Five Pitchers in the Baseball Hall of Fame Who Never Pitched in the World Series

Some of the best Major League Baseball players in the history of the game never got a chance to showcase their talents in the World Series.  Here are five pitchers who are members of the Baseball Hall of Fame that never played in the World Series.

Criteria

All five of these pitchers were voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as players, and not as a manager who happened to pitch during his playing career.  The World Series was first played in 1903, so I chose players who began their careers after 1900.  Two of these pitchers reached the post season and played in the National League Championship Series (NLCS), but their teams lost and did not advance to the World Series.

Jim Bunning

Jim Bunning played 17 seasons (1955-1971) in the Major Leagues, mostly with the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Phillies. He won 224 games in that period with an earned run average of 3.27 and 2855 strikeouts. Bunning came very close to reaching the World Series in 1964 as a member of the Phillies.  In one of the more monumental collapses in sports history, the Phillies had a 6 1/2 game lead in the N.L. standings with 12 games to play, but lost ten in  a row and finished in a tie for second place.  Jim Bunning would not come close to making it to the World Series again.  He was elected to the Baseball  Hall of Fame in 1996.

Ferguson Jenkins

Ferguson Jenkins had a 19 year career (1965-1983) in the Major Leagues, with the Phillies, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers, and Boston Red Sox.  He finished with a record of 284 wins, and 226 losses and an ERA of 3.34.  Jenkins won 20 or more games for six consecutive seasons between 1967 and 1972 while he was with the Cubs.  His 24-13 record in 1971 won him the National League’s Cy Young Award. He won 25 games in 1974 with the Texas Rangers.  Like Jim Bunning, Jenkins played on a team that had a big collapse late in the season.  In 1969, Cubs led the National League East by nine game in mid August, only to crash in September, losing 17 of their last 25.  The New York Mets went 23-7 in September and won the East by eight games, going on to defeat the Atlanta Braves in the NLCS and the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series.

Although Jenkins played on some contenders after that, he never reached post season play.  Ferguson Jenkins was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991.

Ted Lyons

Ted Lyons spent 21 seasons with the Chicago White Sox.  He made his Major League debut in 1923 and played until 1942.  He came back and pitched in five games in 1946 before retiring for good.  Lyons had a record of 260 wins and 230 losses and an ERA 0f 3.67.  Lyons signed with the White Sox when they were still reeling from the effects of the 1919 Black Sox scandal that resulted in eight White Sox players being banned for life following the 1920 season.  The players were banned for conspiring with gamblers to throw the 1919 World Series to the underdog Cincinnati Reds.  During Ted Lyons’ long career, the White Sox finished no higher than third place in the American League standings, doing so in 1937 and 1941.   Lyons was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1955.

Phil Niekro

Knuckleball pitcher Phil Niekro played 24 years in the Major Leagues from 1964-1987, retiring at age 48.  Most of those years were spent with the Braves, both in Milwaukee and Atlanta.  He also spent some time with the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians in the 1980’s.  He pitched in the NLCS for Atlanta in 1969 and 1982, but the Braves lost both series.   Those were the only post season appearances of his career.  Phil Niekro  won 318 games and lost 274 with an ERA of 3.35.  He was inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997.

Gaylord Perry

Gaylord Perry played for eight different teams during his 22 year (1962-1983).   He had a career record of 314-265, with  an ERA of 3.11.  He won the Cy Young Award in 1972 while pitching for the Cleveland Indians, going 24-16 with a 3.14 ERA.  He won the award again in 1978 while with the San Diego Padres.

Perry began his career in 1962 with the San Francisco Giants.  The Giants went to the World Series that year, but Perry pitched in only 13 games and spent most of the season in the minor leagues.  He was not on the roster for the World Series.  He started 2 games for the Giants in the 1971 NLCS against the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Those were his only post season appearances, as the Pirates won the NLCS and advance to the World Series.

Perry was well known for throwing a spitball, or for making batters think he threw it.  Despite this, Perry was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991.