George McQuillan

Who was George McQuillan?

George Watt McQuillan, born in Brooklyn, New York, was a pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates and Cleveland Indians.

In 1907 he set one of the longest-lived records in major league history when he pitched 25 innings before giving up the first earned run of his career. Although others have pitched more consecutive innings without an earned run, until July 2008 no one had gone longer without prior major league experience. The record stood for 101 years before being broken by Oakland Athletics reliever Brad Ziegler, who extended the record to 39⅓ innings.

McQuillan's extraordinary success as a rookie was no fluke: he would go on to post a 1.69 ERA in his first four seasons, comprising more than 800 innings pitched; during those years his Adjusted ERA+ was a staggering 164. In 1910, he would have led the majors with an Adjusted ERA+ of 195 had he pitched only an additional 1⅔ innings to meet the minimum requirement of 154 innings pitched.

McQuillan helped the Phillies win the 1915 National League Pennant. He is still the Philadelphia Phillies Career Leader in ERA, WHIP and Hits Allowed/9IP. He currently ranks 23rd on the MLB Career ERA List, 37th on the WHIP List and 86th on the Hits Allowed/9IP List.