Just did a quick comparison on the pitchers mentioned above.
Taken over a career, I think the RH that I would choose LAST would be Gibson. Wouldn't have imagined that. 251 career wins, but only 1 season with an ERA+ over 165 (THAT phenominal..they even changed the rules following that one ). Career ERA+ over 17 seasons of 128.
Seaver and Palmer essentially have very similar careers, although Tom Terrific does have a 43 win advantage.
Palmer has a career 126 ERA+ and minus the 17 innings he threw in his last season, he only had one year below 94 in 19 seasons. From '75-'79 he averaged 316 innings and 21.5 wins.
Seaver was north of 165+ 4 times (Palmer only once). 311 wins for Seaver. 128 career ERA+. 20 seasons and only two below 100 with the ERA+. And one of those was a 99! Heck of a career.
Maddux and Clemens have mirror type careers, nearly. Perhaps the edge to the guy who cheated, though.
Maddux: 23 seasons. ERA+ of 132. 6 times north of 165. 4 Cy Youngs....and if Gibson wasn't the best fielding pitcher ever, Maddux probably was. I loved him! Oh...355 wins. (.610%)
Clemens: 24 seasons. ERA+ of 143. 9 times north of 165. 7 Cy's. 354 wins (.658%). He cheated.
Pedro: 18 seasons. 219 wins. .687% ERA+ of 154. 7 seasons in a row between 163 and 291...6 of them north of 190. His 2000 season may be the finest ever by a starter compared to the guys he competed agains in a season.
So......1955 was the rookie year of Sandy Koufax AND Jim Bunning. Which would you choose? it isn't as easy as you think. Check it out. Height of career vs. incredibly productive length?
The Pedro vs. Maddux or Clemens question is a bit like that. Interesting.
Were it me...and I was drafting for a career and not caring that Clemens was a cheating cheater. I would take..
1. Clemens
2. Maddux
3.Pedro
4. Seaver
5. Palmer
6. Gibson.
I hate cheaters, however.
Ergo...I drop Clemens off the list. A shame. The best RHP in history (OK...the last 50 years) destroyed his remarkable legacy.
That leaves Maddux. But, dang...Pedro would be WAY tempting!
Seaver and Palmer wouldn't be bad fall backs, though. I might consider them over Pedro. Maybe..Maybe not.
moe
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