Next custom "19th Century Base Ball Champions" card
to get the spotlight here on the blog years after its release in 2018 by
yours truly? That would be the one of Hall of Fame pitcher Tim Keefe:
Over
his illustrious 14 year career between 1880 and 1893, the man posted
342 wins along with a 2.63 earned run average, with 39 shutouts,
completing 554 of 594 starts.
Breaking in with Troy in 1880,
the 23-year-old completed all twelve of his starts, and led the league
with a microscopic 0.86 ERA in 105 innings of work, going 6-6 along the
way.
Two seasons later, in 1883, he'd post one of the greatest
seasons a pitcher ever had, going 41-27 over 68 games, completing ALL
68, for 619 innings pitched, striking out 359 batters and posting a 2.41
ERA.
Though I am not one for modern analytics, etc, according
to the "new math", this gave Keefe a WAR of 19.9, and it seems that my
friends, is absurd!
He would post six 30+ win seasons, topping
40 twice, while leading the league in wins twice, ERA three times and
strikeouts two times, mainly for the New York Giants.
In 1964
the Veterans Committee selected him for Hall enshrinement, joining
contemporaries Pud Galvin, Kid Nichols, etc representing the
creme-de-la-creme of 19th Century pitching.
