If you ask me, these guys should be in:
1. Tommy John, with 288 wins, and a type of reconstructive surgery named after him. If he had not lost time to that then-radical surgery, he'd certainly have made it to 300 wins and be a lock.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/j/johnto01.shtml
2. Bert Blyleven, with 287 wins, was, at the time of his retirement, third on the all-time strikeout list. Oddly enough, Tommy John shows up on his list of comparable players. Blyleven also won two World Series titles, in 1979 and 1987.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/blylebe01.shtml
3. Mel Harder, who had 223 wins, also was one of the greatest pitching coaches of all time. He was known for teaching the curveball to lots of Cleveland Indian pitchers during the many years he was a coach there. He also is credited for being the first coach to focus exclusively on pitching. Many former Cleveland players and sports writers have campaigned for his induction, and they make a convincing case. Only Bob Feller won more games for the Indians than Harder. A trivia note: he started, and unfortunately lost, the first game in Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Read the Baseball Library essay -- it's short and says an awful lot about why Harder deserves to be in.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/h/hardeme01.shtml
http://www.baseballlibrary.com/ballplayers/player.php?name=Mel_Harder_1909
4. Honorable mention: Jim Kaat, just because he was durable, won a lot of games and happened to pitch 303 innings and win 20 games at age 36. I have always thought he deserved more consideration than he gets.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/k/kaatji01.shtml
5. Sportscasters were fond of telling us all through the late 1980s and early 1990s that Jack Morris was the winningest pitcher of the '80s. Doesn't that merit some consideration, too?
http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/morrija02.shtml
1 comment:
When Omar finally retires, he must be a FIRST BALLOT enshrinee into the HALL OF FAME. He is the greatest shortstop in Baseball History. Forget media-made NY Derek Jeter, whom I watched as a COlumbus Clipper (AAA franchise here in Colubmus was a Yankees affiliate); now, though, thank GOD, the Tribe is the parent team of our CLIPPERS. Bert Blyleven had the best curve ball I've ever seen. Remember 1980s TRIBE rotation of John Denny (Cy Young winner), Rick Sutcliffe (Cy Young winner), Bert Blyleven, Len Barker?
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