How we found another all-time Cincinnati baseball great to add to city's historic roster

We missed one.

Maybe we mistook Goshen for Indiana or just lost Sam Leever in the shadows of Honus Wagner and Kentucky-born teammates Jesse Tannehill and Howie Camnitz on those juggernaut Pittsburgh Pirates teams in the 19-aughts.

But a big shoutout and thanks to WLW’s Lance McAlister for helping set us straight and find a missing all-time Cincinnati-area great who belongs on the Enquirer’s all-Cincinnati 40-man roster we unveiled a few weeks ago.

Lance spent a chunk of a recent broadcast discussing the list, and a Leever believer (sounded like maybe even a distant relative of Sam) called in to point out the omission.

Sure, enough, “The Goshen Schoolmaster” was one of the best pitchers of his day, a workhorse in an era of workhorses, with exceptional command and one of the game’s best curveballs during the first decade of the 20th century.

Leever, a right-hander, pitched for Cincinnati-area club teams, including the Norwood Maroons, and taught school at his alma mater, Goshen high, before signing his first pro contract in 1987.

As a rookie for the Pirates in 1899, Leever led the National League with 51 games pitched (39 starts) and 379 innings.

During the Pirates’ pennant-winning 1903 season, he went 25-7 with a league-leading 2.06 ERA and a league-leading seven shutouts, then made two starts for Pittsburgh against the Boston Americans in the inaugural World Series.

Unfortunately for Leever and the Pirates, the avid trapshooter hurt his pitching shoulder in a trapshooting contest late in the 1903 season, according to his SABR bio, which caused enough pain and ineffectiveness that he pulled himself from his Game 2 World Series start after one inning.

He pitched a complete game in Game 6 but gave up four earned runs on 10 hits and two walks.

The Pirates lost both games and the best-of-nine series 5-3.

None of which diminishes the career accomplishments of a pitcher who ranks in MLB's top 10 all-time with a .660 winning percentage (194-100) and who gets added to the top of the all-Cincinnati leaderboard in career ERA (2.47) in a whopping 2,660 2/3 innings in 13 big-league seasons.

But the big next question that might seem obvious: If we add Leever to our 40-man roster, who comes off the roster?

Answer: Nobody.

Leever is on the team’s 60-day IL, in part for the trapshooting injury but mostly on account of becoming deceased in 1953.

* * *

Here’s a look at our updated leaderboard:

All-Time Cincinnati WAR* Leaders

1. Ken Griffey Jr., Archbishop Moeller, 83.8
2. Pete Rose, Western Hills, 79.6
3. Barry Larkin, Archbishop Moeller, 70.5
4. Buddy Bell, Archbishop Moeller, 66.3
5. Jim Bunning, St. Xavier, 59.4
6. Jim Wynn, Taft, 55.7
7. Jesse Tannehill, Dayton (Ky.), 47.0
8. David Justice, Covington Latin, 40.6
9. Sam Leever, Goshen High, 40.5
10. Dave Parker, Courter Tech, 40.1
11. Denny Lyons (Unknown), 35.5
12. Bill Doran, Mount Healthy, 32.8
13. Kevin Youkilis, Sycamore, 32.4
14. Joe Nuxhall, Hamilton , 30.3
15. Lance Johnson, Princeton, 30.2
16. Kent Tekulve, Catholic, 25.5

*-baseball-reference.com

All-Time Cincinnati Pitching Wins

1. Jim Bunning, St. Xavier, 224
2. Jesse Tannehill, Dayton (Ky.), 197
3. Sam Leever, Goshen,194
4. Joe Nuxhall, Hamilton, 135
5. Howie Camnitz, (HS unknown), 133
6. Richard Dotson, Anderson, 111

All-Time Cincinnati ERA Leaders

(Min. 1,000 IP)

1. Sam Leever, Goshen HS, 2.47
2. Howie Camnitz, (HS Unknown), 2.75
3. Jesse Tannehill, Dayton (Ky.), 2.80
4. Kent Tekulve, Catholic, 2.85
5. Jim Bunning, St. Xavier, 3.27
6. Roger McDowell, Colerain, 3.30