Born in New Straitsville, Ohio on January 14, 1874 and died in Columbus, Ohio on March 4, 1938.
Pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs, Jack Taylor pitched 188 consecutive complete games between June 20, 1901 and August 9, 1906. On August 13, 1906, Taylor was knocked out in the third inning by the Dodgers, ending a record string of 1,727 consecutive innings without being relieved; altogether, he threw the last pitch for his team in 203 straight games (including 15 relief appearances) in which he appeared. His 39 consecutive complete games in 1904 set a major league record. In 1902, he had a ERA of 1.33 with 7 shutouts.
Taylor was traded to the Cardinals in December 1903; he was then traded back to Chicago in July 1906.
He was a part of the wonder team of the 1906 Cubs, when the ERA for the entire pitching staff was 1.76. He also contributed to the World Series-winning season in 1907.
To put his accomplishments into the perspective of today's game, James Shields threw a total of 11 complete games in the 2011 season for the Tampa Bay Rays, becoming the first pitcher to reach double digits in a single season since CC Sabathia threw 10 complete games for the Cleveland Indians and Milwaukee Brewers in 2008. The last pitcher to throw as many as 15 complete games in a single season was Curt Schilling, who accomplished that feat for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1998. The last pitcher to throw 20 complete games in a single season was Fernando Valenzuela, who did so for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1986. The last pitcher to throw 25 complete games in a season was Rick Langford, who had 28 for the Oakland Athletics in 1980. The last pitcher to throw 30 complete games in a season was Catfish Hunter, who did so for the New York Yankees in 1975. Roy Halladay, baseball's best pitcher, leads active pitchers with 66 complete games since 1998.
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