--- Kevin Tarr <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Your best ever pitcher hasn't won the Cy Young award > four times or three in > a row. Not saying that as a dig, you may have said > that you aren't using it > as a measuring stick. He was second in the voting in > 1998, but it was > unanimous for Clemens. Koufax wasn't in the running > in 1962, and was 3rd in > 1964, but it still looks like it was given to the > winner because he had > more innings pitched and wins. In 1962 all the CY > pitchers were from the > NL, and it still looks like Koufax has just as good > numbers. Where was > Pedro in 1996? Leading the league in sacrifice hits. > > We can throw number at each other all day. You > aren't going to change your > mind, and neither am I or Bob Z.. I do think you are > being shortsided as a > modernist, but that's my opinion not a statement of > fact. > > Kevin T. - VRWC
But, Kevin, as I've said several times, I don't think he's the best ever pitcher, except on a game-for-game basis. If I had to pick a pitcher to win _one game_, I'd pick him - more specifically, the 1999 version of him. If I had to pick a pitcher as "greatest pitcher ever" - that is, the pitcher who, over his career, contributed the most to the various teams for which he played - it's probably Tom Seaver, counting only pitchers after the Second World War (again, I think it's impossible to compare to pitchers before the Second World War. Walter Johnson never threw anything but a fastball and probably only rarely even 100 pitches in a game. Doesn't make him less than great, it just makes him completely impossible to judge against modern pitchers). But in this case, I don't think I'm actually making a modern's bias argument. Adjusted for era, Pedro's numbers at his peak are just flat-out better. A modern's bias would be if the two were roughly equal, and I was saying _that_ showed that Pedro was better. But that is not, in fact, my argument. ===== Gautam Mukunda [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Freedom is not free" http://www.mukunda.blogspot.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
