On January 10, 1945, it was announced that the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) did not elect any new members for the Hall of Fame that year. The top vote-earners were Frank Chance (72.5%), Rube Waddell (62.3%), and Ed Walsh (55.5%). Though they fell short of the necessary three-fourths of the ballots to be selected, all three would become inductees when chosen by the Veterans’ committee in 1946.
Chicago pitcher Ed Walsh, Sr. no-hit the Red Sox, 5-0, on August 27, 1911 at Comiskey Park. Walsh was particularly known for his use of the spitball. According to Hall of Famer Sam Crawford: “Big Ed Walsh. Great big, strong, good-looking fellow. He threw a spitball. I think that ball disintegrated on the way to the plate, and the catcher put it back together again. I swear, when it went past the plate, it was just the spit went by.”
A pitcher’s Earned Run Average (or ERA) is the average number of earned runs that a pitcher gives up per nine innings pitched (as the typical game lasts nine innings).
An earned run is a run that is not scored as the result of a defensive error, such as a fielding error or a passed ball.
A pitcher’s ERA is calculated by dividing the number of earned runs he has allowed by the number of innings he has pitched, then multiplying by nine. For example, if a pitcher is charged with 21 earned runs over the course of 90 innings pitched, his ERA would be 2.10.
(21/90) x 9 = 2.1
An ERA under 3.00 is generally considered to be excellent. The lower a pitcher’s ERA, the better.
The lowest all-time career ERA in baseball history was 1.82, by Ed Walsh, who pitched from 1904 to 1917. The lowest career ERA during the live-ball era (that is, post-1920), belongs to Mariano Rivera, who pitched from 1995-2013 and posted an ERA of 2.21.
