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warshawlawis inapplicable to Koufax. Bill James analyzed it and found him to be nearly as effective on the road as at home, except for ERA.
The Milt Pappas argument is what people are making; Pappas and Koufax have nearly identical W-L records.
Don't forget, Koufax won 3 Cy Young awards in 4 years when they handed out only 1 per league, broke the season record for strikeous and posted a record 4 no-hitters. He went to the HOF because he was the absolute best pitcher in baseball for five or six years.
Puckett and Mattingly are another great example of why nowadays it is better for a ballplayer to burn out than fade away if he wants to make the Hall. They have essentially the same stats lifetime, but Mattingly came out of the box looking like DiMaggio and ended looking like Mark Grace, while Puckett went through his whole career at essentially the same level. I happen to think that the modern emphasis on statistical analysis is good, but it also complicates things. Where would Dizzy Dean be today if he was up for election? Conversely, Harold Baines...