Trying to choose the greatest pitcher of all time is at least as
difficult as trying to choose the greatest hitter of all time. In
both cases, the best we can do is narrow down the list.
Outside a charmed circle of five batters, no one had both a
higher lifetime batting average and a higher lifetime slugging
average than any of those five. In alphabetical order, they are Ty
Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Rogers Hornsby, Babe Ruth, and Ted Williams.
There are other batters whose lifetime records came close,
including Barry Bonds, Jimmie Foxx, and Hank Greenberg. But close
cannot define the greatest.
When it comes to choosing the all-time greatest pitcher, there
are even more complications than there are in choosing the
candidates for the all-time greatest batter. Batting is much more
of an individual achievement, while a pitcher’s record depends on
what his team does, both at bat and in the field.
A great pitcher who is pitching for a team that scores very few
runs may have a tougher time winning games than a pitcher who gives
up an average of 3 runs a game, but who is pitching for a team that
scores an average of 5 runs a game for him.
When a pitcher has a great double-play combination behind him at
shortstop and second base, or a Willie Mays or Joe DiMaggio in
center field, that can also keep his earned run average down.
With pitchers, as with batters, a spectacular season should not
carry as much weight as a whole career of great achievements. Back
in the early 20th century, there were a couple of 40-game winners,
and 37-game winner Iron Man McGinnity on several occasions pitched
both games in a double-header. But pitching a lot of games in a
season was not a formula for longevity.
On the other hand, total wins in a lifetime cannot be the sole
criterion, since that obviously depends on longevity as much as on
pitching effectiveness. Weighing strikeouts against earned run
averages can also vary from one observer to the next.
Since the ultimate purpose of pitching is not simply to strike
out batters but to keep the other team from scoring, I would give a
lot of weight to shutouts. Here one man stands head and shoulders
above the rest.
Walter Johnson is the only pitcher to pitch more than a hundred
shutouts in his career — 110, in fact. Playing for a team that was
not always among the best, more than one-fourth of his 416 career
victories were shutouts.
With even the greatest pitchers of our era seldom going the full
nine innings, Walter Johnson’s 110 shutouts seems to be the
baseball record least likely to be broken. In order to compare the
pitchers of our time with those of the past, earned run averages
may have to be used.
Walter Johnson’s lifetime earned run average was 2.17. Christy
Mathewson had a lifetime ERA of 2.13, but Mathewson played for
better teams. It is hard to think of any other pitcher whose
lifetime records top theirs, except for records based on sheer
longevity, like Cy Young’s 511 victories. Cy Young had a lifetime
ERA of 2.63 — obviously great, but not the greatest.
Hard as it is to narrow down the candidates for the title of
greatest batter of all time, or the greatest pitcher of all time,
selecting who should be nominated as having the greatest
versatility seems a lot easier.
There is only one baseball player who, at various times, led the
league in both batting and pitching categories. That one man was
Babe Ruth.
The Bambino had a league-leading batting average of .378 in 1924
and hit .393 the previous year, when Harry Heilmann hit .403. When
it came to home runs, Ruth was the only man to lead the league in
that category in 12 different seasons.
Babe Ruth’s records as a pitcher are not nearly as well known.
But he led the league in ERA with 1.75 in 1916. His lifetime ERA
was 2.28, putting him in the company of the greatest pitchers of
all time. The Babe still holds the American League record for the
most shutouts in a season by a left-handed pitcher, and holds the
record for the longest shutout ever pitched in the World Series —
14 innings.
Is anyone else even close to leading the league in both of these
very different and very fundamental aspects of baseball?
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