One Game, must win, any era, who's your pitcher?

I think I would take Bob Gibson circa 68-69.
Sparks are an impressive organization. Son of Flintoide recently moved to Oswego so I will try to check you guys out this summer.

Im going with my michigan roots and going ....

this is bold

Jack Morris

Ill hear some **** but that is my guy.

Whether it was with the Marlins or the Red Sox, Josh Beckett has been pretty difficult to beat come playoff time. I also always liked the "Bulldog" Orel Hershiser.

As far as watching pitchers in their prime, Maddux of the mid 90s and Martinez of the late 90s (he had the best FB, curve, and CH I've ever seen) would be hard to beat in one game.

Steeley-

I, too, am going with a homestate boy. 8-2 & 2.06 ERA in the playoff - Curt Schilling.

You see "competitor" written all over him.

I'll go with Gibson too with Koufax a close second.

Jack Morris? Did Michigan have National TV? lol..

Not a bad call, from 82-86 or so Morris put up some huge numbers. Innings pitched was unreal.

I can see the little Steeley now,

Someday I will throw that filthy splitty...

Been told by some very creditable people who had the oppurtunity to see many guys, say that Sandy Kofax for a period was the best to ever let it fly.
Wish I could have seen him..

I would either go with one season 59 game winner Old Hoss Radbourn or Satchel was always fun to watch throw in big games.

With due respect to all of the pitchers' named, Sandy Koufax would be my choice. I did get to both watch him and HEAR him pitch at Wrigley. With the small crowds back in the day, and when you could sneak down into the box seats with a grandstand ticket, you could actually hear Koufax's fastball. It kind of sounded like a whizzing. I've never heard of anyone like Sandy before or seen anyone like him since. If he had pitched in today's era, with today's surgical advancements to help his bum arm, there wouldn't be many pitching records that didn't have his name on them. Just one man's opinion.

who we playing, the 2006 Cubs or 27 Yankees?

The first name that came to my mind was Gibson...but since that's been echoed already, I had to dig deep into the vaults of my memories (my mind is like a bad neighborhood, you don't want to go in alone), as a White Sox fan, and come up with the guy that I always hated seeing...

Ron Guidry

Simple


Sid Finch

I’d call #21, Warren Spahn. He is the MBL’s winningest LHP (3.09 ERA), fifth all time behind Cy Young, Walter Johnson, Grover Cleveland, and Christy Mathewson. It has been said that he would have finished second only to Cy Young had he not missed 3 seasons of his career by enlisting in the US Army during the Second World War. Spahn received the Silver Star (for gallantry) and was “field commissioned” a second lieutenant during the Battle of the Bulge.

“Let me summarize it like this,” he said, “after you’ve slept in frozen tank ruts, every day you spend playing baseball is a breeze.”

Spahn got better with age… won 20 games 13 times (MLB record), threw two no-hitters the first when he was 39, won 3 ERA titles, and made 14 All-Star Games. One of the best pitching rotations in baseball was; “Spahn and Sain – And two days of rain”. He won 363 MLB games only 10 fewer than Mathewson. He pitched in the Bigs until 1965 when he was 44 but loved the game so much that he didn’t leave the mound for good until after his 47th birthday, playing for the Mexico City Tigers and finally Tulsa in the Pacific Coast League.

“I enjoyed my work,” he said at Cooperstown. “That’s one reason I wanted to pitch forever. I never did retire from pitching. It was baseball that retired me.”

This guy (6 foot nothin’, 170 pound of nothin’) was the real-deal, a true hero, and an enduring baseball icon, especially in this baseball era driven by million dollar contracts and bio-technology.

Who’s your pitcher, one game, must win, any era; #21 Spahnie... he’s my guy.

“Home plate is seventeen inches wide, but I ignore the middle twelve inches. I pitch to the two and a half inches on each side” ~ Warren Spahn

Gotta have some Cubbies in here...so im going with Rick or Paul Reushel

Tom Seaver

For me it is Tom Seaver with Gibson right behind him

But them we can talk about Sal "THE BARBER" Maglie

1968 was the year that I became a baseball fan. I had already been playing (yes, I'm old), but I really didn't love the game until that year. It was, of course, the year Denny McLain dominated the AL and won 31 games. I would have picked him for the "big game" except that Mickey Lolich actually won the 3 big WS games for the Tigers.

And while Seaver and Gibson are always in the conversation for best ever (I think it's either Kofax or Gibson), if I had ONE game that I wanted to win, I would call on the 1985 version of Dwight Gooden. I just didn't think it was fair to the other players when I watched him pitch that year.

Mike F

#1 Sandy Koufax in a landslide.

Was in Wrigley Field when he pitched a 1-0 game against the Cubbies on a Saturday afternoon.

I don't think the Cubbies hit the ball solidly during the entire game.

Seems like it was over in less than 2 hours.

---

#2 Denny McLain only in his majical year when he won 30 games.

#3 Don Drysdale and Whitey Ford

All Time:
Walter Johnson

My Lifetime:
Steve Carlton

1 Season
Tie
Denny McClain
Bob Shaw
Sandy Koufax
Babe Ruth

Catfish Hunter
or
Mike Ditka

IMO,
Koufax of 1962-1966

or could it be...
Don Larson of Oct 8, 1956

Once watched Randy Johnson pitch a game that was the best I've ever seen. His statistics in the late 90s and early 2000s rival any pitcher who ever lived. I think a lot of hitters would pick him as the answer to this question.

PG, its funny you say that because a few years back I have actually asked a few ex-MLB guys, who was the toughest guy to hit? and Randy was all their answers.

I find it interesting to see the number of pitchers named

Coach Steeley,

I for one won't laugh at you for choosing Jack Morris, though I think all of the pitchers named here are deserving.

Jack Morris, 1991 World Series MVP:
http://baseball.suite101.com/article.cfm/great_world_series_games_number_8

Hands down!

My pitcher hands down is Bob Feller. He started in the big leagues when he was in 11th grade. We may never know how hard he threw but his name always comes up when they talk about the hard throwers. He spent the prime of his career in the military and won 25 games the year he returned after a four year layoff. I am always a little surprised that PG being from Iowa does not mention him more.

Off topic but for other positions I loved Reggie Jackson as he never seemed to let me down as a kid. Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell were also favorites. Paul O'Neil is one of the best clutch players I have ever seen and his 5 WS rings are a testament to that. I hated when my team played his. Reggie also owns many rings both college at Arizona State and pros with the A's and the Yankees.

ClevelandDad,

You are 100% correct about Bob Feller. Great Player, Great Human Being. He is a hero in my book because he took 4 years out of the prime of his career to serve his country. I was attending a function he was at several years ago in Des Moines and someone asked he if he had it to do over would he have stayed home and played baseball rather than going to the military. Without hesitation he said he would not have even though of doing that even though it possibly cost him several all time baseball records.

If anyone out there ever makes it through Iowa, he has a museum in Van Meter, Iowa a little west of Des Moines and a few miles south of Interstate 80. The museum has his first major league contract which was written on a restaurant napkin, I believe, and the bat that he gave Babe Ruth to lean on during his farewell in Yankee Stadium and appears in the very famous picture of the Babe.

Wow...so many greats to choose from.
I'd say Babe Ruth in his prime time, Sandy Koufax in my time.
Babe Ruth, top lefty of his era. Pitched 14 inning complete game in 1916 World Series. Of course the losing pitcher, Ernie Shore, threw 13 1/3 innings. Yep, sure was a different era. In the 1916 WS, Ruth was 1-0 with a .64 ERA; in 1918 he went 2-0 with a 1.06 ERA. Christy Mathewson, twice during the 1912 World Series retired the side on just 3 pitches. The first time came in game 2 in the 11th inning of his 11 inning complete game victory.
I agree about "hearing" the Koufax fastball. His curve, at 85 mph, also struck fear in the hearts of hitters. Who can foget his 15 strikeout performance against the Yankees in game 1 of the '63 series, or his 23 strikeouts in 18 innings that year, in a span of 4 days, bad arm and all. Plus, he had those 3 no hitters and the perfect game against the Cubs for a total of 4 no-no's.

quote:

Originally posted by BBFan58:
Wow...so many greats to choose from.
I'd say Babe Ruth in his prime time, Sandy Koufax in my time.
Babe Ruth, top lefty of his era. Pitched 14 inning complete game in 1916 World Series. Of course the losing pitcher, Ernie Shore, threw 13 1/3 innings. Yep, sure was a different era. In the 1916 WS, Ruth was 1-0 with a .64 ERA; in 1918 he went 2-0 with a 1.06 ERA. Christy Mathewson, twice during the 1912 World Series retired the side on just 3 pitches. The first time came in game 2 in the 11th inning of his 11 inning complete game victory.
I agree about "hearing" the Koufax fastball. His curve, at 85 mph, also struck fear in the hearts of hitters. Who can foget his 15 strikeout performance against the Yankees in game 1 of the '63 series, or his 23 strikeouts in 18 innings that year, in a span of 4 days, bad arm and all. Plus, he had those 3 no hitters and the perfect game against the Cubs for a total of 4 no-no's.

BBFan58 - I agree. If we are agruing who is the best player of all time, then I think it is Ruth and no one else is close.

If I had to pick one pitcher for one game it would have to be Vida Blue. In the early 70's he was the man. His fastball was clocked at 100 mph and he went 24-8 in 1971 with 301 K's and also won the Cy Young and MVP Award. Yankee fans are still upset that Bowie Kuhn vetoed the trade in 1976. Game 7 of the world Series, Vida Blue....

I always thought it was cool that Blue put his first name on the back of his jersey. Cool band as well. I have seen them in concert twice down in Florida.

http://www.vidablue.net/bandmembers/

I Changed my mind...

The Mad Hungarian.. Al Hrobosky

Nuff said

Game over

You may be on to something Coach...those Hungarians, even the really mad ones, all love their paprika and Al certainly was no exception...


Paprika is a spice made from the grinding of dried sweet red bell peppers (Capsicum annuum). In many European countries the name paprika also refers to bell peppers themselves. The seasoning is used in many cuisines to add colour and flavour to dishes.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word comes from the Hungarian "paprika", which derives from the Serbian "paprena", which means "the one that is hot" and it is derived from Serbian papar "pepper" which in turn was borrowed from the Latin "piper", for "pepper."



"The one who was hot."

Dewey LaMar Hoyt, White Sox 1983.

OK he wasn't that good except for two seasons. I did see him pitch one of the best games ever in 1983. He faced 27 batters. He only got to ball 3 once. It was a one hitter because of a wind blown pop-up that Ozzie would have caught, but Ron Kittle got in his way and it dropped. The next pitch was a double play. Should have been perfect. Don Larsen's was in the WS, so his game was under more pressure, but this was truly DOMINATION.

ClevelandDad - it's tough to compare era's however Ruth as the greatest of all time is hard to argue.
As a pitcher Ructh went 94-46 with a career ERA of 2.28. He started 148 games and had 107 complete games. He threw 17 shutouts.
As a hitter he is pretty much above everyone. A ton of great hitters (Ted Williams, Jimmy Foxx, etc. from his era), plus the sluggers of today. However, look at how Ruth, Aaron, and Barry Bonds compare:

Games AB Hits HR RBI BA
Ruth 2503 8399 2873 714 2213 .342
Aaron 3298 12364 3771 755 2297 .305
Bonds 2986 9847 2935 762 1996 .298

So, it took Aaron almost 4,000 more at bats to get 41 more homers, Bonds 1,500 more at bats for 48 more home runs. Also, look at RBI's and BA.

So Ruth (who was also known as a strong outfielder)was a top pitcher and one of the greatest hitters.

quote:

Originally posted by BBFan58:
ClevelandDad - it's tough to compare era's however Ruth as the greatest of all time is hard to argue.
As a pitcher Ructh went 94-46 with a career ERA of 2.28. He started 148 games and had 107 complete games. He threw 17 shutouts.
As a hitter he is pretty much above everyone. A ton of great hitters (Ted Williams, Jimmy Foxx, etc. from his era), plus the sluggers of today. However, look at how Ruth, Aaron, and Barry Bonds compare:

Games AB Hits HR RBI BA
Ruth 2503 8399 2873 714 2213 .342
Aaron 3298 12364 3771 755 2297 .305
Bonds 2986 9847 2935 762 1996 .298

So, it took Aaron almost 4,000 more at bats to get 41 more homers, Bonds 1,500 more at bats for 48 more home runs. Also, look at RBI's and BA.

So Ruth (who was also known as a strong outfielder)was a top pitcher and one of the greatest hitters.

BBfan58 - great stuff! I have said before, all Barry needs to do now is go out and learn how to pitch, and win 20 games for the next five years and then we can compare him to Ruth. As you noted, I believe both Barry's and Hank's offensive numbers pale in comparison when you compare the number of at bats. The lifetime .342 average is very impressive for a power hitter as well. There is a reason Ruth's name always comes up. To this day he remains the best and most famous ball player of all time imho.

Hard to believe Nolan Ryan not mentioned. Big time numbers on some mediocre teams.I think he was as dominating over a long period of time as anyone.One game with a great team, say the Yankees..... unbeatable?

Ryan has been disqualified for giving Robin Ventura noogies!

Fricken Jack Burns "Black Jack" McDowell of the Chicago White Sox; who was argueably as dominant as any pitcher over a 3-year stretch in the last 15 years: 60 Ws and 38 CGs.