
Nick Peters, “Nicosia Surprises Giants With His Bat,” The Sporting News, September 5, 1983, p.54
Nick Peters, “Laskey Cites Injury, Not Sophomore Jinx,” The Sporting News, September 19, 1983, p.23
Nick Peters, “Hammaker’s Crown Could Be Dubious,” The Sporting News, September 26, 1983, p.25
Nick Peters, “Giants Get Oliver, Buckner Deal Off,” The Sporting News, March 5, 1984, p.24
David Nightingale, “Tracking Baseball’s Springtime Comets,” The Sporting News, April 2, 1984, p.13, 16-17
Bill Brown, “Cy Young Award Real Bonus,” The Sporting News, November 23, 1987, p.45
Rick Hummel “Cardinals,” The Sporting News, July 11, 1988, p.27
Kit Stier, “Eradicating the ‘Earned’ From ERA,” The Sporting News, October 10, 1988, p.32
Rick Hummel, “Magrane’s Dubious Mark,” The Sporting News, October 17, 1988, p.20
Cards: Atlee Hammaker-1984 Topps, 1984 Topps Mail-In Glossy
All-Star Collector’s Edition, 1984 Fleer; Dave Stieb-1986 Topps, 1985
Donruss, 1986 Topps Mail-In Glossy All-Star Collector’s Edition; Nolan
Ryan-1988 Topps, 1988 Topps Revco League Leaders, 1988 Score; Joe
Magrane-1989 Topps, 1989 Score, 1989 Fleer
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