10 GREATEST PITCHERS IN BASEBALL HISTORY

This is the definitive list.  Does it include any relievers?  It includes everyone—there just weren’t any relievers/closers that made it.  Sorry Mariano and Eck!  This list is just too strong.  How do you compare Cy Young with Pedro Martinez.  It’s tough; I probably gave a very slight edge to more current players.  Post season heroics also factors.  No, I didn’t disqualify anyone over steroid use.

 Here they are, in reverse order:          

10)     Whitey Ford—236 wins against only106 losses, combined with impressive 2.75 career ERA put Ford high on any list.  He’s in my top 10 because he was the anchor pitcher on the best team in history (Yankees in ‘50’s and early ‘60’s) and had 10 World Series wins (record total).  Enough said…he probably should be higher on list.

9)        Pedro Martinez—Career numbers don’t paint a complete picture of Martinez in my mind (219 wins-100 losses, 2.93 ERA, cumulative 6-4 post-season record).  While it doesn’t add up to huge figures, Pedro truly seemed to be the best of everyone when in peak form—and I mean everyone.  During his absolute prime, I doubt you’d have any argument if you gave him the edge over Clemens, Maddox, Randy Johnson, and Glavine.  That says a lot.  Martinez gets a slight nod over Koufax on this list, though it’s close.  Koufax was also mighty dominant.  His peak period (’63-’66) was just too short.

8)        Lefty Grove—300 wins and 141 losses.  3.06 ERA.  World Series record of 4-2 with 1.75 ERA.  Baseball stat man Bill James used to list Lefty Grove at the top of all his lists.  That says a lot.

7)        Grover Alexander—373-208 record is phenomenal.  2.56 career ERA.  Hard to compare players from 1911 to current day.  Alexander has to rank high.

6)        Randy Johnson—Big Unit had 303 wins against 166 losses, with 3.29 ERA and amazing 4875 strikeouts (second in history to Nolan Ryan).

5)        Cy Young—Record 511 wins will never be sniffed by anyone in history.  Also posted career 2.63 ERA and post-season record of 2-1 with 1.85 ERA.  Should Cy Young be first?  Maybe.

4)        Greg Maddux—355-227 with 3.16 ERA.  11 post-season wins.  Had to be the steadiest of them all.

3)        Walter Johnson—2.17 career ERA (are you kidding?!?) to go with 417 wins against 279 losses.

2)        Christy Mathewson—Nudges Johnson in career ERA (2.13) to go with career record of 373-188.  Consider that winning percentage! 

1)        Roger Clemens—354 career wins and 184 losses.  Career 3.12 ERA.  12 post-season wins.  I never liked Clemens, but he was too great for too long to disregard him here.  You’d probably give the nod to Cy Young statistically, but let’s be honest, who would you rather have pitch to you?

Honorable mention notes to Koufax, Spahn, and Bob Gibson.  Correct me if you feel I’m wrong with these selections.  Talk to you soon.