Need to know any info about horrible pitchers from the 1920s and 30s

He was. He also said he threw Ruth one curveball - which Ruth hit out for a home run. Thus, no more curves (and no more Ruth HRs vs. Pruett).

Of course, I wouldn't call Pruett horrible .. his ERA+ for his career was 92. Not good, but not horrible.

He's certainly no Les Sweetland (33-58, 6.10) or Claude Willoughby (38-58, 5.84), both of whom were on arguably the worst pitching staff in history, the 1930 Philadelphia Phillies (team ERA 6.71).

 

And few pitching staffs ever got the pleasure of pitching in the spacious Baker Bowl, where the rightfielder could've easily known if the second baseman had taco salad for lunch.

 

Great stuff, Buck, but either you have a photographic memory or what too much time on your hands.

 

I think chazp just called you a looser, buckdub. LOL!

 

Fantastic.

 

buckdub: As usual, you didn't let us down! *high 5*

I'm doing a large takeout on Tony Mullane (he got his start on a semi-pro team in my neck of the woods after his parents brought the family over from Ireland) and just love the whole era, too. I actually have some great color art of him, too.

 

Damn impressive, Buckdub cannot be stumped when it comes to baseball history.

 

Nice. I know Mullane was in the news a little bit last year when Glavine passed him in wins. Randy Johnson's tied with him now -- and could stay tied forever.

 

Baseball-Reference is a helluva drug tool, Mmac.

 

buck: while Mullane is best known for throwing with both arms in games, what he did with his contracts was way, way ahead of his time.

Sad part is, after he retired, he spent 20 years as a Chicago police detective. Think the Chicago PD would be interested in some positive PR by assisting? You're correct -- they're not.

 

True enough. Also had those metal fences which spawned the nickname for "Boom Boom" Beck (two sounds, the ball being hit and then clanging off the fence). And it didn't help that 1930 was the year the NL ball was juiced.

So, that being the case, I give you two more horrid pitching staffs from that era and both from the same year.

The 1936 Philadelphia A's - 6.08 ERA with 696 walks and just 405 whiffs. Featured the worst pitcher in history with at least 30 IP - Stu Flythe. He had 39.1 IP, 61 W, 16 WP and a 13.04 ERA.

The 1936 St. Louis Browns - 6.24 ERA and only one guy with an ERA under 5 (Ivy Andrews sneaking in at 4.84). They walked 609 and whiffed just 399. Jack Knott pitched in 47 games (23 starts) and amassed a wonderful 7.29 ERA.

 

Of course. I've had the same trouble with another police agency researching Fred McMullin's life. ... You might do better by going to the Chicago Historical Society for information on police detectives in that era (they probably won't have anything on Mullane specifically, but I bet they'll have plenty on 1890s-1900s CPD.)

Oh, and if you haven't asked somebody at the Hall of Fame to send you clips from Mullane's player file -- they might do it for free, they might charge a nominal fee -- do so. A wealth of information.