Alexander the Great played on good, not bad, Phillies teams 1911-1917.

Grover Cleveland Alexander, aka, Pete Alexander, is sometimes given extra credit for his great pitching because some assume that Alexander created his record during his glory period before the onset of troubles from World War I despite playing for bad Philadelphia Phillies teams in 1911 through 1917. It turns out those Phillies teams were uncharacteristically good even in games whose pitching decisions went to pitchers other than Alexander.

Grover Cleveland Alexander omitted in the MLB "VOTE FOR THE TOP FOUR PLAYERS IN FRANCHISE HISTORY". Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Grover Cleveland Alexander may have been one of the five greatest pitchers in history, (but) was not a candidate among the top eight Phillies of all time.
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In examining his record relative to his team's and to the runs scored by his teams let's include the same data for another comparably great pitcher for those same years 1911-1917.

Grover Cleveland Alexander
Bats: Right, Throws: Right 
Height: 6' 1", Weight: 185 lb.
Born: February 26, 1887 in Elba, Nebraska, US

Walter Perry Johnson
Bats: Right, Throws: Right 
Height: 6' 1", Weight: 200 lb.
Born: November 6, 1887 in Humboldt, KS

They were born the same year but Walter Johnson will be shown as a year older in the baseball records because age is determined by whether a player was born in the first or second half of a year.

Johnson started in the big leagues in 1907, Alexander in 1911.  But Alexander pitched these innings in the minors prior:
1909 219
1910 345

career	W	L	Pct	Innings	ERA+	SO	SO/9	SO/W
Alexander	373	208	.642	5,190	135	2,198	3.8	2.29
Johnson	417	279	.599	5,914	147	3,509	5.3	2.57

The focus of this post: 1911-1917.  Two factors:

- Runs scored by that pitcher's team relative to the league (Hi, Ave, Low)

- Team record overall and the difference between W-L record of the pitcher and rest of the pitchers on the staff.  "Kill the Win" was not applicable 100 years ago.

Click this link to view the data in more detail.

Alexander:

	G/R	G/R	G/R	G/R		Phi	Phi	Phi		PHI-Alex
year	Phi	Hi	Ave	Low		W	L	Pct		W	L	Pct	Dif		Year	Age	Tm	Lg	W	L	W-L%
1911	4.3	4.9	4.4	3.5		79	73	.520		51	60	.459	-.060		1911	24	PHI	NL	28	13	.683
1912	4.4	5.3	4.6	4.2		73	79	.480		54	62	.466	-.015		1912	25	PHI	NL	19	17	.528
1913	4.4	4.6	4.1	3.5		88	63	.583		66	55	.545	-.037		1913	26	PHI	NL	22	8	.733
1914	4.2	4.3	3.8	3.2		74	80	.481		47	65	.420	-.061		1914	27	PHI	NL	27	15	.643
1915	3.8	3.8	3.6	3.2		90	62	.592		59	52	.532	-.061		1915	28	PHI	NL	31	10	.756
1916	3.8	3.9	3.5	3.1		91	62	.595		58	50	.537	-.058		1916	29	PHI	NL	33	12	.733
1917	3.8	4	3.5	3		87	65	.572		57	52	.523	-.049		1917	30	PHI	NL	30	13	.698
Ave	4.10	4.40	3.93	3.39		582	484	.546		392	396	.497	-.049						190	88	.683

Johnson:

	G/R	G/R	G/R	G/R		Was	Was	Was		Was-John
year	Was	Hi	Ave	Low		W	L	Pct		W	L	Pct	Dif		Year	Age	Tm	Lg	W	L	W-L%
1911	4.1	5.7	4.6	3.7		64	90	.416		39	77	.336	-.079		1911	23	WSH	AL	25	13	.658
1912	4.5	5.2	4.4	3.5		91	61	.599		58	49	.542	-.057		1912	24	WSH	AL	33	12	.733
1913	3.8	5.2	3.9	3.2		90	64	.584		54	57	.486	-.098		1913	25	WSH	AL	36	7	.837
1914	3.6	4.7	3.6	3.1		81	73	.526		53	55	.491	-.035		1914	26	WSH	AL	28	18	.609
1915	3.7	5	4	3.3		85	68	.556		58	55	.513	-.042		1915	27	WSH	AL	27	13	.675
1916	3.4	4.3	3.7	2.9		76	77	.497		51	57	.472	-.025		1916	28	WSH	AL	25	20	.556
1917	3.5	4.2	3.6	3.3		74	79	.484		51	63	.447	-.036		1917	29	WSH	AL	23	16	.590
Ave	3.80	4.90	3.97	3.29		561	512	.523		364	413	.468	-.054						197	99	.666

Team winning percentage without the personal record of Alexander or Johnson for those seven seasons: .497 and .468 respectively.  Alexander's team was effectively at .500 without him and with him .546.  In his final three seasons when Alexander won at least 30 games the team winning percentage without Alexander:

.532

.537

.523

Obviously, those were good Phillies teams that helped Alexander achieve his success.  

For Phillies seasons 1911-1917 there were 35 pitcher seasons that qualified for the lead in winning percentage, including multiples for individual pitchers.  Here are the top ten:

Rk

Player

W-L%

Year

Age

Tm

Lg

G

GS

CG

SHO

GF

W

L

SV

IP

1	Pete Alexander	0.756	1915	28	PHI	NL	49	42	36	12	7	31	10	3	376.1
2	Pete Alexander	0.733	1916	29	PHI	NL	48	45	38	16	3	33	12	3	389
3	Pete Alexander	0.733	1913	26	PHI	NL	47	36	23	9	9	22	8	2	306.1
4	Pete Alexander	0.698	1917	30	PHI	NL	45	44	34	8	0	30	13	0	388
5	Tom Seaton	0.692	1913	25	PHI	NL	52	35	21	5	14	27	12	1	322.1
6	Eppa Rixey	0.688	1916	25	PHI	NL	38	33	20	3	3	22	10	0	287
7	Pete Alexander	0.683	1911	24	PHI	NL	48	37	31	7	11	28	13	3	367
8	Erskine Mayer	0.647	1917	27	PHI	NL	28	18	11	1	6	11	6	0	160
9	Pete Alexander	0.643	1914	27	PHI	NL	46	39	32	6	7	27	15	1	355
10	Eppa Rixey	0.643	1913	22	PHI	NL	35	19	9	1	8	9	5	2	155.2

Now the top ten of 34 seasons for Senators:

Rk

Player

W-L%

Year

Age

Tm

Lg

G

GS

CG

SHO

GF

W

L

SV

IP

1	Walter Johnson	0.837	1913	25	WSH	AL	48	36	29	11	10	36	7	2	346
2	Walter Johnson	0.733	1912	24	WSH	AL	50	37	34	7	13	33	12	2	369
3	Joe Boehling	0.708	1913	22	WSH	AL	38	25	18	3	9	17	7	4	235.1
4	Walter Johnson	0.675	1915	27	WSH	AL	47	39	35	7	8	27	13	4	336.2
5	Walter Johnson	0.658	1911	23	WSH	AL	40	37	36	6	3	25	13	1	322.1
6	Bob Groom	0.649	1912	27	WSH	AL	43	40	28	2	2	24	13	1	316
7	Carl Cashion	0.625	1912	21	WSH	AL	26	17	13	1	4	10	6	1	170.1
8	Joe Boehling	0.619	1914	23	WSH	AL	27	24	14	2	3	13	8	0	196
9	Doc Ayers	0.609	1915	24	WSH	AL	40	16	8	2	18	14	9	3	211.1
10	Walter Johnson	0.609	1914	26	WSH	AL	51	40	33	9	9	28	18	1	371.2

1911-1917: several pitchers other than Alexander and Johnson had very good records on the Phillies and Senators, especially on the Phillies.

1. The best pitcher likely improves his team's overall record, especially if that pitcher is an all time great.

2. Even all time great pitchers need good teams to create great records.

3. Alexander was great enough a pitcher that he does not need false and/or misleading stuff to establish that.