No. 81: Greatest seasons in Dodgers history: Watty Clark, 1929

Watty Clark, 1929

Stats: 16-19, 3.74 ERA, 19 CG, 279 IP, 140 SO, 124 ERA+, 3.61 FIP, 1.31 WHIP

Baseball Reference WAR: 6.1

FanGraphs WAR: 5.7

Combined WAR: 5.9

Watty Clark spent nearly his entire career with the Dodgers. He had a number of solid seasons, but today we’ll be taking a look back at his 1929 campaign, in which they were known as the Brooklyn Robins!

Clark may be the only pitcher in this countdown who finished his season with more losses than wins. However, if you know me, you know that I think wins and losses on a pitchers record is totally meaningless. Imagine having an ERA of 3.74 (which is a little above average) and you still lose nearly 20 games!

Anyways, onto his season.

Clark’s rWAR of 6.1 was the best among NL pitchers in 1929. Additionally, he was top 10 in the league in ERA, wins, WHIP, innings pitched, SO/9 and complete games. If they had the Cy Young Award back then he definitely would have been in contention for it.

In 29 of his 41 appearances, Clark allowed three runs or fewer. For majority of the season he was very consistent and good. The problem was, when he didn’t allow three runs, he’d have blowup starts. He allowed at least five runs in nine starts, and got pulled early, which really made his earned run average take a hit.

Game of the year

September 2 vs. Boston Braves: 9 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 6 SO, 0 BB // Gamescore: 89

Get caught up on the rest of the “All-Time Dodgers” lists!

• 100 Greatest Dodgers of All-Time
• 100 Greatest Seasons in Dodgers History