PEDs, old style.

[The Knight]

... and is still the all time leader among pitchers who pitched most of their careers before the 1893 rules changes.

..And will probably be for quite some time

[DrungoHazewood]

..And will probably be for quite some time

Bah! One day my dream of chopping down that foul pitching mound and going back to a box 50' away will be realized! Huzzah!

[Migrant Redbird]

Bah! One day my dream of chopping down that foul pitching mound and going back to a box 50' away will be realized! Huzzah!

Not soon enough for Jenny Finch or Cat Osterman to make their professional debuts as major league baseball pitchers though.

[Lt Melmo]

You think so? I tend to believe that the dominant players of an era belong in the Hall. Galvin was one of the top pitchers of his era. He didn't last long enough to rack up more than 55 WARP because of when he pitched - short schedules, and radically changing pitching rules. When he began in the majors batters could call for a high or low pitch, he was throwing from a box 45 ft from the plate, underhanded, and wasn't allowed to snap his wrist. By the time he retired they were implementing rules that were essentially the same as today. In between the rules changed almost annually. Adapting to that kind of change and being expected to throw complete games in a majority of your team's games was a tremendous burden. Pitch counts? Ha! Those guys threw until it hurt too much to get the ball to the plate. I've seen data that indicates a pitcher of his era typically peaked at 23(!). Galvin was starting 50 games a year into his 30s.

No pitchers who began their careers in the 1870s were clearly better. From 1888 until Cy Young passed him he was the all time wins leader, and is still the all time leader among pitchers who pitched most of their careers before the 1893 rules changes.

Well, you'd have to excuse my ignorance in this case... I was just looking at what B-R was showing me, notably a 108 career ERA+.