Jack Powell Marquee

b. July 9, 1874 · Cleveland Spiders 1897–1898, St. Louis Perfectos 1899, St. Louis Cardinals 1900–1901, St. Louis Browns 1902–1903, 1905–1912, New York Highlanders 1904–1905

He won 245 games and lost 255, which is the most losses any pitcher with 200 wins has taken, and did it with a 2.97 earned run average — the losses are a fact about the clubs he pitched for rather than about the pitching. He threw 4,389 innings and completed 422 of his 516 starts.

He pitched for the 1898 Cleveland Spiders, and then for the club the Robison brothers moved the good players to; the following year he was in St. Louis, where he spent most of his career across three different franchises, including nine seasons with the Browns, who lost more than they won in every one of them.

He threw 46 shutouts and led his league in them in 1898. The workload was of its era: 40 or more starts in each of his first six seasons. Two Veterans Committees looked at him in the 1950s, a decade after he died.

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG
1897	CLV	28	97	10	20	1	0	0	12	6	18	0	.206
1898	CLV	42	136	15	18	3	1	0	9	11	11	0	.132
1899	STL	49	134	13	27	0	1	1	6	12	28	0	.201
1900	STL	38	109	15	31	4	4	1	12	10	20	3	.284
1901	STL	45	119	14	21	3	1	2	8	6	36	0	.176
1902	SLB	44	127	15	26	9	0	1	15	10	25	0	.205
1903	SLB	40	120	6	25	5	1	0	9	4	17	0	.208
1904	NYY	47	146	11	26	3	2	0	10	3	31	0	.178
1905	NYY/SLB	40	75	5	13	1	0	1	2	5	12	0	.173
1906	SLB	28	91	5	21	2	0	1	8	4	17	0	.231
1907	SLB	32	91	5	12	1	0	0	4	6	25	0	.132
1908	SLB	33	89	3	21	3	1	0	6	1	10	0	.236
1909	SLB	34	78	3	14	1	1	0	6	1	10	0	.179
1910	SLB	21	43	2	7	0	0	0	3	1	10	0	.163
1911	SLB	32	73	3	12	0	1	0	7	2	15	0	.164
1912	SLB	32	82	8	15	2	1	1	7	5	14	0	.183
Career	—	585	1610	133	309	38	14	8	124	87	299	3	.192

Pitching, season by season

Year	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1897	CLV	15	10	27	26	0	225.0	245	79	62	61	3.16
1898	CLV	23	15	42	41	0	342.0	328	114	112	93	3.00
1899	STL	23	19	48	43	0	373.0	433	146	85	87	3.52
1900	STL	17	17	38	37	0	287.2	325	142	77	77	4.44
1901	STL	19	19	45	37	3	338.1	351	133	50	133	3.54
1902	SLB	22	17	42	39	2	328.1	320	117	93	137	3.21
1903	SLB	15	19	38	34	2	306.1	294	99	58	169	2.91
1904	NYY	23	19	47	45	0	390.1	340	106	92	202	2.44
1905	NYY/SLB	10	14	40	26	1	231.0	236	84	62	96	3.27
1906	SLB	13	14	28	26	1	244.0	196	48	55	132	1.77
1907	SLB	13	16	32	31	1	255.2	229	76	62	96	2.68
1908	SLB	16	13	33	32	1	256.0	208	60	47	85	2.11
1909	SLB	12	16	34	27	3	239.0	221	56	42	82	2.11
1910	SLB	7	11	21	18	0	129.1	121	33	28	52	2.30
1911	SLB	8	19	31	27	1	207.2	224	76	44	52	3.29
1912	SLB	9	17	32	27	0	235.1	248	81	52	67	3.10
Career	—	245	255	578	516	15	4389.0	4319	1450	1021	1621	2.97

On this day & linked events

1874

Born July 9, 1874

Bloomington, IL, USA

1944

Died October 17, 1944

1897

Major-league debut: Jack Powell

Jack Powell made a major-league debut on June 23, 1897.

1912

Final major-league game: Jack Powell

Jack Powell played a final major-league game on October 3, 1912.

Image: Bain News Service, publisher, public domain