Eddie Plank Marquee Hall of Fame 1946

He came out of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and did not reach the major leagues until he was twenty-five. Then he pitched seventeen years: 326 wins against 194 losses, a 2.35 earned run average, 410 complete games in 529 starts and 2,246 strikeouts. Eight times he won twenty games in a season.

Fourteen of those seasons were spent with Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics. His 69 shutouts are fifth on the all-time list and the most by any left-hander, and his 410 complete games also lead all left-handers. He led the American League in shutouts in 1907 and 1911, and in saves in 1911, when four was enough to do it.

The Federal League got him for 1915 and he won 21 games for the St. Louis Terriers before that league folded. He finished across town with the Browns, going 5-6 with a 1.79 earned run average at forty-one. No left-hander won more games than he did until Warren Spahn passed him in 1962; the Old Timers Committee had elected him in 1946.