BILL JAMES, SP, BRAVES, 1914
There are three noteworthy figures named Bill James in baseball. There’s the sabermetrician Bill James, there’s Big Bill James, pitcher in the dead-ball era mostly with the Tigers, and there’s Seattle Bill James, whose 1914 season is just what this slideshow is about. James made his debut for the Boston Braves in 1913, going 6-10 in 24 games. In 1914, he went 26-7 with a 1.90 ERA with well over 300 innings pitched en route to a third-place MVP finish (as the top pitcher in the voting, he would likely have won the Cy Young Award had it existed at the time). Not only that, but he went 2-0 in the World Series en route to a win for Boston. However, he only played 14 more games in his career after his arm went dead. It was likely a torn rotator cuff based on others on the list, but there’s no way of knowing.