who has the lowest era in mlb history
List of Major League Baseball annual ERA leaders The lowest single-season ERA in league history was posted by Tim Keefe, whose 0.86 ERA in 105 innings pitched for the National League's Troy Trojans in 1880 led his closest competitor by .52 runs.[13] In the American League, Dutch Leonard's 0.96 ERA is a single-season record.[14] Keefe and Leonard are the only two pitchers ever to allow less than one run per nine innings pitched in a single season. The widest margin of victory for an ERA champion is 1.96 runs, achieved when Martínez' 1.74 ERA led Clemens' 3.70 in the American League during the 2000 season. The largest margin of victory in the National League is 1.26 runs—Dazzy Vance's 2.61 ERA over Carl Hubbell's 3.87 in 1930. The smallest margin of victory for an ERA champion is .009 runs. Although the statistic is traditionally recorded to two decimal places by most sources,[15][16][17] the 1988 American League title was decided by a margin of less than one hundredth of a run when Allan Anderson's ERA of 2.446 (55 earned runs in ​202 1⁄3 innings)[18] bested Teddy Higuera's 2.455 mark (62 earned runs in ​227 1⁄3 innings).[19] Other contests decided by one hundredth or less include Luis Tiant's 1.91 ERA ahead of Gaylord Perry's 1.92 in 1972[20][21] and Mark Fidrych (2.34) over Vida Blue (2.35) in 1976.[22][23]