46. Fergie Jenkins
Fergie Jenkins gave up 484 home runs in his career, the third most in baseball history. However, he had impeccable control, and with his ability to strike out the opposition, those home runs rarely mattered.
A rather underrated pitcher, Jenkins only made three All-Star teams despite being one of the best pitchers in the game from the middle of the 1960’s into the mid 1970’s. A seven time twenty game winner, and a workhorse who was routinely among the league leaders in innings pitched and complete games, Jenkins finished in the top three in the Cy Young vote four different times, winning the award in 1971, when he was 24-13 with a 2.77 ERA and a 1.049 WHiP, striking out 263 batters.
In his career, Jenkins posted a deceptive 284-226 record with a 3.34 ERA and a 1.142 WHiP, striking out 3,192 batters against only 997 walks in 4500.2 innings. He ranks 29th in wins and 12th in strikeouts, one of 16 pitchers to notch 3000 strikeouts in MLB history. Even though he pitched in a more modern era, Jenkins is 27th all time in innings pitched, showing his remarkable durability.
Jenkins was also somewhat victimized by circumstances beyond his control. In his 19 year career, he never appeared in the postseason, as the Cubs and Rangers teams of that time were generally out of contention early on. Yet, Jenkins kept plugging away, putting up stellar numbers on teams that just could not provide him that chance to shine in the playoffs.
One of the greatest pitchers in his time, one has to wonder what Fergie Jenkins overall numbers would have looked like had he been on stronger teams. Alas, Jenkins overall numbers suffered because of the teams he toiled on.
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