Spud Chandler – Pitcher with Highest Winning Percentage Ever in Baseball
Ask baseball fans to name the best pitchers of all time and the responses will likely include Cy Young, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Lefty Grove, Warren Spahn, Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Nolan Ryan, and Roger Clemens. Don't expect to hear the name Spud Chandler.
Yet Chandler holds the highest lifetime winning percentage of any pitcher since 1900 with at least 100 victories. A righthander for the New York Yankees from 1937 through 1947, he won 109 and lost only 43 for a percentage of .717. No other major leaguer with at least 1,000 innings has achieved a percentage of .700 or better. Yankee lefthander Whitey Ford came the closest at .690 with 236 victories.
A Very Unusual Career
Chandler's baseball career was unusual in many ways. A graduate of the University of Georgia, h...