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BANCROFT PASSES McGOWAN IN WIN COLUMN
4x ALL-STAR BECOMES SPORT’S WINNINGEST PITCHER AFTER VICTORY AT KNICKERBOCKER

MANHATTAN (July 24, 1868) – History was made during Friday afternoon’s meeting of base ball’s two oldest clubs – Gotham BBC & Knickerbocker BBC – at the Elysian Fields.

Going into the contest, Gotham pitcher Carl Bancroft was even with the legendary John McGowan for the NBBO career lead in Wins with 216. For much of the game, it looked like Bancroft would take his second loss of the week as the hosts were ahead 4-2 going into the 9th inning, but a six-run Gotham rally that occurred thanks to a combination of run-scoring Gotham singles and Knickerbocker fielding errors put the visitors in front 8-4, and the lead stood in their 8-5 victory.

That gave Bancroft win #216 for his career, moving him past McGowan for the career lead. His record in full:

Bancroft has never been an absolutely dominant pitcher, but he has been a very good pitcher for a very long time. He is a 6x 20-game winner who is almost certain to make it to twenty wins again this season, while his career marks for WAR & rWAR are both better than any pitcher not named Jim Creighton.

Bancroft is a 4x All-Star, but he was a surprise omission from the 1867 All-Star Game amid a bumper crop of New York League pitching stars. He had the wins for an All-Star spot this year, but many felt his Earned Run Average was too high to warrant selection. He also missed out on the 1861 All-Star Game in spite of a 20-11 record & 2.54 ERA because, at that time, only four pitchers were nominated for the ASG by each league.

Of course, Bancroft has had longevity on his side since his 216 wins have come over nearly a dozen full seasons as a #1 pitcher. John McGowan, the most dominant pitcher in NBBO history, earned 207 of his 215 career wins in just nine years as a full-time pitcher after winning eight games in the inaugural season as St. Johns’ alternate. He averaged 23 Wins per season as the #1 pitcher for St. John’s (1858-63) & Knickerbocker (1864-66), won 20+ games eight times, led the NEL in wins five years in a row (1859-63), and had a career postseason record of 27-6 to go with a regular season record of 215-88.

Still, Carl Bancroft has earned the title of base ball’s winningest pitcher, and as liked & respected as Bancroft is there will no doubt be many caps tipped in his direction this evening.