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On this day in 1876 Edwin Henry Killian was born in Racine, Wisconsin. He made his major league debut as a Cleveland Nap (Indian) in 1903, but really came into his own after being traded to the Tigers in 1904.
Over Killian's first four seasons in Detroit he threw 313 or more innings three times, and had an ERA under 2.50 in all three of those seasons. In 1907 he posted a 1.78 ERA over 314 innings. Pitching 300 or more innings with an ERA under 2 has only been done 69 times in major league history, but seven different pitchers did it that year.
Here's another number to show the remarkable difference between 1900s baseball and now: Killian pitched 1598.1 innings over eight seasons and allowed just nine home runs. He allowed a single home run in 1903 and didn't give up another until 1907.
Chris Jensen, author of Baseball State by State, listed Killian as the best left handed, Wisconsin-born starting pitcher in major league history.
Killian's B-Ref page says he was also known as "Twilight Ed," and he would have turned 136 today.
Today is also the fifth anniversary of Ryan Braun winning the 2007 NL Rookie of the Year award. We covered that event in this space last year.