A Brief History of Bay Area Right Handed Starting Pitchers
An IBWAA member looks at the best righty starters who pitched for the A's and Giants
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
. . . The winningest pitcher for each Bay Area team happens to be a right-handed pitcher. For the Athletics, Charles Bender, well-known as Chief, won 193 games with Philadelphia from 1903-1914. He pitched in five World Series, winning three with the organization in 1910, 1911, and 1913.
. . . The Giants’ win leader could be argued among the greatest pitchers of all-time, Christy Mathewson. He won 372 of his 373 career victories for the New York Giants. That is the second-most team total for wins, behind only Walter Johnson’s 417 with the Washington Senators, now Minnesota Twins.
Leading Off
A Brief History of Bay Area Right-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 and designated hitters to have played in the Bay Area. Today we start a three-part look at pitchers, starting with right-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 right-handed starters in the Bay Area’s two-team era.
Juan Marichal, San Francisco Giants, 14 years, 238-140, 2.84 ERA, 62.4 WAR
There is a statue of Marichal outside Oracle Park for a reason. His illustrious career included nine All-Star seasons, including starts in 1965 and 1967. He twice led the league in wins with 25 (1963) and 26 (1968), twice led the league in shutouts with 10 (1965) and eight (1969), while also leading the league in WAR in 1965 (10.3) and ERA in 1969 (2.10). Remarkably, the only year Marichal garnered Cy Young votes was 1971, when he finished eighth.
After leaving San Francisco after the 1973 season, he made 13 appearances for the Red Sox and Dodgers over the next two seasons. Marichal was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1983.
Gaylord Perry, San Francisco Giants, 10 years, 134-109, 2.96 ERA, 37.0 WAR
Perry twice made All-Star teams during his decade in San Francisco, including a 1970 season when he finished second in Cy Young voting (to Bob Gibson) while tying for the league lead with 23 wins. The following year he dropped to 16 wins and was traded at age 32 to the Cleveland Indians for Sam McDowell.
And what a mistake that was. Perry continued to pitch until 1983, going 180-156 and winning two Cy Youngs (1972 in Cleveland and 1978 in San Diego) and ending his career with 314 wins. Perry was inducted in the Hall of Fame in 1991.
Catfish Hunter, Oakland A’s, 10 years, 161-113, 3.13 ERA, 26.4 WAR, 1974 Cy Young
Hunter was the backbone of the A’s staff in its three-peat from 1972 to 1974. In those years he finished fourth, third and first in Cy Young voting. In his career in Oakland, Catfish made six All Star teams and started the 1973 Mid-Summer Classic.
He left as an original free agent after the 1974 season and made a pair of All-Star teams and earned two more World Series rings with the Yankees, where he concluded his career at age 33. Hunter was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1987.
Dave Stewart, Oakland A’s, 8 years, 119-78, 3.73 ERA, 18.9 WAR
Stewart led the A’s staff that went to three consecutive World Series from 1988-1990. A journeyman before arriving in Oakland at age 29 in 1986, Stewart reeled off four consecutive 20 win seasons from 1987 to 1990, the last major league pitcher to accomplish that feat. During those years he finished third, fourth, second and third in AL Cy Young voting.
After the 1992 season, Stewart signed as a free agent with the Toronto Blue Jays and played a key role in their 1993 World Series run. After one more season in Toronto, he re-signed with hos hometown A’s, for whom he pitched his final season at age 38. Stewart was inducted in the inaugural A’s Hall of Fame class in 2018.
Bob Welch, Oakland A’s, 7 years, 96-60, 10.8 WAR, 1990 Cy Young
Welch joined the A’s via trade, after spending the first ten years of his career with the Dodgers. His first two seasons in Oakland included World Series appearances and 17 win each year. But in 1990, Welch had a season for the ages, going 27-6 and winning the Cy Young Award over Roger Clemens and Stewart.
Welch wrapped up his career in Oakland at age 37 after the 1994 season. His career record was 211-146 mark with 43.7 WAR, two All-Star appearances and a pair of World Series rings.
Tim Hudson, Oakland A’s, 6 years, 92-39, 31.0 WAR
Hudson, along with Mark Mulder and Barry Zito, drove the Moneyball era A’s to great success. Huidson averaged 15 wins in his six seasons in Green and Gold, never failing to reach double figures, nor did he ever lose ten games in Oakland. He made two All-Star teams in Oakland and placed second, fourth, fifth and sixth in Cy Young voting.
After leaving the A’s he spent nine seasons in Atlanta, where he was 113-72 and earned an additional All-Star appearance. He wrapped up his career back in the Bay Area with two seasons in San Francisco, including an All-Star appearance and World Series ring in 2014. His career mark was 222-133 and he had 56.6 WAR.
Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants, 108-83, 21.5 WAR, Cy Young 2008 and 2009
Lincecum won a pair of Cy Youngs in his second and third big league seasons by the time he was 25. His diminutive size, unique delivery and amazing results made him a fan favorite. After leading the NL in WAR in those two seasons (7.8 and 7.4) his next two years produced All-Star seasons (3.3 and 3.7 WAR). After that he had negative WAR in four of his last five seasons and retired at 32 years old in 2016 after nine starts with the Angels.
Other right-handers with more than 50 wins for Bay Area teams:
A’s: Rick Langford (73-105), Chuck Dobson (72-64), Mike Moore (66-46), Steve McCatty (63-63), Mike Norris (58-59), Matt Keough (50-75)
Giants: Matt Cain (104-118), Jim Barr (90-96), Jason Schmidt (78-37), Russ Ortiz (69-47), Scott Garrelts (69-53), John Burkett (67-42), Mike Krukow (66-56), John Montefusco (59-62), Logan Webb (55-42), Ed Halicki (52-65)
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
On this date in 1947, legendary Negro Leagues hitter Josh Gibson passed away from a brain tumor at the age of 35. Unfortunately, he passed away mere months before Jackie Robinson broke the color line and made his Major League Baseball debut.