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It’ll Never Happen Again!

And that’s putting it mildly!

As I’ve said many times, whenever you look deeply into the career of any major leaguer, you’ll almost always find something of interest in his past.

Try this on for size: I recently learned that on August 9, 1906, 120 years ago today, Cubs right-hander Jack Taylor threw a complete game against the Brooklyn Dodgers at Washington Park, with the Cubs winning the game, 5-3. Nothing surprising so far. But here’s the interesting part:

This complete game was the last of – believe it or not! – 187 consecutive complete games thrown by Taylor – a record that, needless to say, still stands.  This amazing streak began on June 20, 1901, with a 2-0 loss in Boston. Going even deeper, I found that the streak was interrupted by 15 additional relief appearances, so Taylor actually appeared in 202 consecutive games without being relieved himself! Of course, complete games just seemed to be part of Taylor’s genetic makeup. Just two years previously, in 1904, he set a major league record (since 1900) with 39 consecutive complete games in one season. Noodles Hahn holds the record over multiple seasons (1902-1903) with 67. 

A native of Straitville, Ohio, Jack Taylor was known as the “Iron Man” of the Dead Ball Era. He played 10 years in the majors, for the Cubs (1898-1903, 1906-1907), and the Cardinals (1904-1907). Over his career, he posted some very respectable numbers, going 152-139 (.522), with a 2.66 ERA, throwing 279 complete games, and 20 shutouts. He led the National League in both shutouts (8) and ERA (1.29) in 1902.

Taylor, along with teammate Larry McLean, was part of the deal that brought Mordecai “Three-Finger” Brown to the  Cubs in December 1903. However, he was traded back to the Cubs in July 1906. As a result, he was part of the great pennant-winning Cubs’ pitching staff, which posted a team 1.76 ERA, but lost the 1906 World Series to their crosstown rival, the White Sox, better known as the “Hitless Wonders.”  In his last year in the majors, 1907, he went 7-5 for the World Series champion Cubs, but as far as I can tell, never pitched in either the 1906 or 1907 World Series.  

The complete game going the way of the Dodo Bird:

• • James Shields threw 11 complete games in 2011, the first pitcher to reach double digits in a single season since CC Sabathia threw 10 in 2008.
  • Since 1975, no pitcher has thrown 30 or more complete games in a season,
  • In the 21st century, only twice has any pitcher thrown as many as ten or more complete games in a season.
  • The last pitcher to throw 20 complete games in a single season was Fernando Valenzuela in 1986.
  • The last pitcher to throw 25 complete games in a season was Rick Langford in 1980.
  • The last pitcher to throw 30 complete games in a season was Catfish Hunter, who did so for the New York Yankees in 1975.
  • In 1974, 28 percent of games were complete games. Forty years later, in 2024, the percentage was down to 0.6.
  • Leon Cadore and Joe Oeschger share the record for the longest complete game, achieved when they pitched against each other in a 26-inning marathon that ended in a 1–1 tie on May 1, 1920

So today we gladly shine our baseball spotlight on a forgotten star, Jack Taylor, a fine pitcher from the first decade of the twentieth century, who holds a record that we can safely say will never be broken. 

Jack Taylor passed away on March 4, 1938, aged 64.

Gary Livacari

Photo Credits: All found on Google search

Information: Jack Taylor Wikipedia page

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