20-Game Losers (Baseball Lives)

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 PEÑA 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

SABR is the Society for American Baseball Research, a group of over 6,000 enthusiasts about the game of baseball whose research interests range from the game's history to statistical analysis, records, cultural impact, and more. The BioProject is a SABR effort to research, write, and publish biographies of every player--and every person--ever connected with organized baseball. Anyone with a love of baseball can join SABR and become a part of these efforts.