Wes Ferrell: Pre-Integration Era Veterans Committee Hall of Fame Candidate

Wes Ferrell is one of ten candidates eligible for the Pre-Integration Era Hall of Fame vote that will take place during December's Winter Meetings in Nashville.  The Pre-Integration Era Committee votes on candidates who made their biggest contributions to the game between 1871 and 1946.  The Committee is a 16-member panel made up of retired Hall of Famers, major league executives, and veteran media members.  Each member of the panel can vote for up to four of the ten candidates.  A candidate must carry 75% of the vote to be elected.

Wes Ferrell (1908-1976) 193-128 .601W/L% 4.04ERA 323GS 2,623.0IP 985K

Career (’27-’41) 57.2WAR 35.8WAA 116ERA+

Wes Ferrell burst onto the scene as a 21-year old rookie for the 1929 Cleveland Indians, winning 21 games and finishing behind only George Earnshaw for the American League lead in wins.  Ferrell's 3.60 ERA that year may not look all that strong but it was good enough for seventh in the AL as pitchers during this time had the misfortune of plying their trade during one of the most hitter-friendly eras in baseball history.  Moreover, the hitters' advantage over their pitching counterparts was even more significant in the offense-heavy AL where the league average ERA consistently stayed well north of 4.00.  Ferrell followed up his excellent rookie season with an even more impressive sophomore campaign, going 25-13 with a 3.31 ERA, this time finishing runner-up to Lefty Grove in both AL wins and ERA.  Ferrell won 22 games in 1931, including an April 29 no-hitter against the St. Louis Browns.  The young right-hander once again finished runner-up to Grove in AL wins, marking the third year in a row he was second in that category.  As good as his '31 season was on the mound, Ferrell may have been even more impressive at the plate, hitting .319 with 9 home runs and 30 RBI in just 128 plate appearances.  In addition, Ferrell's 152 OPS+ was higher than any of the regular hitters on the team and the 9 home runs he hit set a single season record for pitchers that still stands today.  Ferrell even helped his cause in his no-hit win, drilling a home run, a double, and driving in 4 runs.  Cleveland was so impressed with Ferrell's hitting that he was often called upon to pinch hit between starts.

Wes Ferrell 1933 Goudey

Ferrell added 23 more wins to his ledger in 1932, giving the 24-year old an amazing 21 or more wins in each of his first four full seasons.  Moreover, despite pitching his home games at hitter-friendly League Park, Ferrell consistently finished among the league leaders in ERA.  Yet, despite all his success, things were falling apart for Ferrell in Cleveland.  Competitive but also combative, Ferrell sometimes let his emotions get the best of him when his teammates made errors.  Though he averaged nearly 300 innings pitched per year, arm troubles bothered Ferrell as early as the Spring of 1930.  Ferrell's arm woes made him reluctant to throw his fastball, much to the chagrin of his manager Roger Peckinpaugh and the Cleveland front office.  Ferrell's often contentious relationship with Peckinpaugh smoldered over when the team suspended the righty ten days without pay after he refused to hand the ball over to his manager during a poor outing late in the '32 season.  A change of managers from Peckinpaugh to legendary Hall of Fame hurler Walter Johnson in June of the following year relieved some of the tension surrounding Ferrell.  However, despite the managerial change, Ferrell had his first off-year winning just 11 games, while losing 12, with a 4.21 ERA.  In fact, Ferrell struggled so mightily in the second half of the season--going 3-5 with a 6.13 ERA--that the team took him out of the rotation and played him regularly in left field for the final three weeks of the season.  Ferrell hit well but struggled to track down balls hit to left and his lack of range in the field drew lots of criticism.

Ferrell's trial run in left was considered a failure and many felt his best pitching days were behind him so during the offseason, the Cleveland front office tried to trade him but was unable to deal the fiery right-hander.  When Cleveland decided to cut his salary, Ferrell returned home to North Carolina and opted to sit out the start of the season.  Finally on May 25, Cleveland officially parted ways with their temperamental superstar, trading him to the Boston Red Sox where he joined brother Rick to form a pitcher-catcher brother battery.  Despite missing nearly two full months due to the contract holdout, Ferrell bounced back strong in his first season in Beantown going 14-5 with a 3.63 ERA.  Moving from Cleveland's League Park to Boston's Fenway Park gave Ferrell little relief as in Boston like Cleveland he pitched his home games at a notorious hitter's park.  Despite the unfriendly confines, Ferrell continued to stay among the league leaders in ERA.  The following year, Ferrell had one of his finest campaigns, leading the AL with 25 wins despite pitching on a team that barely finished above .500.  Ferrell also paced the league with 322.1 innings pitched and 31 complete games.  In addition, Ferrell hit .347 with 7 home runs and 32 RBI in just 179 plate appearances.  Moreover, Ferrell's .347 batting average, .427 OBP, and 141 OPS+ were easily higher than all of Boston's regular hitters.  Ferrell's strong performance on the mound and with the bat netted him a league high 10.4 WAR and earned him a runner-up finish behind Hank Greenberg in the 1935 AL MVP vote.

Ferrell followed up his excellent '35 season with a 20-15 campaign, the sixth time in his career he reached the 20-win mark.  Once again, Ferrell led the AL with 301 innings pitched and 28 complete games.  Ferrell's 7.7 WAR was third highest in the league and his 4.19 ERA, which was eighth best in the league, was deceptively strong since the league average ERA was 5.04--the highest in AL history.  Just as in Cleveland, turmoil surrounded Ferrell in Boston which led to difficulties with teammates as well as managers Bucky Harris and Joe Cronin.  In fact in one memorable incident, Ferrell slugged himself in the jaw and smashed his head into a concrete wall after being removed from the game during an ineffective start.

The following season Ferrell got off to a horrendous start going 3-6 with an alarming 7.61 ERA and on June 11 was traded, along with brother Rick to the Washington Senators.  Ferrell rebounded in Washington, completing an amazing 21 of 24 starts with a 3.94 ERA.  Still, his combined stat line in Boston and Washington for the '37 season was an unimpressive 14-19 record with a subpar 4.90 ERA--though he did lead the AL with 281 innings pitched and 26 complete games, the third year in a row the workhorse righty led in those categories.  The 14 wins gave the 29-year old Ferrell an amazing 175 wins before his thirtieth birthday.  Ferrell's stay in Washington was short-lived as he was released the following August.  At the time of his release, Ferrell led the team with 13 wins but sported a 5.92 ERA.  Ferrell's exit from the Capital City was likely hastened by critical comments he made about Senators owner Clark Griffith.  Ferrell was quickly signed by the New York Yankees, who would defeat the Chicago Cubs in the World Series that year.  Unfortunately for Ferrell, he was ineffective for the Bombers, going 2-2 with an 8.10 ERA and did not appear in the World Series.  Ferrell's combined record had rebounded to 15-10 in 1938 but his ERA ballooned to 6.28.  All the wear and tear from being a workhouse starter appeared to be taking its toll on Ferrell, who at season's end got elbow surgery after finishing '38 with career lows in both complete games and innings pitched.

Unfortunately, the elbow surgery did not breathe new life into Ferrell's arm and the righty was released by the Yankees the following May after just three starts.  Ferrell signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers for 1940 but once again was released in May.  The pattern repeated itself again in 1941 when Ferrell signed with the Boston Braves, only to be given his walking papers in May.  Though he was just 33-years old, Ferrell's release from Boston spelled an end to the passionate right-hander's major league career.  The North Carolina native spent the rest of the decade playing for Southeastern-based minor league teams.  Ferrell had been viewed as a defensive liability in his brief trial run as a Cleveland left fielder at the end of the 1933 season but in the minors was able to enjoy taking the field as an everyday position player without the pressures and scrutinies of a major league front office, beat writers, and fans.  In his stops to different minor league towns, Ferrell occasionally took the mound and usually served as player-manager.

Wes Ferrell 1934-36 Diamond Stars

Ferrell retired with a 193-128 record and .601 win/loss percentage--an even more impressive total considering he pitched for mediocre teams most of his career.  Ferrell had six 20-win seasons, including four in a row from 1929 to 1932.  Ferrell also finished in the top-5 in WAR for pitchers six times, four of which were runner-up finishes to the dominant Lefty Grove.  In addition, Ferrell was a workhorse, leading the AL in complete games four times and innings pitched three times.  Ferrell retired with a seemingly lackluster 4.04 career ERA, but that can largely be attributed to the offense-dominated era he pitched in.  In fact, Ferrell regularly placed among the top-10 in traditional ERA and adjusted ERA+, despite pitching most of his home games at League Park and Fenway Park.  And, when Ferrell's 4.04 career ERA is adjusted based on the league, home ballparks, and the time period he pitched in, it becomes a much more respectable 116 ERA+.

In addition to being one of the finest pitchers of his generation, Ferrell is regarded by many to be the greatest hitting pitcher of all-time.  In just 1,345 career plate appearances, Ferrell hit 38 home runs and drove in 208 runs with a .280 career batting average, .351 OBP, and 100 OPS+.  Moreover, Ferrell holds the major league record for career home runs by a pitcher with 37 of his 38 long balls coming in games in which he took the mound, as well as the single season record for a pitcher with 9 in 1931.  Ferrell's teams valued his bat so much that on days when he wasn't pitching, he was often called upon as a pinch hitter.  Interestingly enough, Ferrell actually finished his career with more home runs, a higher batting average, and OPS+ than his brother Rick, who was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1984.

Lefty Grove, Red Ruffing, Ted Lyons, and Lefty Gomez were contemporaries of Ferrell's, who also pitched in the AL during the high-scoring 1930's, but unlike Ferrell each of them were eventually voted into the Hall of Fame.  Of those Hall of Fame hurlers, only Grove can match Ferrell's career peak of six 20-win seasons over an eight year period, which for Ferrell, also included a pair of 25-win seasons in 1930 and 1935.  Despite his six 20-win seasons and heralded skill with the bat, Ferrell never drew more than 3.6% of the vote in BBWAA elections.  Ferrell could be difficult as well as volatile at times--something that may have hurt him in Hall of Fame voting.  Undoubtedly, having a career ERA north of 4.00 also cost Ferrell more than his fair share of Hall of Fame votes.  Ferrell's high career ERA was a by-product of its time as Hall of Fame contemporaries Lyons (3.67) and Ruffing (3.80) have the dubious honor of having the highest ERAs of any pitchers in Cooperstown.  Ferrell's career lacked the longevity of Grove, Lyons, and Ruffing, who each won 260 or more games.  However, in his abbreviated career, Ferrell was able to add a lot of value with the bat and, when compared sabermetrically to his Hall of Fame contemporaries, the combination of his contributions on the mound and in the batter's box bridges the gap to his enshrined peers.

			Ferrell compared to HOF contemporary pitchers
	From	To	W	L	W%	ERA	IP	WAR	pWAR	bWAR	WAA	ERA+
Ferrell	1927	1941	193	128	0.601	4.04	2623.0	57.2	45.1	12.1	35.8	116
Grove	1925	1941	300	141	0.680	3.06	3940.2	97.4	103.7	-6.3	65.7	148
Ruffing	1924	1947	273	225	0.548	3.80	4344.0	63.3	48.6	14.7	29.7	109
Lyons	1923	1946	260	230	0.531	3.67	4161.0	65.2	60.7	4.5	32.5	118
Gomez	1930	1943	189	102	0.649	3.34	2503.0	34.6	39.3	-4.7	14.9	125

Ferrell last appeared on a Hall of Fame ballot in December 2008 when the Veterans Committee voted on players who started their careers prior to 1943.  Ferrell garnered far more support on the '08 Veterans Committee ballot than he ever did in BBWAA voting, picking up exactly half the vote and finishing third highest of the ten nominees.  There is a decent chance Ferrell could be poised for election on the upcoming Pre-Integration Era Committee vote since the two players who finished ahead of him in the '08 vote will not be on the Pre-Integration Era ballot--Joe Gordon was elected on the '08 ballot and Allie Reynolds is now considered a Golden Era Committee candidate since the greater portion of his career came after 1946.  On the BBWAA ballot, the highest vote getting holdover from the previous election was Jack Morris who owns a 3.90 career ERA.  Coincidentally, if either Ferrell or Morris were elected they would have the highest career ERA of any pitcher in Cooperstown.  Though, in contrast to Morris, sabermetrics actually helps Ferrell's Hall of Fame candidacy more than hinders it.  However, unlike the '08 Veterans Committee ballot, the Pre-Integration Era ballot will combine former players with former executives, managers, and umpires such as former New York Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert and Deadball Era umpire Hank O'Day, so increased support for Ferrell is not a given.

	Ferrell and Morris compared to HOF pitchers with the highest career ERA
	From	To	W	L	W%	ERA	IP	WAR	pWAR	bWAR	WAA	ERA+
Ferrell	1927	1941	193	128	0.601	4.04	2623.0	57.2	45.1	12.1	35.8	116
Morris	1977	1994	254	186	0.577	3.90	3824.0	39.3	39.3	0.0	9.7	105
Ruffing	1924	1947	273	225	0.548	3.80	4344.0	63.3	48.6	14.7	29.7	109
Lyons	1923	1946	260	230	0.531	3.67	4161.0	65.2	60.7	4.5	32.5	118
Haines	1918	1937	210	158	0.571	3.64	3208.2	30.7	33.7	-3.0	7.1	109
Pennock	1912	1934	241	162	0.598	3.60	3571.2	39.8	38.8	1.0	10.5	106
Hoyt	1918	1938	237	182	0.566	3.59	3762.1	46.9	48.4	-1.5	16.6	112

----by John Tuberty

Sources:  Baseball Reference, Baseball Reference Play Index, SABR, Dick Thompson- The Ferrell Brothers of Baseball (Mcfarland & Co Inc Pub)

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