Five miles or so from Yankee Stadium, where Jacob deGrom took the mound for the Mets on Monday, lies the grave of a pitcher named Allan Sothoron. One hundred years ago, Sothoron fashioned a 1.94 earned run average and held opponents to a .205 average, the lowest in the American League. Alas, pitching for the fifth-place St. Louis Browns, he finished with a 12-12 record.
Sothoron — an Ohioan who married a New Yorker — is the last qualifying pitcher to have an E.R.A. below 2.00 without a winning record. Unless deGrom’s teammates do more to support him, he could be the next.