Happy Birthday to the late and great Early Wynn. In a career that lasted twenty-three seasons, all of them were spent in the American League pitching for the Washington Senators, Cleveland Indians, and the Chicago White Sox. During his career, he was regarded as one of the more intimidating pitchers in the game.

Career Statistics/Accolades (1939; 41-44; 46-63):

300-244 W-L 3.54 ERA 4,564 IP 2,394 K 1.329 WHIP

  • 9x All-Star
  • 1959 Cy Young Award

As a Pitcher

Early in his career, Wynn was known for his Fastball, Curveball, and Slider. However, as his career went on and the velocity on his pitches started to decline, he developed into more of a Knuckleball type of pitcher. Whether it was in Washington, Cleveland, or Chicago, everywhere Wynn went, he seemed to pitch well. In the 1950s, Wynn was one of the few most dominating Starting Pitchers, recording more Strikeouts (1,544) than any other pitcher in that decade. Wynn threw 200+ IP every year for that entire decade, leading in 1951, 1954 & 1959. I would argue that Innings Pitched is the most underrated stat for a pitcher, and for fourteen seasons, eleven consecutively, Wynn logged in 200 Inning plus. Also, Wynn was a five-time 20-game winner, leading the league twice in 1954 & 1959.

As a Hitter

Yes, during the career of Early Wynn, the Designated Hitter wasn’t in existence, and pitchers in both leagues were required to hit. As a Switch Hitter, I would say that Early Wynn was above average. 

(365 for 1,704) .214 BA 17 HR 173 RBI .274 OBP 

Being able to swing the bat from both sides of the plate helped Wynn stay in the ballgame when he was pitching. On September 15th, 1946, he was used as a Pinch Hitter with the bases loaded and hit the ball out of the park. Making Wynn one of only five pitchers to hit a Grand Slam.

Best Years

Like I said, Wynn was one of the best pitchers of the 1950s, especially in the American League. The entire decade he threw over 200 Innings and Complete Games in the double digits. In 1950, he led the AL in both ERA and WHIP. Then, in 1959, at the age of 39, he won the Cy Young Award, which at the time went to the best pitcher in both leagues, while also finishing 3rd in the MVP voting. However, in terms of his own numbers I would argue that his 1954 campaign was his best. 

1950: 18-8 W-L 3.20 ERA 213.2 IP 143 K 1.250 WHIP (28 Starts)

1954: 23-11 W-L 2.73 ERA 270.2 IP 155 K 1.138 WHIP (36 Starts)

1959: 22-10 W-L 3.17 ERA 255.2 IP 179 K 1.256 WHIP (37 Starts)

Legacy

A couple of things that are worthy of note, that Wynn spent eight years in Washington, which, while he posted a 72-87 W-L record, was due to a lack of run support. Let’s just say he pitched for the Yankees during those years; he probably would’ve won 100 games during his first eight years. Also, in 1944 at the age of 24, Wynn put his career on hold and enlisted in the US ARMY, which meant he missed the rest of 1944 and the entire 1945 season, which could’ve been a dominant pitching season. It took a long time, but Wynn hung on until he reached the 300 Win milestone, which, to me, should automatically punch a pitcher ticket to Cooperstown. Also, when you add that he did win a Cy Young and was dominant for an entire decade, Early Wynn is obviously a Hall of Famer. In 1972, Wynn was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, which he wore an Indians hat on his plaque. In 1999, Wynn made it on The Sporting News list as the 100th greatest player in baseball history.

References:

  1. Early Wynn via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Wynn#
  2. Early Wynn Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wynnea01.shtml