Stan Coveleski
The spitball artist who helped Cleveland win its first World Series threw with surgical precision in an era when pitchers completed what they started. Coveleski's 2.89 career ERA came with remarkable consistency — his ERA+ of 123 means he was 23 percent better than league average across 17 seasons, peaking at 160 during his dominant stretch.
His 215 wins tell only part of the story. Coveleski threw three complete game victories in Cleveland's 1920 World Series triumph, allowing just two earned runs across 27 innings against Brooklyn. That performance capped a four-year peak where he averaged 23 wins per season while anchoring one of baseball's great rotations.
The Polish-American from Pennsylvania learned his craft in the dead-ball era and adapted beautifully as offense exploded in the 1920s. His longevity — pitching effectively into his late 30s — reflected the control that made him special, not overpowering stuff.
Career · Hitting
14 seasons| Year | Team | G | AB | HR | RBI | AVG | OPS | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1912 | PHA | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | .143 | — | — |
| 1916 | CLE | 45 | 75 | 1 | 5 | .173 | — | — |
| 1917 | CLE | 46 | 97 | 0 | 4 | .134 | — | — |
| 1918 | CLE | 38 | 110 | 0 | 3 | .191 | — | — |
| 1919 | CLE | 43 | 94 | 0 | 6 | .213 | — | — |
| 1920 | CLE | 41 | 111 | 0 | 17 | .225 | — | — |
| 1921 | CLE | 43 | 116 | 0 | 16 | .155 | — | — |
| 1922 | CLE | 35 | 99 | 0 | 7 | .101 | — | — |
| 1923 | CLE | 33 | 79 | 0 | 6 | .089 | — | — |
| 1924 | CLE | 37 | 82 | 0 | 4 | .134 | — | — |
| 1925 | WS1 | 32 | 81 | 0 | 7 | .111 | — | — |
| 1926 | WS1 | 36 | 82 | 0 | 3 | .207 | — | — |
| 1927 | WS1 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 1 | .333 | — | — |
| 1928 | NYY | 12 | 19 | 0 | 2 | .053 | — | — |
| Career | 451 | 1058 | 1 | 81 | .159 | — | — | |
Career · Pitching
14 seasons| Year | Team | G | IP | W | L | ERA | ERA+ | SO | WHIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1912 | PHA | 5 | 21.0 | 2 | 1 | 3.43 | 98 | 9 | 1.048 |
| 1916 | CLE | 45 | 232.0 | 15 | 13 | 3.41 | 82 | 76 | 1.315 |
| 1917 | CLE | 45 | 298.3 | 19 | 14 | 1.81 | 149 | 133 | 0.992 |
| 1918 | CLE | 38 | 311.0 | 22 | 13 | 1.82 | 155 | 87 | 1.084 |
| 1919 | CLE | 43 | 286.0 | 24 | 12 | 2.61 | 118 | 118 | 1.210 |
| 1920 | CLE | 41 | 315.0 | 24 | 14 | 2.49 | 139 | 133 | 1.108 |
| 1921 | CLE | 43 | 315.0 | 23 | 13 | 3.37 | 119 | 99 | 1.349 |
| 1922 | CLE | 35 | 276.7 | 17 | 14 | 3.32 | 126 | 98 | 1.287 |
| 1923 | CLE | 33 | 228.0 | 13 | 14 | 2.76 | 146 | 54 | 1.285 |
| 1924 | CLE | 37 | 240.3 | 15 | 16 | 4.04 | 102 | 58 | 1.494 |
| 1925 | WS1 | 32 | 241.0 | 20 | 5 | 2.84 | 160 | 58 | 1.257 |
| 1926 | WS1 | 36 | 245.3 | 14 | 11 | 3.12 | 132 | 50 | 1.439 |
| 1927 | WS1 | 5 | 14.3 | 2 | 1 | 3.14 | 130 | 3 | 1.465 |
| 1928 | NYY | 12 | 58.0 | 5 | 1 | 5.74 | 72 | 5 | 1.586 |
| Career | 450 | 3081.9 | 215 | 142 | — | — | 981 | — | |
Matchups, projections, comps — grounded in Lahman, Retrosheet, and Statcast.