The Philly Fifty, #31: Pete Alexander, Phillies

For the complete list and explanation of criteria and scoring, check out the Philly Fifty page Longevity – 3 Alexander played for the Phillies for the first 7 years of his career, from 1911-1917, ages 24-30. He pitched 21 innings for the Phillies in his final season, in 1930, at age 43. Peak – 5 Absolutely one of the best pitchers to ever play the game. In his seven years with the Phillies he posted ERA’s of 1.22, 1.55, 1.83, 2.38, 2.57, 2.79 and 2.81 while averaging 356 innings (not a typo) per season. His average WAR in those years was 7.9. From 1911-1917 he and Walter Johnson owned the MLB like few pitchers before or after. Johnson led the league in WAR over that period with 63.8, Alexander was 2nd at 55. Third was Eddie Plank, at 28.1. Besides Johnson (whom Alexander had 51 more innings than over that time), no pitcher was within 700 innings (100 per season) of the tandem. Popularity – 1 You would have to be darn near 100 years old to have seen Alexander ...