Happy Birthday to the late and great Tim Keefe. Yes, this a throwback. In a career that lasted 14 seasons, Keefe established himself as one of the few greatest pitchers of the 19th century. Pitching for the Troy Trojans, New York Metropolitans, New York Giants, and the Philadelphia Phillies, his career was dominant. Pitching in the 1880s and 90s, had Cy Young Awards existed, perhaps Keefe would’ve won one or a few.

Career Statistics/Accolades (1880-1893):

342-225 W-L 2.63 ERA 5,049.2 IP 2,564 K 1.123 WHIP

  • Pitching Triple Crown (1888)
  • 3x ERA Champ (1880, 1885 & 1888)

As a Pitcher

Keefe was known as a Power Pitcher with an above-average Changeup, Fastball, and Curveball. During his career, the rules for pitchers changed. His rookie season was the last year in which the pitcher threw from 45 feet, and for the next eleven seasons, pitchers threw from 50 feet; in his final season, pitchers started throwing from 60 feet 6 inches. Some people may think pitching was easier back then, throwing from a closer distance. However, back when Keefe pitched, teams had a two-person starting rotation, meaning Keefe pitched three games a week. Some pitchers may start 30-35 games in a season today. Well, in 1883, Keefe started a career-high 68 games.

How dominant was Keefe? Four times, he led in WHIP, three times he led in ERA, and struck out 300 or more batters three times. Back then, starters very rarely came out; of the 594 games that Keefe started, he completed the entire game 554 of those games. So maybe a few pitchers today throw over 200 Innings yearly; that’s great. Keefe had ten seasons of throwing over 300 Innings; seven of those years, he threw over 400, throwing as high as 619 Innings in 1883.

Best Years

In his first year in 1880, while he only started 12 games, he recorded a 0.86 ERA throughout 105 Innings, which is still an MLB record. In 1888, Keefe won the Pitching Triple Crown after setting an MLB record of 19 consecutive victories. However, I think his 1883 campaign was just a little better, making 17 more starts and throwing almost 200 more Innings than in 1888.

1883: 41-27 W-L 2.41 ERA 619.0 IP 359 K 0.963 WHIP (68 Starts)

1888: 35-12 W-L 1.74 ERA 434.1 IP 335 K 0.937 WHIP (51 Starts)

Sure, Keefe threw from 50 feet for most of his career rather than 60 feet 6 inches like it is today. However, the fact that he was able to be as dominant as he was throughout 68 Starts and 619 Innings is incredible. On top of winning 41 games and striking out a career-high 359 batters, Keefe maintained an ERA below 2.50 and a WHIP below 1.000. His peak was from 1883-88, winning 222 of the 342 games. Over those six years, he averaged 491 Innings Pitched a year while pitching a complete game in all but ten starts during those years.

Legacy

When he retired in 1893, he was the 2nd pitcher ever to reach the 300-Win milestone and went out as the all-time leader in Strikeouts. While he pitched so long ago, and yes, the game was different, he was one of the few dominant pitchers of his era. Keefe should be remembered as a dominant starting pitcher who maintained dominance over the span of an unthinkable number of Innings Pitched. I mean, one year, he pitched 619 Innings; in today’s game, very few pitchers even reach one-third of that in a season. In 1964, over 70 years after his last outing, Keefe was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee.

References:

  1. Tim Keefe via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Keefe#
  2. Tim Keefe Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/keefeti01.shtml