Posted by bad_luck on 7/31/2014 6:46:00 PM (view original):
Starting pitching is a monster. I'm tempted to break it up into groups: pre-1910, pre-1969, and 1969 forward. Instead I'm going to keep them grouped as one, probably unfairly favoring pitchers from the modern era.
Roger Clemens
Walter Johnson
Cy Young
Christy Mathewson
Tom Seaver
Lefty Grove
Randy Johnson
Greg Maddux
Pete Alexander
Warren Spahn
Kid Nichols
Bob Gibson
Pedro Martinez
Steve Carlton
Phil Niekro
That's a pretty good list, and really hard, too. There aren't any pre-1900 position players on the list, and for good reason. Not so sure about Kid Nichols, and even Cy Young - the game was hardly the same when they pitched.
Other guys near the bottom to consider would be Eddie Plank, Gaylord Perry and Three-Finger Brown. And of course you're always going to get the Koufax people, but I'm happy with him out.