John F Coleman: 12-48 W-L. The worst pitching season ever?

I'm in a 140M league currently in pre-season and recently picked up a .57M SP-only card because all the .50M cards were gone. The idea behind the widely used tactic is, of course, is draft q bad, cheap 5th starter who will, never pitch, because he's a pure starter with no relief capability.

My SP "discovery" is one Mr. John F. Coleman, who went 12-48 while pitching in 65 games as a 20 year old rookie for the NL's Philadelphia Quakers in 1883. Hmmm...12-48. That's pretty terrible, and with an ERA of 4.87 when the league ERA is 2.98, that's pretty terrible as well.

These things caught might attention, and I began to wonder, my SP might have endured worst pitching season ever? I checked Baseball-reference.com and found Coleman's 48 losses in 1883 are the most by any MLB pitcher. The next-worst was Will White with 42 losses in 1880. For what it's worth, a total of 5 pitchers ever lost 40 or more games in one season, and they all pitched between 1879 and 1884.

One mitigating factor for Coleman might be that his team was downright awful. The Quakers WL for the season was 17-81, which means that the other pitchers on the staff went an excruciating 5-33. Another staff member, Art Hagan, went 1-14. Still, that 12-48 record is pretty awful, and Coleman soon, and wisely, converted to the outfield.

Anyway, I am wondering if anyone here knows of a worse season than Coleman's to mention? And isn't this season interesting? if Coleman get's this coming season without pitching an inning for me, I won't be sad.

I'd take those 19th century performances with a huge grain of salt.

Like the old saying goes, you gotta be pretty good to lose 48 games in a season...

I'd take those 19th century performances with a huge grain of salt.

Amen... In the 1880s there were probably a few thousand men who had grown up playing baseball. Now it is a few hundred million kids who grow up playing baseball. 90%-99% of the pre 1901 players would not make a AA minor league roster today.

Like the old saying goes, you gotta be pretty good to lose 48 games in a season...

I am sure we could find a dozen dozen high school pitchers today with better stuff than most of those guys from the1880s.

It's not unlike an offensive lineman or even a QB from the 1940s trying to make a modern NFL team. They wouldn't even get a try out.

So prior to 1884, pitchers had to throw the ball underhand. But what about the motion they used? Was the motion also restricted to what was stated in some written rule? Or did various pitchers use (at least slightly) different motions? I have read that pitching a baseball was first called "pitching" because it was just like "pitching" horseshoes. But I have also read that some of these early-era pitchers were capable of putting some fairly wicked english on the ball. Can someone shed more light on the delivery motions used by these pioneer baseball pitchers?

Hack Wilson

Posts: 659
Joined: Thu Aug 23, 2012 5:16 pm
Re: John F Coleman: 12-48 W-L. The worst pitching season eve
PostWed Aug 11, 2021 8:43 pm

I'd take those 19th century performances with a huge grain of salt.

You've piqued my curiosity. Are you saying we should take their statistical records with a huge grain of salt? Can you elucidate your point?

So prior to 1884, pitchers had to throw the ball underhand. But what about the motion they used? Was the motion also restricted to what was stated in some written rule? Or did various pitchers use (at least slightly) different motions? I have read that pitching a baseball was first called "pitching" because it was just like "pitching" horseshoes. But I have also read that some of these early-era pitchers were capable of putting some fairly wicked english on the ball. Can someone shed more light on the delivery motions used by these pioneer baseball pitchers?

According to this article, in 1858 a pitcher named Jim Creighton became "The first baseball pitcher to add spin to the ball"....by snapping his wrist. Tossing underhanded. Because of this new-found skill Creighton became baseballs first professional. Apparently he died from hitting a double. More underhanded wrist snapping pitches ensued.

The change from the bowler's delivery to today's "throwing" was gradual. From the late '60's to the early '80's the underhanded delivery rule was relaxed and resulted in a progression from submarine>>> sidearm >>>3/4's >>>no restrictions (1884).

According to the article, the term "pitching" originated from cricket, not horseshoes.

So prior to 1884, pitchers had to throw the ball underhand. But what about the motion they used? Was the motion also restricted to what was stated in some written rule? Or did various pitchers use (at least slightly) different motions? I have read that pitching a baseball was first called "pitching" because it was just like "pitching" horseshoes. But I have also read that some of these early-era pitchers were capable of putting some fairly wicked english on the ball. Can someone shed more light on the delivery motions used by these pioneer baseball pitchers?

100 years or so ago my HS boys track team challenged the girls softball team to a game to raise funds for a kid's family who's house burned down with everything in it.
We figured we'd kill them as they were throwing underhand. They were pitching "underhand", but we had issues hitting anything with authority, and embarrassingly lost.
If these old time MLB guys were doing anything like fast pitch softball, it would be more difficult to hit than a pitch coming in with an 8 foot arc.