You mentioned Koufax in the same sentence as Mantle & Williams, but then point to Kershaw being evidence of how the game has changed because he'd be a lock with only 153 wins. That doesn't really make sense.94chem said:
When I visited Cooperstown as a child in the 1980's, the new guys would have been Schmidt, Morgan, Bench. The group before that would have been Aaron, Mays; and back a little further, Koufax, Mantle, Williams.
Even as a boy, I still knew every name there - Speaker, Cobb, Hornsby, Ruth, Gehrig. But a man my father's age - he literally saw most of them play, or at least read the box scores every day. A man my grandfather's age - still alive at the time - remembered everything that had ever happened in the modern era. To him, Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron were contemporaries. For us, we might as well be talking about Bible figures.
Anyway, my point is that baseball's history is so multi-generational today that there's nobody alive who can tell us what it was like at the beginning of the modern era, and our frame of reference has to accept that. Nobody can tell me what Walter Johnson or Bob Feller looked like after throwing 18 innings in 4 days, or how the ball jumped off Ruth's bat, or how hard it was to field a grounder using an "oven mitt" for a glove.
I'll shut up for now, but just think of this. If Clayton Kershaw retired today, he'd be a no doubt first ballot hall of famer, with 153 wins. How the game has changed...
Koufax:
GS 314
W/L 165-87 (.655)
ERA 2.76
ERA+ 131
WHIP 1.106
Kershaw:
GS 316
W/L 153-69 (.689)
ERA 2.39
ERA+ 159
WHIP 1.005
Koufax only has 12 more wins, which can largely be attributed to changes in the game and how starters/bullpens are used. But their win totals are very similar, as it basically averages to just about 1 win more per season. Kershaw has a significantly lower ERA, WHIP and has a better win percentage. If we're looking at any player today that looks more like a throwback to a legend of the past, Kershaw/Koufax are about as similar as one can get.
Heck, I'd say Kershaw is significantly better than Koufax, given the consistent brilliance of Kershaw throughout his entire career. Looking at their top 5 year stretches, the similarities are scary:
Koufax (1962-1966):
GS 176
W/L 111-34 (.766)
ERA 1.95
ERA+ 167
WHIP 0.926
Kershaw (2013-2017):
GS 141
W/L 83-27 (.755)
ERA 1.95
ERA+ 192
WHIP 0.873
It's the other years that sets Kershaw far above Koufax:
Koufax (1955-1961):
GS 138
W/L 54-53 (.505)
ERA 3.94
ERA+ 105
WHIP 1.368
Kershaw (2008-2012):
GS 149
W/L 61-37 (.622)
ERA 2.79
ERA+ 138
WHIP 1.137
I didn't include 2018 because I couldn't get baseball reference to create a total for 08-12 & 18, but adding 2018 would only make his "off" years look better.
