Pitchers who were worse than Skip Schumaker - A Friday List

In the long, vast history of Major League Baseball, there are countless examples of quirky stats that isolate singular players in the annals of history. With so many combinations and permutations possible given the array of statistical measures available to track on a daily basis, it’s amazing to see just how few players in the game’s 150+ year history have accomplished such feats of glory.

That brings us to Skip Schumaker, as all things should. The venerable Colonel of Grit scratched and clawed his way across 11 seasons in the big leagues as a player, in the process laying claim to one of the more successful two-way careers the game has ever seen.

Perhaps no single combination of feats defines just how Skip Skip was relative to his peers - which, really, there are no peers - than the following:

In his career, Skip not only homered off multiple Cy Young Award winners (Tim Lincecum, Jake Peavy), but he also struck out batters from Australia, Canada, and Venezuela while on the mound.

Just truly astonishing, that. Without daring to look at a single other player’s player cards, I’m willing to *bet he’s the only player in big league history to accomplish such a feat.

While his legendary exploits at the plate have long been celebrated, we’ll take today to honor just how impressive his career 106 ERA+ stacks up against pitchers who have made that their ‘only’ trade throughout big league history. So, without further adieu, here’s an incomplete Friday List of big league pitchers with a worse career ERA+ than Skip Schumaker.

Bump Hadley

Mat Latos

Hall of Famer Jack Morris

Tim Wakefield (off whom Skip homered in his career)

Barry Zito

A.J. Burnett

Dock Ellis

Tim Lincecum (!!)

J.A. Happ

Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter

Scott Kazmir

Fernando Valenzuela

Chris Archer

Doyle Alexander

R.A. Dickey

Hall of Famer Rube Marquard

Brickyard Kennedy

Joe Nuxhall

Bronson Arroyo

Pedro Borbon

Oil Can Boyd

Reds legend Yovani Gallardo

Wandy Rodriguez (non Jay Bruce edition)

Dave Burba

Tim Belcher

Ron Burpjoke (*unconfirmed as of yet)

Jim Bouton

Pretzels Getzian

Don Larsen

Eric Milton

*I am, admittedly, a truly awful gambler.