Koufax is often regarded as the greatest pitcher in baseball
history. Look at the numbers above, and remember that this wasn't
even his best season. Koufax threw very hard, and had a devastating
curveball. He reached the majors in 1955, and spent seven years in
obscurity, fighting his control. Finally, he put it all together,
and rarely has any pitcher achieved the same level of dominance.
Is Koufax the greatest ever? His
prime years were short; after having his best season in 1966,
Koufax retired, due to circulation problems in his arm. His career
won/loss record was 165-87, not a great number of wins, though a
great winning percentage. At his peak, only a handful of
pitchers compare to him. Walter Johnson, Lefty Grove, Greg Maddux, maybe Roger Clemens.
Randy Johnson, of course, has had a career very similar to Koufax's,
though the similarity ends there.
Koufax wasn't the only great pitcher who had a breakthrough season.
Juan Marichal had a monster year for the Giants, the first of three
25+ win seasons he had in his career. Marichal was often
overshadowed in his career, first by Koufax, then by Bob Gibson. He
was just as good as Gibson, though, if not better, and comparable
to Koufax. Marichal was worked hard early in his career, and was
finished by age 33, but otherwise his record is as good as
anybody's.
Dick Ellsworth was a great one-shot wonder. The year before,
he lost 20 games, and had a 5.09 ERA. This year he was fantastic
for the Cubs, posting a great ERA while pitching in cosy Wrigley Field. The magic didn't lost
long; Ellsworth followed up with four straight losing seasons,
including 22 losses in 1967.
Warren Spahn was 42 years old, far too old to be pitching in
the majors, but he won 23 games anyway. It was his thirteenth 20+
win season, and last. He won 363 games in his career. I'll give him
the nod over Jim Maloney, who was one of the great power pitchers
in the league. And while Perranoski was a wonderful relief pitcher,
I don't think he was quite as valuable as the big starters.
