A Brief History of Bay Area Left Handed Starting Pitchers
An IBWAA writer examines lefties with the Athletics and Giants
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
. . . Three of the top five pitchers in bWAR for the Giants and Athletics franchises were left-handed, though none of the three lefties ever pitched in the Bay Area. Carl Hubbell, Eddie Plank, and Lefty Grove were Nos. 2, 3, and 4 on the list. Plank and Hubbell pitched the heavy majority of their careers for the Giants or A’s, but Grove had a nearly even split over his career with the A’s and the Red Sox.
. . . Grove made his major league debut at age 25. He then accumulated 113.3 bWAR in his career, the most after the age of 25 of any left-handed pitcher in MLB history. He won 195 games with the Philadelphia Athletics, then won 105 with the Red Sox, giving him an even 300 victories in his MLB career.
Leading Off
A Brief History of Bay Area Left Handed Starting Pitchers
By Rich Campbell
In 2024 in this space, we looked at the best shortstops, third basemen, second basemen, first basemen, left fielders, right fielders, center fielders, catchers, designated hitters, and right-handed starters to have played in the Bay Area. Today is the second of a three-part look at pitchers, covering left-handed starters.
For starting pitchers there were three ways to qualify for this list: be in the Baseball Reference top 10 in franchise history for pitching WAR, be in the franchise’s top 10 in wins, or win a Cy Young Award whilst pitching in the Bay Area. So, without further ado, on to the chronological list of the best left-handed starters in the Bay Area’s two-team era.
Madison Bumgarner, San Francisco Giants, 11 years, 119-92, 3.47 ERA, 32.9 WAR
Bumgarner, remembered as a tremendous postseason pitcher during the Giants’ 2010, 2012, and 2014 World Series runs, tops the list with the most career WAR of any Bay Area lefty. During his career in San Francisco, MadBum made four straight All-Star appearances (2013-16) and finished as high as fourth in Cy Young voting (2014).
The Giants wisely let him depart after the 2019 season. He signed with the Arozona Diamondbacks and netted $71 million over for seasons in the desert, whilst going 15-32 with a 5.23 ERA and accumulating-0.5 WAR, before being DFA’d in April of 2023, ending his career.
Barry Zito, Oakland Athletics, 8 years, 102-63, 3.58 ERA, 30.6 WAR, 2002 Cy Young
Barry Zito arrived in Oakland as a 22-year-old in 2000 and by 2002 won the AL Cy Young, besting Pedro Martinez, with a record of 23-5. He stayed in Oakland for eight seasons and played in three All-Star games in the green and gold.
The A’s, wisely it turns out, him to leave as as a free agent after the 2006 season. He signed with the Giants and badly underperformed the seven-year, $119 million contract he signed, going 63-80 with the Giants and accumulating only 2.4 WAR across those seven years. On the plus side, he was a member of the 2010 and 2012 SFG World Series squads.
Vida Blue, Oakland Athletics, 9 years, 124-86, 2.95 ERA, 29 WAR, 1971 MVP and Cy Young Awards
Vida put up one of the all-time great seasons as a 21-year-old in 1971, sweeping the Cy Young and MVP Awards with a 24-8 record and leading the league in ERA (1.82) and shutouts (8), while striking out 301 batters. He was a key component of the 1972 to 1974 three-time World Series-winning A’s teams. During his time in Oakland, he made three All-Star teams.
Like Zito, Blue’s next stop was San Francisco after a March 1978 trade between the teams. In total he pitched six seasons for the Giants (1978-81, 1985-86) going 72-58, good for 13.9 WAR, and a pair of All-Star appearances. He also pitched two years for the Kansas City Royals (1982-83).
Mike McCormick, San Francisco Giants, 11years, 107-96, 3.68 ERA, 15 WAR, 1965 Cy Young
While Juan Marichal never won a Cy Young in the 1960’s with the Giants, Mike McCormick did! His 1965 season included leading the NL in wins going 22-10 with a 2.85 ERA. He received 18 of 20 votes to best Jim Bunning and Fergie Jenkins. Though he had made All-Star teams in his age 21 and 22 seasons (1960-61), there was nothing to suggest that a good major leaguer was going to have such an outstanding season in 1965, but that is baseball. McCormick also pitched for the Senators, Yankees, Orioles and Royals in his MLB career.
Other left-handers with more than 50 wins for Bay Area teams:
A’s: Mark Mulder (81-42), Blue Moon Odom, (80-76), Ken Holtzman (77-55), Curt Young (65-51), Sean Manaea (50-41)
Giants: Kirk Rueter (105-80), Vida Blue (72-58), Shawn Estes (64-50), Atlee Hammaker (58-59), Bob Knepper (53-55),
Rich Campbell is a Marketing Professor at Sonoma State University by day and A’s fan by night. He has previously been a sports business contributor at Forbes.com and his academic writing has appeared in Sport Marketing Quarterly. You can find him on Twitter @RichCampbelPhD.
Extra Innings
This week begins spring training games across MLB, led by the Cubs and Dodgers on Thursday in Arizona. For reference, last spring, Kyle Stowers and Oneil Cruz led the majors with seven spring home runs. Daulton Varsho paced Florida and Arizona with eight stolen bases. Spencer Strider led MLB with 35 spring training strikeouts. Chris Bassitt and Tommy Henry led spring with 23 innings pitched.
The intimate nature of spring training allows for some fun moments. Here are some from last year:
Blue moon Odom was right handed.