Mad Dog 98.9%?

Currently, the all-time leader in MLB Hall of Fame balloting is former Cincinnati Red Tom Seaver - better known by some as "Tom Terrific" - who in 1992 was named on a record 98.8% of ballots.

 

Tom Terrific pitched for 20 years (12 years with the New York Mets, 6 years with the mighty Cincinnati Reds [1977-1982], 3 years with the Chicago White Sox and 1 year with the Boston Red Sox), compiling a 311-205 record, a 2.86 ERA and 3640 strikeouts.  His 311 wins ranks 18th all-time in MLB and his lifetime strikeout total is the sixth highest in the long history of Major League Baseball.

 

Tom is universally recognized as a scholar and a gentleman, but even more importantly he threw a no-hitter for the Reds on June 16, 1978 [Scoreboard Stumper: Which Red recorded the final out of Seaver's no-hitter?].  Seaver was honored as the National League's Rookie of the Year in 1967, he was a 12x All-Star, a 3x Cy Young Award winner and won a World Championship in 1969 with the so-called Miracle Mets.

 

Yet, is it possible that this man:

 

 

..... who in 2014 will be named for the first time on Hall of Fame ballots, might surpass the 98.8% vote total of Tom Seaver?!

Let us take a moment in observance of a historical point in Heavy Artillery blog postings; This point officially marks Jude's all-time favorite blog entry.

Now, back to the subject at hand.

Greg "Mad Dog" Maddux pitched for 23 years (11 years with the Atlanta Braves, 10 years with the Chicago Cubs, and 2 years each with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres) on his way to notching a 355-227 win/loss record, a 3.16 ERA and 3371 career strikeouts.  Mad Dog's win total is 8th-best all-time and he has the 10th-most strikeouts in history.

Maddux is universally recognized as a geek.

A nearly unhittable geek.

Viewing the achievements of Seaver and Maddux side-by-side is illustrative.

Tom Seaver has the advantage in ERA (2.86 vrs 3.16), complete games (231 vrs 109), shutouts (61 vrs 35), strikeouts (3640 vrs 3371), WHIP (1.121 vrs 1.143), strikeouts per 9 innings (6.8 vrs 6.1).  Seaver was awarded Rookie of the Year, an honor not bestowed upon Maddux.  Seaver had a better postseason win % (.500 [3-3 in 5 LCS/WS series'] vrs .353 [6-11 in 12 LCS/WS series'; excluding Maddux's LDS stats) with more postseason complete games (2 vrs 1).  Seaver's best finish in MVP voting was 2nd in 1969, Maddux's best finish was 3rd in 1995.  Seaver had the advantage in All-Star games (12 vrs 8) and Tom Terrific led the league in strikeouts 5 times, an accomplishment never achieved by Maddux.

Pretty strong, there, Tom!

Yet Maddux won more games (355 vrs 311), had a better win % (.610 vrs .603 [note: Seaver's best win % with an individual club was .620 when he pitched for the mighty Reglegs]), more innings pitched (5008.1 vrs 4783.0), and a superior strikeout to bases-on-balls ratio (3.37 vrs 2.62).  Maddux won more Cy Young Awards (4 vrs 3), was the ERA leader more often (4x vrs 3x), was the league's leader in complete games more often (3x vrs 1x), and led his league in shutouts more often (5x vrs 2x).  Maddux also led his league in WHIP (4x), innings pitched (5x) and games started (7x), and in Gold Glove Awards (an astounding EIGHTEEN times, more than any player in the history of the award)..... four categories in which Seaver himself was never the leader.

Seaver and Maddux share World Championships and each led his league in wins 3x.

A cursory glance might suggest that Seaver was the better postseason pitcher (better win %) who perhaps had a slight advantage in most of the significant lifetime statistical categories (strikeouts, shutouts, WHIP, ERA, K/9, CG) yet Maddux was slightly more often the better (or in fact, best) pitcher in his league (as may be discerned from his having been a league leader more often and in more categories than Seaver).

Certainly, the eras in which they pitched were markedly different, with Maddux pitching in a more hitter-friendly generation.  Both had long careers, but ultimately longevity could work against Maddux as his final 3 seasons - which gave him 3 more than Seaver - certainly weren't his best and would tend to put him at a disadvantage to Seaver in certain lifetime categories such as ERA, WHIP, K/9, etc.  Seaver won ROY, but that's an award which is largely determined by the rookie class itself, some years see a better crop of rookies than others.  Seaver was named to 4 more All-Star games and that, I think, is a significant.

In my parochial view, Seaver appears to have been the better pitcher of the two in question, whereas Maddux was the better pitcher relative to the other pitchers of his own era.

Which brings us back to the question at hand, excluding the (Scoreboard Stumper);  In 2014, will the BBWAA name Greg Maddux to more ballots, in terms of percentage, than they did Tom Seaver when he was named on 98.8%?

I say "No!"  This is not a reflection of the relative merits of Mad Dog Maddux but rather of the assortment of single brain cell klowns which seems to make up an inordinate faction of the BBWAA in these modern times.

Uniform Code

My fellow uniform sufficionados should take note of the new (for 2013) MLB batting practice caps:

HIT THIS LINK, KIDS

I understand the need for marketing and the desire to expand merchandising opportunities, but ever since MLB made the unfortunate decision to have batting practice caps which were distinct from teams' gamers, well, they've mostly been a disappointment.  That trend will continue in 2013.  Although, I must say, that - compared to the rest - the Reds will have the best-looking-by-a-country-mile 2013 batting practice cap.  You won't see me sporting one, but I give it my seal of approval.