H A L L   O F   F A M E   I N D U C T E E S

Lew Burdette · Elected 1973
 Starting Pitcher · St. Louis Maroons, Brooklyn Superbas, Chicago Colts · 1953-1971

Hall candidates often make for interesting debates, with guys like Stu Miller and Carl Erskine forcing you to consider issues like peak value versus career totals and the like. So with that in mind, let us consider the curious case of Lew Burdette, who was never the best pitcher on his own team, but nevertheless is counted among the winningest pitchers in league history.

Where to begin? In perhaps the single greatest late-round value swoop in the history of this or any other league, Lew was drafted in the 17th (!) round of the inaugural draft and developed by St. Louis. He was rated the number-one prospect in the league in 1952 and 1953, when, in a fateful decision destined to haunt the St. Louis organization for fully the next 15 years, Burdette was traded to Brooklyn for closer Roy Face, catcher Del Crandall, and some guy named Russ Meyer. While it can't rival the Campanella trade as worst in league history, it certainly rates among the all-time doozies.

In any event, this is where the story gets interesting, because it was in Brooklyn that he was paired first with Tom Gorman, the 1955 Cy Young winner, then Hall of Famer Gene Conley for virtually his entire stay with the Superbas, and finally with HOFer Whitey Ford from 1960-63 and again in 1966. That is a truly remarkable constellation of talent, and explains why, despite his insane career totals which we will get to in a minute, he was never the sun around which the team's rotation turned. In addition to being overshadowed by Conley and Ford on his own team, Burdette's career matches almost exactly that of the great Johnny Antonelli. With those three luminaries in peak form, it is perhaps no surprise that Burdette has comparatively limited individual award hardware to display. Nevertheless, he did manage three Ullies, two World Series MVPs, and was once each the league's win and ERA champion, in addition to numerous pitcher-of-the-month awards.

Where the magnitude of Burdette's contribution really hits home are in the career and post-season totals. First, the post-season stats: the guy won an incredible 11 of 12 World Series starts in which he was named Series MVP twice and was narrowly pipped two other times, once each by Granny Hamner and Conley when Burdette himself had a valid case for the award. But perhaps most telling was his team's fate when he failed to perform--Burdette's only WS loss came in 1958 when he was beaten by the infamous two-out, bottom-of-the-ninth Pesky poke in a Series that BRO lost to Louisville. Then in 1959, his absence through injury certainly gifted the title to the miracle Spiders, who won both games Burdette would have started in a Series ultimately decided in extra innings of the seventh game.

Now his career totals: figure that the dude won 20 or more games seven consecutive seasons and nine of eleven years from 1955 to 1965. That puts him third all-time in wins, just seven and four behind Antonelli and Conley, respectively. That's a truly massive win total for the guy sometimes referred to as Conley's caddy. Burdette is number two all time in shutouts and is in the top-10 in win percentage, innings pitched, strikeouts, and WHIP. And he holds one record that will absolutely, positively never be broken--he posted 261 career complete games, more than 30 ahead of the next guy, who is himself a Hall of Famer back of a 15-year career during the era of four-man rotations. Finally, Lew won the UL title nine times, eight with Brooklyn and then again in 1969 with St. Louis, after returning to Maroons to finish out his major league career.

In the final analysis, when you look at Burdette on his own merits, you see a guy who pitched at an incredibly high level for a long time, and was at his best in big games, as his glittering post-season record attests. His career and peak values are comparable to those of the very best hurlers in league history, while it is the individual brilliance of his HOF contemporaries that locked him out of the Cy. Good stuff.  (Glen Reed)

AWARDS & ACCOLADES
All-UL Team (1959, 1962, 1964)
World Series MVP (1961, 1966)
ERA Champion (1962)
Win Champion (1964)
4-time Pitcher of the Month, 5-time Player of the Week
 
Career Pitching Stats
Year/Team Age G GS W L SV ERA IP HA R ER HR BB K CG SHO WHIP
1953 St. Louis 25 7 7 4 2 0 3.83 56.1 55 29 24 0 31 21 5 0 1.53
1954 Brooklyn 26 25 15 8 6 0 4.38 117.0 122 61 57 0 39 59 6 2 1.38
1955 Brooklyn 27 39 39 20 13 0 3.60 307.2 288 132 123 0 45 166 22 2 1.08
1956 Brooklyn 28 39 39 22 13 0 3.99 309.0 305 157 137 0 56 171 15 2 1.17
1957 Brooklyn 29 37 37 15 10 0 4.14 260.2 290 133 120 0 21 133 10 1 1.19
1958 Brooklyn 30 39 39 18 10 0 3.77 295.2 331 134 124 0 52 156 8 4 1.30
1959 Brooklyn 31 37 37 23 9 0 2.70 299.2 294 112 90 11 33 168 18 5 1.09
1960 Brooklyn 32 38 38 21 9 0 2.93 313.0 292 117 102 13 29 232 17 2 1.03
1961 Brooklyn 33 33 33 20 8 0 2.85 274.1 261 94 87 14 19 185 20 4 1.02
1962 Brooklyn 34 40 40 23 8 0 2.14 337.0 290 93 80 21 37 256 24 5 0.97
1963 Brooklyn 35 35 35 22 7 0 2.62 298.1 269 91 87 14 37 196 23 5 1.03
1964 Brooklyn 36 40 40 28 7 0 2.50 341.1 295 100 95 12 50 237 27 5 1.01
1965 Brooklyn 37 36 36 21 11 0 2.82 294.0 284 103 92 16 26 196 25 4 1.05
1966 Brooklyn 38 31 31 16 9 0 2.71 262.1 253 96 79 15 47 150 19 2 1.14
1967 Chicago 39 38 18 9 8 5 5.27 172.1 199 103 101 23 57 70 9 0 1.49
1968 St. Louis 40 43 39 18 14 1 3.69 278.0 300 134 114 35 72 155 9 3 1.34
1969 St. Louis 41 29 20 9 8 0 4.97 126.2 148 75 70 24 30 60 1 0 1.41
1970 St. Louis 42 15 15 5 4 0 3.42 100.0 103 42 38 12 25 42 3 0 1.28
1971 St. Louis 43 30 19 3 10 3 4.65 127.2 141 72 66 15 36 44 0 0 1.39
Total UL 631 577 305 166 9 3.32 4571.0 4520 1878 1686 225 742 2697 261 46 1.15