Scoop's take on the baseball poll: well, I don't agree on Nolan Ryan. He was the most intimidating of his era, and the strongest at any given moment, but never a consistent enough winner to make the top of the list. Look at it this way, there are only about six to ten guys who it could be. For the first dozen or so years of the century, the best pitcher in baseball was Matty. Over an 11 year period, his worst record was 22-12. He once gave up 21 walks in a 300 inning season. I guess he owns the record for the greatest post-season ever. In 1905, her started three games in the World Series, and pitched three complete game shutouts. Unfortunately for the record book, one of his teammates also won a game, or he might have come back to throw a fourth shutout and thereby win the series single-handedly. Even so, nobody ever single handedly dominated a post-season this dramatically, not even Reggie. For the next dozen years or so, it was The Big Train, who I won't discuss because Lawdog did so in some detail.

The next period was all Lefty Grove. If you are a serious student of baseball, you probably know that Grove is probably the right answer to the question. One year he led the league in wins and saves - can you name anyone else who was the best starter and the best reliever in baseball at the same time? Of course, he pretty much led the league in every possible category for about five years. In his best five year period of his prime, he won 128 and lost 33, and that was pitching against the great Yankee teams with Ruth and Gehrig. At the end of his career, well, listen to this. At age 39, as a lefthander pitching in Fenway (where Stengel would skip Whitey Ford's turn in the rotation), he led the league in ERA and winning percentage. If Bob Gibson had kept pitching and finished his career with three 19-0 seasons, he would still finish a hair behind Grove.

Grove retired when the war began, and there was no dominant pitcher for several years. Spahn and Ford were probably kings of the hill until Koufax found the plate. Koufax is discussed by Lawdog in depth. His best five years are almost as good as Grove's. Koufax was great, but in all honesty, you can't compare Koufax to Grove unless you are talking about at one moment in time. Career-wise, Sandy wasn't even close. Those five years were really his entire career. Grove had a bunch of years before and after his prime that were almost as good. Plus, even during the five year stretch, Koufax's five years were a hair behind Grove's, and Koufax's stats were inflated by pitcher-friendly Dodger Stadium.

An interesting element of the poll was that Marichal got no votes at all. Koufax, Gibson, Marichal - they were the Big Three of their era, and Marichal matched the others pitch for pitch. If you look at Marichal's lifetime stats and Gibson's, you will see that Marichal was actually marginally better (243-142 2.89 vs 251-174 2.91), but history doesn't remember it that way.

The dominating pitchers between that era and the latest era were Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan, neither of whom have the lifetime stats to qualify as the overall king, although Seaver is close. In modern times, you have three choices for king of the hill. The winner depends on how you weight the critiria: Clemens, Maddux, The Big Unit. I think history will choose Maddux as the greatest of the three, but I guess if Randy strings a bunch of 20-2 seasons, or if Clemens stays on top and Maddux doesn't, things will change.

Summary: If you are talking about the most dominating over a five year span, I think you have Matty, Koufax and Grove. If you are talking about an entire career, then Grove, Johnson, and Matty. So I figure it boils down to Grove and Matty. Throw in Satchel Paige on blind faith. Those are my three guys. However, if you are talking only about guys remembered by the voters, then I'll concede to Koufax and Ryan as my lefty/righty, with Maddux and the Unit rounding off my rotation. Can you imagine opposing teams - they would be so relieved to see Maddux take the mound!

And a note about the man who should have been. Dwight Gooden isn't on the list, and never will be.

This is what cocaine did to a man who was probably the greatest pitcher ever to hold the seams in his hands. Except for Matty's three series shutouts, I submit this as the most amazing baseball stat I have ever read: in Gooden's last 9 starts of the 1985 season, with the pennant on the line in every game, Gooden batted in eight runs and allowed eight. He didn't need no stinkin' teammates! From June 1 to the end of the year, Gooden was seventeen and one. He finished the year 24-4, led all pitchers in every important pitching category as well as batting hits, and - get this - he finished the season before his 21st birthday. Gooden's lifetime record is still OK. It's something like 190-110, but if somebody else had his ability, plus the work ethic, and stayed away from the nightlife, the record books would be now be rewritten daily. So I say this: Dwight Gooden was the greatest pitcher of the 20th century, but it was only for a moment, and the record books will never show it.

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