Originally Posted by HistoricNewspapers
If you open the 'what if' game, you can play it with anyone.
For instance, in a 12 year stretch, Johnson won five cy Young awards, finished second three other times, third, and 7th.
THat stretch itself is more dominating than anything Koufax every did.
However, if we play the 'what if' game....what if Johnson wasn't injured for two of those seasons during that stretch?
Randy Johnson is best lefty of all time and is in serious discussion for best pitcher of all time as well.
Had Johnson gone the Koufax route and put everything he had into a five year stretch, with no concern for his future, he would be putting up 420 strikeouts per year while pitching another 60+ innings a year. However, he didn't do that. He didn't need to do that...but still had a greater peak than Koufax.
Instead, Johnson was still able to throw a perfect game at age 40, win five Cy Young awards, and finish second three more times.
You know what is crazy?
If you remove those FIVE years where Johnson won the Cy Young award, he still has more career wins than Koufax; 204-165.
Best ERA+ seasons:
Johnson....Koufax.....Grove
197........190............217
195........186............189
193........160............185
188........159............185
184........143............175
181........122............165
176........105............160
152........101............160
135.........93
135.........Not good enough to pitch enough innings to qualify
118.........Not good enough to pitch enough innings to qualify
112.........Not good enough to pitch enough innings to qualify
Johnson had unrivaled physical tools. No pitcher in MLB history can match his physical tools. He was six foot eleven and threw over 100 MPH with a ridiculous slider....WITH COMMAND(after a few year learning curve). Some pitchers had one or two of those tools, but nobody had ALL of those tools like he did.
Let me explain why the physical tools are of such importance. Why would you take another pitcher over Johnson if the other pitcher was ten inches shorter, threw three miles an hour slower, had lesser command, and similar or less breaking pitches? The only other factor would be mental make up. Do they have the ability to handle being a professional player? Johnson obviously answered that question. Do they have the mental ability to thrive for a long time? Johnson answered that question YES.
Environments a player plays in severely muddles or hides statistical measurements, but the tools are concrete. The tools are a known. A lot of the statistical measurements are unknowns because environment muddles them. An environment can give false perceptions of ones true ability. Six foot eleven cannot be muddled. 100 MPH cannot be muddled. Nasty slider cannot be muddled. Command cannot be muddled. The only other obstacle is mental make up and thrive to succeed. He obviously passed that only unknown hurdle.
So when you are weighing all this, the physical tools play a vital role in solving the dilemma of cross era comparison.
He had the results to back it up.
He was umpire proof. He didn't need the inches off the plate like Maddux and Glavine often did to excel to the levels they did.
He was era proof. He didn't need lineups in the league where numbers six through nine were zero threats and hit basically zero power...like which occurred in other eras where scoring was depressed, or era's like the 30's where only the elite few were legit power threats.
In fact, he pitched in probably the toughest era to be a pitcher, with the live ball, DH, and steroids. Any pitcher that can handle the toughest environment to pitch in, surely would have no problem in the eras where it was pitcher friendly.
He didn't need a dead ball to excel or last a long time.
He was stadium proof. He didn't need to rely on a certain stadium to make him dominant.
He had peak dominance and longevity dominance.
He was the guy that if you lined all these historic pitchers up at a local baseball field standing shoulder to shoulder, then watched him unleash what he had, he would be the guy every single coach would pick. Coaches would be drooling.
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