Baseball's best hitting pitcher ever

[Bothrops Atrox]

Moreover...

I agree that if people realized how good Ferrell was offensively, it would go a long way in establishing him as a legitamate HOFer. He probably created more runs above average with his bat than Catfish Hunter, Rube Marquard, Jesse Haines, Chief Bender, Jack Chesbro, and Herb Pennock did preventing runs with their arms.

[csh19792001]

Wes Ferrell was quite a hitter...

Moreover...

Actually, allowing for the short time period (3 physical years) that he played for the Red Sox, Wes Ferrell was the greatest clutch hitter in Red Sox history. Ortiz had five walk-off (game-winning) hits in 2006 in well over 500 at bats compared to Ferrell's six walk-offs over the 1934-1935 season (in about 230 at bats).

That Grove and Ferrell both appear on the Red Sox pitcher grand slam list is an oddity, as is the fact that Grove hit his in July 1935, a month in which Ferrell lead the team in both homers (5) and wins (7).

Here are the last two weeks of the season.

1. July 18 at Fenway. Ferrell loses 8-0 complete game to Rowe and the Tigers. Cronin makes two of the three Boston errors that allows Detroit to score six unearned runs.

2. July 20 at Fenway. Tigers lead 5-1 in seventh when pinch-hitter Wes Ferrell crashes a double high off the way in route to a Boston rally that ties the game. Ferrell stays in to pitch and is tagged with the loss when he allowed a ninth inning run.

3. July 21 at Fenway. Grove allows two ninth inning runs to the Tigers and walks off the mound trailing 5-3. Upset with Cronin's game strategy in the inning, Grove rips off his uniform shirt, hurls his glove into the stands, and picks up Cronin's game bat and smashes it to bits on the dugout steps. He was down in the clubhouse sulking when Wes Ferrell hit a three-run walk-off homer that made Lefty the game-winning pitcher.

4. July 22 at Fenway. Ferrell beat the St. Louis Browns by a 2-1 score. The game winning run came via Ferrell's walk-off homer in the ninth.

5. July 27 at Philadelphia. Cronin starts Grove and Ferrell in a doubleheader. Grove hits his grand-slam in the first game. Grove had just five RBI during the whole season and four of them came in this losing effort. (side issue: Wes Ferrell, as a pinch-hitter, also had five RBI in games Grove started by 1935).

Grove's game on July 27 went 15 innings and Philly won 7-6. Grove allowed 21 hits and six waks.

Ferrell started the second game against the A's ace, Johnny Marcum, and won by a 2-0 score, allowing only a lone infield single over the first seven innings.

6. July 31 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Ferrell beats Newsom, 6-4, hitting a solo and then a three run shot, becoming the the only player in 1935 to homer twice in a single game at Griffith.

Ferrell's grand-slam in 1936 came against Philadelphia and it was one of two homers he hit in the game. He drove in all six runs in a 6-4 Boston win.

[csh19792001]

Wes Ferrell was quite a hitter......38 HRs, .280 average, 208 RBI's and a .446 sluggin avg. in 1,176 at-bats. And he found the time to win 193 games (he won 20 or more six times.

His brother Rick, a catcher, also a good hitter with a career .281 average, but unlike Wes, Rick was more of a singles hitter - Rick hit 28 career HR's in 6028 at-bats. Rick used to say that Wes would have been a 30 HR, 100 RBI per year man if he'd been a position player.

You'd love this one. Read it recently.

The Ferrell Brothers of Baseball

Enjoy.

[Iron Jaw]

In recent years (to me, the last 35 years is recent , Bob Forsch was a pretty good hitting pitcher for the times. Brother Ken, on the other hand, had an excellent final season (1980, he went 18 for 77) with the bat, otherwise he'd have been recognized as an awful hitting pitcher.

[Iron Jaw]

Wes Ferrell was quite a hitter......38 HRs, .280 average, 208 RBI's and a .446 sluggin avg. in 1,176 at-bats. And he found the time to win 193 games (he won 20 or more six times.

His brother Rick, a catcher, also a good hitter with a career .281 average, but unlike Wes, Rick was more of a singles hitter - Rick hit 28 career HR's in 6028 at-bats. Rick used to say that Wes would have been a 30 HR, 100 RBI per year man if he'd been a position player.

[hellborn]

Ted Williams started out as a pitcher, too. Think that he faced more guys in the majors than Stan. In his "Greatest Sports Legends" appearance, Ted reamed Tom Seaver out for not knowing that Ted had pitched in HS ball (maybe in the minors, too?).
Walter Johnson was a pretty good hitter, too, and his OPS+ of 76 is impressive when you consider how long his career was.

[Gee Walker]

Bob Caruthers was an outstanding hitter (and pitcher). So was Monte Ward.

[Victory Faust]

Smokey Joe Wood was pretty good. So were Bob Gibson and Earl Wilson.

[CTaka]

I don't consider Ruth as having longevity as a pitcher.

Well, he did if compared to Dan Brouthers...

[Bothrops Atrox]

One thing to be slighly cautious about regarding pitchers OPS+ over time is: overthe decades, the average pitcher has gotten much worse. A guy with a career 25 OPS+ now would be considered one of the best hitting pitchers over the past 20 years. Back in Mullin's day, a 23 OPS+ would be pretty bad. It is better to focus on runs created above average for a pitcher, in other words, a 100 OPS+ in Mullins time is not nearly as valuable as a 100 OPS+ would be today.

[csh19792001]

Great Article On The Subject

[csh19792001]

Who is baseball's bet hitting pitcher ever?

Here's a question that may help lead to an answer to this original question...

How many full time pitchers with long careers had an OPS+ higher than 100?

George Mullin may be the greatest hitting pitcher in history, aside from Ruth. His numbers don't look impressive because of when he played, though.

Career OPS+
Mullin: 100
Ferrell: 100
Schoolboy Rowe: 87
George Uhle: 86
Newcombe: 85
Lemon: 82
Ruffing: 82

Notes: Ruth hit .304 at a pitcher. Erv Brame (.306) and Jack Bentley (.322) hit over .300.

Oddity- Jack Harshman, who only pitched 1189 innings and appeared in only 258 games, hit 21 homers in his career. He has the greatest HR/AB ratio (strictly as a pitcher) of anyone in baseball history.

[Dalkowski110]

Though he was far from the best, Schoolboy Rowe deserves mention here.

[jjpm74]

So Stan Musial won't count either?

Babe Ruth pitched in 163 games. Stan Musial's Major League pitching career consisted of facing 1 batter in 1952 while the pitcher of record, Harvey Haddix fielded after the team's season was over. Otherwise, he never pitched once in the majors.

[BenHertz]

I don't consider Ruth as having longevity as a pitcher.

So Stan Musial won't count either?