Posted on 10/04/2014 1:08:54 PM PDT by EveningStar
On the field, Sandy Koufax wasn't just any baseball player. Off the field, he wasn't viewed that way either. The Hall of Fame pitcher isn't just remembered by baseball fans as "the man with the golden arm," but is revered by his Jewish admirers as "the left arm of God" for his talent as well as the public observance of his faith, most notably during the 1965 World Series.
A legendary left-handed pitcher who spent his entire career with the Dodgers, Koufax dominated batters like few ever have, atop mounds in Brooklyn and Los Angeles -- as well as just about every major league locale in between. His preternatural gifts -- notably that knee-buckling curve and relatively overlooked fastball -- earned him three Cy Young Awards and all-time great status in an injury-shortened career that lasted from 1955 through 1966. Five years after retiring at the age of 30, Koufax became the youngest player ever inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971.
For many Jewish fans, he was something even more important than a plaque in Cooperstown. The lanky, reserved product of Lafayette High School in Brooklyn was a role model for young Jewish boys -- and girls -- who dreamt big league dreams while also bolstering the hopes of Jewish adults who hoped to find success or even simply acceptance in an America they may have felt viewed them as outsiders.
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Also, compare Ryan and Maddux in ERA+. That stat is less dependent on whether you're on a good or a bad team, and it also adjusts ERA for era. Maddux is better, and by quite a bit.
I don't know of any major rankings list, compiled by baseball experts and historians, that puts Ryan in the top ten all-time among pitchers. A Hall of Famer, yes, and deservedly so. But not top ten.
You just discovered baseball after cable tv apparently. Rave all you want about Maddux, He is barely top 50 on my list, top ten on yours. Live with it, it doesn’t amount to a hill of beans in the long term.I’ll take seven no hitters and over 7000 strikeouts over Maddux any day. Where would Koufax rank on the list without the four no nos?
I’ll correct myself, Ryan only had 5700+ strikeouts
I’ve been following baseball closely for over 50 years. I have seen close to a thousand games in person and thousands more on television. I have studied baseball history. Even if I take Maddux out of my top ten, there are other guys I’d replace him with before Ryan. I have never seen a major rankings list that has done its homework on baseball history—I have never seen one that puts Ryan in the top ten. So its not just me. That’s all I’m saying.
Why don’t you bury this dead horse of Greg Maddux was the greatest pitcher in the history of baseball? You are either a Cubs or Braves fan that has fantasies of what if. Maddux was nothing really special when it comes to domination. Your top pitcher of all time, I got it.
Why don’t you bury this dead horse of Greg Maddux was the greatest pitcher in the history of baseball? You are either a Cubs or Braves fan that has fantasies of what if. Maddux was nothing really special when it comes to domination. Your top pitcher of all time, I got it.
” I have seen close to a thousand games in person and thousands more on television. I have studied baseball history”
Are you a sportswriter? Really a thousand games? I don’t know if I’ve seen a thousand games on TV
. Never sat down and counted. I’m calling BS. I’ve been a baseball fanatic for fifty years and wouldn’t make that claim.
50 years— 1000 games= 20 games/year
Doable.
Doable for sure, especially for a Cubs fan. I doubt it though
Doable for sure, especially for a Cubs fan. I doubt it though. It started out as a Sandy Koufax thread and got hijacked to a G. I’m just playing with the mouseregg Maddux thread
Wow, that really got scrambled. I’m just messing with the Maddux fan that hijacked the Sandy Koufax thread.
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