Pettitte’s No HOFer, Yanks Pitchers Rarely Are

Interesting discussion started Monday by Keith Olberman on his MLB blog and picked up over at Pinstriped Bible regarding whether or not Andy Pettitte is a Hall of Famer, and why the Yankees franchise hasn’t produced a lot of great pitchers.

I love Pettitte–his grit, moxie and will to win have allowed a guy without great stuff to have an exceptional career, hard not to like that kind of guy; and he pitched my favorite game in the modern Yankee dynasty: his gutty, gritty 1-0 shut out of the Braves and John Smoltz in Game 5 of the 1996 World Series. But obviously, HGH aside, Pettitte’s no Hall of Famer.

He’s had a fine career: two 20-win seasons, 5 rings. But he’s never led his league in any category. He has more hits than innings pitched for his career, and he has far fewer than 300-wins. And, despite his rings and his several exceptional post-season games, he’s only 5-4 in World Series games with the Yanks and Houston. Olberman makes interesting comparisons with two other Yankees greats: Whitey Ford and Herb Pennock.

Quoth Olberman:

                         Ford               Pettitte           Pennock

Seasons              16*                   15                   20*

Wins                   236                  229                  241

Losses                106                  135                  162

Percentage         .690                 .629                 .598

ERA                   2.75                 3.91                 3.60

K                       1956                 2150                1227

W                      1086                  921                  916

20 Win Yrs            2                      2                      2

World Series       10-8                  5-4                   5-0

I’m fascinated by the World Series marks. Pennock made his bones in the post-season, and Ford, from his rookie year of 1950 onwards, became legendary in them. And here’s Pettitte with as many World Series wins as Pennock, and the same post-season percentage as Ford.

Interesting comparison but Olberman focuses only on the few categories in which Pettitte’s career is comparable to those HOFers. Ford, of course, was a much better pitcher, more dominating pitcher than either of the other men–with a career ERA of 2.75 (2.71 in the World Series despite the W/L record), three years leading his league in wins, twice in ERA, and a one-time Cy Young Award winner. Pennock, who had a long career pitching in the dead ball era in Boston mostly in relief before becoming a starter for the Sox and the Yanks. Pettitte may well be a better pitcher than Pennock was but Pennock was 5-0 in 5 World Series starts with a 1.95 ERA, 39 hits in 55.1 world Series innings pitched. Pennock dominated in the biggest games he pitched. Pettitte never dominated in any game.

Pinstriped Bible picked up Olberman’s thread, extending it to note that the Yankees franchise, for all the wins it has amassed, has never had prolific winning pitchers

 

For a team that has won as many games as the Yankees have, you’d think they would have stamped out a 300-game winner every 15 years or so, the pitchers just picking up wins by hanging around good teams. That hasn’t been the case. Only two pitchers have won even 200 games in a Yankees uniform, Whitey Ford with 236 and Red Ruffing with 231. Andy Pettitte is currently third with 192 wins in pinstripes, followed by Lefty Gomez (189) and Ron Guidry (170).

 

 

It’s true. Some Yankees teams have had excellent pitching staffs–the late 40s early 50s teams with Vic Raschi, Allie Reynolds, Eddie Lopat; the mid-30s teams with Red Ruffing and Lefty Gomez. But in truth the Yankee story is told in slugging and batting average, not ERA. For all the Yankees in the HOF, few are pitchers and few are likely to be. Among Yankees pitchers of the recent dynasty–and putting aside Clemens and steroids–only Mariano Rivera is a HOFer, although during the recent runs several HOF position players have passed through the roster: Jeter, possibly A-Rod (depend on how his steroid history is treated by voters), Wade Boggs (only briefly a Yank but a contributor to the dynasty), and possibly in the end Posada. And there are current players with the chance to put up HOF stats at their positions–Texieria and Cano.

So, despite the truth in the statement that good pitching beats good hitting, the Yankee franchise has built its 27-World Series legacy on hitting and enough gritty pitching to keep the team in games. Good formula as it turns out.

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