Hall of Fame: Dazzy Vance (1955)

Not a looker.

Year	Age	Tm		W	L		ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	HBP	BF	ERA+	WHIP
1915	24	TOT		0	4	.000	4.11	9	4	4	1	0	0	30.2	26	17	14	1	21	18	3	134	71	1.533
1915	24	PIT	NL	0	1	.000	10.12	1	1	0	0	0	0	2.2	3	3	3	0	5	0	1	14	27	3.000
1915	24	NYY	AL	0	3	.000	3.54	8	3	4	1	0	0	28.0	23	14	11	1	16	18	2	120	83	1.393
1918	27	NYY	AL	0	0		15.43	2	0	1	0	0	0	2.1	9	5	4	0	2	0	0	15	18	4.714
1922	31	BRO	NL	18	12	.600	3.70	36	30	4	16	5	0	245.2	259	122	101	9	94	134	8	1069	111	1.437
1923	32	BRO	NL	18	15	.545	3.50	37	35	2	21	3	0	280.1	263	127	109	10	100	197	11	1187	111	1.295
1924	33	BRO	NL	28	6	.824	2.16	35	34	1	30	3	0	308.1	238	89	74	11	77	262	9	1221	174	1.022
1925	34	BRO	NL	22	9	.710	3.53	31	31	0	26	4	0	265.1	247	115	104	8	66	221	10	1089	118	1.180
1926	35	BRO	NL	9	10	.474	3.89	24	22	2	12	0	1	169.0	172	80	73	7	58	140	1	713	98	1.361
1927	36	BRO	NL	16	15	.516	2.70	34	32	2	25	2	1	273.1	242	98	82	12	69	184	6	1123	146	1.138
1928	37	BRO	NL	22	10	.688	2.09	38	32	5	24	4	2	280.1	226	79	65	11	72	200	7	1126	191	1.063
1929	38	BRO	NL	14	13	.519	3.89	31	26	3	17	1	0	231.1	244	110	100	15	47	126	9	978	119	1.258
1930	39	BRO	NL	17	15	.531	2.61	35	31	3	20	4	0	258.2	241	97	75	15	55	173	5	1061	189	1.144
1931	40	BRO	NL	11	13	.458	3.38	30	29	1	12	2	0	218.2	221	99	82	12	53	150	0	918	113	1.253
1932	41	BRO	NL	12	11	.522	4.20	27	24	2	9	1	1	175.2	171	90	82	10	57	103	1	742	90	1.298
1933	42	STL	NL	6	2	.750	3.55	28	11	8	2	0	3	99.0	105	42	39	3	28	67	1	427	98	1.343
1934	43	TOT	NL	1	3	.250	4.56	25	6	4	1	0	1	77.0	90	47	39	5	25	42	3	341	92	1.494
1934	43	STL	NL	1	1	.500	3.66	19	4	3	1	0	1	59.0	62	26	24	4	14	33	2	248	115	1.288
1934	43	CIN	NL	0	2	.000	7.50	6	2	1	0	0	0	18.0	28	21	15	1	11	9	1	93	54	2.167
1935	44	BRO	NL	3	2	.600	4.41	20	0	11	0	0	2	51.0	55	29	25	3	16	28	3	225	90	1.392
16 Seasons				197	140	.585	3.24	442	347	53	216	29	11	2966.2	2809	1246	1068	132	840	2045	77	12369	125	1.230

1 MVP Award


Charles Arthur Vance was born on March 4, 1891 in Orient, Iowa. Armed with an amazing fastball, Vance has problems making the majors. He bounced around the minors for 10 seasons before getting his first legitimate shot at a rotation spot. While in the minors, he would post ridiculous strikeout numbers the first half of the season, but in doing so, he tired and wasn't very good in the second half. After an arm surgery, his manager in New Orleans decided to make him pitch every four days instead of every three, and Vance seemed cured. The Dodgers would buy him and make him a starter in 1922.

Vance began his major-league career as a 31-year old in 1922. As a rookie, he posted fairly impressive numbers going 18-12 with 3.70 ERA while striking out 134. He won his first of seven consecutive strikeout titles that season with an unusual windup that saw a high leg kick and a foot waggle and a new curveball. Two years later, Vance had his best season. He won 28 games on the way to his only MVP Award, but the remarkable feat was really his 262 strikeouts, which was more than any other two pitchers put together. For the next four seasons, Vance continually racked up the most strikeouts in the league while winning 20+ in 3 seasons. In one of the oddest moments of his career, Babe Herman laced a ball into the gap, and Vance, starting from second, decided to stop at third for some reason. Herman and the other runner, not paying attention, also ended up at third. The opposing team tagged two of them out for a double play, leaving Herman with a double.

As a 38 year old in 1929, Vance was beginning to decline from his heyday, but he was still effective. But by 1933, he had pretty much lost his fastball and was no longer an effective starter. He was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals before the 1933 season, and he didn't last long there, being traded to Cincinnati during the 1934 season. In an odd move, he was waived, and the Cardinals brought him back just in time for the World Series. He tried one more time with Brooklyn in 1935, but it didn't really work out.

Vance was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1955 with 81.7% (205 of 251) of the vote.


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