Top 20 Pitchers - #s 1-10

Here is the 2nd and final installment of the top twenty pitchers. If you missed numbers 20-11, go here

10. Warren Spahn – The all time winningest left handed pitcher, made famous with teammate Johnny Sain for “Spahn and Sain and pray for rain.” 13 time 20 game winner his career began during WWII and ended one year after the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. More than just durable, he also was had five top-5 finishes in the Cy Young balloting even though the award didn’t exist until his 11th full season in baseball. Also a decent hitter with 35 career home runs

9. Bob Feller – Rapid Robert Feller missed nearly four full seasons for WWII but still won 266 games. Considered by almost all who saw him as the hardest thrower in baseball history, he had 6 top-five finishes in ERA and four times was top 5 in the MVP balloting. Led the AL in Ks 7 consecutive seasons played (broken up by his time in the service) and in 1940 won the pitching triple crown (Wins, ERA, K)

8. Tom Seaver – Seaver arrived in 1967 with a Rookie of the Year award then earned three Cy Youngs and was the face of the Miracle Mets run in 1969. On June 15, 1977 he was part of one of the worst trades in baseball history when the Mets shipped him to the Reds for Doug Flynn, Steve Henderson, Pat Zachry and Dan Norman. He then won 75 games in 5 years. A twelve time All Star he had won of the most distinctive “drop and drive” pitching motions in baseball history famously striding so far forward that his right knee would touch the ground with each pitch. His injury at the tail end of the 1986 season led to Al Nipper starting Game Four of the World Series and can arguably be sited as the number one reason the Red Sox failed to win that series

7. Satchel Paige – The Negro Leagues greatest hurler. When a young up and minor leaguer named Joe Dimaggio faced Paige in 1936 the Yankee scout at the game sent a telegram to New York reading “Dimaggio everything we hoped for, 1 for 4 against Satchel.” Paige was a Yogi Berra type legendary as much for what he said (“don’t look back, something might be gainin’ on you”) as his pitching. Like Berra, he was also truly great. Paige made his MLB debut in 1948 at the age of 41. He then spent five years as one of the most efficient relievers in baseball winning 28 games and posting an ERA ¾ of a run below the league average

6. Grover Cleveland Alexander – Third all time in career wins with 373. He won 20 games 9 times including 3 successive seasons over 30. In 1926 with his career drawing to a close at the age of 39 he had complete game victories in Games Two and Six of the World Series versus the Yankees. Then, in Game Seven, allegedly hungover, he came in with two outs and the bases loaded in the 7th inning and fanned Tony Lazzeri (who had 114 RBI that year) to escape the jam. After a 1-2-3 eighth he retired the first two men in the 9th before walking Ruth. Ruth ended the series by being thrown out trying to steal second base. “Pete” led the league in ERA four times, wins six times, shutouts seven times and strikeouts six times

5. Cy Young – Answer to the trivia question – What pitcher won the most career games without winning a Cy Young Award. Young is the all time record holder for wins (511), losses (316), starts (815), complete games (749), innings (7354.2), hits allowed (7092), earned runs allowed (2147) and batters faced (30058). In the first season of the American League’s existence he won the pitcher’s Triple Crown and in the first World Series in 1903 he went 2-1 with a 1.85 ERA for the World Champion Red Sox

4. Christy Mathewson – In a rough and tumble era Mathewson was one of the true gentleman of the game. A graduate of Bucknell University he counted among his talents his checker playing prowess and once defeated the World Checker Champion. Matty literally wrote the book on pitching, “Pitching in a Pinch” is considered to this day to be one of the great books about pitching. He is tied for third with Grover Cleveland Alexander in all time wins and his 2.13 ERA is eighth all time. In the 1905 World Series he went 3-0 with 3 CG wins in the Giants 5 game win over the A’s. In eleven overall post-season starts he went 5-5 with a 0.97 ERA. Died tragically young at the age of 45 of tuberculosis thought to be caused by exposure to mustard gas during a WW I training exercise. Despite their apparent differences, he and manager John McGraw were very close friends

3. Walter Johnson – Second all time in wins with 417 the “Big Train” was the all time leader in strikeouts for over 60 years until being passed by Nolan Ryan and is the all time leader in career shutouts with 110. After 17 years without a post-season appearance, Johnson’s Senators finally reached the World Series in 1924 winning a dramatic 7th game in 12 innings behind Johnson’s 4 shutout innings of relief. With Mathewson, one of the five original members of the Baseball Hall of Fame

2. Roger Clemens – Pitching a large portion of his career in an offensive era, Clemens has been dominant for nearly 20 years. Winning his first Cy Young in 1986 and his 7th in 2004. Overall he has 10 top 3 finishes in the Cy Young balloting. Winner of the AL MVP in 1986 and finished 3rd in 1990. Ranked ahead of Johnson primarily due to the quality of competition. Both were extraordinarily dominant for an extended period of time but a large portion of Johnson’s career pre-dated the home run era. With his 330th win he passed Steve Carlton to become the winningest living pitcher, only the 5th since 1910 (Cy Young, Lefty Grove, Warren Spahn, Steve Carlton), a post he will likely hold for a long time

1. Lefty Grove – Winner of exactly 300 games, Grove satisfies every aspect a great pitcher should have. He played for a long time (17 seasons), dominated for stretches (MVP in 1931, Triple Crown in ’30 and ’31, 4 time win leader, 9 time ERA leader, 7 time K leader, even led the league in saves once), and faced the competition of the 2nd greatest era of hitting in the 1930s while pitching in hitters’ parks. The last left hander to win 30 or more games. People often ask what would have happened if Koufax had stayed healthy, Lefty Grove’s career is the answer to that question