Is Dallas Braden The Worst Pitcher To Ever Throw A Perfect Game?

May 10, 2010, 7:37 PM UTC

It’s not as simple a question as it seems, but we’ll use a simple analysis. ERA+ is a measure that compares a pitcher’s ERA to the league average and adjusts for the ballpark, where 100 is average, > 100 is better than average, and < 100 is worse than average. By career, and ignoring John Ward and Lee Richmond, who threw perfect games in 1880 under dramatically different rules:

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Pitcher	ERA+
Addie Joss	142
Cy Young	138
Randy Johnson	136
Sandy Koufax	131
David Cone	121
Mark Buehrle	121
Jim Bunning	114
Kenny Rogers	108
David Wells	108
Dennis Martinez	106
Catfish Hunter	105
Mike Witt	105
Don Larsen	99
Tom Browning	98
Dallas Braden	95
Len Barker	94
Charlie Robertson	90

â†µBy this measure, Braden comes out low, but not the lowest. However, might this method sell Braden short? It’s worth noting that, since a rough first year, Braden’s ERA+ stands at 111, which gives a little better context. Len Barker’s ERA+ in the year of his perfect game and the two years previous was 94. That gives Braden some handy separation. Charlie Robertson, way back in 1922, threw his as a successful rookie, but his career tailed off quick.

â†µOf course, this ignores the fact that Braden is 26 and has a lot of numbers yet to post. And also that ERA, over small samples, is a pretty bad statistic. So.

â†µIt’s a crude analysis, and that’s being polite. Still, if you’re looking for a conclusion, it’s that, no, Dallas Braden probably isn’t the worst pitcher to ever throw a perfect game. He’s certainly not one of the best, but he’s not quite Len Barker or Charlie Robertson.

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