Happy Birthday to the late and great Hall of Fame Starting Pitcher, Bob Lemon. In a career that lasted 15 seasons, all of it was with the Cleveland Indians. Initially, he was scouted to be a Utility player, but after spending three years in the U.S. Navy for WWII, the Indians decided it was better to use Lemon on the mound.

Career Statistics/Accolades (1941-42; 46-58):

207-128 W-L 3.23 ERA 2,850 IP, 1.337 WHIP 1,277 SO

  • 7x All-Star
  • 1948 World Series Champion

I think it’s fair that the Indians made the right choice; Lemon won 20 or more games seven times, leading the league in Wins three times. He was a workhorse on the mound, leading the league in Innings Pitched four times and Complete Games five times. Nine seasons in a row, Lemon logged in well over 200 Innings pitched, and in eight of those seasons, he logged in over 250. Looking at his numbers, he had two or three Cy Young-caliber seasons; however, he and teammate Bob Feller didn’t win one because the award didn’t exist until 1956. Also, it wasn’t until 1955 that they started handing out World Series MVP awards, and in 1948, it was Lemon who stole the show as he won both Games 2 & 6 with a 1.65 ERA in 16.1 Innings, as the Indians won the series in 6 games.

Lemon was an excellent fielding pitcher as well. Over his thirteen years as a Pitcher, his lifetime .969 Fielding Percentage was .011 higher than the league average among other Pitchers during that time. He led in Putouts five times and Assists six times. In 1953, he set an MLB record for a Pitcher, recording 15 Double Plays that season. Also, the Gold Glove Award wasn’t introduced until 1957, so if the award was around during Lemon’s entire career, he may have won a few, maybe more.

Lemon could also hit; as a left-handed hitter, he is regarded as one of the better-hitting pitchers in baseball history. He was (274 for 1,183), a .232 BA, 37 HR, and 147 RBI. The fact that he could swing the bat certainly helped him in terms of earning Wins. If it was a close game, the fact that Lemon could swing the bat kept him in the ball game longer. The Silver Slugger Award wasn’t awarded until 1980, so that’s another award that Lemon missed out on. 

Looking at his numbers, Lemon had eight prime seasons that I would consider “Hall of Fame” seasons. You can also make the case that he was a little overshadowed by Bob Feller.

 “I have to rate Lemon as one of the very best pitchers I ever faced. His ball was always moving, hard, sinking, fast-breaking. You could never really uhmmmph with Lemon.” – Ted Williams on Bob Lemon.

That’s quite a compliment from the greatest hitter who ever lived. It took until his twelfth ballot, but in 1976, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. His #21 is also retired by the Cleveland Indians.

References:

  1. Bob Lemon via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Lemon#
  2. Bob Lemon Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/lemonbo01.shtml