Wes Ferrell

Early life

Wes Ferrell was born Wesley Cheek Ferrell on February 2, 1908, in Greensboro, North Carolina. His parents were Rufus Benjamin "Lonnie" and Alice Clara Carpenter. His father worked for the Southern Railroad, and the family lived on a 160-acre dairy farm that also grew hay and tobacco. Wes was the fifth of seven boys, and all of them played baseball for their high school.

Two of his brothers had long baseball careers: Rick, a Hall of Fame catcher, and George, who spent 18 years in the minors. Wes played baseball and basketball at Guilford High School and later at Oak Ridge Military Academy in 1926. He signed with the Cleveland Indians and made his MLB debut on September 9, 1927, pitching one inning against the Boston Red Sox and giving up three earned runs. He made the Indians' roster in 1928 but was soon sent down to the Terre Haute Tots of the Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League.

There he won 20 games against eight losses with a 2.74 ERA. Recalled in September, he started two games, completed one, and lost both.

Major league career

Ferrell joined the Indians permanently in 1929. Though a spot-starter at first, he became one of the American League's best pitchers by season's end, relying on an excellent fastball, a good curveball, and a deceptive changeup. He posted a 21–10 record with 100 strikeouts and a 3.60 ERA, finishing second in the league in wins behind George Earnshaw. In 1930, he became the team's ace, increasing his win total to 25 (second to Lefty Grove's 28) and lowering his ERA to 3.31; his batting average rose from .237 to .297.

In 1931, he led the league in complete games with 27 and collected 22 wins. On April 29, he pitched a 9–0 no-hitter against the St. Louis Browns, striking out eight while hitting a home run and a double and amassing four RBIs; his brother Rick was the Browns' catcher. On May 8, he experienced right shoulder pain, and his fastball became largely ineffective for the rest of the season. He hit nine home runs in 1931, breaking the previous record for pitchers of seven set by Jack Stivetts in 1890.

On August 31, he hit two home runs against the Chicago White Sox in a 13–5 victory at Comiskey Park, the first of five times he achieved that feat.

Post-major league career

Wes Ferrell didn't hang up his spikes when his big-league days ended. Instead, he kept playing in the minors, mostly as an outfielder. After the Braves let him go in May 1941, he joined the Leaksville-Draper-Spray Triplets of the Class-D Bi-State League, where he hit .332 with 20 home runs in just 74 games. The following year, he moved to the Class-C Lynchburg Senators of the Virginia League and batted .361 with 31 homers over 123 games.

He appeared off and on in the minors for a few more years, finally calling it quits after the 1949 season. Ferrell passed away at age 68 on December 9, 1976, in Sarasota, Florida, and is buried at New Garden Cemetery in Greensboro, North Carolina. Supporters of his Hall of Fame candidacy point to circumstances that hurt his stats: the high-offense era he pitched in, the weak teams he played for, and the hitter-friendly ballparks he called home. Bill James observed that Ferrell's 4.04 career ERA makes sense when you consider the American League average ERA during his time was 4.54.

When you factor in his hitting contributions, he was 22 percent better than the league average. He still holds the record for most home runs by a pitcher with 37, and his career slash line sits at .280/.351/.446 with an OPS of .797. In 1981, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig named him to their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time, calling him the best-hitting pitcher ever—noting that Babe Ruth did most of his damage at the plate after he stopped pitching regularly.

Ferrell entered the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in February 2008. He remains the only pitcher since 1900 to win 20 games in each of his first four full major league seasons. Among pitchers with at least 300 decisions in the American League who never played for a pennant winner, his .601 winning percentage ranks seventh, and his .975 fielding percentage is fourth in AL history.