All-Time Indians: John Clarkson

Going on another trip with the way back machine, we take a look at the oldest Hall of Famer in Cleveland history. Born in 1861 (the first Major League quality baseball clubs started up ten years later in 1871), John Clarkson wasn’t inducted into the Hall of Fame until more than 100 years had passed, by the Veteran’s Committee in 1963.

Clarkson began his career in 1882 with the Worcester Red Legs, but he would miss all of 1883 and wouldn’t make a name for himself until he signed up with the Chicago White Stockings (the precursor to the Cubs) in 1884. That year, he made 13 starts with a 2.14 ERA and he wouldn’t look back for the next decade. With Chicago from 1884 through 1887 Clarkson pitched 1,730.2 innings in 199 games, winning 137 of those appearances and completing 186 of 197 starts.

While this was a different age and a team’s ace was expected to pitch nearly every game for the team (in 1885 he personally won 53 of the World Champion White Stockings 87 wins and took the L in 16 of their 25 losses or about 68% of the team’s decisions), games were still nine innings and a pitch still had a similar deleterious effect on the arm as it does today.

Helping this, however, were a few factors. First, the teams played significantly fewer games, but the season still lasted from late April through mid-October. This meant there were more off days in between matches, a necessity given the means of travel and a great aid to the starter who threw an average of 543 innings per season during his prime.

It was before the official World Series, but the White Stockings tied in the championship series in 1885 and lost in six games in 1886 and Clarkson remained the ace, winning at least 36 games in each of his three full seasons. After 1887, however, Chicago believed Clarkson’s prime was over and they sold the workhorse for $10,000 to the Boston Beaneaters (now the Atlanta Braves). They were very wrong.

Clarkson had lead the league in wins, innings and strike outs twice before (1885 and 1887), but in 1889 with Boston he was the best in baseball, leading the NL in all those things plus ERA and WHIP. He won 49 games that year in 72 starts, completing 68 games and his success continued with a 2.86 ERA through 1,947 innings in four full seasons in Boston. Again, he racked up the decisions, going 141-76 from 1888 through 1891.

To begin the 1892 campaign, Clarkson had a surprisingly poor 8-6 record in 16 starts despite a 2.35 ERA and was sold to Cleveland, beginning the end of his career. While his time with the Spiders would be the worst years of his career, they were still good enough to place him in consideration among the greatest pitchers in the history of the Spiders.

Finishing out the 1892 season, Clarkson would throw 243.1 innings with a 2.55 ERA, winning 17 and losing 10 of 28 starts, completing 27. In his one relief appearance, he earned a save, meaning that he had a decision in 28 of 29 total appearances. Despite this great success, there was statistical evidence that it wouldn’t last much longer, even if it wasn’t noticeable at the time.

In an age where strike outs were rare, Clarkson was always a top K pitcher, leading the league in K/9 in 1884 with a 7.8 mark and averaging 4.7 per nine over his first six seasons between Chicago and Boston. That number significantly dropped in 1891 to 2.8 and after a short uptick in 1892, that number would continue to drop in his final two seasons in Cleveland. It was likely this decrease in strike outs (one would assume from a drop in velocity after throwing 3,701.2 innings in his first nine seasons) that lead to an increase in runs allowed during his final two seasons.

In 1892, the Spiders would have their most successful season as a team, riding staff ace Cy Young and Nig Cuppy to a trip to the post season. The Spiders won 93 games and finished second in the National League to Boston, earning a trip to the championship series against the Beaneaters. They lost the series in six games, losing five and tying one and Clarkson pitched two of those games, allowing 16 runs (10 earned) in 17 innings against his former club.

The following season, Clarkson would come back with another 295 innings in 35 starts (31 complete games) at the age of 31. His 4.45 ERA was more than a run worse than his previous worst, but to be fair, the same was true about Young and Cuppy compared to the year before. In 1892, the Spiders used a total of seven pitchers for the entire season (and just three in the post-season), but in 1893 they needed 10. In addition, those second liners were used more often, as the primary four were responsible for 96% of innings pitched in 1892 and just 92% in 1893.

This would be the last time Clarkson neared 300 innings as in his final year 1894, he threw just 150.2. He struck out a career low 28 and completed a career low 13 of 18 starts. His 4.42 ERA nearly matched his previous season’s mark, although his record fell to 8-10, his first season under .500. This is particularly impressive when you consider that he ended his career with 506 decisions in 518 starts. 328 of those decisions were wins and he remains 12th in baseball history in total wins and 27th in career winning percent. While pitcher wins are generally derided as unimportant in today’s game, they certainly meant a lot more for a pitcher who completed nearly every game he started.

Clarkson retired from the game after his age 32 season with a 2.81 ERA to go along with all those wins and moved to Michigan where he started a second career. He would die in 1909 at the young age of 47 back in his home state of Massachusetts. While he was initially given consideration for the Hall of Fame in 1936, it wouldn’t be until the competition was thinned out a big that he was finally selected to baseball’s greatest honor in 1963.