I promised you a pitcher’s version of Mt. Rushmore after doing the position players version last week. And as I did with the position players, there will be a Mt. Rushmore for the older era players as well as one for the modern era players.
But before we get started, let’s pay homage to 4 pitchers from the pre-1900 era.
Kid Nichols – He played from 1890-1906 and won 361 games, which is 6th all-time.
Pud Galvin – He played from 1875-1892 and also won 361 games.
Tim Keefe – He played from 1880-1893 and won 342 games, 10th all-time. He had a 6 year stretch where he won from 32-42 games each season.
Old Hoss Radbourn – No, not the Hoss from Bonanza. This Hoss pitched from 1880-1891 and won 309 games, which is 19th most in MLB history. He had 2 seasons where he won 48 and 59 games, when he started 73 games!
Now, let’s take a look at the early era players, where 4 pitchers dominated.
Cy Young – The fact that the award for the best pitcher each year is named after Young tells all you need to know about him. But let’s look at his stats to truly appreciate a career that ran from 1890-1911. His 511 wins are 94 more than anyone else in the history of the game (his 316 losses are also the most). His career ERA was 2.63 with a WHIP of 1.13. His 7,356 innings pitched is 24% more than his closest competitor. And to show how different the early era truly was, Young threw 749 complete games, which was 92% of his starts!
Walter Johnson – His 417 wins is 2nd all-time and his 2.17 ERA is 3rd best for pitchers with more than 200 wins. His 3,508 strikeouts are 9th highest all-time while his 1.06 WHIP is 2nd best for pitchers with at least 200 wins.
Christy Mathewson – 373 career wins (3rd all-time) vs. only 188 losses. His ERA of 2.13 and WHIP of 1.06 are 2nd best in the history of game for pitchers with at least 200 wins.
Grover Cleveland Alexander – Also know as Pete, his 373 wins tie Mathewson for 3rd best all-time. His ERA was 2.56 with a WHIP of 1.12.
An honorable mention goes to Lefty Grove, who pitched from 1925-1941. He racked up 300 wins and had a career win % of .680. His career ERA was 3.06, but he pitched at the end of the early era when home runs were more prevalent.
Selecting the Mt. Rushmore for the modern era was much more challenging for a couple of reasons. For one, there was a plethora of deserving candidates who had Hall of Fame careers. Secondly, about halfway through the era teams switched to 5-man rotations, which meant pitchers didn’t get as many starts and innings as their predecessors.
Note – I didn’t consider any pitcher associated with steroids, so adios to 7-time Cy Young winner Roger Clemens.
The first 2 selections were fairly easy, Greg Maddox and Warren Spahn.
Maddox – Despite pitching during the 5-man rotation era, Maddox won 355 games, the 8th most in history. His ERA was 3.16 with a WHIP of 1.14. He had a 7 year stretch where is ERA was 1.56-2.72. He won 4 Cy Young Awards.
Spahn – Pitching from 1942-1965, his 363 wins rank 5th all-time. He completed 382 of his 665 starts and had a 3.09 ERA with a WHIP of 1.19.
Tom Seaver – His 311 wins, 18th all-time, separated him from his contemporaries such as Jim Palmer, Bob Gibson, Juan Marichal, Whitey Ford and Bob Feller. He posted a career ERA of 2.86 to go with a 1.12 WHIP and 3,640 strikeouts, 6th all time. He won 3 Cy Young awards.
Randy Johnson – His 303 wins rank him 22nd all-time and he had a stellar win % of .680. His ERA was 3.29, but Johnson is best remembered for his strikeouts. His career 4,875 punchouts rank 2nd all-time. His WHIP was 1.17. He won 5 Cy Young awards.
In addition to Palmer, Gibson, Marichal, Ford & Feller mentioned above, other modern-day hurlers who garnered consideration were:
Nolan Ryan – 324 career wins, but best known for his MLB record 5,714 strikeouts and 7 no-hitters. Ryan also had an MLB best .204 batting average against. His ERA was 3.19. The Ryan Express also pitched the 5th most innings in history as he pitched to the age of 46. The 2 negatives for Ryan were his 2,795 walks, also an MLB record, and the fact that he only won 32 more games than he lost. Surprisingly, Ryan never won a Cy Young award.
Steve Carlton – 329 wins, 11th most in history. He also had 4,136 K’s, 4th all time. His ERA was 3.22. His career win % of .574 was lower than many of his contemporaries. He won 4 Cy Young awards.
Pedro Martinez – His low win total of 219 was the only thing that kept Pedro off Mt. Rushmore. He had an ERA of 2.93 and had an incredible win % of .687 as he only lost 100 games in his career. His 3,154 strikeouts rank 13th while his WHIP of 1.05 ranks 5th. He won 3 Cy Young awards.
Sandy Kofax – His career ended at the age of 30 due to an elbow injury, which likely would have been cured with today’s medical technology. In fact, in his last season he set career bests with 27 wins and a 1.73 ERA. Kofax actually had 2 careers. During his 1st 6 seasons he only started 103 games and had 36 wins. During the final 6 years of his career he won 129 games and had a 5 year stretch where is ERA was 1.73-2.54. He won 3 Cy Young awards.
Other pitchers who won at least 3 Cy Young awards, which weren’t given out until 1956, were Palmer, Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer.
Two of the many interesting statistics I came across while doing my research were:
Other than both winning over 300 games, do you know what else Maddox & Ryan had in common? They both won 20 games only 2 times!
Also, if you had to choose between Ryan and Don Sutton, who would you take? Ryan, obviously. By a wide margin, right? Well, you might want to think again. They both won 324 games, but Sutton lost 36 fewer games. Ryan’s ERA of 3.19 was only slightly better than Sutton’s 3.26. Sutton’s WHIP of 1.14 was better than Ryan’s 1.25.
So there you have it. An early era Mt. Rushmore of Young, Johnson, Mathewson & Alexander. The modern era Mt. Rushmore was comprised of Maddox, Spahn, Seaver and Johnson. Those are my 8, although you could certainly make some strong cases for other worthy players.
