 At the time of his retirement , Wilhelm had pitched in a then @-@ MLB record 1 @,@ 070 games . He is recognized as the first pitcher to have saved 200 games in his career , and the first pitcher to appear in 1 @,@ 000 games . He is also one of the oldest players to have pitched in the major leagues ; his final appearance was 16 days short of his 50th birthday . Wilhelm retired with the lowest career earned run average of any major league <unk> after 1927 ( Walter Johnson ) who pitched more than 2 @,@ 000 innings . 
