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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Jay, it really depends on what you consider 'greatness' to be. I'm in the camp that holds that a lot of 'good' seasons strung together does not necessarily equate to greatness, i.e., Don Sutton. He was a really good pitcher but hardly 'great' at almost any given point in his career. Compare to Koufax who as brilliant as any pitcher has ever been for a four year period. Absolutely brilliant, courageous, and accomplished. No doubt that other pitchers that were almost as good as him over a four or five year period might have had better careers due to more years pitched; however, that does not take away from Koufax's singular greatness over not one season, not two, but really over like 5 years. He also won the Triple Crown of pitching. So, while you can criticize him for not putting up the numbers that some others have done, you cannot criticize his singular greatness over this period which is trumpeted by his peers. When people are asked "who is the greatest pitcher of all time?" -- and they mention Koufax -- they're not giving that answer based on all-time career stats on a piece of paper. They're saying Koufax because he was the greatest pitcher they ever saw in their lifetimes.