Major League Baseball teams will begin sending pitchers and catchers to Spring Training on February 18. The leagues are full of highly-talented pitchers, but this humble correspondent -- along with fellow VAVEL writer Missy Metz -- are doing a countdown of the best players by position in MLB history to get baseball fans over the hump of the winter snow before baseball starts up again.
Starters:
1. Sandy Koufax
Sandy Koufax is one of the greatest pitchers of all time even though he had such a short career. Koufax is one of this humble correspondent’s (a Jewish baseball fan) favorite players ever. On September 6, 1965, Koufax threw a perfect game for the Los Angeles Dodgers against the Chicago Cubs at Dodgers Stadium in L.A. Koufax finished his career with a record of 165-87 with a 2.76 ERA.
Koufax's last year in the MLB (1966) was his best win-loss season. He combined a career-high 27 wins with 9 losses. He also had a 1.73 ERA, a career low, with career-high-tying 27 complete games, giving up 19 home runs and striking out 317 batters.
Koufax in the Jewish community is also famous for his decision to not pitch in Game 1 of the 1965 World Series because the game fell on Yom Kippur, the holiest holiday in the Jewish religion. In 1982, the Los Angeles Dodgers retired Koufax’s number 32. In 1972, Sandy Koufax was elected to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame on his first ballot, garnering 86.87% of the vote.
Koufax could have been even better than he was without the unfortunate case of arthritis.
2. Cy Young
Every year, the best pitchers in baseball in both the National and the American Leagues win an award for their fantastic seasons. The award is called the Cy Young award, named after one of the best pitchers ever. Young played for 22 years in the Majors from 1890-1911. He played for the Boston Rustlers, the Boston Americans, the Cleveland Spiders, and the Cleveland Naps. In his career, Cy Young compiled 511 wins and 316 losses with a 2.16 ERA.
Denton True Young, aka Cyclone, pitched 749 complete games over the course of his career, pitching 7,356 innings during that span. Over the 22 years that he was in the Majors, he compiled 2,803 strikeouts. The award is one of the most recognizable non-team awards in sports, and it bears his name. Cy Young was inducted into Cooperstown in 1936 along with Nap Lajoie and Tris Speaker.
3. Nolan Ryan
Nolan Ryan pitched in the Major Leagues for 27 seasons. The Ryan Express started with the New York Mets before being shipped to California. He then pitched for Houston and finally finished with Texas. He compiled 324 wins with 292 losses 3.19 ERA. The lowest ERA of his career was in 1981, he had a 1.69 ERA.
Ryan had 222 complete games with 5,714 strikeouts, which is the most in baseball history. He pitched in a total of 733 games over the course of his career. His highest win total came in 1974 with the California Angels. He has a MLB record seven no hitters in his career.
The Ryan Express helped the Amazin’ Mets win the 1969 World Series, which is his only World Series victory in his career. In 1999, he was elected to the Hall of Fame.
4. Walter Johnson
Walter Johnson played for 21 years from 1907-1927. The Big Train has the most shutouts in baseball history with 110. Over his 21 year career, he compiled a 417-279 record with a 2.17 ERA. The Big Train pitched in 5,914 1/3 innings, getting 3,509 strikeouts. His best season was 1913, when he compiled a 36-7 record with a 1.14 ERA. He was in the inaugural class of the Hall of Fame along with Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Babe Ruth, and Christy Mathewson.
5. Tom Seaver
Tom Seaver pitched for 20 years from 1967-1986. He spent the first 10 years of his career with the New York Mets before being traded to the Cincinnati Reds. The trade came after contract negotiations did not go well. According to rumors at the time, Seaver’s wife was getting her husband to ask for more money so he could make as much as Nolan Ryan. Once Seaver heard about the article, he went to the Mets owner at the time asking to be traded.
For his career, "Tom Terrific" compiled a 311-205 record with a 2.86 ERA. He pitched in 656 games, getting 231 shutouts and 61 complete games. His best season wins-wise was in 1969 when he had 25 wins and 7 losses. That season , he and Nolan Ryan helped to bring the Mets their first World Series title on a team that was nicknamed the Amazin’ Mets.
In 1967, Seaver won the National League Rookie of the Year and was named an All Star. Over the course of his career, he was a 12-time all star, three-time Cy Young award winner, and the N.L. leader in wins and ERA three times. As well, on June 16, 1978, he pitched a no hitter as a member of the Cincinnati Reds. In 1992, he was elected to the Hall of Fame, getting 98.8% of the vote, along with Rollie Fingers.
Bullpen:
MR: Warren Spahn
Warren Spahn played for 21 years in the Majors, taking three years off between 1943-45 due to his military service. In his career, he compiled a 365-245 record with a 3.09 ERA. He had 382 complete games with 63 shutouts. In 750 games, he pitched in 5,243 2/3 innings. His best season was in 1953 when he won 21 games and had a career-low 2.10 ERA. In 1973, Warren Spahn was the only player elected to the hall of fame, getting 83.2% of the vote.
MR: Bob Gibson
Bob Gibson played 17 years in the majors, from 1959-1975. Over the course of those 17 years, he had 251 wins and 174 losses with a 2.91 ERA. "Gibby," as he was nicknamed, had 3,117 strikeouts in 3,884 innings. The lowest ERA of his career came in 1968 when he had a 1.12 ERA.
Gibson is a member of the MLB All-Century Team announced in 1999. Gibby was a nine-time all star with two World Series titles to his name from 1964 and 1967. He won the World Series MVP in both of those years. He won the NL MVP in 1968 and the Cy Young in 1968 and 1970. On August 14, 1971, Gibby threw a No-No against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the sixth in Cardinals history. Gibby’s number 45 is retired by the St.Louis Cardinals. He is a Hall of Famer, as of 1981 when he got 84% of the vote on his first ballot.
LR: Satchel Paige
Satchel Paige played in the Majors for only six years because he spent 18 years in the Negro Leagues. In the Negro Leagues, he compiled a 100-50 record, with a 3.22 ERA. He pitched 82 complete games in the Negro Leagues with 27 shutouts. He pitched 1,298.2 innings, for the Birmingham Black Barons, Baltimore Black Sox, Chicago American Giants, Cleveland Cubs, Pittsburgh Crawfords, Cuban House of David, Kansas City Monarchs, Mexico City Agragio, New York Black Yankees, Homestead Grays, and other teams.
Paige entered the Majors at 42 years old, compiling a 28-31 record with a 3.29 ERA and four shutouts. His Major League career was very staggered, pitching from 1948-1949 before taking a break. He came back in 1951-53. He returned for his last Major League season in 1965 was when he was 58 year olds. In 1971, he was elected to the MLB Hall of Fame by the Negro League committee.
LR: Lefty Gomez
Lefty Gomez spent 14 years in the Majors, 13 of which with the New York Yankees from 1930-1943. He pitched only one game in 1943, his last season with the Washington Senators, and suffered the loss.
SU: Dennis Eckersley
Dennis Eckersley is one of the best closers in baseball history, however for the purposes of this article he is the set up man for this rotation. Eckersley played in the Major Leagues for 24 years. He finished his career with a record of 191-171 and a 3.50 ERA. He also finished with 390 saves.
"Eck" pitched 3,285 2/3 innings over the course of his career. He struck out 2,401 batters. Eck’s best season was in 1992 for the Oakland Athletics when he finished 7-1 with a 1.91 ERA and 51 saves. That season, he made the A.L. All-Star team and won both won the Cy Young and the MVP trophies. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2004 with Paul Molitor.
CL: Mariano Rivera
The job of a closer is to pitch and get his team the win whether he earns a save or not. Mariano Rivera is the best closer of all time because he has the most saves of all time. He did his job better than anybody before him. He was always classy on the field and off the field.
Rivera wore number 42 for his entire career and personified Jackie Robinson with the way he played the game every time he stepped on the diamond. He exemplified this with loyalty toward his team. During the free agency era, the Yankees got lucky with their closer staying in the Bronx for all of the 19 years he played in the Major Leagues.
During his 19-year career in the Bronx, "Mo" compiled an 82-60 record with a 2.21 ERA. He was a 13-time all star, winning five World Series in that time, and capturing the 1999 World Series MVP.
Rivera also played most of his career during the “Steroid Era” and not once was accused of taking steroids even though he was consistent during that time. Most closers in baseball are good one year and then down the next year; they lack consistency. However, Rivera, for the entire 19 years that he was in the big leagues, was the model of consistency, throwing basically one pitch -- the cutter -- every time he stepped on the mound. One of the most amazing things about Rivera was that every batter knew he was going to pitch that cutter, and every batter were still helpless to hit it.