By Louis Addeo-Weiss
In the fourth installment of this series, we continue to compare and contrast the caliber of starting pitching in the 2010s to the decades which preceded it.
Thus far, our journey down statistical memory lane has seen the role of the starting pitcher alter drastically, with further implementation of relief pitching and large contracts via free agency taking away from the vast number of complete games thrown, thus further depleting total innings pitched.
Volume four delves into the days of FDR, World War II, and the Great Depression – the 1930s and 40s.
As is only appropriate before each show, it is important we briefly consider the context of the eras in which we will be discussing.
The bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941 thrust the U.S. into conflict with Japan and Germany, and with that conflict, came many of the game’s brightest faces.
Red Sox star left fielder Ted Williams, who had just come off a season where he hit .406, the last man to bat over .400 over a full season, would leave after the 1942 season, missing three full-seasons while serving in the Navy Reserve, eventually being promoted to a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps.
A man who we’ll talk about later, Cleveland Indians pitcher Bob Feller, would enlist a mere two days after Pearl Harbor, becoming the first athlete to do so in the wake of U.S. entry.
Other notable names to have served include longtime St. Louis Cardinal Stan Musial and New York Yankees center fielder Joe DiMaggio, but given their respective positions (Musial being an OF’er/First Baseman), their names are just for the sake of the era in question.
| Rk | Player | WAR | ERA | ERA+ | FIP |
| 1 | Hal Newhouser(2453.1) | 54.1 | 2.84 | 138 | 3.01 |
| 2 | Bob Feller*(1897) | 38.3 | 2.90 | 131 | 3.11 |
| 3 | Harry Brecheen(1388) | 32.3 | 2.74 | 140 | 3.06 |
| 4 | Dutch Leonard(2047.1) | 31.9 | 3.14 | 118 | 3.04 |
| 5 | Bucky Walters(1868.1) | 28.6 | 2.97 | 121 | 3.53 |
| 6 | Mort Cooper(1606.1) | 28.4 | 2.93 | 124 | 3.09 |
| 7 | Claude Passeau(1693.2) | 27.9 | 2.94 | 118 | 3.07 |
| 8 | Tiny Bonham(1551) | 24.2 | 3.06 | 120 | 3.46 |
| 9 | Johnny Vander Meer*(1589.1) | 23.4 | 3.32 | 110 | 3.41 |
| 10 | Bobo Newsom (1961.1) | 23.0 | 3.59 | 105 | 3.33 |
()signifies innings pitched
*missed time due to military service
Of the 10 names here, two of them, Feller and Vander Meer, missed time due to service in the military.
This, given our current political climate, cannot be said about the 2010s, which creates a bit of unbalance in total player value. As is the case with other eras, the 2010s appears more balanced when comparing player 1 to player 10, using WAR (Wins Above Replacement) as the determinant, and most certainly applicable to the 1940s.
Using WAR, the decade’s most valuable pitcher, Hal Newhouser, who amassed 54.1 WAR during the 1940s, was worth 31.1 more total WAR than the number ten name on the list, Bobo Newsom.
What is interesting about the 1940s is the performance of the aforementioned Feller, who finished second in WAR despite missing time due to his military service.
In a New York Times piece published in the wake of his passing in 2010, Feller’s comments regarding his missed time were used when discussing the Heater from Van Meeter’s Hall of Fame career.
“I know in my heart I would have ended up a lot closer to 400 than 300 if I hadn’t spent four seasons in the Navy,” Feller once said. “But don’t take that as a complaint. I’m happy that I got home in one piece.”
When we discussed the 1960s a couple of weeks ago, we talked extensively about Sandy Koufax, the number three pitcher on that respective list, and how his career was derailed due to injury.
The reason for Koufax’s mention is to draw the parallels between the two, as one can only speculate what could’ve been for either starter.
Feller posted 18.1 WAR from 1940-41 and wound up putting together arguably his best season in 1946 when he posted 10 WAR after returning in the latter part of 1945. Were we to merely speculate, Feller could have wound up the decade’s best had he not missed this, an extended period of time.
In regards to the balance of talent, which we’ve discussed ad nauseam, the drop off in value between pitchers 1 and 3 on this list is far more drastic than what was seen during the 2010s. The difference between Newhouser’s 54.1 WAR and number 3 pitcher Harry Brecheen is 22.1, whereas the dropoff between Clayton Kershaw’s 59.3 WAR and number 3 slotter Max Scherzer is a mere 3.2 WAR, so can see the variation in balance, as those in the 2010s proved far more in line with each other.
With all of this information at our expense, thanks to the baseball-reference play index, we can easily come to the conclusion that pitching now was better than what was seen during the ‘40s, but how about the decade that preceded it – the 1930s.
| Rk | Player | WAR | ERA | ERA+ | FIP |
| 1 | Lefty Gomez(2234.2) | 43.5 | 3.24 | 131 | 3.79 |
| 2 | Wes Ferrell(2345.1) | 42.7 | 4.08 | 116 | 4.25 |
| 3 | Red Ruffing(2439) | 38.1 | 3.59 | 119 | 3.93 |
| 4 | Tommy Bridges(2083) | 35.4 | 3.76 | 122 | 4.10 |
| 5 | Ted Lyons(1972) | 32.1 | 3.90 | 118 | 4.23 |
| 6 | Bobo Newsom(1689.2) | 27.6 | 4.39 | 109 | 4.33 |
| 7 | Bill Lee(1570.2) | 27.2 | 3.21 | 122 | 3.88 |
| 8 | Johnny Allen(1406.1) | 25.6 | 3.73 | 118 | 3.67 |
| 9 | Earl Whitehill(2129.1) | 21.0 | 4.53 | 99 | 4.50 |
| 10 | Danny MacFayden(1997) | 19.6 | 3.87 | 102 | 3.98 |
A thorough look at the above list tells us that the ‘30s may in fact have been the weakest we’ve dissected thus far.
Lefty Gomez’s 43.5 WAR, the most over the respective period, is the lowest of any starter to top this list, as is Danny MacFayden, the number ten pitcher on this list, with just 19.6 WAR.
Of each pitcher in these respective top-10 lists, Earl Whitehill’s 99 ERA+ is the lowest of any of them.
It’s no secret, as evidenced by the numbers, that Clayton Kershaw was far better this decade than Gomez was in his era, but to better understand this, we need to look at league-wide offensive numbers over each respective period.
From 1930-39, the league-wide OPS+ was 94, that occurring with just 16 teams. Fast forward to this decade, and we see the average OPS+ rises to 100, which, while league average, tells us that offense has improved over time, this now with 30 teams in play.
Now, while this may appear as contradictory, it outlines the vast improvements in starting pitching over time but saying this comes off as a mere cliche.
