FanNation - The Republic of Sport

A few weeks ago we talked about who should hold the title of “Greatest Living Hitter.” Now we turn our sites on the “Greatest Living Pitcher.”

Joe DelGrippo: Bob Feller

When discussion ensues about “what ifs” with regard to missed time during World War II, most of the talk is about Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams. Bob Feller’s missing seasons are often overlooked.

Feller was the first player to enlist in the armed forces – a day after Pearl Harbor. He missed three full years and 90% of a fourth. The year before he joined Feller won 25 games; the first full year after his discharge he won 26.

Several years ago, a computer simulation predicted that Feller would have won 107 games. That would have given him 373 for his career – good enough for third all time.

Feller’s 162-game average of 17-9 is bettered among living pitchers only by Roger Clemens’ 17-9. Feller led his league six times in victories and five times in strikeouts. His best season was in 1946 (after missing those four years) when he won 26 games and had 36 complete games, 10 shutouts, 348 strikeouts and 2.18 ERA in 371 innings.

With only seven other teams to compete against, Feller constantly faced the potent lineups of Boston (with Williams, Foxx, Cronin), Detroit (w/Gehringer, Greenberg, Billy Rogell and Rudy York) and the New York Yankees (w/DiMaggio, Selkirk, Rolfe, Gordon, Dickey, Berra and Gehrig), all with a less than stellar Cleveland Indians team.

That Feller put up those career numbers in addition to throwing over 100 miles per hour and honorably and proudly serving his country, he’s my choice for greatest living pitcher over Sandy Koufax, Greg Maddux, Steve Carlton, Roger Clemens and Nolan Ryan.

John Paciorek: Nolan Ryan

Nolan Ryan is baseball’s greatest pitcher (and a timeless example for all to emulate), not only because of the records he set, but for his ability to stay healthy for so long. His blazing fastball, off-the-table curveball, debilitating change-up and competitive spirit were his defining attributes.

Ryan tops the list of baseball’s outstanding pitchers because he fine-tuned his pitching mechanics to near perfection better than any other pitcher (past or present). His was the ultimate use of proper mechanics that not only fostered the most economically sound use of his body to control and propel the baseball with maximum intent, but it also allowed for an amazingly long career – 27 years, including 301 strikeouts at age 42!

When he began career with the Mets, Ryan was a promising fireballing physical phenom who didn’t have a clue how to maximize his efforts with power, control and endurance. Wildness and injuries plagued him until he figured out a semblance of mechanical efficiency while playing for the Angels. As he progressively redefined his body mechanics he was able to sustain higher efficiency ratings in his pitching performances as well as avoid arm and shoulder injuries.

Maximum efficiency for a pitcher includes the following:

• Maximum velocity (95 to 100MPH)
• Fast breaking Pitch
• Impeccable control (strikes, but avoiding the center of the plate)
• Endurance (100 to 140 pitches over seven to nine innings)
• Longevity (15 to 20 years of peak performance)

There are some major league pitchers who are/were bigger and stronger than Nolan Ryan. And some of them throw harder. But there are none who have had the mechanical soundness to generate such productivity and longevity.

Shaun Payne: Roger Clemens

Like the greatest living hitter, there is also a cloud of suspicion around the greatest living pitcher.  Roger Clemens is the only living pitcher in the top ten in both innings and ERA+.  The only other pitcher in history in the top ten in both categories is Walter Johnson.

Like Bonds, even if we just look at his numbers before his likely PED use (before he left Boston), we see an all-time great pitcher.  Through 1996 Clemens won three Cy Young Awards, finished in the top three five times, won an MVP and finished in the top 20 in MVP voting five times.

Through 1996, Clemens led the league in ERA+ five times and finished in the top five nine times.  After 1996 he led the league three times and finished in the top five six times.  Even if we assume PED use, I think we also have to assume he would have been a pretty good pitcher without help from PEDs.

The greatest living pitcher and greatest living hitter probably are not fine examples of morality.  They are childish and probably had some chemical help towards the end of their careers.  But they were the most talented baseball players still living.

Thomas Wayne: Dwight Gooden

When an educated baseball fan is asked the question of who is the greatest living pitcher, that fan will, most likely, give one of about eight or nine answers: The Rocket, Pedro, The Unit, Maddux, Tom Terrific, Gibby, Lefty and Koufax. Any of these men answer the question and answer it correctly. Each one of them is “the greatest living pitcher” depending on an individual’s viewpoint.

So I will give you a different name never mentioned in the breath of the greatest living pitcher discussion. A name hardly ever mentioned with the word “greatest” attached to it unless one is discussing disappointments and underachievement.

The name is Dwight “Doctor K” Gooden. It’s a name that should be mentioned as the greatest living pitcher, but isn’t, and the reasons why are as sad, trite and old as history itself.

Breaking in at the tender age of 19, Doc Gooden was, at the very least, dominant. He is the only pitcher in the history of baseball to record 250 or more strikeouts in each of his first two seasons, and one of only two pitchers to have 200 or more strikeouts in his first three seasons.

Before he turned 21 Gooden was a two-time All-Star, a Rookie of the Year (1984) and a Cy Young Award winner (1985).

In seven seasons from 1984 to 1990 Gooden went 119-46, with 1,391 strikeouts and an ERA of 2.85. He walked only 449 over that time period, giving him a 3 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio. He had 239 more innings pitched than hits allowed in that same time span. In 1985 he joined Bob Gibson, Greg Maddux, and Luis Tiant as the only starting pitchers in the last 88 years to have a single season ERA under 1.60. In 1990 Gooden was only 25 years old and clearly on his way to multiple Cy Young Awards, 300 wins and 4,000 strikeouts.

Then something happened on the way to Cooperstown and immortality.

In late 1986 Doc was arrested for fighting with Tampa Police around this same time rumors of his fondness for recreational cocaine began to surface. Gooden tested positive for the drug during Spring Training in 1987. He missed over a third of the season to rehab, but still won 15 games. Missing time due to reoccurring drug suspensions and rehab led to Gooden not being properly physically prepared to pitch, which in turn led to shoulder problems that began reducing him to the ranks of mortal. By 1991 Gooden’s fall from grace, and dominance was complete. His days of being feared by anyone standing in a batter’s box were over.

Gooden continued to pitch for various teams and from time to time showed signs of the old Dr. K. He no-hit the Mariners as a Yankee in 1996. He had an ERA a full run below the league average in 1998 with the Indians but he was never really the same.

From 1991 on Gooden was 75-66 with an ERA around 4.50. His highest strikeout out total was 150. He retired at 35 years old with 194 wins and 2,293 strikeouts, with 60% of those numbers garnered before he was 25.

Dwight Gooden was as talented, if not more so, than any pitcher currently in the Hall of Fame. His “stuff” is the stuff of legend.

He is the key name that will always be missing from the greatest pitcher of all time debate. Had he not succumbed to weakness of will and substance temptations, he may have been our unanimous choice for greatest living pitcher and not the poster child for the self-destruction of an elite Hall of Fame career.