Pitching in the Year 1884

Expansion Like You've Never Seen

The year 1884 was extraordinary for its strikouts. In the history of major league play, from 1871 through 1998 (or from 1876 if you're one of those) only 36 pitchers have recorded 300 or more strikeouts in a season (56 times); fifteen of them did it in 1884. Of the 23 pitchers who did it only once, twelve did it in 1884. That year, twenty pitchers recorded at least 200 more strikeouts than walks. That's as many as have done it this century. The recognized record for strikeouts in a season is 383 by Nolan Ryan. That's only eighth on the all-time list. The first two are from 1886; the next five are from 1884. All told, seven of the top eleven are from 1884, and ten of the top 21. In terms of strikeout-walk difference, 1884 contributed the top four, seven of the top ten (all at least 300), 12 of the top 20, and 16 of the top 30.

Many reasons have been given for this phenomenon. The most popular seems to be that the full overhand delivery was legalized in 1884. That doesn't begin to answer, for that was only in the National League; the other two leagues would go no higher than the shoulder. Also, the National League reduced the number of balls in a walk from seven to six, matching one pro-pitcher rule change with an anti-pitcher change. In any case, only four of the fifteen 300 K pitchers were in the National League the entire season, and one, Charley Radbourn, did it the year before as well. With the new walk rule, only four of the twenty 200 K-W pitchers were National Leaguers the whole year, and three of them (Radbourn, Jim Whitney, Jim Galvin) did the same in 1883. No, the gaudy strikeout records were made with sidearm deliveries and 7-ball walks, in the American and (especially) Union Associations.

Here we come to the main difference between 1884 and 1883 (with three 300 K men and four 200 K-W men) or 1886 (with five of each). The three leagues of 1884 started the season with a total of 28 teams. Not until 1993 did as many teams compete in the major leagues. It was not simply the number of teams, but the increase. Only 16 teams played in 1883, so there were in essence a dozen expansion teams. That expansion took place in the American Association (four new teams) and the Union Association (eight new teams) -- precisely where the gaudy K's were.

The AA had six 300 K men; the UA two, as well as three who split time between the UA and the NL. Of 200 K-W men, the AA had eight, the UA three; one played in both, while three played in the NL as well as the UA. Since on the surface it appears that the NL did better than the UA, what with their shared pitchers and all, we should examine those three. Also, note that because they split the year between leagues, their full records do not appear on any all time record list, which is an injustice.

First of the three is Charlie Sweeney, who began the year sharing pitching duties with Charley Radbourn in Providence. The story goes that Radbourn was jealous of Sweeney, and forced him out of town -- and out of the league -- which left Radbourn the only pitcher, and he responded by winning 60 (59 according to Total Baseball, now the official encyclopedia of MLB). But while he was with Providence, Sweeney went 17-8 with 145 K and 29 W in 221 innings. He found refuge with St Louis of the UA, and turned in a 24-7 record with 192 K and only 13 W in 271 innings. He thus had slightly more strikeouts in the UA (6.38 per 9 innings, to 5.90 in the NL), and drastically fewer walks. His strikeout-to-walk ratio was a league leading 14.77 in the UA; a solid-but-not-spectacular 5.00 in the NL (Jim Whitney led the NL with 10.00). Had he played it out with Providence, it is likely that he would have made both 300K and 200 K-W, had Radbourn allowed it. His 337 K would rank 24th all time.

Second is Jim McCormick, who started the year with Cleveland of the NL, for whom he was 19-22 with 182 K and 75 W in 359 innings. He then went over to Cincinnati of the UA, and went 21-3 with 161 K and 14 W in 210 innings. McCormick's "improvement" is dramatic. His K/9 went from 4.56 to 6.90; his K/W from 2.43 to 11.50, second only to Sweeney. (His 0.60 walks per 9 innings was second to Sweeney's 0.43.) It seems clear that McCormick's move to the UA alone accounts for his 300 K and 200 K-W. His 343 K would rank 21st all time.

Third is Dupee Shaw, who went the other way. He started the year with Boston of the UA, where he was 21-15 with 309 K and 37 W in 315.2 innings. His UA performance alone gets him on the list as both a 300 K man and a 200 K-W man; in addition, his 8.81 K/9 stood as the record for many years. After leading the Boston Unions in wins, he moved over to Detroit of the NL and led them in wins too, going 9-18 with 142 K and 72 W in 227.2 innings. In going from the UA to the NL he lost over three K/9 and gained almost two W/9, a more dramatic difference than even McCormick's. Note that if you add his NL K's to his UA K's, he had 451 for the year, the fourth most ever.

Top Pitchers of 1884 (by IP)

name	w	l	ip	k	bb	diff	k/9	k/bb	era
Charley Radbourn	59	12	678.2	441	98	343	5.85	4.50	1.38
Guy Hecker	52	20	670.2	385	56	329	5.17	6.88	1.80
Jim Galvin	46	22	636.1	369	63	306	5.22	5.86	1.99
Charlie Buffinton	48	16	587	417	76	341	6.39	5.49	2.15
Jim McCormick	40	25	569	343	89	254	5.43	3.85	2.37
Tony Mullane	36	26	567	325	89	236	5.16	3.65	2.52
Mickey Welch	39	21	557.1	345	146	199	5.57	2.36	2.50
Dupee Shaw	30	33	543.1	451	109	342	7.47	4.14	2.30
Bill Sweeney	40	21	538	374	74	300	6.26	5.05	2.59
StL-U No. 1 *	49	11	534	346	53	293	5.83	6.53	1.75
Billy Taylor	43	16	523	284	84	200	4.89	3.38	2.10
Larry Corcoran	24	12	516.2	272	116	156	4.74	2.34	2.40
Larry McKeon	18	41	512	308	94	214	5.41	3.28	3.50
Hugh Daily	28	28	500.2	483	72	411	8.68	6.71	2.43
Charlie Sweeney	41	15	492	337	42	295	6.17	8.02	1.65
Tim Keefe	37	17	491.2	323	75	248	5.91	4.31	2.25
Jack Lynch	37	15	487	286	42	244	5.29	6.81	2.67
* The #1 starter for the St. Louis Maroons was the best pitcher in the UA: Billy Taylor for the first half, Charlie Sweeney for the second.

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