This morning I noted how random and misleading it was to give credit to Jack Morris for being the winningest pitcher of the 1980s. After reading it, my friend Ethan suggested that I try to figure out who the winningest pitchers were for decades that happened to intersect with the 1980s. So I did. Here are the results with names and win totals (UPDATE: and here’s a fun graph of it all):
1971-1980: Steve Carlton 192
1972-1981: Steve Carlton 185
1973-1982: Steve Carlton 181
1974-1983: Steve Carlton 183
1975-1984: Steve Carlton 180
1976-1985: Steve Carlton 166
1977-1986: Ron Guidry 163
1978-1987: Jack Morris 161
1979-1988: Jack Morris 173
1980-1989: Jack Morris 162
1981-1990: Jack Morris 161
1982-1991: Jack Morris 165
1983-1992: Jack Morris 169
1984-1993: Roger Clemens 163
1985-1994: Roger Clemens 163
1986-1995: Roger Clemens 166
1987-1996: Greg Maddux 163
1988-1997: Greg Maddux 176
1989-1998: Greg Maddux 176
Poor Ron Guidry. Born too early! If he had simply started his excellent ten-year run in a year ending in zero, he’d be in the Hall of Fame discussion too!
UPDATE: Because this is fun and easy, I went five more years in each direction:
66-75: Gaylord Perry 192
67-76: Fergie Jenkins 195
68-77: Tom Seaver 187
69-78: Jim Palmer 192
70-79: Jim Palmer 186
90-99: Greg Maddux 176
91-00: Greg Maddux 180
92-01: Greg Maddux 182
93-02: Greg Maddux 178
94-03: Greg Maddux 174
If baseball was a video game, Greg Maddux would be the Final Boss.
