To call Smith the Don Drysdale to
Satchel Paige’s Sandy Koufax would
sell him short. On the Monarchs,
Smith’s job was to relieve Paige in close
games and start on days Paige wasn’t.
In 1941 , this dynamic duo combined for
a 1 5–0 record, with Smith providing
10 of those wins. In 13 recorded
appearances that season,
Smith had six complete
games and three saves. In
Paige’s ’ 44 Triple Crown
season, Smith matched
his teammate’s 0.72 ERA
with a 0. 79 mark of his own,
allowing just 11 hits and three
walks in 22 2/3 innings. Smith
surrendered no runs in his one
start during the Monarchs’ 194 2 World
Series sweep of the Homestead Grays.Hilton Smith
.618
WHIP in
1944
Probably the least
well-known player
mentioned here, Bremer
etched himself in the
record books as a
20-year-old rookie for
the Cincinnati Tigers in
193 7, allowing just four earned runs
in 502/3 innings pitched. His 0. 71 ERA
that season narrowly edges out Paige
and Smith for the single-season mark.
(The lowest MLB ERA since the Dead Ball
era is Bob Gibson’s 1.12, set in ’68.) And
though Bremer would not rival the careers
of the Monarchs’ one-two punch, he
wasn’t a one-season wonder, appearing
in five All-Star games. In his best season,
he led the 194 5 Cleveland Buckeyes to a
WorldSeries victory as their ace.
ERA in 1937
.71
Eugene
Bremer
Though he died in obscurity—his
obituary didn’t even mention he played
baseball—Brown has since gained
recognition as one of the greatest
pitchers of all time. (His overdue
induction into Cooperstown came in
2006 .) A two-time champion for the
Grays, Brown boasted a deep repertoire
of pitches that included a knuckleball. He
twice finished a season with a 1.88 ERA,
including during an undefeated 14 –0
season in 193 8, when he led the
league in shutouts ( 4 ) and
saves ( 3 ). In ’ 4 0, he started
1 7 games and finished all
of them. No one else is
known to have more than
10 complete games
that season.Ray Brown
Undefeated
in 1938