George Mullin was nicknamed "Wabash George"; though he was born in Toledo,
he actually died in Wabash, Indiana. He made his debut in 1902 with the Tigers,
and pitched for them for 12 years, winning 208 games in a Detroit uniform (8 more
wins than Hal Newhouser, 10 more than Jack Morris). Mullin was
dealt to Washington in 1913, and finished his career in the Federal League;
he won 228 games in his career, 16 of those in the FL.
Mullin was not a great pitcher. Most years
he was an average pitcher, though he was also a workhorse who completed
most of what he started; twice Mullin both won and lost 20 games in a season.
Even this year, he was not the best pitcher in the league; his won-loss
record was greatly helped by the outstanding Detroit hitters. But he was
a good pitcher, and for now holds an important team record.
I'm choosing Frank Smith as the best pitcher
in the league. His ERA was not as good as some of the other pitchers, but
he was still very effective, and was by far the hardest worker in the league.
Only Mullin won more games, but Smith had to toil for the White Sox, who
were still the "Hitless Wonders" at this time (though not as wonderful as
they had been). Smith had a short career, and this was easily his most
impressive season; he was nicknamed "Piano Mover", no doubt for good reason.
Mullin had a much higher ERA than some of
the other pitchers, but he was a big winner and threw a lot of innings;
I'll place him second behind Smith. After him, I'm not sure who to choose;
one possibility is Ed Walsh, Smith's teammate in Chicago, who pitched very
well, but did not work as often as usual.
Three members of the Philadelphia Athletics
had outstanding seasons as well. Eddie Plank and Chief Bender are both in
the Hall Of Fame; they would lead the Athletics to three World Series championships
over the next four years. Harry Krause also pitched brilliantly, and
was only 22 years old. Remarkably, he began the year 10-0, throwing six of
his shutouts over that period. He struggled after that, but still finished
with an 18-8 record and led the league in ERA. But Krause's arm was sore
afterwards; he struggled the next two seasons, and his major-league career lasted
only five years.
