Quote:
Originally Posted by earlywynnfan
Pretty sure the argument for Koufax here will be the same as against Grove: Koufax was the supreme pitcher of his era (and in all honesty, I fully agree with that.) But he had an incredible amount of HOF pitchers he was competing with, making his accomplishments EVEN GREATER!! But Grove had Hubbell and a bunch of stumblebums. I'm not looking, but I'm sure RJ had no competition, that's why he was so much better than his league.
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So the pitchers were elite in 1900-1915 with all those 2.11 ERA's and 40 complete games a year...then forgot how to pitch in the 1930's, then were elite again in the 1960s....but just a few years later forgot how to pitch again when offense upticked....then got real good in the late 80's/early 90's...then forgot how to pitch again starting in 1994?
Sounds like a plan.
I'm waiting for the Koufax group to start the Dante Bichette for the Hall of Fame based on his dominant peak offensive years.
If we flip the switch on the peak dominance:
Dante Bichette 1995-1999, 162 game average:
33 HR
137 RBI
.318 BA
Willie Mays best five year stretch in the 1960's when he won an MVP and finished in top five three other of those years.
46 HR
118 RBI
.304 BA
Hank Aaron
40 HR
120 RBI
.313
Bichette beats both in two out of three categories. Raw stats only count remember. If no ERA+, then no OPS+. So if you are championing Koufax and his raw numbers compared to Randy Johnson, then that same method makes Bichette a better hitter at his peak than both Mays and Aaron in the 1960's.
Welcome to the HOF Dante Bichette.