Ned Garver

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Ned Garver pitched in the American League from 1948-61, winning 129 games.

Because he played for perennial second-division teams like the St. Louis Browns and Kansas City Athletics, Garver received very little media attention during his career.

But in 1951, Garver fashioned what many baseball pundits consider to be the greatest season ever pitched in the history of the sport.

Toiling for the moribund St. Louis Browns that season, Garver compiled a 20-12 record, which was noteworthy considering the Browns lost 102 games that year.

Out of the Browns' 52 total wins, Garver accounted for nearly 40 percent of them.

Garver remains the only pitcher in American League history and modern baseball history (post-1920) to win 20 or more games for a team which lost 100 or more games in the same season.

Garver also led the American League in complete games with 24 in 1951, and when he pitched, he often batted sixth in the order rather than the customary ninth.

In 1951, he batted .305 with a home run.

Garver was the starting pitcher for the American League in the 1951 All-Star Game, which was held in Detroit.

In 1996, the U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative postmark in his honor in his hometown of Ney, Ohio, to mark the 45th anniversary of his 20-win season.