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Originally Posted by BigCity
In one word, confidence. He couldn't be rattled. 3-0 count and he threw the next pitch the same as if it was 0-2, same intensity, same confidence, no matter what the situation. Batters feared him like no other. It was almost a foregone conclusion you were out as you stepped to the plate. In fact, we used to refer to anyone that got a hit off him as "lucky". I was a teenager and a Cleveland Indians fan and twice had the chance to go to California (once in '63 and again in '65). I also saw him in Pittsburgh in '64 (I think).
He was also one of the few pitchers I felt could throw the same quality pitch in the 9th inning he did in the first. He threw his curve and fastball with the exact same motion, so the batter didn't know what was coming until the ball left his hand.
There are, and have been, a lot of good pitchers out there - and Pedro is one of them, but I have to agree that the absolute best I ever saw was Koufax in his last 5 years. I feel honored to have seen 3 games in person.
If his elbow wouldn't have gone bad, he would have certainly won 300 and gotten over 4,000 strikeouts.... no doubt in my mind either, the best (with the possible exception of Walter Johnson since I never saw him).
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And you can keep imagining it - but it doesnt make it any more factual. Look, JR Richard would have been a first ballot HOF if he hadn't had a stroke - the counter-factual is interesting, but not particularly relevant. Everything you've said up there could be said about Pedro, and then some - how he played in the bandbox that is Fenway as opposed to the gaping yards of Dodger Stadium - how his career ERA is lower than Koufax's, despite the latter spending his entire career in the most pitching friendly environment of the last 80 years. Pure domination ? 1999 - 9 HR's given up, with a pitcher who's home park is Fenway! a BB/K ratio of 9 - 9! a K/9 ratio of 13.2! His four losses that year consisted of him giving up no more than 4 runs in each. In the games he won, he never gave more than 3 ER (in the majority- it was 2) He struck out 15 4 times in the season!
And then of course, there was this- the Division Series Game.
You know, you keep holding on to Koufax, when all the evidence that exists says otherwise. At some point, one has to accept that this is almost religous to some of you - that Koufax was a god, and by god, he will not accept challenges. Koufax benefits somewhat from the James Dean syndrome- left young, and you only remember the great parts.