10 Unbreakable St. Louis Cardinals Pitching Records

All-Time Team Records Reflect St. Louis Cardinals’ Long History of Outstanding Pitching Performances

Michael Wacha

led the St. Louis Cardinals with 17 wins in 2015, about half of

Dizzy Dean

‘s team record. Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

Judging team pitching records these days is a lot like making sense of all-time home run records. It can’t be done. The game itself and in the strength and conditioning have changed so drastically in the last decade that players now looking nothing like their predecessors in the 50s and 60s. Heck, even the players from the 80s had at least a little bit of an everyman look.

The modern pitcher is a finely sculpted athlete, and he’s more specialized than ever before. If he’s a reliever, he has a specific role that typically remains the same all season long. If he’s a starter, he’s asked to go five innings. Anything more is considered a gift from heaven. They work in shorter spurts than ever before.

Part of it has to do with how hard these guys throw. Surely, there were hard throwers throughout baseball history, but they weren’t as common as they are now. Pitchers enter professional baseball having high-velocity pitches already in their arsenals. They’ve been throwing high-90s gas since high school.

Meanwhile, trainers and team doctors know more about the human body than ever before. The data wave that took over every front office in the Major Leagues is now washing into sports medicine. You’re seeing the impact (pardon the pun) with concussion treatments. One of the next big frontiers preventing all-too frequent arm and shoulder injuries among pitchers.

Which is why we’re left with strict pitch and innings counts that even further limit how much pitchers pitch. I’m not saying it’s good or bad. But it has helped preserve all-time records that were set in a different age. Here are 10 examples that will never be eclipsed.

1. Bob Gibson’s 251 Wins

Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

The 251 wins Gibson piled up in his 17 seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals is becoming more unbeatable every year for a couple of reasons. One, because the righthander was simply great, collecting 20 or more victories in five of those seasons. And two, the nature of pitching has changed dramatically since Gibby retired in 1975. Actually, it was already changing even then.

Starting pitchers simply don’t last as long in games now, averaging around six innings a start. That’s perilously

close to the five innings required to simply qualify for the win. Michael Wacha led the St. Louis Cardinals with 17 victories in 2015, but fans can expect to see records more in line with John Lackey’s 13-10 and Lance Lynn’s 12-11. Records where the losses are about equal to wins because the game changes after the starters come out of the game.

Next: 2. Bob Gibson's 255 complete games

2. Bob Gibson’s 255 complete games

Credit: Gregory J. Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

Gibson had 255 complete games in his career, including seven seasons in which he had at least 20. Guess how many Major League Baseball’s leader in 2015 had? Four. Guess how many the leading St. Louis Cardinals starter had? One, by John Lackey. And that’s a joke because it was a rain-shortened 5-inning loss to the Kansas City Royals on May 23.

Amazingly,  Gibson ranks 73rd on the all-time list of most complete games pitched, although many of the names above him are unfamiliar to most living baseball fans. The fact that guys named “Old Hoss,” “Pud,” “Red” and “Eppa” rank higher pretty much tells you all you need to know. But if that doesn’t do it, consider that the active leader in complete games now is broken New York Yankees pitcher C.C. Sabathia, who almost certainly won’t add to his 38 — ever.

3. Jason Isringhausen’s 217 saves

Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

Back in 2001, the St. Louis Cardinals gave closer Jason Isringhausen the biggest free-agent pitching contract in team history (four years, $27 million), which I’m sure many of you hope will be broken soon if it hasn’t already. No doubt the St. Louis Cardinals got their money’s worth with Isringhausen, at least.

Isringhausen closed out 332 games in his seven seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals, saving 251 of them. His ERA in that span was 2.98. In the end, the righthander was the only one of the trio of high-caliber New York Mets pitching prospects, which included Paul Wilson and Bill Pulsipher (together nicknamed “Generation K”) to have the All-Star career that was expected of them.

Isringhausen saved 300 games in his career, but his 217 for the St. Louis Cardinals should stand forever given how often teams change closers these days. Current St. Louis Cardinals fireman Trevor Rosenthal (above) is fifth on the all-time list with 96 saves. But he’s a Scott Boras client, so, you know …

5. Jack Taylor’s 39 Complete Games in a Season

Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

Don’t know who Jack Taylor is? Neither did I until I found this record in the media guide. The 10-year veteran played at the turn of the 20th Century, from 1898 until 1907, first for the Chicago Cubs and then for the St. Louis Cardinals. And then for the Cubs again.

Complete games were nothing new for the righthander. His big league career began with a complete game. He completed 278 of his 286 career starts, including a streak from June 20, 1901, to August 9, 1906, in which he completed 187 straight starts.

The Cubs traded Taylor to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1903 after the righty lost three of his four starts in the inaugural World Series that year. And go figure. In 1904, his first season with the Redbirds, he set the team record for complete games.

Is any current St. Louis Cardinal close? Um, no. Ace Adam Wainwright (above) has 21 — for his career.

Next: 6. Dizzy Dean's 30-Win Season

6. Dizzy Dean’s 30-Win Season

Credit: Lance Iversen-USA TODAY Sports

If you win 20 games these days, you’re automatically qualified for Cy Young Award consideration. But when the Hall-of-Famer won 30 back in 1934, a 20-game winner was much more common. A 30-game winner? Not so much. And that’s partly why Dean won the National League MVP award that season.

The fact that Dean went on to win just 150 games in his career is a reminder of what a bummer the 1937 All-Star Game was. And how great the righ-hander was in his prime. Dean took a liner off his toe and changed his delivery to compensate for the pain. He was never the same again. Forget about winning 30 games in a season. He never made more than 19 starts in a season until he retired in 1941 (Sorry, his 1947 season with the Browns doesn’t count …).

7. Jesse Haines’ 554 Career Games Pitched

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Haines was a very good pitcher. He’s in the Hall of Fame, having won 20 games in two of his 19 seasons. He led the National League with 25 complete games and six shutouts in 1927, a season in which he pitched more than 300 innings. But what helped Haine earn the St. Louis Cardinals record for most games pitched is the fact that he pitched with the team for 18 years, impressive even in the pre-free-agency era. Today it’s just unheard of.

Kyle Farnsworth is the active leader in career games pitched with 893, but the most he’s had with one team is 343, with the Chicago Cubs. New Detroit Tigers closer Francisco Rodriguez is second on the active list with 859, but that’s with four different teams. The most K-Rod has with one is 408 for the Los Angeles Angels.

Among current Cardinals, Steve Cishek (above) has the most games under his belt, with 311. The majority of those, of course, have come with the Miami Marlins.

I think Haines’ record is safe for a good long while.

Next: 8. Bob Gibson's 3,117 strikeouts

8. Bob Gibson’s 3,117 strikeouts

Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Maybe we should just rename this list the Bob Gibson list. The vaunted righthander and main reason baseball lowered the pitcher’s mound has many of the St. Louis Cardinals’ team pitching records. That includes both single-season and career strikeouts.

Gibson K’d 274 batters for the 1970 St. Louis Cardinals. By the time his 17-year career was done, he was pretty high on the All-Time list with his 3,117. Now, he ranks 14th. Don Sutton, John Smoltz, Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson  are several of the Hall-of-Fame pitchers who have passed him since his retirement.

No active pitcher is really close, either. Sabathia is the closest active pitcher with 2574, but his left arm is shot. Wainwright (above) is second on the Cardinals’ all-time list, but he has just 1,306.

Next: 9. Bob Gibson's 1,336 Career Walks

9. Bob Gibson’s 1,336 Career Walks

Credit: Gregory J. Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

Here is yet another pitching record that will stand thanks to the evolution of the game. Gibson not only pitched for 17 years with the St. Louis Cardinals. His managers also let him stay in there when he struggled. There was no bullpen specialization. There were no pitch counts. There were no innings limits.

Actually, if you look at the all-time leaderboard in walks, it reads like a who’s who of the Hall of Fame. Nolan Ryan (above) leads the world with 2,795 career walks, a mark that will probably never be surpassed. Steve Carlton is second on the list. Phil Niekro is third. Bob Feller is up there, too. Having a high number of walks meant you were good enough to be left in the game, even when you struggled.

So when Gibson had the rare game when he lost his command for a while, the righthander was still the best option the St. Louis Cardinals had. His walk totals were relatively high early in his career. He led the National League with 116 walks in 1961 and had the second-highest total in the NL in 1963 and 1964. But none of that really mattered. Gibson was the rare pitcher who was able to make up for his mistakes consistently.

These days, if a pitcher walks more than three or four batters, he’s out of the game no matter how good he is. For that reason, Gibson’s 1,336 career walks will stand the test of time.

Next: 10. Grant McGlynn's 352.1 Innings in a Season

10. Grant McGlynn’s 352.1 Innings in a Season

Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Have you ever looked at the career leaders for single-season innings pitched. It. Is. Amazing. Back in the 19th Century, pitchers hurled what would be considered three good season’s worth of work. Yes, 600+ innings. At the top of list is Will White‘s 680 frames in 1879.

You have to go all the way down to 105 on the list to find the first 20th Century pitcher. Ed Walsh pitched a relatively modest 464 innings in 1908. And that makes McGlynn’s St. Louis Cardinals record 352.1 innings pitched in 1907 seem modest. Still, the last pitcher to top 300 innings in a season is Steve Carlton, who did it for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1980. Last year, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw (above) led all big leaguers with a mere 232.2 innings of work.

Ulysses Simpson Grant “Stoney” McGlynn was a blip in Cardinals history. He threw a 7-inning darkness-shortened no-hitter in his first season with the St. Louis Cardinals, in 1906. A year later, the 35-year-old right-hander led the National League with those 352.1 innings pitched and with 33 complete games.

Next: Patrick Wisdom and Jacob Wilson Could Be Had

Unfortunately, McGlynn also led the NL that year in losses (25), hits (329), earned runs (114) and walks (112). A year later, he mustered just over 75 innings of work and was out of baseball by 1909.