[legend]

I just wrote an article on Ron Guidry, and when I was done I wondered why he was never seriously looked at for the Hall of Fame. He had seasons of 25, 22, and 21 wins, a 3.29 career ERA, a Cy Young, a winning percentage of .651 that ranks 26th all time, and 26 shutouts. He was 170-91 over fourteen seasons, but really only pitched full time in eleven of them. There are plenty of pitchers with similar numbers in the Hall, Lefty Gomes, Dizzy Dean, and Addie Joss to mention three. He also won five Gold Gloves and was 5-2 in the postseason. Any good reasons why Louisiana Lightning has been snubbed so far?

[ThePundit]

Same argument for Don Mattingly. For a 3 or 4 year period there was nobody better than Gator but there was not much before or after.

[legend]

Except in Guidry's case, he had the most wins in the majors from 1977-1987. I know Mattingly had too short a period of greatness, even though his overall power numbers are better than Kirby Puckett in over 200 fewer at bats. But Guidry won 16 in 77, 25 in 78, 18 in 79, 17 in 80, 14 in 82, 21 in 83,and 22 in 85- not exactly a short span of time.

[ThePundit]

Originally Posted by legend

Except in Guidry's case, he had the most wins in the majors from 1977-1987. I know Mattingly had too short a period of greatness, even though his overall power numbers are better than Kirby Puckett in over 200 fewer at bats. But Guidry won 16 in 77, 25 in 78, 18 in 79, 17 in 80, 14 in 82, 21 in 83,and 22 in 85- not exactly a short span of time.

Wow. I didn't realize that Guidry won that many games between 77-87. Good stat Legend.

[MJHMarc]

Thanks for sharing those statistics, legend.

We might as well throw Guidry in there since he had a lot of solid seasons throughout his career. Even so, there are plenty of players whom we question their induction so why should we start to limit the inductions now?

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Originally Posted by legend

I just wrote an article on Ron Guidry, and when I was done I wondered why he was never seriously looked at for the Hall of Fame. He had seasons of 25, 22, and 21 wins, a 3.29 career ERA, a Cy Young, a winning percentage of .651 that ranks 26th all time, and 26 shutouts. He was 170-91 over fourteen seasons, but really only pitched full time in eleven of them. There are plenty of pitchers with similar numbers in the Hall, Lefty Gomes, Dizzy Dean, and Addie Joss to mention three. He also won five Gold Gloves and was 5-2 in the postseason. Any good reasons why Louisiana Lightning has been snubbed so far?

Dean was done in by injury...I think it comes down to what we feel a Hall of Famer is...certainly he has the numbers...but I think we have come to view it as a minimum of 200 wins...300 automatic...A better comparison is to toss him up against the players of his generation...the Palmers, Seavers, Carltons etc...against them his over all numbers (not counting winning percentage) will be below par...I think a stronger case can be made for Bert Blyeleven.

[legend]

Who was better in the American League than Guidry during his peak years? Not too many. I agree that Kaat, Blyleven, and Tommy John should all be in. All with well over 250 wins and high on many of the all-time lists. Koufax was done in by injury as well, and retired with numbers very close to Guidry. I am not saying by any means that Guidry was as good, no one was, but the numbers are there for him to have at least received closer scutiny than he got.