History of Hall of Fame Starters in the World Series

As the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros faced off in the 2019 World Series, we witnessed one of the greatest collections of starting pitching in the history of the Fall Classic. As I noted in this piece posted last week, there are anywhere from two to five future Hall of Famers in the rotations of the Nationals and Astros. Future generations of baseball fans may look back at this World Series as an early 21st century version reminiscent of the 1963 Fall Classic that featured Whitey Ford, Sandy Koufax, and Don Drysdale.

The Astros, a team that went through years of painful rebuilding, have assembled an excellent offensive team through the MLB player draft. The franchise has been less successful in developing quality pitching through the draft but, in each of the last three years, Houston’s front office has added a high-value veteran starting pitcher. Justin Verlander joined the Astros just before the stroke of midnight on September 1, 2017. The following January, the team acquired Gerrit Cole, the #1 overall draft pick in 2011, from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Finally, on July 31st of this year, the Astros traded for Zack Greinke.

Among this illustrious trio, the 36-year old Verlander will almost certainly make the Hall of Fame. Greinke, who turned 36 last week, is very close while Gerrit Cole (age 29) is coming off two superb campaigns that make him a Cooperstown possibility if he can sustain that level of excellence.

In the meantime, the Nationals’ rotation is anchored by Max Scherzer (35 years old), who has been the best pitcher in baseball for the last seven years and is a near lock for the Hall. The Nats’ #2 starter is the former “can’t miss” phenom Stephen Strasburg who, now at the age of 31, has emerged from his injury-plagued youth into one of the game’s best. If he remains healthy for another 4-5 years, he has a shot at Cooperstown as well.

The odds are against it happening for both but if Strasburg and Cole eventually make the Hall of Fame, joining Verlander, Greinke and Scherzer, that means that the 2019 World Series will have been the first Fall Classic in history to feature starts by five different Hall of Famers.

If either Strasburg or Cole finish crafting a Cooperstown-worthy career and join the other three, it would still be the first time since 1926 that a World Series matchup showcased the starting efforts of a quartet of Hall of Famers.

In this piece, I invite you to take a proverbial walk back through baseball history, allowing us to reminisce together and learn about the great Fall Classics of years gone by that featured Hall of Fame starters.

(cover photo: walteromalley.com)

Comparing the 2019 Rotations to the other 21st Century Fall Classics

Currently, of course, there are no actual Hall of Famers pitching in this year’s World Series. A player isn’t eligible for the Hall of Fame ballot until 5 years after retirement. The purpose of this piece is to look at the great pitching matchups of past World Series contests. Just keep in the back of your mind that it’s exceedingly likely that the Astros and Nationals have the three future Hall of Famers that we’ve talked about (Verlander, Scherzer, Greinke) and possibly two more (Strasburg, Cole).

What makes the 2019 trio (JV, Max and Zack) unique in baseball history is that they’ve already done the vast majority of work that they’ll need to make the Hall of Fame. As we’ll see, there is literally no other example in the World Series in which three starters toed the rubber who were as accomplished as these three and very few in which there were five starters who looked like they might eventually be worthy of Cooperstown.

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Remember these numbers. The top three pitchers each have more than 150 wins and a WAR of 50 or greater (going “old school” and “new school” for comparative purposes). Also remember, as we go back through history, we’re looking at the starting pitchers’ wins and WAR as of the year that they participated in the World Series.

By the way, if you also add the career wins of Anibal Sanchez (108), Patrick Corbin (70), Joe Ross (21) and Jose Urquidy (2), you get a total of 1,007. As we’ll see at the end of this piece, there are only three World Series ever in which the combined win totals of the teams’ starting pitchers was greater than 1,007.

NOTE: this piece is a little long because it contains a lot of history of the World Series. If you’re a fan of the Hall of Fame and the Fall Classic, the article is worthy of a bookmark. 

This piece will be in reverse chronological order so I’m going to start by looking at the top flight starting pitchers who have participated in the first 20 World Series of the 21st century. In this chronology, I’m going to list an actual Hall of Famer in bold; players in italics are those who are currently on the BBWAA ballot but are not yet enshrined in Cooperstown or active players who are in the twilight of their careers and have legitimate cases already built. All other names are purely speculative possibilities.

Potential Hall of Famers from the World Series (2000-19)

• 2019: Verlander, Greinke &  Cole (HOU), Scherzer & Strasburg (WSH)
• 2018: Chris Sale & David Price (BOS), Clayton Kershaw (LAD)
• 2017: Verlander (HOU), Kershaw (LAD)
• 2016: Jon Lester (CHC), Corey Kluber (CLE)
• 2015: Jacob deGrom (NYM)
• 2014: Madison Bumgarner (SF)
• 2013: Lester (BOS)
• 2012: Bumgarner (SF), Verlander & Scherzer (DET)
• 2011: None
• 2010: Bumgarner (SF)
• 2009: CC Sabathia & Andy Pettitte (NYY), Cole Hamels (PHL)
• 2008: Hamels (PHL)
• 2007: Curt Schilling & Lester (BOS)
• 2006: Verlander (DET)
• 2005: Roger Clemens & Pettitte (HOU)
• 2004: Pedro Martinez & Schilling (BOS)
• 2003: Mike Mussina, Clemens & Pettitte (NYY)
• 2002: None
• 2001: Randy Johnson & Schilling (AZ), Mussina, Clemens & Pettitte (NYY)
• 2000: Clemens & Pettitte (NYY)

Arguments could be made about other names being put on this list; there are young pitchers (such as the Dodgers’ Walker Buehler) who haven’t pitched long enough to think about in Cooperstown conversations. As for the recently retired, Tim Hudson (2014 with the Giants) and Mark Buehrle (2005 with the White Sox) had excellent careers and will be on the 2021 ballot but I haven’t ever seen anybody write that they belong in the Hall of Fame.

Right now, in my opinion, Bumgarner is a bit above the Strasburg/Cole level. Kluber and deGrom are both late bloomers but supremely talented. I almost left David Price off the list; he went backwards in 2019 after a magnificent ’18. Current Cubs teammates Lester and Hamels have had very good careers but will need to last for many more years.

I was tempted to add David Cone to the Yankees’ 2000 list because I think he’s been overlooked. Still, I haven’t seen a groundswell that gives me any confidence that Coney will make the Hall of Fame while either of us are alive.

2001 World Series (New York v Arizona)

There are two relatively recent Fall Classics in which the two teams both had a cadre of multiple starting pitchers on a Hall of Fame trajectory.  The first matchup I’m referring to the 2001 World Series between the New York Yankees and Arizona Diamondbacks. These two teams also featured five accomplished starting pitchers who all could have rightly been considered (at the time) to be future Cooperstown inductees.

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The top three here (Clemens, Johnson and Mussina) are comparable to the troika of Verlander/Greinke/Scherzer in that all three had already won over 150 games and posted a WAR above 50.0. The difference is that Mussina was nowhere close to the Hall of Fame at this point in his career while Scherzer is pretty much there, despite similar numbers of wins and WAR. Scherzer has 3 Cy Young Awards and two no-hitters; Mussina didn’t have that (and never would either).

In real life, only Johnson and Mussina actually have Cooperstown plaques. Schilling is close (likely to get it in 2020 or ’21) while Clemens remains a unique case due to his PED use. Pettitte got just 9.9% on his first BBWAA ballot this January.

If Schilling makes the Hall in the next two years, we’ll be able to look back upon Game 1 of the 2001 World Series as a matchup of Hall of Fame starters (Schilling v Mussina).

1999 World Series (New York v Atlanta)

The 1990’s contained several World Series matchups featuring multiple starting pitchers who would go onto the Hall of Fame or have otherwise superlative careers. Like the 2001 Fall Classic and the one we’re watching right now, the 1999 World Series featured five starting pitchers who looked like potential Hall of Famers.

The 1999 Series was a rematch of the 1996 Fall Classic and the second and final battle between what were the decade’s super-teams. The Braves were anchored by their three Hall of Fame starters (Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz) while the Yankees’ top veteran arms were Clemens and David Cone. The Bronx Bombers also had Pettitte but he had completed just his fifth MLB campaign. Regardless, the five aforementioned hurlers were an impressive quintet:

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It’s clear that Clemens and Maddux had already authored Hall-worthy careers while Glavine and Smoltz were on their way but still far away. Cone, near the end of his career, meets the criteria we previously mentioned (more than 150 wins and 50.0 WAR) but didn’t add much to his numbers in the years that followed. 1999 was his last productive season.

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Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz

The 1999 World Series was the third in a five-year period that featured Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz; the trio also headlined the Fall Classics in 1995 (against the Cleveland Indians) and 1996 (against the Yankees). In both World Series matchups, the young aces faced off against veteran staffs.

In ’96 Yankees had a rotation with veterans Cone, Jimmy Key, and Kenny Rogers with 2nd-year ace Pettitte. All seven of these named pitchers wound up posting 186 or more career wins (the exception was Braves’ fourth starter Denny Neagle). That’s impressive but it was too early in the careers of Glavine and Smoltz to have looked upon them as sure-fire Hall of Famers.

In 1995, the young guns on the Braves faced an Indians staff that contained veterans Dennis Martinez (41 years old) & Orel Hershiser (37). The latter has been a candidate for the Hall on two recent “Today’s Game” Eras Committee ballots. If Orel ever makes it, that would give the ’95 Fall Classic the imprimatur of having featured four Cooperstown inductees. The ’95 Series, of course, was the only one in which the Braves’ big three tasted the champagne bubbly that accompanies a World Championship.

The Jack Morris/Braves Fall Classics

The World Series in both 1991 and ’92 showcased three Hall of Famers, the young Glavine and Smoltz along with veteran Jack Morris.

Hall of Famers Smoltz and Morris matched up twice in the 1991 World Series, in both Games 4 and 7. Both starters pitched well in Game 4 but were lifted for pinch-hitters before the Braves prevailed in the bottom of the 9th.

Game 7, of course, was one of the most famous pitching duels in World Series history. Smoltz went 7.1 innings without giving up a run while Morris pitched the fourth 10-inning shutout in postseason history and the first and only one in Game 7 of the World Series.

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Morris only spent one season in the Twin Cities, signing a free agent deal with the Toronto Blue Jays in the offseason. Morris led the majors with 21 wins in the 1992 regular season but was uncharacteristically ineffective in the playoffs. Glavine out-dueled Morris in Game 1 of the World Series, while Smoltz exacted his revenge by defeating the 37-year old veteran in Game 5. The Jays, however, got the last laugh by winning the other four games and the first World Championship for the nation of Canada.

Incidentally, the Game 5 matchup of Smoltz and Morris (October 22, 1992) is, at this point, the most recent World Series contest that featured a pitching card with two Hall of Fame starters.

The 1980’s

The decade of the 1980’s featured the debuts of a lot of great young starting pitchers who, for various reasons, were never able to complete careers that culminated with Hall of Fame plaques. Fernando Valenzuela, Hershiser, Dwight Gooden, Bret Saberhagen, and Frank Viola all debuted in the 1980’s. All won both a Cy Young and World Series during the decade and none are in the Hall of Fame. Clemens also debuted in the ’80’s and, of course, isn’t in the Hall for reasons unrelated to his career statistical accomplishments.

The only Hall of Famers to start World Series games during the 1980’s were Bert Blyleven (1987 with the Twins), Morris (1984 with the Tigers), Don Sutton (1982 with the Brewers) and Steve Carlton (1980 and ’83 with the Phillies). Excluding the two most recent decades (whose Hall of Fame history is still being written), there’s no decade that had as few World Series games started by Cooperstown inductees as the ’80’s. The four mentioned hurlers combined for just 9 Fall Classic starts. Compare that to the 1990’s, when Glavine, Smoltz, Maddux and Morris combined to start 26 World Series contests.

The 1970’s: a Decade Filled with Hall of Fame Starters

Preceding the 1980’s was a decade that had a wealth of high-quality, high-volume starting pitchers who became Hall of Famers. Ten different innings-eaters provided their greatest value during the 1970’s. However, five of those ten Hall of Famers (Phil Niekro, Gaylord Perry, Fergie Jenkins, Nolan Ryan and Carlton) did not appear in the World Series at all during the decade. Niekro, Perry and Jenkins never appeared the Fall Classic at any time in their careers while Ryan’s only appearance was out of the bullpen with the 1969 Miracle New York Mets.

There were multiple instances of two Hall of Fame starters participating in the same World Series on opposite sides but never more than two. There were no team matchups that are analogous to the 2019 World Series that features Verlander, Greinke and Scherzer.

In 1979 Bert Blyleven and the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated Jim Palmer and the Baltimore Orioles in a 7-Game series win. Palmer was in the twilight of his Hall of Fame career while Blyleven was right in the middle of his. Blyleven and Palmer faced off in Game 2 of the Fall Classic; both pitchers earned no-decisions in the Bucs’ eventual 3-2 victory.

The Decade of Catfish

Catfish Hunter and Don Sutton found themselves on opposite sides in the World Series three times (in 1977-78 when Hunter was with the Yankees and in 1974 when he toiled for the 3-time champion A’s). Sutton was on the losing end all three times with the L.A. Dodgers.

In Game 6 of the ’78 World Series, Hunter out-pitched Sutton at Dodger Stadium in the game that clinched the Yankees’ second straight title. The 32-year old Hunter pitched 7 innings of 2-run ball to earn the 5th World Series win of his career. Sutton was the loser, giving up 5 runs in 5.2 IP.

Sutton (at 33) was actually a year older than Hunter. Their careers took wildly divergent paths thereafter. At the time Sutton had 205 career wins; he would add 119 more in 10 more MLB seasons. Hunter had 222 wins at this point in his career and would add only 2 more, going 2-9 with a 5.31 ERA in 1979, his final campaign in baseball. Thanks to a Cy Young Award, five 20-win seasons and his role in securing five World Championships for his teams, Catfish was a second ballot Hall of Fame inductee while Sutton, despite 324 wins, needed five ballots to make it to Cooperstown. Sutton only won 20 games once, never won a Cy Young trophy and despite participating in four Fall Classics, never won one.

It’s possible in the future that we’ll look upon the ’77-’78 Fall Classics between the Yankees and Dodgers as contests that featured starts by at least three Hall of Famers. Tommy John was a member of the Dodgers for those seasons and is a perennial Veterans Committee candidate for Cooperstown.

Besides the World Series wins of 1974, ’77 and ’78 over the Dodgers, Hunter was also a key figure in Oakland’s other two titles in ’72 and ’73. In the 1973 Fall Classic, Hunter and another Hall of Famer (Tom Seaver) faced off in Games 3 and 6. In Game 2, each pitcher earned a no-decision in the A’s 11-inning win.

In Game 6, a must-win for the A’s, Reggie Jackson delivered RBI doubles in the 1st and 3rd innings to give Oakland a 2-0 lead, which would hold through 7 innings. After giving up a one-out single in the top of the 8th inning, manager Dick Williams replaced Hunter with Darold Knowles, who gave up a run that counted as an earned run for Hunter. Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers closed out the eventual 3-1 victory; the A’s won the 7th Game by a 5-2 score.

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All told, between his years in Oakland and New York, Catfish was a participant in six out seven Fall Classics from 1972-78, missing only 1975.

For the record, the two matchups between Catfish and Tom Terrific in the ’73 Series were the first two between Hall of Famers during the LCS era, which began in 1969. Seaver and Palmer were on opposite sides in the 1969 World Series but did not pitch against each other.

As of today’s date, there have only been only seven World Series matchups featuring two Hall of Fame starters since 1967.

The 1960’s: Koufax/Drysdale/Ford/Gibson

In the 1960’s, four different Hall of Fame starting pitchers were on teams that won the World Series. In case the title of this section didn’t make it obvious, those four were Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Whitey Ford and Bob Gibson. Ford’s Yankees were on the losing end in three other seasons, while Koufax, Drysdale and Gibson were each on the defeated squad once apiece. All told, this elite quartet started 30 World Series games during the decade. The other Hall of Famers who started Fall Classic games during the 1960’s were Seaver (in 1969), Palmer (in 1966 and ’69), Carlton (in ’67) and Juan Marichal (in ’62).

In 1968, the St. Louis Cardinals had two Cooperstown inductees on their roster (Gibson and Carlton) but the 23-year old lefty did not make a start in the Series. In the meantime, any fan could be excused for thinking they were watching multiple future Hall of Famers in this series. The Cards had Gibson, the N.L. MVP and Cy Young winner (22-9, 1.12 ERA) while the Tigers had Denny McClain (31-6, 1.96 ERA), who won the A.L. MVP and Cy. Because World Series clashes seldom go according to script, it was the Tigers’ second starter (Mickey Lolich) who stole the show. After a 17-9 record (3.19 ERA) in the regular season, the lefty went 3-0 with a 1.67 ERA to win Games 1, 5 and 7 and the Series for the Tigers.

The 1966 World Series was the first one prior to 1991 to feature three different Hall of Fame starting pitchers. Pitching for the L.A. Dodgers were Koufax and Drysdale, both only 30 years old but also near the end of their careers. On the Orioles was the 20-year old Palmer, who beat Koufax 6-0 in Game 2 in what would be the Left Arm of God’s final career start. The Orioles swept the Dodgers in 4 Games.

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Three years prior, in 1963, the Dodgers and Yankees met in the Fall Classic for the first time since the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. This was another World Series that featured three Hall of Fame starters, with Koufax and Drysdale leading Los Angeles to a 4-0 series sweep over Ford’s Yankees. Both Games 1 and 4 showcased Ford and Koufax, with the Dodgers’ lefty winning both games and the series MVP Award.

The next year, Ford and the Yankees lost in 7 Games to Gibson and the Redbirds, with Gibson winning two of the final three contests. Ford pitched in only Game 1 (not against Gibson) and had to leave after 5.1 innings of 5-run ball with numbness in his pitching fingers on his golden left arm. That was the final of 22 World Series starts for the Chairman of the Board.

A tangent: Koufax and Kaat

A brief aside: in 1965, baseball fans witnessed three starting pitcher matchups between Koufax and the Minnesota Twins’ Jim Kaat. These were not contests featuring two Hall of Famers because Kaat is not enshrined in Cooperstown. I mention these games because Kaat (a 283-game winner) is a popular candidate for the Hall, having fallen a mere two votes short of a plaque when he was on the 2015 Golden Era ballot. The two lefties faced off in Games 2, 5 and 7 of the ’65 World Series.

Koufax and Kitty split their first two matchups while the teams split the first 6 Games, setting up a Game 7 matchup with both hurlers going on two days of rest. Kaat gave up two runs in the top of the 4th inning and was subsequently removed while Koufax pitched a complete game shutout; the Dodgers won 2-0. It might surprise readers to know that Koufax (29) was only three years older than Kaat (26). The difference is that Koufax retired at age 30 while Kaat pitched until he was 44.

1960-62

There was one other start in the early 1960’s that featured two Hall of Fame starters. It was in Game 4 of the 1962 World Series between the Yankees and San Francisco Giants. Ford (then 32) was on the mound in Game 4 against a 24-year old right-hander from the Dominican Republic, Juan Marichal. The Dominican righty was Dandy for four innings of scoreless ball and had a two-run lead but was removed after those four frames. Ford gave up 2 runs in 6 innings for a no-decision. The Giants went on to win the game but it was reliever Don Larsen (yes, with the Giants) who was credited with the W. Ultimately, in this Series, the Yankees prevailed in 7 games.

For the record, the Yankees won the 1961 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds and lost the classic 7-Game Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1960. Ford was the only Hall of Famer to start a game in either matchup.

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1959: The Dodgers in Los Angeles and in the World Series

In 1959, the Dodgers, in their third season in Los Angeles, defeated the Chicago White Sox in 6 Games. This was another World Series matchup that featured three Hall of Fame starters. Koufax and Drysdale, both just 23 years old at the time, combined for 16 innings of two-run ball.

On the other side, the Chisox featured 39-year old Early Wynn, a 22-game winner, Cy Young Award winner and Cooperstown inductee. Wynn did not pitch well, giving up 9 runs in 13 innings spread across three starts. Despite the presence of these three distinguished names, the MVP of the Fall Classic was the Dodgers’ Larry Sherry, who won two games and saved two others with a 0.71 ERA in 12.1 innings. This was the only World Series of the decade to feature three starters who would later earn Cooperstown plaque.

1957 & 1958: Spahn and Ford

In the history of the World Series, the New York Yankees have had multiple decades of dominance. The Bronx Bombers won three championships in the 1920’s, five titles in the 1930’s, four more in the 1940’s, a whopping six in the 1950’s and three in the 1990’s.

There were a total of 7 Hall of Famers who played for the 1950’s Yankees; the only pitcher was Whitey Ford. The Chairman of the Board started 12 World Series games during the decade, twice as many as any other Yankees’ starting pitcher.

The Yankees tangled with the Milwaukee Braves in both 1957 and ’58, losing to the Braves in ’57 while taking the title in ’58; both Series went the full 7 Games. The Braves in these years featured two young stars (Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews) in the field and a veteran starting pitcher, Hall of Famer Warren Spahn.

Spahn was highly accomplished before facing off with Ford, Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra. He was the ’57 Cy Young Award winner and had already won 224 MLB games, despite missing 3 seasons due to World War II.

Ford and Spahn squared off four times in these two Fall Classics, once in 1957 and three times in 1958. Ford and the Yankees defeated Spahn and the Braves in Game 1 of the ’57 Series but the Braves ultimately prevailed in 7 Games with Lew Burdette the MVP and pitching star. Burdette won three starts (all complete game victories) while posting a 0.67 ERA.

In Game 1 of the 1958 World Series, Spahn out lasted Ford and reliever Ryne Duren, pitching 10 innings in a 4-3 win. Spahn bested Ford again in Game 4, tossing a two-hit shutout in a 3-0 victory. In Game 6, with each lefty pitching on two days rest, Ford only lasted 1.2 innings while Spahn pitched again into extra innings. Ultimately, he and the Braves lost 4-3 in 10 innings and also lost Game 7 the next day.

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Ford started seven other games in the World Series in 1950, ’53, ’55 and ’56 but did not face another Hall of Famer in any of those games. To this day, Ford is the all-time leader in baseball history in World Series starts (22), wins (10), innings pitched (146) and strikeouts (94).

1954 World Series

The 1954 World Series actually featured a team with four starting pitchers who would make the Hall in the future (Wynn, Bob Lemon, Bob Feller and Hal Newhouser). The ’54 Indians were a super team that won 111 games during the regular season. Feller, 35 years old, was near the end of his career. In the Fall Classic, manager Al Lopez used 7 pitchers not named Feller despite the fact that Rapid Robert had had a solid campaign, going 13-3 with a 3.09 ERA. The 34-year old Lemon started Games 1 and 4, the 34-year old Wynn started Game 2 and 30-year old Mike Garcia in Game 3. Newhouser (33 years of age), also near the end of his career, was used in relief.

In fairness to Lopez, Lemon had gone 23-7 with a 2.72 ERA in the regular season; Wynn went 23-11 with a 2.73 ERA; Garcia posted a 19-8 record to go with a 2.64 ERA. So, yes, by performance, the great Bob Feller was the Tribe’s 4th starter. None of it mattered. The New York Giants had four good starters of their own, not to mention Willie Mays in center field. The Giants swept the Indians in 4 Games.

Although the Giants did not have a Hall of Famer in their rotation, they did have 32-year old Holy Wilhelm pitching out of their bullpen.

Besides those already mentioned, the only other Hall of Famer to start a World Series game during the 1950’s was Robin Roberts (with the Phillies in 1950).

The 1940’s

The decade of the 1940’s, in which many Major League Baseball players left their teams to serve in the Second World War, featured just five Hall of Fame pitchers who started games during the World Series. Three of those five (Feller, Lemon and Spahn) faced off in the 1948 World Series as the Indians defeated the Boston Braves in 6 Games. Spahn was 27 years old at the time but had finished just his second full MLB season on the mound thanks to his service in the Army during the war.

Lemon turned 28 in September and was just completing his first full season in the majors thanks to his service in the Navy. If the World Series had a MVP award in those days, Lemon probably would have won it. He won both of his starts while posting a 1.65 ERA in 16.1 innings. In Game 2, Spahn gave up 3 runs in 4.1 innings while Lemon gave up just one unearned run in a complete game effort. This was the only World Series matchup in the ’40’s which showcased two Hall of Fame starters.

The only other Fall Classics to feature Hall of Famers as starting pitchers were in 1941, ’42, and ’45.

Newhouser, the back to back A.L. MVP in 1944 and ’45, won Games 5 and 7 to lead the Detroit Tigers to victory over the Chicago Cubs in the 1945 World Series.

In 1941 and ’42, the Yankees’ Red Ruffing started 3 games, going 2-1 with a 3.04 ERA. He was the winning pitcher in Game 1 of the ’41 Series (a 5-game series win over the Dodgers) and then went 1-1 in the ’42 Fall Classic (a 5-game series loss to the St. Louis Cardinals).

1936-39: Ruffing and a Lefty not named Grove

By extraordinary coincidence, there were exactly eight different future Hall of Famers to start World Series games in each of the first four decades of the 20th century.

The Fall Classic stars of the 1930’s were Ruffing and Lefty Gomez of the Yankees. The two Hall of Famers combined to go 11-1 with a 2.63 ERA in 14 World Series starts (7 each) to help the Bronx Bombers win 5 Championships (in 1932 and 1936-39). As we’ve seen already, Ruffing won a 6th title in ’42.

Working backwards, in 1939 the Yankees swept the Cincinnati Reds in 4 games. Ruffing and Gomez started one game each, although Gomez lasted just one inning in his Game 3 start, having strained his stomach muscle. There were no Hall of Fame pitchers on the Reds, although Bucky Walters has a reasonable case.

From 1936 to ’38, Ruffing and Gomez faced off against a National League team that had a future Cooperstown inductee of their own. In 1938, it was 28-year old Dizzy Dean, who had finished his first season with the Chicago Cubs, an injury-plagued campaign in which he tossed just 74.2 innings. Dean would only throw 155.1 more innings in his entire career. With an overall record of 150-83 (.644) with a 3.02 ERA, Dean is the ultimate “peak performance” Hall of Famer. Ruffing, Gomez and Dean (at the time) had each won over 140 games and (using modern metrics) posted a WAR of over 40, putting them in the general neighborhood but quite a bit behind the 2019 trio of Verlander, Scherzer and Greinke.

The Yankees swept the Cubs in the ’38 World Series, with Ruffing the pitching star (2-0, 1.50 ERA in 18 innings). In the one matchup of Hall of Famers, Gomez and the Yanks beat Dean and the Cubs in Game 2.

1933-37: King Carl & Dizzy

In both 1936 and ’37, the Yankees defeated the New York Giants, who were led by Carl Hubbell. King Carl was 33 years old at the start of the ’36 World Series and already looked like a Hall of Famer in the making. At the end of the ’36 regular season, Hubbell had a 170-94 record with a superlative 2.74 ERA. Another 22 wins in 1937 gave the Meal Ticket a total of 192 W’s by the start of the Fall Classic. The Yankees, of course, won the championship in both seasons, with Gomez winning 2 games in both. Each series featured one pitching matchup of Hall of Famers. In Game 1 in 1936, Hubbell outpointed Ruffing in a 6-1 win. In Game 1 in 1937, Hubbell was shelled while Gomez pitched a complete game in a 8-1 Yankees victory.

Moving chronologically in reverse in our story, the 1934 St. Louis Cardinals, who defeated the Detroit Tigers in 7 Games in the World Series, had three Hall of Famers on their pitching staff but two of them (Jesse Haines and Dazzy Vance) were in their 40’s and bullpen arms at this point in their careers. At 24 years of age, Dizzy Dean was the Redbirds’ true ace. He won 30 games in the regular season (winning MVP honors) and two more in the Fall Classic. Dizzy’s brother Paul, a rookie, won the other two games in the World Series along with 19 in his rookie campaign. That’s 53 total regular and postseason wins for the Dean brothers. Not bad!

As for Hubbell, he was the pitching star in the 1933 World Series, winning both Games 1 and 4 in the Giants’ 5 game series win. Hubbell, the only Hall of Fame starter in ’33, tossed two complete games, including an 11-inning effort in Game 4, giving up 3 unearned runs (with no ER) in 20 innings of work. The Giants’ opponent in 1933? The Washington Senators. This was the last time the nation’s capitol would have a representative in baseball’s postseason showcase until 2019 with the Nationals.

The 1932 World Series (with the Yankees sweeping the Cubs in 4 Games) had four different future Hall of Famers on the pitching rosters. Two of them (38-year old Herb Pennock on the Yanks and 39-year old Burleigh Grimes) pitched out of the bullpen. Ruffing and Gomez each earned wins in the Series. This particular Fall Classic is notable for having a record 13 future Hall of Famers overall on the Yankees and Cubs rosters.

Game 4, a 13-6 Yankees win, set an all-time World Series record by featuring 12 different Hall of Famers in a single contest. For the Yankees, the first six batters in the lineup (Earle Combs, Joe Sewell, Ruth, Gehrig, Tony Lazzeri and Bill Dickey) would eventually get enshrined in Cooperstown. Pennock pitched out of the bullpen while Ruffing served as a pinch-hitter. That’s 8 for the Bronx Bombers. The Cubs had Billy Herman, Kiki Cuyler, Gabby Hartnett and Grimes out of the ‘pen.

1929-31: Lefty Grove and the Athletics.

Connie Mack managed the Philadelphia Athletics for parts of 50 MLB seasons, starting in 1901 when he was 38 years old. He didn’t give up the reins until 1950, when he was 87. Along the way, as we’ll see, his Athletics would appear in the World Series eight different times. His last dynasty was from 1929-31, three years in which the A’s won 104, 102 and 107 regular season games to win the American League pennant each year over the Yankee teams featuring Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.

These Athletics squads featured four Hall of Famers: catcher Mickey Cochrane, first baseman Jimmie Foxx, left fielder Al Simmons, and starting pitcher Grove. From 1926 to 1933, the 6’3″ left-hander had one of the greatest eight-year runs of pitching excellence of the era. In those years, he went 185-67 (.734) with a 2.71 ERA, which was worth 66.3 WAR by today’s metrics. He won 20 or more games for 7 years in a row, including 31 in in ’31, when he was the A.L. MVP (thanks to only 4 losses and a 2.06 ERA).

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The Athletics defeated the Cubs in the 1929 World Series in 5 Games. Who says there were no sabermetrics in the old days? Facing a right-handed heavy lineup (including future Cooperstown inductees Hack Wilson, Rogers Hornsby and Kiki Cuyler), Mack used right-handed pitchers to start all of the games, using Grove twice out of the bullpen to earn what today would be credited as saves.

Both the 1930 and 1931 Fall Classics featured three different Hall of Fame starting pitchers between Philadelphia and St. Louis, who squared off for two years in a row. In 1930, the Athletics defeated the Cardinals in 6 Games, with Grove twice earning wins against the 37-year old Grimes, who had completed the second to last effective regular season campaign of his career as a starter. Grimes, as you may have noted, was with the ’32 Cubs; was traded to Chicago after the ’31 campaign. Grimes was a true journeyman. He was acquired by the Redbirds (his 6th team) in the middle of the ’30 regular season. 

The other future Hall of Fame starter in the ’30 World Series was the 37-year old Haines, who defeated Grove in Game 4. That win for St. Louis tied the series at 2 Games apiece. The next day, after pitching an 8-inning complete game, Grove came out of the bullpen to help the A’s defeat the Cards’ and Grimes in the pivotal Game 5 win. The Athletics would wrap up the Series two days later.

In ’31, the 101-win Cardinals stunned the 107-win Athletics in a 7-Game classic. Grimes, now 38 and in last year with the Cardinals, started and won Games 3 and 7 of the Series, out-pitching Grove in Game 3. The Athletics’ ace actually started three games in this Series, with wins in Games 1 and 6 sandwiched around the Game 3 loss to Grimes. The third starting pitcher in this series who would eventually make the Hall of Fame was not Jesse Haines; he suffered a season-ending injury in September. It was another journeyman future Hall of Famer (Waite Hoyt) who started and lost Game 5 for Philadelphia.

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Remembering the minor point that the Hall of Fame actually didn’t exist at this point in history, all four of these Cooperstown inductees were veterans, pitching in their 30’s.

Still, remembering the inspiration of this piece, the comparison to the superb starters in the 2019 World Series, does this quartet match the level of Verlander/Greinke/Scherzer/Strasburg/Cole? I think not.

1926-28: The Bronx Bombers

Before the Athletics mini-dynasty of 1929-31 came the New York Yankees first mini-dynasty, the one led by Ruth and Gehrig. Working backwards, the 1928 Fall Classic (New York against St. Louis) featured three Hall of Fame starting pitchers. For the Yankees, it was the then-29-year old Hoyt; for the Cardinals it was Haines (a 20-game winner in ’28) and Pete Alexander, who was in the twilight of his career at age 41.

Hoyt pitched two complete game shutouts in Games 1 and 4 while the Yankees bombed Haines and Alexander for 14 runs in Games 2 and 3. The Yankees swept the Series. Ruth and Gehrig combined for 7 home runs, 13 RBI while hitting a mere .593 in the sweep.

As an aside, two other Hall of Famers pitched for the Yankees in 1928. They were veterans Herb Pennock, who did not appear in the World Series, and Stan Coveleski, who was released in August in what was his final MLB campaign.

1927 was the best year for the Bronx Bombers; it was the “Murderers Row” edition of the Yankees as the team that won 110 regular season games. The Yanks easily swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in 4 Games, with Hoyt and Pennock each winning one.

The Classic 1926 World Series

In 1926, the Yankees matched up against the St. Louis Cardinals in what was the first Fall Classic appearance for the Redbirds and player-manager Rogers Hornsby. There were four different Hall of Fame starters (Alexander, Haines, Hoyt and Pennock) in this World Series and all seven contests featured a starting effort by one of them, with Haines and Hoyt squaring off at Yankee Stadium for Game 7. This was the only Fall Classic to go the full 7 Games in which at least one Hall of Famer started each and every one.

Anyway, in that pivotal final contest, Ruth got the scoring started with a solo home run off Haines in the bottom of the 3rd. Next, in the top of the 4th, two Yankees errors contributed to a 3-run inning for the Redbirds. The Bombers pulled within a run in the bottom of the 6th and, with the tying run on 2nd base, manager Miller Huggins pinch hit for Hoyt. The pinch-hitter (Ben Paschal) tapped back to Haines to end the inning.

Pennock came out of the bullpen to pitch the final three innings for the Yankees. In the meantime, in the bottom of the 7th, the Yanks loaded the bases against Haines. Hornsby went to the bullpen, bringing in the 39-year old Alexander, the day after he had authored a complete game victory in Game 6. Old Pete struck out Tony Lazzeri to end the threat. Alexander got the next five outs before walking Ruth with two outs in the bottom of the 9th. In the most unlikely of endings, Ruth was thrown out trying to steal 2nd base, ending the Series.

All told, Game 7 of the 1926 World Series featured 11 different men who were inducted into the Hall as players, the second most ever other than the ’32 Fall Classic. All four aforementioned pitchers wound up in Cooperstown, as did seven of the position players (Ruth, Gehrig, Lazzeri, Earle Combs, Hornsby, Jim Bottomley, and Chick Hafey). The ’26 Series is also notable for being chock full of veteran hurlers. Besides our featured four, the Yankees had three 30-something veterans in Bob Shawkey, Urban Shocker and Dutch Reuther.

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There are only 14 pitchers from the first half of the 20th century with a career WAR of more than 45 and more than 175 wins who are not in the Hall of Fame. Two of them (Shawkey and Shocker) pitched in the 1926 World Series, making it arguably the most star-studded Fall Classic ever.

For Alexander, destined to greatness from birth (he was named Grover Cleveland Alexander after the sitting president in 1887), the 1926 championship was responsible for his lone World Series ring. Alexander won 373 games in his career, 350 as a starter. Until a mid-season trade during the 1926 season, he had spent all 16 years of his career pitching for the Phillies and Cubs. Ironic that his most classic moment came in relief with the Redbirds.

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1924: The Big Train’s Big Moment

Two years before Alexander’s big moment, another all-time great had a similar moment of his own. Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators was 36 years old when he appeared in the World Series for the first time. The 6’1″, 200-pound “Big Train” had already won 377 regular games (with a microscopic 2.00 ERA) in 18 magnificent seasons. In 1924, Johnson was the A.L. MVP, thanks to a 23-7 record and 2.72 ERA.

In the World Series, the Senators squared off against the New York Giants, who had a whopping 7 Hall of Fame position players. This is due in part to one of those position players being Frankie Frisch, who ushered in more than one borderline former teammate into Cooperstown when he was on the Hall of Fame’s Veterans Committee.

Anyway, thanks in part to the Giants’ defeating Johnson in Games 1 and 5, the Series went the full seven. In Game 7, at Griffith Stadium in Washington, the score was tied at 3 after 8 innings. The Big Train came out of the bullpen on a day of rest and proceeded to pitch 4 innings of scoreless ball, allowing the Senators to walk off with the win and the Championship on an Earl McNeely double in the bottom of the 12th.

Just as Alexander would do two years later, Walter Johnson got his first title-delivering moment as a reliever. The Senators were back in the World Series in 1925 (against the Pittsburgh Pirates) and, once again, all seven games were played. Johnson gave up just one run in two complete game victories in Games 1 and 4. Meanwhile, the Senators had another future Hall of Fame starter (Stan Coveleski) on the roster, but he was on the losing end of Games 2 and 5.

In Game 7, Johnson was on the mound to start the game but this time, the 37-year old Big Train ran out of steam. Despite being handed a four-run lead, Johnson was shelled, giving up 9 runs (5 earned) on 15 hits. Late in the game (the bottom of the 8th), with the score tied at 7 and the bases loaded, Hall of Famer Kiki Cuyler hit a ground rule double off Johnson to give the Bucs a 9-7 lead and ultimately the victory and World Championship.

1921-23: New York, New York

From 1921-23, all three World Series matchups involved the New York Yankees and New York Giants, with the two teams sharing the Polo Grounds in upper Manhattan for the first two of those contests. In this era, Gehrig wasn’t on the scene yet but Ruth was in his 20’s and his prime.

The Giants won the first two Polo Grounds matchups, with the Yankees Waite Hoyt being the only Cooperstown inductee who toed the rubber. Hoyt was actually quite brilliant in the ’21 and ’22 World Series, going 2-2 but with a 0.26 ERA. A first inning error by Yankees’ shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh yielded an unearned run in the decisive Game 8 of the ’21 Series. It was the only run in the game, as the Giants’ Art Nehf tossed a shutout. Yes, the World Series was a “best of 9” contest in 1903 and from 1919-21.

It wasn’t quite as momentous as the acquisition of Babe Ruth but, in January 1923, the Yankees acquired Herb Pennock from the Boston Red Sox. Pennock had been a below-average pitcher up to that point with the Athletics and Red Sox. He was on the rosters for four prior World Series teams (in consecutive years) but only appeared once (as a reliever) in those Fall Classics.

Once in the Bronx, Pennock flourished, going 19-6 with a 3.13 ERA in his first season in pinstripes. Finally allowed to participate in the World Series as a starting pitcher, the “Squire of Kennett Square” was the winning pitcher in Games 2 and 6 and got what would now be called a  “save” in Game 4, leading the Yankees to their first of their 27 World Championships.

The Fall Classics of 1915-20

The years of 1915 to 1920 had many notable Fall Classics but had only one with more than two future Hall of Fame starters as part of the cast. In 1920, the Cleveland Indians were led to the World Championship by ace right-hander Stan Coveleski, who pitched three complete games in the World Series, winning Games 1, 4 and 7 while giving up just 2 runs in 27 innings. Pitching on the other side, for the Brooklyn Robins, were future Hall of Famers Burleigh Grimes (then a 27-year old young veteran) and Rube Marquard, who turned 33 during the 7-game series.

In the two pitching cards featuring Hall of Famers, Coveleski bested Marquard by a 3-1 score in Game 1 and bested Grimes 3-0 in the decisive Game 7. The Game 7 victory gave the Indians a 5-to-2 series win. Remember, this was one of the years in which the Fall Classic was “best of 9.”

From 1916 to 1919, only three Hall of Famers would take to the mound in the World Series. Red Faber won three games in 1917 for the Chicago White Sox in their 6-Game Series win over the Giants. Faber won Game 1, lost Game 4, came out of the bullpen to win Game 5 and then started and won Game 6. All in all, Faber pitched 27 innings to the tune of a 2.33 ERA. Faber was injured during the 1919 World Series and thus not a part of the Black Sox scandal.

Marquard started and lost two games for the Robins in their 1916 World Series loss to the Boston Red Sox. The only other Hall of Famer to start games during these years was Babe Ruth with Boston. Ruth pitched one of the greatest games in World Series history in 1916, tossing 14 innings of one-run ball in a 2-1 Game 2 victory. Two years later, Ruth was the starter and winner of Games 1 and 4 of the 1918 Fall Classic in which the Red Sox defeated the Cubs.

Ruth was on the roster for the 1915 World Series Champion Red Sox but, at the age of 20, did not pitch and had just one pinch-hitting appearance. On the losing side (pitching for the Philadelphia Phillies) were Pete Alexander (despite a 1.53 ERA in 2 starts) and Eppa Rixey, a 24-year old lefty who pitched 6.2 innings out of the bullpen as the loser in the decisive Game 5.

1910-14: the First Philadelphia Dynasty

Connie Mack’s first dynasty with the Philadelphia Athletics was from 1910-14. The A’s won four pennants in these five years and three World Series titles. Only five franchises participated in the five Fall Classics during these years.

One year before the Red Sox and Phillies tangled in the Fall Classic, the other teams in Boston and Philadelphia (the Braves and Athletics) matched up in the 1914 World Series. Without any Hall of Famers on the mound, the Braves swept the A’s. On the losing side were future Hall of Famers Chief Bender, Eddie Plank and the 20-year old Pennock, who pitched in relief.

Both the 1911 and 1913 World Series featured the Athletics against John McGraw’s New York Giants. Both teams showcased two eventual Cooperstown inductees; it was Bender and Plank on the A’s against Marquard and Christy Mathewson on the Giants. The Athletics prevailed in 6 Games in 1911 and 5 Games in ’13. During the year in between (1912), the Giants also lost, this time to the Boston Red Sox.

If you look at the career statistics through 1913, you can see the quality of the esteemed trio who participated in this World Series; Marquard was only 26 and not as accomplished.

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Plank pitched brilliantly in the three World Series title runs, posting a 0.97 ERA in 37 innings. Mathewson, as a member of a team that lost the Fall Classic in three straight seasons, cannot be blamed for those losses. Although he went 2-5, the 6’1″ right-hander posted a 1.33 ERA in 8 starts.

There were five different contests in the 1911 and 1913 World Series that showcased a pair of Hall of Fame hurlers.

• 1911 Game 1: Mathewson edged Bender by a 2-1 score.
• 1911 Game 2: Plank defeated Marquard 3-1.
• 1913 Game 1: Bender beat Marquard 6-4.
• 1913 Game 2: Mathewson out-pitched Plank 3-0 in a game in which both starters pitched 10 innings. Mathewson’s 10-inning shutout is only one of three in World Series history (Brooklyn’s Clem Labine in 1956 Game 6 and Morris in 1991).
• 1913 Game 5: Plank defeated Mathewson 3-1.

By the way, to complete the narrative, the Athletics’ dynasty began in 1910 in a 5-Game series win over the Chicago Cubs and Hall of Famer Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown.

1906-09: Tigers and Cubs

From 1906 to ’09, the Chicago Cubs and Detroit Tigers each appeared in three different World Series. The Tigers were on the losing end of three consecutive Fall Classics, from 1907-09. The Cubs, in the meantime, were losers in 1906 (to the White Sox) but winners in 1907 and ’08.

The 1906 Cubs went 116-36 during the regular season, a record for wins that held until the 2001 Seattle Mariners tied it. Playing the crosstown White Sox (93 regular season wins) in the third ever World Series, the Cubs were heavily favored. Fall Classics rarely go according to script, of course. The Chisox top three starters (Hall of Famer Ed Walsh, along with Nick Altrock and Doc White) gave up just 7 earned runs in 48 innings (a 1.31 ERA) over the course of their 6-game World Series win. Three Finger Brown started three games, losing two while winning just one. As fate would have it, Walsh and Brown did not pitch against each other during this World Series.

The Cubs won a mere 107 games in 1907 but defeated Ty Cobb and the Detroit Tigers in a four game sweep after a Game 1 tie (the game was called after 12 innings due to darkness). The Cubs routed the Tigers again in 1908, this time in a 4-1 Series win. Brown was the only Hall of Famer to pitch in these two Fall Classics; he went 3-0 with a 0.00 ERA in 20 innings in two starts and a relief appearance.

In 1909, the Tigers lost again, this time to the Pittsburgh Pirates. The only Hall of Famer to pitch was Vic Willis, who lost Game 5 for the Bucs.

The 1905 World Series: Giants v Athletics

The World Series as we know it began in 1903, took a year off, and returned in 1905 to a matchup showcasing four Hall of Fame hurlers and two franchises that would combine to appear in 20 Fall Classics between ’05 and 1937. Athletics owner-manager Connie Mack was just 42 years old. His managerial counterpart (John McGraw) was just 32.

The four Hall of Fame starters (Christy Mathewson and Joe McGinnity for the Giants, Eddie Plank and Chief Bender for the A’s) would eventually combine to win 1,156 Major League Baseball games. However, at this early stage in their careers, the quartet had won just 369 regular season contests.

The Giants won this Fall Classic in 5 Games, with the 25-year old Mathewson tossing three complete game shutouts to win 3 of the 4 contests. Mathewson, in 27 innings, gave up 13 hits with just 1 walk and 18 strikeouts. The four Hall of Famers combined logged 9 starts; only a Game 3 start by Philadelphia’s Andy Coakley kept this from being the only World Series ever to be started entirely by pitchers who would eventually have plaques in Cooperstown.

• Game 1: Mathewson beat Plank by a 2-0 score
• Game 2: Bender shut out the Giants, beating McGinnity 3-0
• Game 3: Mathewson defeated Coakley 9-0
• Game 4: in the Giants lone win, McGinnity beat Plank 1-0
• Game 5: Mathewson out-pitched Bender 2-0

You’ll notice that all five games ended in shutouts and most scores were close. The quartet of Hall of Famers combined for a 0.58 ERA.

An interesting side note: another Hall of Famer (Rube Waddell) was a member of the 1905 Athletics and had a brilliant year, going 27-10 with a 1.48 ERA. However, a September scuffle with Coakley resulted in an injured shoulder and Waddell did not appear in the World Series. There were also rumors at the time that gamblers had paid off Waddell to sit out the Series. If Waddell had remained healthy and earned a start over Coakley, this might have been the only World Series in history to be started exclusively by Hall of Famers.

1903 World Series: Cy Young and the Americans

The first ever World Series appropriately featured two all-time greats, Cy Young for the Boston Americans and Honus Wagner for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Young was already 36 years old and had won 379 baseball games (he would go on to finish with 511 W’s). The Flying Dutchman was 29 years old and had a career BA of .342.

In this, a 9-game series, the Americans won in 8 games; Young went 2-1 (winning Games 5 and 7) with a 1.85 ERA.

Hall of Fame Starters in the World Series by the Numbers

Unless you’ve been counting, it might be surprising to learn that there have been only 35 World Series games in the history of baseball that have featured matchups between two Hall of Fame starting pitchers. Only 7 of those matchups have occurred during my lifetime (I was born in 1967). 16 of those 35 contests took place before the Hall of Fame came into being in 1936. 10 out of the 36 Hall vs Hall pitching cards took place in the Fall Classics of 1905, 1911 and 1913.

Hall of Famers have started 265 World Series games. That’s actually a very high 20% of the 672 Fall Classic games in the history of baseball. However, as you may have noticed, there was a preponderance of Cooperstown enshrined starters who took to the hill in the years before the LCS expansion of 1969.

• 1903-68: 197 out of 768 World Series starts were made by Hall of Famers (26%)
• 1969-04: 68 out of 408 World Series starts were made by Hall of Famers (17%)

I cut off the last statistic of Hall of Fame World Series starters in 2004 because that’s the last year in which a start occurred by a player already enshrined in Cooperstown (Pedro Martinez with the 2004 Red Sox). After 2004, we start to get into not yet eligible retired pitchers (Mark Buehrle in 2005) and active pitchers (Justin Verlander in 2006).

These percentages take us back, full circle, to the 2019 World Series. In the seven games of this Fall Classic, 6 out of 14 starts have been made by pitchers very likely to certain to make the Hall of Fame (Max Scherzer, Verlander and Zack Greinke). The number could be anywhere from 8 to 10 if Stephen Strasburg and/or Gerrit Cole make it to Cooperstown. The Game 7 matchup was between Scherzer (virtual lock) and Greinke (highly likely) which could eventually be viewed as a pitching card with two Cooperstown inductees.

Most Combined Wins by World Series Rotations

As noted previously, one of the neat aspects regarding the starting pitchers in the 2019 World Series is that so many of them are so accomplished already, with three being already or nearly Cooperstown worthy. What’s interesting about the collection of starters on the Astros and Nationals is that they are mostly veterans. Even with Win totals for starting pitchers steadily declining in the era of pitch counts and 8-man bullpens, the nine starters for Houston and Washington have won a combined 1,007 regular season games. That’s the fourth most for any two teams in the history of the World Series.

Note: the combined win totals listed here are what the pitchers had logged through the end of each year in question, not the total of wins they would eventually get.

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The Uniqueness of the 2019 World Series Starters

To recap, what’s truly special about the Verlander/Greinke/Scherzer troika of starters is that they’ve all nearly completed their necessary work to make the Hall of Fame. Add in Strasburg and Cole and you have two younger pitchers at the top of their game who are both capable of continuing a run of excellence for another five years.

Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci predicts that the 29-year old Cole will become the highest paid pitcher in baseball when he tests the free agent waters this off-season. In his piece published two days ago, Verducci compares Cole to Pedro Martinez and Tom Seaver. Nice company! Meanwhile, Strasburg (age 31) has four years and $100 million left on his contract with the Nationals but can opt-out of the deal after the season. Most likely, Strasburg will use the opt-out clause to add a couple of years and a several dozen millions of dollars to his deal.

Cole and Strasburg, former #1 overall draft picks who struggled through ineffectiveness or injury earlier in their careers, both have a lot of work to do if they’re going to ever be considered for Cooperstown but they’re going to have the time and guaranteed money to do it.

Take a look at the preceding graphic for a brief moment. For a collection of starting pitchers in 2019 to have more wins than all but three other groups in World Series history is remarkable when you consider that starting pitcher wins are generally more scarce in today’s era of five-man rotations, pitch counts, max effort, and deep bullpens. The last two starters in this 2019 World Series (Joe Ross and Jose Urquidy) only provide 23 out of the total of 1,007 W’s.

This World Series will not go down in history as one of the best (unless you’re a Washington Nationals fan). Most of the games were not in doubt in the 9th inning. It will be remembered, however, as a showcase of some of the game’s greatest starting pitchers all competing in the same series.

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