Easy debate to win – Sandy Koufax is not one of the top five pitchers of all time

Some dude named Allan Rosteing left a comment claiming I know nothing about baseball. He was upset that Sandy Koufax was left out of my all-time top pitchers. People who rate him in the top five are the ones who truly know nothing about baseball.

To prove Koufax is not in the top five off all time is well, easy. He was done by age 30. He only won 165 games. He is nowhere near the top in wins, career strikeouts or even ERA. How can we call him “one of the greatest”? The fact is, we can’t.

His first year was 1955. He was 2 and 2 with an ERA of 3.02. Okay, not note worthy at all. In 1956 he was 2 and 4 with an ERA of 4.91; a very bad year to say the least. In 1957 he was 5 and 4 and had an ERA of 3.88, also a joke. In 1958 he was 11 and 11 (at least he won ten games lol) and had another bad ERA of 4.48. In 1959 he was 8 and 6 with an ERA of 4.05, also bad. In 1960 he was 8 and 13 with an ERA of 3.91, another bad year. In 1961 he was 18 and 13 with an  ERA of 3.52; okay, not too bad of a year there. In 1962 he finally pitched good going 14 and 7 and led the NL with an ERA of 2.54. From 1963 through 1966, Koufax was the best pitcher in the Majors.

But again, how can we call him one of the best ever? He pitched 12 seasons and had a losing record twice. He had an ERA over 4.00 three times. He won less than 10 games in a season five times, almost half of his career. He had 6 good seasons in 12 years, meaning he was okay or terrible the other half. How can we truly call that greatness?

Compare him to Greg Maddux. Maddux won nearly 200 games more than Koufax. He also won 18 Gold Gloves for his defense. Maddux also won at least 15 games in a season 17 straight seasons. He only won less than 10 games three times in his 23 year career; two being his first two seasons in the majors and his last. Koufax did that 5 times in only 12 seasons.

I could sit here all day and show pitchers who had longer and much better careers than Koufax. Should Koufax be in the Hall? Of course. But he is still not near the top five of all time.

Even Hall of Fame voters agree. Koufax only got 86% of the vote when elected. The all time greats like Seaver, had over 98%. I will bet money that Maddux hall of fame votes will be at least 5% higher than Koufax’s.

My all time baseball team

All-Time Starting Line-up

First Base – Lou Gehrig – 23 Career Grand slams (MLB record), .340 Career batting average and 1995 RBI

Second Base – Roger Hornsby – .358 Career batting average (number 1 all time for second basemen), 301 homeruns and 2,930 Career hits

Shortstop – Cal Ripken Jr. – 2632 straight games played (MLB record), 2 MVP awards and 3184 Career hits

Third base – Mike Schmidt – 3 MVP awards, 548 Career homeruns and 10 Gold Gloves

Catcher – Ivan Rodriguez – 2605 Career hits, .301 Career batting average and 13 Career Gold Gloves (MLB record for a catcher)

Outfield – Ted Williams – 2 MVP awards, .344 Career batting average and 1839 Career RBI (note: he missed nearly 5 total years of playing due to WW II and the Korean War)

Outfield – Willie Mays – 660 Career homeruns, 12 Gold Gloves and 2 MVP awards

Outfield – Hank Aaron – 755 Career homeruns (no steroids; bigger ball parks), 3771 Career hits and 2297 Career RBI

DH/Other – Babe Ruth – 714 Career homeruns, .690 Career slugging average (MLB record) and 2217 Career RBI (note: he was also a great pitcher)

All-Time Starting Rotation

Walter Johnson – 2 MVP awards, 417 Career wins and 110 shutouts (MLB record)

Greg Maddux – 355 Career wins, 3,371 Career Strikeouts and 18 Gold Gloves (MLB record)

CY Young – 511 Career Wins (MLB record), 2.63 Career ERA, 89 Career Shutouts

Randy Johnson – 5 CY Young awards, 4789 Career Strikeouts and 295 wins

Ed Walsh – 1.82 Career ERA (MLB record), 1.00 Career Whip Average and 6 sub-2.00 ERA seasons

All-Time Bullpen

Mariano Rivera – 482 Career saves, 0.77 Career Post Season ERA (MLB record) and save percentage of 88.9

Dennis Eckersley – 390 Career saves, 1 CY Young Award, 1 MVP

Hoyt Wilhelm – 143 Career wins, 2.43 Career ERA and 227 Career saves

Trevor Hoffman – 554 Career saves (MLB record), 2.78 Career ERA and 6 All-Stars

Goose Gossage – 124 Career wins, 310 Career saves and 9 All-Stars

Note – I do not respect players who cheated such as A-Rod, Bonds (whose head grew nearly two inches) and Mark Mcgwire. That is why none of these “greats” are on my list.