Complete Games by Pitchers

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Complete Games By Pitchers

By Stanley Fleming

Since the designated hitter rule went into effect in 1973, American League starting hurlers have been completing a greater percentage of their games. In 1975, for example, Catfish Hunter completed 30 of his 39 starts, Jim Palmer 25 of 38, Gaylord Perry 25 of 37, and Ferguson Jenkins 22 of 37. In the NL, Andy Messersmith finished 19 of 40, and Randy Jones 18 of 36.

The AL percentages still are not as high as they used to be in the deadball era. Since 1900 there has been a gradual decrease in the percentage of complete games, a decline interrupted in the AL by the DH. This decrease is probably best illustrated by career records since the days of Jack Taylor, who completed 97% of his career starts. Here are the hurlers who had the best completion rates for their particular eras.

Years Complete Game Leaders Starts CG Pct.

1898-1907 Jack Taylor, 2 clubs 286 278 97%

1898-1915 Bill Donovan, 4 clubs 327 287 88%

1907-1927 Walter Johnson, Nats 666 532 80%

1923-1946 Ted Lyons, White Sox 484 356 74%

1927-1941 Wes Ferrell, 6 clubs 323 227 70%

1934-1950 Bucky Walters, 4 clubs 398 242 61%

1942-1965 Warren Spahn, 3clubs 665 383 57%

1960-1975 Juan Marichal, 3 clubs 457 244 53%

1959-1975 Bob Gibson, Cardinals 482 245 51%

Completing 50% of a pitcher's starts these days is considered quite a feat. Hall of Fame hurlers like Sandy Koufax and Whitey Ford were well under 50%. With the retirements of Marichal and Gibson, the only veteran hurlers with creditable percentages are Ferguson Jenkins (200 out of 362 for 55%) and Gaylord Perry (236 out of 438 for 54%). Both are in the American League.

On a season basis, the only hurlers in the past 70 years to complete all their starts in one year were Walter Johnson in 1918 (a World War I season) and Ted Lyons in 1942 (a World War II season). Lyons was 41 years old and had become a Sunday hurler by that time. He not only completed all of his 20 starts, but led the AL in the ERA as well.

The lowest percentage by a leader was the 43% completion rate by the Angels' Dean Chance in 1964.

The emergence of top notch relief hurlers is one of the factors in the decline in the number of complete games. Also, pitchers today do not pace themselves as they did in earlier years. Now they can throw as hard as they like because they know there is some one in the bullpen ready to relieve them. So it is not really fair to say that pitchers of long ago were better because they completed most of their games. The strategy has changed.

One part of that strategy is the hitting of pitchers. If the hurler is good with the bat, the manager is not so prone to remove him for a pinch hitter. This is reflected in the good complete game records of hurlers like Red Lucas, Wes Ferrell, Jim Tobin, Bucky Walters, and Red Ruffing. This rationale could even be extended to pitcher Babe Ruth, who led one year in complete game percentage.

There are other interesting names in the list of pitchers with the best completion rate each year. The survey is based on a minimum of 20 starts for the 154-game schedule, and 21 starts for 162 games.

Pitchers With Highest Complete Game Percentage

Year	NL Leader	GS	CG	Pct.	AL Leader	GS	CG	Pct.

1901	Red Donahue	34	34	100%	Roscoe Miller	36	35	100%
1902	Jack Taylor	33	33	100	Al Orth	37	36	97
1903	Noodles Hahn	34	34	100	Bill Donovan	34	34	100
	Jack Taylor	33	33	100	Addie Joss	32	32	100
					Frank Kitson	28	28	100
1904	Jack Taylor	39	39	100	Bill Dinneen	37	37	100
	Kid Nichols	35	35	100
	Pat Flaherty	28	28	100
	Mike Lynch	24	24	100
1905	Jack Taylor	34	34	100	Addie Joss	32	31	97
	Mordecai Brown	24	24	100
1906	Jack Taylor	33	32	97	Jack Powell	26	25	96
1907	Elmer Stricklett	26	25	96	Bill Donovan	28	27	96
1908	Kaiser Wilhelm	36	33	92	Cy Young	33	30	91
1909	George Bell	30	29	97	Jack Warhop	23	21	91
1910	Mordecai Brown	31	27	87	Jack Coombs	38	35	92
1911	Gr. Alexander	37	31	84	Walter Johnson	37	36	97
1912	Ch. Mathewson	34	27	79	Joe Wood	38	35	92
1913	George Tyler	34	28	82	Walter Johnson	36	30	83
1914	Dick Rudolph	36	31	86	Ray Caldwell	23	22	96
1915	Gr. Alexander	42	36	86	Walter Johnson	39	35	90
1916	Gr.Alexander	45	38	84	Walter Johnson	38	36	95
1917	Jesse Barnes	33	27	82	Babe Ruth	38	35	92
1918	Arthur Nehf	31	28	90	Walter Johnson	29	29	100
1919	Jeff Pfeffer	30	26	87	Walter Johnson	29	27	93
1920	Gr. Alexander	40	33	83	Eddie Cicotte	35	28	80
1921	Burleigh Grimes	35	30	86	Red Faber	39	32	82
1922	Dutch Ruether	35	26	74	Red Faber	38	31	82
1923	Burleigh Grimes	38	33	87	Herb Pennock	27	21	78
1924	Dazzy Vance	34	30	88	Louis Thurston	36	28	78
1925	Dazzy Vance	31	26	84	Sherry Smith	30	22	73
1926	Carl Mays	33	24	73	George Uhie	36	32	89
1927	Red Lucas	23	19	83	Ted Lyons	34	30	88
1928	Larry Benton	35	28	80	Lefty Grove	31	24	77
1929	Red Lucas	32	28	88	Tommy Thomas	31	24	77
1930	Ervin Brame	29	22	76	Ted Lyons	36	29	81
1931	Red Lucas	29	24	83	Lefty Grove	30	27	90
1932	Red Lucas	31	28	90	Lefty Grove	30	27	90
1933	Dizzy Dean	34	26	76	Lefty Grove	28	21	75
	Lon Warneke	34	26	76
1934	Carl Hubbell	34	25	74	Ted Lyons	24	21	88
1935	Dizzy Dean	36	29	81	Ted Lyons	22	19	86
1936	Dizzy Dean	34	28	82	Red Ruffing	33	25	76
1937	Jim Turner	30	24	80	Wes Ferrell	35	26	74
1938	Paul Derringer	37	26	70	Bobo Newsorn	40	31	78
1939	Bucky Walters	36	31	86	Red Ruffing	28	22	79
1940	Bucky Walters	36	29	81	Thornton Lee	27	24	89
1941	Bucky Walters	35	27	77	Thornton Lee	34	30	88
1942	James Tobin	33	28	85	Ted Lyons	20	20	100
1943	Rip Sewell	31	25	81	Orval Grove	25	18	72
1944	Bucky Walters	32	27	84	Tex Hughson	23	19	83
1945	Red Barrett	34	24	71	Boo Ferriss	31	26	84
1946	Johnny Sam	34	24	71	Bob Feller	42	36	86
1947	Ewell Blackwell	33	23	70	Fred Hutchinson	25	18	72
1948	Johnny Sam	39	28	72	Carl Scheib	24	15	63
1949	Warren Spahn	38	25	66	Mel Parnell	33	27	82
1950	Vern Bickford	39	27	69	Ned Garver	31	22	71
1951	Warren Spahn	36	26	72	Ned Garver	30	24	80
1952	Robin Roberts	37	30	81	Allie Reynolds	29	24	83
1953	Robin Roberts	41	33	80	Bob Porterfield	32	24	75
1954	Robin Roberts	38	29	76	Bob Porterfield	31	21	68
1955	Robin Roberts	38	26	68	Billy Pierce	26	16	62
1956	Robin Roberts	37	22	59	Billy Pierce	33	21	64
1957	Warren Spahn	35	18	51	Dick Donovan	28	16	57
1958	Warren Spahn	36	23	64	Bob Turley	31	19	61
1959	Vernon Law	33	20	61	Camilo Pascual	30	17	57
1960	Lew Burdette	32	18	56	Chuck Estrada	25	12	48
1961	Warren Spahn	34	21	62	Frank Lary	36	22	61
1962	Warren Spahn	34	22	65	Camilo Pascual	33	18	55
1963	Warren Spahn	33	22	67	Camilo Pascual	31	18	58
1964	Juan Marichal	33	22	67	Dean Chance	35	15	43
1965	Sandy Koufax	41	27	66	Mel Stottlemyre	37	18	49
1966	Juan Marichal	36	25	69	Jim Kaat	41	19	46
1967	Juan Marichal	26	18	69	Steve Hargan	29	15	52
1968	Bob Gibson	34	28	82	Denny McLain	41	28	68
1969	Bob Gibson	35	28	80	Mel Stottlemyre	39	24	62
1970	Bob Gibson	34	23	68	Mike Cuellar	40	21	53
1971	Ferg. Jenkins	39	30	77	Mickey Lolich	45	29	64
1972	Steve Canton	41	30	73	Gaylord Perry	40	29	73
1973	Bob Gibson	25	13	52	Gaylord Perry	41	29	71
1974	Phil Niekro	39	18	46	Gaylord Perry	37	28	76
1975	Randy Jones	36	18	50	Jim Hunter	39	30	77