Quote:
Originally Posted by rhettyeakley
Johnson, he is probably the greatest pitcher of all time.
Koufax's name shouldn't even be mentioned in this thread! Statistically speaking he was a MAJOR disappointment for the first 6 years of his career (the only thing he had ever lead the league in was Wild Pitches), he then found his command had 2 pretty good seasons and then 4 absolutely amazing ones. I have never understood how that gets anyone in the "greatest ever" conversation.
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Sandy Koufax is the greatest pitcher I have ever seen and by a wide margin. I strongly disagree that Koufax was a major disappointment. I think that you don't understand how baseball worked in the 50s. Koufax was a bonus baby. As such, he couldn't pitch in the minors. He was so valuable to the Dodgers that they gave up a roster spot for 2 years to keep him. It wasn't until his 3rd year that he even started pitching meaningful innings. Just think of that as his minor league experience and by the time he hit his stride, the team was winning big.
1962, tied for 1st in NL, would have probably won World Championship except Koufax got hurt and couldn't finish the season.
1963 NL Champs, World Champs, Cy Young, MVP. WS MVP.
1964 Injuries kept him from having full season, but still good enough to get CY Young votes. May have even won NL Cy Young if there was one for each league.
1965 NL Champs, World Champs, Cy Young, 2nd in MVP, WS MVP. Koufax pretty much won the WS with shutouts in game 5 and game 7 on 2 days rest.
1966 NL Champs, CY Young, 2nd in MVP. Then retirement. Who knows what he would have done if he had continued to pitch.
As for the 3 pitchers here, Christy Mathewson got the most votes of the 3 in the original hof voting. Cy Young got the award named after him. Walter Johnson had the better career. If I had to pick one, I would go with Johnson.