Burleigh Grimes
Grimes was the last legal spitball pitcher in major league history, grandfathered in when MLB banned the pitch in 1920. He rode that soggy fastball to 270 wins over 19 seasons, becoming the final link to baseball's dead-ball era.
His peak came in the mid-1920s with Brooklyn, where he won 20+ games four times and posted a 155 ERA+ in 1924. The Wisconsin native threw over 4,000 innings with surprising durability for a pitcher relying on such an unorthodox delivery. Grimes understood the psychological warfare of his era — batters knew the spitter was coming but couldn't time its unpredictable drop.
The Veterans Committee recognized his unique place in baseball history with a 1964 Hall of Fame induction. When Grimes retired in 1934, the spitball died with him, making every subsequent pitcher play by different rules than the man they called "Ol' Stubblebeard."
Career · Hitting
19 seasons| Year | Team | G | AB | HR | RBI | AVG | OPS | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1916 | PIT | 6 | 17 | 0 | 0 | .176 | — | — |
| 1917 | PIT | 42 | 69 | 0 | 4 | .232 | — | — |
| 1918 | BRO | 41 | 90 | 0 | 4 | .200 | — | — |
| 1919 | BRO | 26 | 69 | 0 | 12 | .246 | — | — |
| 1920 | BRO | 43 | 111 | 0 | 16 | .306 | — | — |
| 1921 | BRO | 37 | 114 | 1 | 11 | .237 | — | — |
| 1922 | BRO | 36 | 93 | 0 | 11 | .237 | — | — |
| 1923 | BRO | 40 | 126 | 0 | 15 | .238 | — | — |
| 1924 | BRO | 40 | 124 | 0 | 7 | .298 | — | — |
| 1925 | BRO | 34 | 96 | 1 | 14 | .250 | — | — |
| 1926 | BRO | 31 | 81 | 0 | 9 | .222 | — | — |
| 1927 | NY1 | 39 | 96 | 0 | 6 | .188 | — | — |
| 1928 | PIT | 48 | 131 | 0 | 16 | .321 | — | — |
| 1929 | PIT | 33 | 91 | 0 | 12 | .286 | — | — |
| 1930 | STL | 34 | 73 | 0 | 13 | .247 | — | — |
| 1931 | STL | 29 | 76 | 0 | 8 | .184 | — | — |
| 1932 | CHC | 30 | 44 | 0 | 5 | .250 | — | — |
| 1933 | CHC | 21 | 25 | 0 | 5 | .160 | — | — |
| 1934 | PIT | 22 | 9 | 0 | 0 | .111 | — | — |
| Career | 632 | 1535 | 2 | 168 | .248 | — | — | |
Career · Pitching
19 seasons| Year | Team | G | IP | W | L | ERA | ERA+ | SO | WHIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1916 | PIT | 6 | 45.7 | 2 | 3 | 2.36 | 118 | 20 | 1.095 |
| 1917 | PIT | 37 | 194.0 | 3 | 16 | 3.53 | 76 | 72 | 1.320 |
| 1918 | BRO | 40 | 270.0 | 19 | 9 | 2.13 | 133 | 113 | 1.059 |
| 1919 | BRO | 25 | 181.3 | 10 | 11 | 3.47 | 89 | 82 | 1.318 |
| 1920 | BRO | 40 | 303.7 | 23 | 11 | 2.22 | 155 | 131 | 1.113 |
| 1921 | BRO | 37 | 302.3 | 22 | 13 | 2.83 | 142 | 136 | 1.287 |
| 1922 | BRO | 36 | 259.0 | 17 | 14 | 4.76 | 88 | 99 | 1.575 |
| 1923 | BRO | 39 | 327.0 | 21 | 18 | 3.58 | 113 | 119 | 1.394 |
| 1924 | BRO | 38 | 310.7 | 22 | 13 | 3.82 | 108 | 135 | 1.423 |
| 1925 | BRO | 33 | 246.7 | 12 | 19 | 5.04 | 90 | 73 | 1.650 |
| 1926 | BRO | 30 | 225.3 | 12 | 13 | 3.71 | 111 | 64 | 1.447 |
| 1927 | NY1 | 39 | 259.7 | 19 | 8 | 3.54 | 116 | 102 | 1.390 |
| 1928 | PIT | 48 | 330.7 | 25 | 14 | 2.99 | 138 | 97 | 1.173 |
| 1929 | PIT | 33 | 232.7 | 17 | 7 | 3.13 | 147 | 62 | 1.354 |
| 1930 | STL | 33 | 201.3 | 16 | 11 | 4.07 | 118 | 73 | 1.545 |
| 1931 | STL | 29 | 212.3 | 17 | 9 | 3.65 | 112 | 67 | 1.408 |
| 1932 | CHC | 30 | 141.3 | 6 | 11 | 4.78 | 86 | 36 | 1.585 |
| 1933 | CHC | 21 | 83.3 | 3 | 7 | 3.78 | 102 | 16 | 1.476 |
| 1934 | PIT | 22 | 53.0 | 4 | 5 | 6.11 | 70 | 15 | 1.679 |
| Career | 616 | 4180.0 | 270 | 212 | — | — | 1512 | — | |
Matchups, projections, comps — grounded in Lahman, Retrosheet, and Statcast.