Who was the 1880 National Leagues Earned Run Average leader?
A. The NL’s pitching champ that year was Troy (NY) Cities rookie Tim “Sir Timothy” Keefe, who had a 0.86 ERA. (Rules were slightly different then: a walk required eight balls; the batter had the right to demand a high or a low pitch; and the mound was only 45 feet from home.) Despite his ERA, Keefe had a 6-6 record for 1880 and manager Bob “Death To Flying Things” Ferguson’s team finished in fourth place, with 41 wins and 42 losses, putting them right behind Cleveland (but ahead of Worcester) and some 25 1/2 games behind the NL’s and baseball’s champion team, Chicago. Keefe played 14 seasons in the major leagues and acquired a career ERA of 2.62, pitching in 558 complete games, with 344 wins, making him a leader in those statistics. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1964. In 1882 the Troy franchise was sold to John B. Day, who moved it downstate and established it as the New York Gothams, who, because of the “Very Tall Troy Players” who stayed with the team, were renamed the Giants
