40.2 F
Pittsburgh

Tim Wakefield and Former Pirates Pitchers

Published:

With Tim Wakefield announcing his retirement I thought I’d go through the unfortunate list for Pirates fans, of pitchers with the most wins after leaving the Pittsburgh Pirates, just to show where he ranks on that list. I included 11 players just to show the top 10 while he was with the Pirates, as all the other players on the list were retired prior to him leaving Pittsburgh. The list only includes guys who pitched in the majors with Pittsburgh.

Wins after leaving the Pirates:

1.Burleigh Grimes* 222

2.Dazzy Vance* 197

3.Tim Wakefield 186

4.Rube Waddell* 178

5.Wilbur Wood 163

6.Claude Passeau 162

7.Bert Blyleven* 131

8.Woody Fryman 126

9.Jack Chesbro* 122

10.Ed Whitson 118

11.Sherry Smith 114

Of note on this list, there are five Hall of Famers denoted by asterisks next to their name. There is also another well-known knuckleball pitcher on the list, Wilbur Wood. The top man on the list, Burleigh Grimes, actually left the Pirates twice during his career then came back to finish his career in a Pirates uniform. His win total includes only games he won with other teams, not wins accumulated during his second and third stints with Pittsburgh. Vance, Passeau and Smith all picked up their entire career win totals after leaving the Pirates.

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

Related Articles

Article Drop

Latest Articles