most overrated player and pitcher

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

How anyone can claim that Koufax is the "most overrated" pitcher is beyond me. His last four years of his career he averaged about 25 wins a season and an ERA well under 2. That, combined with 3 Cy Youngs (when only one was awarded for both leagues) and two back to back shutouts in the World Series (on two days rest) ends this discussion. Oh, and he also averaged about 300 innings per year during that period. Finally, in 57 World Series innings, he managed a 0.95 ERA. And let's not forget the 4 no hitters....

All the while he had major arm problems and pitched in tremendous pain. The only basis to claim he is overrated is that the great majority of his brilliant carerr was crammed into these four years. If the four years were just really good and not, perhaps, the greatest four years a modern era pitcher has ever had in a row, then I might tend to agree with the sentiment of the naysayers here. Talk to me about a guy like Don Sutton, a HOF player who pitched for 23 seasons, over 5000 innings, and had one 20 win season.
Finally, we can all agree that we're couch potatoes. However, when players from Koufax's era were asked who the most dominating pitcher that they had ever seen was, they unanimously say it was Sandy.