MLB Prime 9: Greatest Pitching Seasons

[Music] welcome to prime nine the countdown show that covers the very best in baseball guaranteed to start arguments not end this week it's the nine greatest pitching seasons of all time why nine that's baseball nine players nine innings prime nine [Music] the best way to appreciate the men on the mound who we've selected for the greatest pitching seasons of all time is to look at some of the guys who failed to make the list that's a nintendo curveball the player whose name is on the award for best picture of the year he's struck him out guys who won 30 games [Applause] devastating pitch pitch was nasty he struck him the all-time strikeout leader here's the payoff pitch he struck [Applause] 27 up 27 down baseball immortality men who pitched two no hitters in the same year not even someone who threw 59 straight scoreless innings made our list [Applause] we've got two ground rules the seasons had to take place since 1901 and to compare pictures in different eras we look closely at the stats era plus here then are the greatest pitching seasons of all time starting with number nine on prime nine steve had the best motion i ever saw he was a picture to watch through and he just was such a hard worker and understood his pitching style so good throughout his 24-year career the man they called lefty was about as picture-perfect as a pitcher could be never more so than in 1972 lefty uh walk around the clubhouse and kind of scream today's wednesday today's wednesday i look back on that right now it sounds a little selfish what's that make the other four days you know truth be told the other four days were quite often losses but when carlton took the mound in 72 the fills played with the heart of champions the phillies were pretty terrible and only won 59 games that season carlton won 27 of them which was an amazing feat in itself i think it was one of the single greatest pitching seasons anybody has ever had i mean steve to dominate the way he did that ball club had all kinds of problems but maybe they stepped it up a notch when steve was out there in general when your ace your horse your stud is on the mound everybody feels good about winning but especially so when your ace wins the pitching triple crown and has the best of his four cy young award-winning seasons the greatest thing he had was a hard slider no one could hit that and he just kept throwing and i knew it was coming it was awesome a lot of years but this year he was the best this stuff was just dominant the only one left-handed that i can remember being dominant for one season like that was uh guidry when he was with the yankees [Applause] [Music] i saw some great pitches but one of the best seasons i think i ever saw was 1978 with ron gibbon he had a fastball that came down the middle and would explode away guitry slider was incredible nobody could lay off of it as soon as he got two strikes the guy swung on his mission he was like don't swing that slider was guidry's out pitch for it was there one second and beyond you in a flash no wonder they called him louisiana lightning he just seemed to come in as into his own and take over in 78 when a little man from louisiana walked out to the mound it was a tough night for the opposition and gudry was never tougher on a full than that night in june when the angels came to the bronx [Music] the man they also called gator was so overpowering that night he gave birth to a new baseball tradition the fans late in the game got into it to the point where when there were two strikes on an angel's batter they would all rise listen to the crowd now on every two strike count you'll hear them you wonder which section did it begin in or who was the person that first stood but it all started that night [Applause] [Music] it was certainly guttery's most dominant outing in 1978 but his most important one took place in game number 163 a one-game playoff to decide the american league eastern division champion the yankees are going with ron gideri starting with only three days rest we felt like going up there you know with guidry on the mound that you know we had a great chance of winning the game gator would get that win his 25th of the year thanks in great part the bucky dense three-run shot it's been a great year for me and uh you know to come back and win on the last day of the season uh that made my year complete that year he was head and shoulders above the next best pitcher so that was the year of guidry what an exhibition by the louisiana lightning man christy mathewson was one of the five original inductees in the national baseball hall of fame and there were many reasons why christie mathewson was a trailbreaker he was the first sports icon in america the big stars of the game until bay ruth came along and changed things were the pitchers christy matheson at that time was idolized across the country he was a very handsome guy he was a college graduate that was a big deal in baseball in those days because not many players had been to college gone to bucknell was his class president there and was very much a guy who presented a positive image for baseball than era when not many players did christy was also one of the best pitchers baseball has ever seen he threw a record three shutouts in the 1905 world series and three years later he had a season that all but defied belief in 1908 he wins 37 games and it was a special 37 because of the low earned run average and the paucity of walks that he gave up he had great control maddie's catcher chief myers said that he didn't think mathewson ever walked to hitter from lack of control it was just pitching around a good hitter but even good hitters had no chance in 1908 for matthewson baffled them with a rarely seen pitch christie matthewson if not invented certainly was the first man to perfect what he called the fadeaway we'd call it the screw ball now where the ball could break away from left-handed hitters this made him virtually unhittable but what made his feet even more remarkable was that he accomplished it in the thick of the legendary 1908 pennant race he was pitching on one day's rest on two days rest that was his workload down the stretch that was the way baseball was played but not to this extreme he was the epitome of a workhorse that year almost single-handedly pitching the giants into the world series that 19-8 season of christy mathewson that's got to be one of the great seasons by any pitcher but not quite as good as sandy koufax in 1965 when much like mathewson he defined his era with a masterpiece of the season sandy koufax in 1965 26 and 8 record 2.04 under on average 382 strikeouts he was he was like a machine he was like a machine that you his fastball snuck up on you and just exploded right in front of you he just blew us away and he did that in 1965 as good as anybody kofax threw right over the top he had that drop type of curveball i really learned my curveball from watching sandy koufax he only had two pitches but i used to say he could actually beat you with just one when he wasn't getting the curry ball over he could just beat you with the fastball so that's how good he was kofax was better than good every time he took the mound and on september 9th he was perfect 1965 was the year sandy koufax pitched a perfect game into against us here's the pitch i remember sandy throwing the fastball and breaking off a good curveball [Music] you couldn't do anything with it them his fourth no hitter he made it a perfect game kofax pitched a career-high number of innings that year but still had enough at the end to throw world series shutouts in game five and then on just two days rest again he did it gets his second consecutive shutout of the twins dodgers are the new world champions sandy in los angeles when you pitched your seven to nothing shutout you were quoted as saying after the game i feel a hundred years old so today how do you feel 101 101. what sandy kofax did in 1965 leading his team to the eventual world series championship i would put that at the top of my list you know the thing about greg maddox in 1995 he never made a bad pitch not one every time he went out it was just magical [Music] got it what a job he's the best folks he is the best maddox certainly in that one season was as good as anyone could be greg's 1.63 era led the national league by almost a full run and when you adjust that for league average in ballparks his era plus is fourth in the modern era that's why he's the best pitcher in the game you know that 95 season just seemed to be a little bit a notch above everything else it was almost a shock if he went out there and gave up more than two runs in a game he was just that locked in all year long maddox went 19-2 in 95 and became the first pitcher ever to win four straight cy young awards one of the toughest guys to hit when when the count was in your favor right when you thought you had him in a situation somehow he'd always seem to make the perfect pitch three balls two strikes two outs maddox there they go the pitch led the league in nine pitching categories that year and won his sixth straight gold glove maddox diving gets up and throws from a knee those remarkable statistics don't really celebrate how good he was nobody does it better in the national league than greg medics to have a guy like greg mattis take the field and go out there game after game after game prepare himself almost like albert einstein maddox though you go straight from kindergarten to the masters program three pitches u-turn it was remarkable in terms of his brilliance in terms of his pitching strategies mr greg maddox strike three call there's your ball game no one had a better season in the 90s than greg but the best of the 80s belonged to doc in 85 the year after his amazing rookie season number 16 the white guy when he pitched whether it was at home or on the road there was a buzz there was electricity in the air the world was watching it's over it was always exciting for him to be on the mountain because anything could happen strike three you dominated the game so much in those early years [Applause] you could really expect all of a sudden for the fastball to be up 95 96. fastball got it he always had that little extra in his hip pocket that he could go to [Applause] i can see him today throwing that high fast ball on that great curveball and it was something to watch you wish you were on his side instead of against you with surgeon-like precision doc dissected the national league leading it in wins strikeouts and earned runouts i went to the american league in 85 and i remember i got a call from gary matthews the sarge and he told me saying man you were lucky you and that miracle and i couldn't know what he's talking about i said why sorry she knows because you don't have to face that dwight clinton over there in new york good fastball blows gutten was a machine in 85 finishing the year with eight shutouts and 16 complete games he would challenge you he'd come after you it's like an old time battler old time pitcher out there is going to come right here it's you and me let's go at it [Applause] i don't think there's any question that was one of the greatest seasons anybody had or could have but our next pitcher took doc one better [Applause] number this is one of the toughest most formidable most intimidating pitchers ever to take them out but never more so than in 1968. he wanted to win every game he didn't want anybody to hit him and you ask him and he'll tell you 68 just happens to be the year that everything came together i could throw the ball where i wanted to pretty much and yeah i was in a zone he was one of the toughest teachers i ever faced and i told you what this is one thing i didn't tell a lot of people but my wife used to go to the restroom on my face and give it you don't want to see i guess at one point during the season bob allowed just two earned runs in 95 straight innings he was the league mvp and best pitcher of the year bob gibson ended up winning uh the saw young that year he pitched 11 shutouts actually he threw 13 the most in one year since 1916. the man had 28 complete games in 68 and threw 48 and two-thirds straight scoreless innings and that led to an astounding era the best since 1914. an era for the entire year of 1.12 just ridiculous and then when it got to the world series he strikes out 17 tigers in one of the most intimidating performances you'll ever see [Applause] thanks to gibson and some of his fellow pitchers major league baseball made a revolutionary change after 1968. pitching was too dominant at the end of that season they end up lowering the mound and in 69 we had to pitch from instead of 15 inches down to 12. gibson was at the forefront of a number of performances and a number of developments in baseball during that era leading up to a series of things that have generally benefited the hitter rather than the pitcher the big train walter johnson had many great seasons but one stood out amongst the rest walter johnson's 1913 season has to be considered one of the greatest seasons ever by a pitcher the numbers alone are staggering he had earned an average of 1.14 which was the lowest in his career he had 36 wins which was the most he had in his career and he had 11 shutouts that's the most he had in his career there johnson led in almost every pitching category that year thanks to his dazzling signature fastball if you look at the few frames that we have of walter johnson pitching you look at that easy sidearm motion it looks like picnic beer ball hey i could hit against that but everybody who ever faced them said they'd never seen or heard a fastball like that before walter johnson as far as i'm concerned was the greatest pitcher in baseball history he was very difficult tough for right-hand hitters and also even left-handed and he was never clocked but no doubt was the fastest pitcher in history at his peak and certainly in 1913 it was pretty much one fastball after the other even the greatest hitter said you knew what was coming you knew it was going to be over the plate and you still couldn't hit it some of them would even say sometimes i never even saw the ball i just heard it it's been almost a century since johnson's remarkable 1913 season and no pitcher since has come close to his 36 wins from april to october the big train rolled on there's been a lot of great seasons by pitchers and the history of baseball but you can't have a discussion about which was the greatest without including walter johnson's 1913 season but while johnson may have been the best pitcher ever he didn't have the best season ever that honor belongs to pedro martinez in 2000 he made great great hitters look terrible he makes some very good hitters look awkward and i'll tell you what if you ask all those hitters back then they'll say the same thing his most dominant period ever swinging in a minute she struck him out on the high fastball great pitchers are like that you know they're not going to give you a lot to hit and pedro was certainly one of those guys during that year she struck him out on a curveball when he was on there were not a lot of guys that could get a hit off i think pedro had two things going for him one everybody was scared of me and then he had the electric fastball the nasty hook frankie ball strike three calls up and a swing and a miss he strikes out to the side he was flat filthy when you think about it he was doing this in the american league where they have a designated hit usually throws would you least expect breaking ball strike three pedro walked only 32 batters in all of 2000 and struck out an amazing 284 in just 217 inches strike three pedro martinez with 15 strikeouts an absolutely sensational performance by the best pitcher in baseball pedro's ratio of walks plus hits two innings pitched is the lowest ever and his era plus numbers set a modern day record great pitching has been characterized as an era half the league average pedro martinez in 2000 had an era that was almost one-third the league average he struck him out he just had this incredible air of confidence about him every time he took the mound but that is number 14 of the game for pedro martinez he was an event every time he pitched in another long list of massive performances turned in by pedro martinez the greatest single season pitching performance is pedro in 2000 it is the greatest season in the history of the game and the best of our prime nine one final pitch as amazing as pedro's 2000 season was some believe his 99 campaign was even better for that year he won the pitching triple crown and struck out more than 13 batters per nine innings oh and he also had a tidy 23-4 record pedro has 11 punch-outs throw five eleven pachados for pedro the all-star game was perhaps his finest moment in 99 as he fanned the first four national league backs complete dominance by the game's greatest pitcher one of the pitchers who just missed the cut was the a's lefty grove in 1931 lefty went 31-4 with 27 complete games and a 2.06 era he also tied an american league record with 16 straight wins and incredibly he allowed two and a half runs fewer than the league era well that's our prime nine what's yours

Channel: cacable7

Views: 16,242

Rating: 4.8588233 out of 5

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Id: MgqNp06XcUM

Length: 21min 30sec (1290 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 26 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/SilentWindODoom]

What happened to Prime 9? It was one of my favorite shows when the network debuted. I'm not even sure they do new countdowns aside from the yearly ones.

[u/Motown_]

If I don’t see 2000 Pedro, 1913 Big Train, and 1995 Maddux 1, 2, and 3....