The 100 Greatest in 100 Days: #77 Hal Newhouser

Joining the list at #77 is Tigers legend and Detroit native Hal Newhouser. Prince Hal’s career is most notable for his incredible run from 1944-1948 in which he joined Lefty Grove as the only two pitchers since the dead-ball era with three consecutive 25-win seasons. In 1944 and 1945, Newhouser became the only pitcher in history to win back-to-back league MVP awards and he nearly won a third in 1946 finishing runner-up to Ted Williams. Newhouser is the only pitcher since the dead-ball era to have back-to-back seasons of at least 25 wins and an ERA under two. He’s also the only pitcher in history with three consecutive seasons of at least 25 wins and fewer than 10 losses. Newhouser helped lead the Tigers to the 1945 World Series championship, pitching a complete game to go along with 10 strikeouts against the Cubs in a victorious game 7.

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Hi (hopefully) awesome reader! I welcome your comments. However, please be aware that I make all of my arguments using facts, statistics, and logic. Unfortunately, the average comment on a top-100 list goes something like this:

"UR StooPid. (Insert player) is trash. I've watched (pick a sport) for (pick a number of years) and (pick a player) is better than everyone. UR DUMB. HAHA6969."

–Some Jabroni

As cognitively stimulating as this species of comment is, it ends up being a missed opportunity to share a nuanced perspective. I reply to all comments that show even the most basic levels of thought and humility. The people who make the comments like the example above are under the assumption that the three seconds of thought that popped into their brains after reading the list is more than the 1000s of hours that I put into creating and maintaining the lists. I would be happy to defend any placement, or make an adjustment if one is warranted. If you are a jabroni, like the one above, then your comment will die in the lonely void of the unpublished comments section.

For everyone else, I look forward to your comments!

P.S. The theme of this site and the top-100 lists is that athletes from previous generations have historically been grossly overrated by sports publications in a way that is statistically improbable. Click on the "About" dropdown menu to see just how badly the average top-100 list disproportionately favors athletes from older generations when leagues were smaller, race quotas existed, and globalization wasn't a thing. Also, please consider reading "The History" section of the sport you are commenting on.

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