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Foosball said 07/18, 12:36 PM
I kind of figured Palmer would be your would pick... but the "Best Pitcher of the 70's & my pick is...

Tom Seaver

Seaver vs Palmer

2 Cy Youngs in the 70's (73,75)(3 career, 1 in 1969) vs 3 for Palmer (73, 75, 76)
178-101 vs 186-103 only 8 wins less
2.61 ERA vs 2.64
2304 K's Vs 1559 (K's are never an overrated stat)
165 CG vs 147
741 walks vs 861

But here is the real kicker. You need to look at the team behind him as well when you do the compare.

1970-76 Baltimore won 108, 101, 80, 97, 91, 90 & 88 games an avg of 94/season
1970-76 NY Mets won 83, 83, 83, 82, 71, 82, 86 games an avg of 81/season

And in Tom's Cy Young years of 73 & 75 the Mets won 82 games both seasons, barely a .500 team. Tom won 19 & 22 games in those 2 seasons.

Seaver didn't play for as great of a team as the Orioles in the 70's until he was traded to the Reds mid way thru the 77 season. And sure Palmer had 8 20 win seasons but Seaver won at least 18 games 5 times for the Mets during those 7 years with those Mets teams & hit 20 wins 4 times during the 70's.

BTW in 1992 Seaver was elected to the HOF with a vote of 98.8% (Highest ever for HOF vote)
Palmer went in 1990 & got 92.6%

Foosball said 07/18, 02:58 PM
"you don't have to be a strikeout pitcher to be a great pitcher."

True but you need a great defence & team behind u to help you get outs & score runs. If you don't have it then you have to do your part as a pitcher & get outs yourself by getting K's. And that is precisely my point.

The team behind Seaver was mediocre at best (a .500 team for the 7 seasons I mentioned), "The Mediocre Mets" (1 Pennant in 73). So he had to do it all by himself. Palmer had a great Orioles team behind him that averaged 94 wins a season (WS 70; AL Champs 70, 71, 79; AL East Champs 70, 71, 73, 74, 79). Including Gold Glover (6 straight 1970-75) Brooks Robinson at 3rd, Frank Robinson (70-71), Eddie Murray (77 ROY), Reggie Jackson (76), Don Baylor (70-75) etc.
Seaver had who? Ken Singleton, Rusty Staub & Dave Kingman. Hardly an All Star lineup.

Seaver also pitcher a No Hitter on June 16th, 1978 (Reds vs Cards)
Seaver was an 8 time all star in the 70's vs 6 for Palmer.
Seaver had tied the record for K's in a game with 19 in 1970 until it was broken by Clemens in 86 (while Seaver was on the team). He also got 10 K's in a row in that same game which is still a MLB record.

Foosball said 07/18, 06:46 PM
Seaver is also a member of the 300 win club with 311 and the 3000 strikeout club with 3640

Ok so ERA is basically a wash, wins are close. 2 Cy's to Palmers 3 even though Seaver won as well in 69 and was runner up in 71.

But Seaver blows Palmer away in K's and was more of a dominant pitcher in the 70's.
Also Seaver WHIP was 1.073 Palmer's 1.142.
Seaver's Strikeout to Walk ratio is 3.1 to 1..Palmer's is 1.8 to 1

But the fact of the mater is that Palmers success was partly contributed to the team behind him.
Look at the other Orioles pitchers that won 20 games during the 70's other than Palmer...

1970 - Mike Cuellar, Dave McNally
71 - Cuellar, McNally, Pat Dobson
74 - Cuellar
75 - Mike Torrez
76 - Wayne Garland
79 - Mike Flanagan

A lot of that is attributed to the Oriole Team itself that averaged 94 wins/season. Because, they wouldn't have been 20 game winners on any other team.

The Mets had 1 other 20 game winner other than Seaver
76-Jerry Koosman

So when you add it all up, it shows the sheer dominance of Seaver and he was clearly the Better Pitcher in the 70's over Palmer.