Throwing Slighted Pitchers Support

Since the arrival of the lively ball in 1920, name the five winningest pitchers in baseball.

Here’s a hint. Three of them are named Warren Spahn, Steve Carlton and Nolan Ryan. Spahn and Carlton were obvious, first-ballot choices for the Hall of Fame, and Ryan will be.

Here’s a far bigger clue. The other two conceivably might be kept out forever.

Don Sutton and Phil Niekro rank third and fifth in victories in the modern lively-ball era. We repeat--third and fifth over the past 75 years. No, not Tom Seaver, Jim Palmer or Bob Feller. Not Sandy Koufax, Lefty Grove or Bob Gibson. Just plain old Sutton and Niekro with 324 and 318 wins, respectively.

Last Monday the Baseball Writers Assn. of America announced that, for the first time in 25 years, nobody was being elected to the Hall of Fame. In fact, nobody came very close to the required 75% (353 votes) needed for election. Niekro missed by 32 votes, Sutton by an incredible 53 and Tony Perez--who belongs in the Hall but isn’t in the same No-Questions-Allowed category with Sutton and Niekro--by 44.

What a patent injustice! Who but dolts or villains could fail to vote for Sutton and Niekro for Cooperstown? After all, these fellows are in their third and fourth years of eligibility. True, their careers lacked flash. So, penalize them appropriately by not inducting them in their first season. That’s fair. Go ahead, make a distinction between the greatest and the merely great.

But keep them out year after year? By wide voting margins? What’s going on?

Many fans will boo those of us in the BBWAA pretty lustily for a few days. And why not? We baseball writers definitely do not have an anti-bonehead clause in our membership provisions. What’s wrong with the “yes” voters--like me--who can’t convince the “no” voters? Do we have laryngitis?

Despite the BBWAA’s self-incriminating count, the feeling here is that the problem can be fixed by next year. It better be. If we keep people such as Sutton and Niekro out of the Hall too long, perhaps baseball--and the Hall of Fame--will find a different method of selecting its honorees in the next century.

“It’s getting harder and harder every year to get into the Hall of Fame,” Perez told reporters Monday in Puerto Rico. “You’ve got to be Babe Ruth or Hank Aaron.”

Current BBWAA voters watched Don and Knucksie up close. Maybe too close. Both were friendly men who didn’t act like legends. Everybody teased the sardonic Sutton about whether he carried sandpaper in his belt to scuff the ball. The balding Niekro was a grandfather by the end of his career. Familiarity may have bred a lot of contempt.

We need perspective. We need to step back and see how exceptional these men’s accomplishments are when framed against this baseball century. Instead of denigrating Sutton and Niekro for “mere” consistency and durability, we need to understand how truly remarkable their longevity was.

For example, it is extremely unlikely that any current pitcher--even Roger Clemens (182 wins at age 33) or Greg Maddux (150 wins with his 30th birthday next April)--will win 300 games. As Los Angeles Dodgers Manager Tommy Lasorda told the Associated Press Monday, “You talk about durability, (Sutton) never missed an assignment. He was a winner. I’ll tell you, he belongs in the Hall of Fame.”

So does Niekro, who, ever the gentleman, responded to this snub with only one brief public comment: “I really have nothing to say.”

It’s our job to speak for them. Let’s keep this bone simple. So that, next January, we won’t have to repeat this exercise. Nobody questions that Carlton and Ryan belong in the Hall--by 100 miles. So, let’s compare Sutton with Carlton, and Niekro with Ryan.

Do we have the class’ attention yet? Is there anybody who can’t follow this? You can’t get stats among contemporaries that are closer or more indisputable.

Carlton had the best peak seasons, winning 20 games six times and four Cy Young Awards. Ryan had the best individual games (seven no-hitters) and the most strikeouts ever, by far. They had short-term excellence, long-term endurance and charisma. They were better than Sutton and Niekro. But (especially in Sutton’s case) how much better were they over their whole careers? Precious little.

Sutton and Carlton, who were born only four months apart, have shadowed each other so closely--using completely different styles--that it’s almost spooky. Each pitched for five division champions and four World Series teams. And each had a 6-4 record in LCS/World Series play. (Neither Ryan nor Niekro got a World Series start.)

Those who don’t vote for Sutton and Niekro say that neither won a Cy Young Award or became the game’s dominant pitcher. Niekro won 20 games three times; Sutton only once. They were just consistent and durable, not great.

At what point does durable consistency--for more than 20 straight seasons--become greatness? Surely, if any players have ever met that standard, then these guys qualify. Sutton pitched 200 innings 20 times, Niekro 19 times. Niekro won 15 games 13 times; Sutton did it a dozen times.

These two men are the very stuff of Cooperstown. Anybody who calls them out next year ought to be ashamed. They should be safe in the Hall by miles.