So greatest lefty of all time is about one WS Game? Then maybe we should discuss Harry Brecheen.
But I’ll play. WS Stats:
Koufax: 57 IP, ERA 0.95, WHIP .825 36H/6ER/2HR/11W/61K
Grove: 51+ IP, ERA 1.75 WHIP 1.013 46H/10ER/0HR/6W/36K
If you look at the two “best” WS for both, where they made multiple starts, Koufax faced the Yankees and the 1964 Minnesota Twins. Grove faced the Gas House Gang. Koufax faced teams that hit far more homers while having far smaller batting averages, and Grove the opposite. Logic tells me that Koufax would allow more homers and Grove more hits. And the statistics bear this out.
I’ve always been taught that statistics shouldn’t exist in a vacuum. The difference in WHIP is easily identified through the lens of the era. I haven’t looked closely, but I’ll assume half of these games were pitched at either Dodger Stadium or Shibe Park. One pitcher pitched off a higher mound.
Koufax had noticeably more strikeouts than Grove, but also noticeably more walks. I think it’s pretty clear that Koufax had better stats, if you don’t look at the competition they faced. But how is one of these “The Greatest Lefthander of All Time” and one of these “Barely better than your church softball player”??
Oh, and for the record, Grove DID blow his arm out. He was regularly listed in the conversation of “hardest thrower ever” between Johnson, Feller, and Ryan. And he came back from it to, among other things, lead the league in ERA several times. All before modern medicine.
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