"the biggest to punish the 19th century pitchers because without it, it turns out a pitcher who throws 500 innings and leads the league in ERA produces more value to their team than a pitcher that grows 220 innings and leads the league in ERA, which is not what people wanted to see"
The highest WAR seasons are almost all 19th century pitchers. Here's the list (bWAR, not Fangraph's stat):
1883 Tim Keefe
1884 Old Hoss Radbourn
1884 Pud Galvin
1876 Jim Devlin
1884 Guy Hecker
1913 Walter Johnson
1884 Charlie Buffington
1889 John Clarkson
1888 Silver King
1887 John Clarkson
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