Written by Trevor Filkins
Edited by John Aidala
Dazzy Vance might just be the best pitcher that you have never heard of. The time period prior to World War II is often a disregarded and forgotten period in the baseball record books. Aside from a few notable names such as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Walter Johnson, and Ty Cobb, not many names beyond that are recallable to the average baseball fanatic. A guy named Dazzy Vance may appear more fitting for the name of an infamous inmate at Alcatraz, but instead he was a guy very good at chucking a baseball. Dazzy Vance should be among the names remembered from that era, alongside the upper echelon of guys who are credited to have transcended the game. Instead, he is someone who has become a forgotten member of the times. With this article, I hope to give some notoriety for where it is due.
A strikeout king in his time, Vance was statistically better at striking out batters than baseball's most infamous pitchers such as Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, Max Scherzer and Chris Sale. Vance even tops the current MLB recordholder, Blake Snell for K/9 for his strikeout rates. For eight straight seasons, Vance led the MLB in strikeout to walk rate, an elite statistic for measuring the league's most dominant pitchers. The statistic serves as a gauge to assess a pitcher's ability to control what they can. In his 1924 season with Brooklyn, Vance struck out 262 batters. That total is more than the combination of Vance's runner-up and third place pitcher in the punch-out category. Moreover, Vance's K's accounted for 1 out of every 13 strikeouts in the league that season.
Vance did an exceptional job with limiting bat to ball contact. While his career strikeouts per nine (6.2) would compare to a finesse pitcher in today's baseball, Vance compared to his competition is second to none. Among pitchers as a whole Vance has the best k/9+ of any pitcher in baseball history (minimum of 1,500 IP). This statistic compares pitchers of their respective era to those around them and scales it to where 100 is league average. Vance sat at a 215 k/9+. Nolan Ryan had a career 181 k/9+, Randy Johnson 168 k/9+, Max Scherzer 133 k/9+, Chris Sale 138 k/9+, and Blake Snell a career 131 k/9+. Vance was 115% better than anyone around him at striking out batters, which places him by far the best in history at sending batters back to the dugout.
Additionally, he had the highest k%+ and k/BB+ from any pitcher in history. Respectively, he was 142% better than his competition at striking out hitters and avoiding walks. He was 125% better than any of the guys around him at striking out batters on a plate appearances basis. This notes his ability to not only strikeout batters at an all-time great clip, but the ability to do it with superb control of the strike zone.
It is a shame that most of us breathing did not have the opportunity to see Vance play. Baseball only got to see a limited amount of Vance as he did not pitch full-time until after the age of 31. In a time where lots of baseball greats have been forgotten, he should be one that people add to the list of legendary what ifs. Regardless, he is undoubtedly the most dominant pitcher that you have never seen or heard of. Vance was the warden on the mound and opposing players hoped to not to be the prisoners on his roll call.