Sunday, January 14, 2001
Leever should be in the Hall
By John Erardi
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Had Sam Leever started his pro career before age 25, he'd have wracked up another 50 wins and been a Hall-of-Fame shoo-in.
Even with the late start, had the Pirates not so overworked him in his first full major-league season, 1899 - when he led the league in games pitched (51), 39 of them starts (35 complete games), for 379 innings (he never came close to that again) - he might have avoided a chronically sore arm and added another five to eight wins a year.
That could have helped ensure the Hall of Fame, too.
Leever also was hurt by what happened in 1903. Even though he had a great year - leading the league in winning percentage (.781, 25-7), ERA (2.06) and shutouts (7) - he hurt his arm while trapshooting before the inaugural World Series, and pitched poorly in his two games; the Pirates lost the Series to Boston.
That was the year Pirates starters set the still-unequaled record of six straight shutouts; Leever had two of them. After the streak ended, Leever pitched his own third straight shutout.
Leever didn't get back to the World Series until 1908. By then he was 36 years old and pitching mainly in relief.
But even without any of that, Bill James, author of the acclaimed Politics of Glory: How Baseball's Hall of Fame Really Works, says Leever should be in Cooperstown, that he's more deserving than a dozen inductees, including three in the last 20 years: Catfish Hunter, Don Drysdale and Jim Bunning, a Southgate, Ky., native.
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Leever should be in the Hall
