As you might have guessed, Marquard was signed by the Giants for $11,000
when he was 18 years old. His first three seasons were, um, lousy, and fans
quickly lost patience (and you think
today's New York fans are rough?)
But Marquard turned things around, and had three straight solid seasons. He
even set a record in 1912, with 19 consecutive victories. He was mediocre
the rest of his career, yet somehow was elected to the Hall Of Fame.
Mathewson was 31, and was once again the best
pitcher in the league. But a new force exploded on to the scene; a 24-year-old
rookie named Grover Cleveland Alexander (better known as just "Pete"). Alex
had one of the great rookie seasons, on his way to winning 373 games in his
career (the same total that Mathewson finished with). But this year, Matty was
still the best.
There were some sensational pitching performances
this year, led by Matty and Alex, and also Marquard and Babe Adams and Lefty
Leifeld. But on the flip side, there were the Boston Braves.
The Boston Braves in 1911 had probably the worst pitching staff in the
History of the Universe. The league ERA was 3.39; the Giants had the best
team ERA, at 2.69. The Braves' ERA was 5.08!! This was a dead-ball era team that
allowed over five
earned runs per game! They also had the worst defense
in the league, and allowed an additional 250
unearned runs.
Buster Brown was the ace; he was 8-18, with
a 4.29 ERA. Al Mattern was 4-15; Hub Perdue was 6-10, and was nicknamed
"The Gallatin Squash"; Orlie Weaver was 3-12. Other stars included Lefty
Tyler and Cliff Curtis. It was a truly, amazingly, incredibly, awful
pitching staff.
They won the World Series three years later.
