Posted By:
Anonymous"I would rate Pedro, Koufax, Bob Gibson, and maybe Spahn as being superior to Tom Terrific (anyone else remember Tom Terrific?)."
Some good choices there but for the sake of discussion and good ol' fashioned fun, I will defend my pick.
Koufax's career was too short - the guy didn't even win 200 games. He's Dwight Gooden's career, the other way. He also benefitted from a no offense era and Dodger stadium. He was great - don't get me wrong but Tom's endurance and stability smashes Koufax.
Gibson was great too - probably more dominating for a shorter time, but again - he didn't win 300 games. There's a reason for that...and the Cards had some great teams so it wasn't lack of offense.
Pedro was as dominating a pitcher as I have ever seen. How can anybody forget his 6 inning no-hit performance against the Indians while he was injured. But a bit too brittle for me to put him up as one of the 5 greatest ever.
Spahn had all the numbers - 363 wins - a 118 RelERA and is a good choice here. I can't argue much against that but Tom's RelERA was still better.
These guys may have all been better pitchers at some point in their careers than Spahn ever was, but for sure dominance and longetivity, I still go with Seaver.