Catfish Hunter was a close second in the vote. Though their
numbers are similar, I think Palmer is clearly better. He had a
better ERA, fewer losses, and more shutouts.
This was the first year of free agency, and Hunter was one of
the first stars to use the new system. He left Oakland to join New
York. The Yankees didn't treat their new investment very wisely,
letting Hunter pitch a ton of innings; he blew out his arm next
season and was soon finished. If current trends
continue in baseball, Hunter will be the last pitcher ever to
record 30 complete games in a season.
I didn't really begin to follow the game closely until I was
10 years old, in 1985. For fans of my generation, Frank Tanana is
fondly remembered as a guy with a lame arm who couldn't break a
window with his fastball. He was a classic crafty left-hander, a
guy who survived on guts, guile, and off-speed pitches.
That's why it is hard to believe that Tanana was once able to
throw a snowball through a blast furnace. I mean, he threw really,
really hard, as you can tell by his strikeout totals above. Tanana
and Nolan Ryan were teammates for the Angels, and the two best
strikeout pitchers in baseball. Tanana blew out his arm in 1978,
then survived more than a decade by throwing changeups and curves.
Rollie Fingers finished third in the vote, ahead of Tanana and
Goose Gossage. I think Tanana clearly deserves to rank third; I'm not
sure about Gossage. Fingers pitched more games, allowed fewer
baserunners, and had a better won-loss record; Gossage had a better
ERA, more innings, more saves, and more strikeouts. I think I'll
give the edge to the Goose.
