The Sabermetric Case

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Jim McCormick's 76.2 Wins Above Replacement is 27th all-time.   

Roger Clemens (steroids) and Curt Schilling (politics) are the only pitchers with higher WAR not in the Hall of Fame.

• 2nd All Time in WAR per season behind only HOFer Kid Nichols
• Led league in Pitching WAR 3 times.
• Led league in total WAR, regardless of position twice
• In top 5 of WAR in 6 seasons.  The average Hall of Fame SP has 4 such seasons
• In top 10 of WAR in 8 seasons.  The average Hall of Fame SP has 6 such seasons
• 11th highest single-season WAR (14.5 in 1884) in baseball history

Some Hall of Fame pitchers with less  WAR:

Bob Feller

Whitey Ford

Sandy Koufax

Don Sutton

Jim Palmer

John Smoltz

Juan Marichal

Don Drysdale

Carl Hubbell

Tom Glavine

Jim Bunning

Roy Halladay

Jim McCormick's 68.7 peak 7 year WAR is 7th all time.

Only Walter Johnson, Cy Young, John Clarkson, Kid Nichols, and Grover Alexander have a higher 7 year peak WAR.

• In top 5 of WAR in 5 straight seasons from 1878-82.  The average Hall of Fame SP has 2 such seasons.
• In top 10 of WAR in 7 straight seasons from 1878-4.  The average Hall of Fame SP has 4 such seasons

Some Hall of Fame pitchers with less peak WAR:

Christy Mathewson

Tom Seaver

Randy Johnson

Bob Gibson

Sandy Koufax

Greg Maddux

Pedro Martinez

Warren Spahn

Nolan Ryan

Phil Niekro

Lefty Grove

Warren Spahn

Bert Blyleven

Jim Palmer

Robin Roberts

Steve Carlton

Juan Marichal

Roy Halladay

Mike Mussina

Jim McCormick's 72.4 JAWS score is 16th all-time.   

The average Hall of Fame starting pitcher has a 57.3 JAWS score.* Roger Clemens is the only pitcher with a higher score not in the Hall of Fame.

Some Hall of Fame pitchers with lower JAWS scores:

Eddie Plank

Sandy Koufax

Bob Feller

Nolan Ryan

Fergie Jenkins

Pedro Martinez

Gaylord Perry

Jim Palmer

Juan Marichal

Whitey Ford

Tom Glavine

Robin Roberts

Don Drysdale

Mike Mussina

Roy Halladay

* There are 78 starting pitchers in the Hall of Fame based on their on-field performance.  This excludes pitchers such as Candy Cummings and Al Spalding, who were elected for reasons other than pitching performance.  It also excludes pitchers whose Hall of Fame resume was based primarily on their careers as relief pitchers such as Dennis Eckersley and Hoyt Wilhelm. This number now includes Negro League pitchers.

Baseball Reference has calculated how much WAR a player accumulated per 162 games.

Jim McCormick's 5.2 WAR/162 ranks 43rd all time, 11th best among SPs with 4,000 IP, and would be 25th among HOFers.*

Some Hall of Fame Pitchers with less WAR/162:

Greg Maddux

Tim Keefe

Warren Spahn

Carl Hubbell

Bert Blyleven

Old Hoss Radbourn

Sandy Koufax

Juan Marichal

Don Drysdale

Fergie Jenkins

Robin Roberts

Jim Palmer

Gaylord Perry

Steve Carlton

Phil Niekro

Bob Feller

Whitey Ford

Tom Glavine

John Smoltz

Pud Galvin

* There are 78 starting pitchers in the Hall of Fame based on their on-field performance.  This excludes pitchers such as Candy Cummings and Al Spalding, who were elected for reasons other than pitching performance.  It also excludes pitchers whose Hall of Fame resume was based primarily on their careers as relief pitchers such as Dennis Eckersley and Hoyt Wilhelm. This number now includes Negro League pitchers.

Jim McCormick's 43.1 WAA is 24th all-time.

Clemens and Schilling are the only eligible pitchers with higher scores not in the Hall of Fame.

The average Hall of Fame starting pitcher has 34.8  WAA.

Some HOF Pitchers with less WAA:

Fergie Jenkins

Warren Spahn

Steve Carlton

Tom Glavine

Robin Roberts

Old Hoss Radbourn

Pud Galvin

Nolan Ryan

Bob Feller

Jim Palmer

Sandy Koufax

Juan Marichal

Whitey Ford

Hall of Fame expert Jay Jaffe created a metric based on his JAWS system that minimizes the accumulated WAR of 19th and early 20th century pitchers  to "reduce the skewing caused by the impact of 19th century and dead-ball era pitchers, some of whom topped 400, 500, or even 600 innings in a season on multiple occasions."

This new stat hurts 19th Century workhorses like McCormick.

And yet Mac is still 35th all-time in S-JAWS.

Some HOF Pitchers with less S-JAWS:

Old Hoss Radbourn

Carl Hubbell

Jim Palmer

John Smoltz

Don Drysdale

Juan Marichal

Bob Feller

Jim Bunning

Pud Galvin

Don Sutton

Whitey Ford

Sandy Koufax

Catfish Hunter

Jim McCormick's 194 Hall of Fame Monitor Score is 23rd among Hall of Fame starting pitchers

The average HOF starting pitcher has a score of 159 with a 130 score being a virtual "lock."  

Some Hall of Famers with lower scores than:

Bob Feller

Jim Palmer

Eddie Plank

Fergie Jenkins

Phil Niekro

Juan Marichal

Tom Glavine

Gaylord Perry

Carl Hubbell

John Smoltz

Don Drysdale

Bert Blyleven

Mike Mussina

Roy Halladay

Jim McCormick's .588 waaWL% is 21st among Hall of Fame starting pitchers and 10th all-time among pitchers with 4,000 IP.

Using Bill James' waaWL% statistic, we can calculate how many Wins a pitcher "lost" or "gained" due to factors beyond his control like run support or defense.  

The average Hall of Fame starting pitcher has roughly 12 MORE wins than they "should have" had because they largely played for good teams. 

But Jim McCormick actually "lost" 16 Wins due to the bad teams he played for.  No Hall of Fame starting pitcher has more "lost" wins than Jim McCormick.  

McCormick would have won significantly more games than his 265 had he played for better teams.

Some HOF pitchers with lower waaWL%:

Bob Feller

Satchel Paige

Warren Spahn

Nolan Ryan

Sandy Koufax

Whitey Ford

Steve Carlton

Bert Blyleven

Carl Hubbell

Old Hoss Radbourn

Fergie Jenkins

Juan Marichal

Phil Niekro

Gaylord Perry

Jim Palmer

Whitey Ford

Tim Keefe