Quote:
Originally Posted by slotdirt
The statistic that counts - IMHO - is WAR, and Whitaker killed Sandberg over the course of his career. I know I'm not the only one who thinks Whitaker is one of the truly underappreciated players of all time.
Hunter is 195th in career WAR for pitchers, and has the lowest ERA+ of any starting pitcher in the baseball HOF. He basically had three above average seasons and 12 really average (or even below average in many cases) ones. Red Ruffing had three seasons of ERA+ better than Hunter's top of 140, Dizzy Dean had two. Catfish Hunter was probably a better pitcher than Rube Marquard, however, who basically was enshrined because he wrote a book that was filled with lies.
P.S. - and yes, of course I want to penalize Hunter for having an injury plagued career. It's fine to have an injury shortened career and make the HOF, but Pedro Martinez or Sandy Koufax (or even Dizzy Dean) Hunter surely was not.
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He had 3 above average seasons? LOL.
From 1971-1975 (5 seasons)
Hunter was 111-49 with a 2.65 era
96 complete games with 25 shutouts in those 5 years
Led league in winning % 2 of those years, led league in win 2 other years, led league in era, complete games, whip, h9, IP
Finished 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th in Cy Young voting in those 5 years
Was an all star every year
Hunters WAR ratings are effected by his HR rates. He did give up a lot of HRs. But to say his 1973 seson of 21-5 with a 3.34 era and finished 3rd in the Cy young voting because he gave up 39HR's and his WAR is not high enough is silly.