ERA in Different Decades and Baseball Eras
As with batting average, the definition of a "good" ERA varies from year to year. During the dead-ball era of the 1900s and 1910s, an ERA below 2.00 (two earned runs allowed per nine innings) was considered good. In the late 1920s and 1930s, when conditions of the game changed in a way that strongly favored hitters, a good ERA was below 4.00; only the highest caliber pitchers, for example Dazzy Vance or Lefty Grove, would consistently post an ERA under 3.00 during these years. In the 1960s, sub-2.00 ERAs returned, as other influences such as ballparks with different dimensions were introduced. Today, an ERA under 4.00 is again considered good.
The all-time single-season record for the lowest ERA, according to www.mlb.com, the official website of Major League Baseball, is held by Dutch Leonard, who in 1914 had an earned run average of 0.96, pitching 224.2 innings with a win-loss record of 19-5. The all-time record for the lowest single season earned run average by a pitcher pitching 300 or more innings is 1.12, set by Bob Gibson in 1968. The record for the lowest career earned run average is 1.82, held by Ed Walsh, who played from 1904 through 1917. The active player with the lowest career ERA (among those with more than 1,000 innings pitched) is Mariano Rivera, with an ERA of 2.21 through the 2011 Major League Baseball season.
Some researchers dissent from the official Major League Baseball record and claim that the pitcher with the all-time lowest earned run average is Tim Keefe, who had an earned run average of 0.86 in 1880 while appearing in 12 of his team's 83 games and pitched 105 innings (with a win-loss record of 6-6). But a purported record based on so few innings pitched is highly misleading. Over the years, more than a dozen part-time pitchers have pitched 105 or more innings and had an earned run average lower than 0.86. Major League Baseball recognizes many records from the 19th Century--including Will White's 1879 record of 680 innings pitched, Charles Radbourne's 1884 record of 59 wins, and Pud Galvin's 1883 record for 75 games started, but does not recognize Keefe as the pitcher having the all-time lowest single season earned run average.
Some sources may list players with infinite ERAs. This can happen if a pitcher allows one or more earned runs without retiring a batter (usually in a single appearance). Additionally, an undefined ERA occasionally occurs at the beginning of a baseball season. It is sometimes incorrectly displayed as zero or as the lowest ranking ERA, even though it is more akin to the highest.
Read more about this topic: Earned Run Average
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