Best Baseball Pitcher of All-time

[vajerzy]

I hit against Wayne Twitchell in Babe Ruth ball. He went on to a pretty fair career with the Philadelphia Phillies. I once stood in a batting cage and dialed it up 95 just to see what it was like. What it most reminded me of was facing Twitchell when I was 15.

I also pitched against him. At the time I couldn't throw very hard, but I had a pretty good 12 to 6 yakker that I made the mistake of throwing to him three times in the same at bat. It was that third one he hit. I think there's a fair chance that that ball has not come down yet.

Up over and out.

That's pretty cool!! Seems that every Phillies game my Dad took me to- Wayne Twitchell was the pitcher. I attended the last game at Veterans Stadium and during the closing ceremonies there was a parade of Phillies from every year- and I'm pretty sure Wayne Twitchell was in the group representing 1971 or 1972.

[tkeith]

*****

I lived in the Atlanta area from 1985-2002, so I saw Greg Mattox with the Braves on TV many times. My objection to calling him the greatest is that he pitched everything a foot outside and got the called strike. Of course, he had great control; and it wasn't his fault that the umps gave him the pitch. If the ump gave me a pitch I would take it too. But that prevents me from considering him one of the greatest.

Another 300 game winner, Tom Glavine, always got that foot-outside pitch too.

*****

I've heard this reasoning before, and here's my issue with it. In the 60's and 70's, most of the game was shown from one camera, located in left-centerfield. Now we have 35 cameras on the plate (including friggin' infrared or so it would seem). I don't think the strike zone has changed so much as has the way we watch a game. Live games don't strike me as having that different a strike zone from the one I saw as a kid. That pitch "a foot outside" is being shown in super slow motion from a camera directly above the plate. If there were a way to see that few on pitches from Don Sutton, Burt Hooton, Catfish and a host of other pitchers from the 70s, you'd find that they were getting those same calls. Good, proven pitchers get those calls (unless they're facing better, more proven hitters).

The point that was being made, I believe, is that in the sixties, the top of the strike zone was still the letters, or the bottom of the armpits, and those strikes got called. That is no longer the case, and hasn't been for a long time. For a period of time, the strike zone was wider but with the use of Ques-Tec (iirc, that's the name of the system), umpires are being trained, and pretty effectively, to call pitches on the corners correctly.

And let's remember too that the most egregious use of the "foot outside is a strike" zone was Eric Gregg, who was in the group of umpires who submitted their resignations as a negotiating ploy. A large number of those umpires were ultimately rehired, but Gregg never got that call (and died last year, I believe) because he was such a poor home plate umpire.

Specifically, the post I quoted refers to the width of the strike zone. The biggest travesty about that Gregg game (egad he sucked) was that Livan Hernandez got those pitches and Maddux did not. That and Michael Tucker not realizing the where the wall was and losing his contacts. I'll never forget Maddux reaction as they visited him on the mound while Tucker went for another set of contacts. You could read his lips: "Motherfucker! He shoulda caught that!" That game still pisses me off.

[AllenLowe]

anti-semites -

here's Koufax in the 1963 world series -

[Aggie87]

Sidd Finch, hands down.

I saw him pitch once years ago, for the Corpus Christi Beach Dawgs, in the Continental Baseball League. Still can't believe what I saw that day.

I forgot to mention this was an exhibition game against a Dominican Republic team ("El Borrachos del Norte" I think?), which had Sidd's rights for winter ball. So Finch actually pitched for both teams during the game, running between dugouts to change jerseys between innings.

He ended being both the winning *and* losing pitcher that night!

[WorldB3]

he's nowhere near as flashy as most of the big names, but Greg Maddux in his prime Atlanta years was the best I have ever seen. The way he made the best hitters look foolish grounding out to the pitcher on a routine basis was pretty amazing.

Not sure if I would single out Maddux out of that staff. I think what the Braves did for 14 years during the Roids-juiced ball-small ball park era is mind boggling. I would say what they did was more impressive than what the 60's Dodgers and Orioles staffs did. I am no Braves fan but that staff never got the praise it deserved.

For those of you that will say "but they only won one World Series" find me a recent city out side of Boston and New York that would turn down 14 division titles and a championship in 14 years.

[Dan Gould]

Sidd Finch, hands down.

I saw him pitch once years ago, for the Corpus Christi Beach Dawgs, in the Continental Baseball League. Still can't believe what I saw that day.

I forgot to mention this was an exhibition game against a Dominican Republic team ("El Borrachos del Norte" I think?), which had Sidd's rights for winter ball. So Finch actually pitched for both teams during the game, running between dugouts to change jerseys between innings.

He ended being both the winning *and* losing pitcher that night!

HEY! Did I oversleep and wake up on April Fools Day?

[Noj]

I watched the Braves more than the Dodgers in those 14 years, since their games were on TV constantly. Maddux, Smoltz, and Glavine were all studs. They did have the benefit of some friendly corners, but they made it look good.

One of my childhood memories is watching Nolan Ryan pitch, my brothers telling me to watch the gun, and seeing him throw it over 100mph consistently. Years later it has sunk in that most pitchers simply can't do that.

[AllenLowe]

and here's Koufax after the goyim got through with him -

[AllenLowe]

allright - so my favorite pitcher is a Jewish carpenter -

[tkeith]

allright - so my favorite pitcher is a Jewish carpenter -

Looks like Pete Vukovich on the Atkins diet.