Occasionally the discussion arises about which pitchers had the best single season. Excluding (of course) Deadball Era pitchers, we look to the usual candidates.....Gooden, Maddux, Koufax, Pedro, Clemens, Gibson.. ..ect And Ron Guidry - 1978 He had a very rare combination of stats in that great season. Lead league in wins, win%, ERA, Shutouts and WHIP. Those are five categories (imo) which best exemplify a pitcher's success/effectiveness in winning, and preventing runs and baserunners. A tough combination to beat and none of the above did it. I'm guessing it has been done before in a single season....not as "common" as I thought. And he did it in the DH/A.L.
...yup, Guidry's '78 season were among the best all time for a pitcher. He also led the league with an insane ERA+ of 208 and an equally insane FIP of 2.19 while also allowing a minuscule 6.1 hits per 9 innings.
Good find & worthy of a like, And yeah he had a great season but the one I marvel at is the 1965 season of Sandy Koufax when he led the league in 7 categories, Wins (26), Win% (765), ERA (2.04), CGs (27), IP (335), Strike outs (382) & Whip (0.855). And yes an FIP of 1.93 & H/9 of 5.8
I found another - the Great Lefty Grove did it in 1931. And he also won the MVP that year which Guidry was denied/robbed of in 1978 imo. But that's another story.
Since I've never been in favor of a pitcher winning the MVP I have no problem with Guidry not getting the MVP. Besides Rice had an incredible year & deserved it IMO.
I hear what you're saying....but Guidry also pitched well and won the '78 playoff game vs Rice's Redsox...lol Bless his heart.
Ah the Ragin Cajun, Luzianna Lighting caught in a bottle, for a short time. Damned I loved Guidry's slider more than Carlton's, and anyone else for that matter. Jose Fernandez has/had a great slider, yet Jose's movement is much different cutting across the plate from inside to over the plate.
Guidry was a WINNER, outstanding Yankee. Career 3.29 ERA, 1.18 WHIP Terrific athlete, excellent fielder. WS 3-1 1.69 ERA 1.06 WHIP
Just a shame the way his career fizzled out................. Through the 1985 season (11 years) his career mark was a very impressive 154-68 & only 34 years old. 1986-1988 (3 yrs) he went 16-23 Finishing with a career 170-91
I am very honored to have some old fuzzy screened VHS recordings of several of Guidry's web gems of games, I taped back in 78. VHS/VCR Technology really stunk back then, compared to today's HI Definition and Blu-Ray Technologies. Which brings me to the fact, I paid almost $400 for my 1st ever VCR, in that era, they were pricy. Last year I paid but $35 for a nicer VCR than the 1st one I owned at 10X the price, and 20 times lesser technologies and less clarity as well. If only they had HD DVD's back then.....
What no love for Juan Marichal, Warren Spahn, Bob Welch, hell even Dave Stewart (the cross dressing houndog).... Even tho' he played only in the deadball era, how can one have this discussion without mentioning the greatest Pitcher in the History of the Game IMHO (only my humble opinion), the Great Christy Matthewson. but then we'd have to include Grover Cleveland Alexander, Walter Johnson, and quit a few others, so I have no probs with your rationale on exclusion of dead ball pitchers? After all - you once said "I could gnaw on your leg now and then"....
...lol...yeah, I think I paid something like $1200 for my first camcorder. (Panasonic) It was a big bulky thing that rested on your shoulder...but it was "high tech" back then. (1986?) Now my cell phone takes HD videos with quality that will blow your mind that I can stream to my TV. ...my Panasonic looked very much like this one; (I bet it weighed 5 lbs.)
That's how it goes. Guidry was Guidry. Too bad he couldnt hang around and put up a couple more good decent seasons to add to his career totals but his 9-10 year body of work still speaks loudly.
Speaking of dominating a season. Switch over to hitting. 1948 Stan Musial was 2 HRs away from leading the league across the board in all batting categories. He finished with 38 HRs, Mize and Kiner had 40. Stan The Man lead in: R, H, 2b, 3b, RBI, BA, OBP, SLG%, OPS, OPS+ and TB (total bases) !
Holy Mother of God, I have not seen one of these Camcorders in ages. Looks like a modern day US Army/Marine RPG, bunker buster.....LMAO....good one 59.
Yep, much Like Gehrig gets overshadowed, Musial gets totally overlooked, as one of the greatest to ever play the game. Makes me wonder, how much Williams and DiMaggio, then latter Mays & Mantle, stole the lightning away from Musial. But then St. Louis always has had some great Teams since their inception, and still 2nd all time in Series Wins, and appearances. IMO, the smaller market of St. Louis compared to NY, hurt Stan a bit, but then Mantle could of easily been a Cardinal too....!
