Koufax continued. Koufax pitched 397 games; he completed 137 and had 40 shut outs (11 in 63 got that 11 shutouts in one year, 7 in 64 and 8 in 65).
Koufax pitched 7 ws games. He was 4 and 3 (4 and 2 from 63 on). His ERA was .97. In 63 the Dodgers swept the Yankess a team that won the AL by over 10 games. Kofax won two complete games. He gave up three runs. In 65 he was 2 and 1; his ERA was .37. These numbers demonstate absolute dominance. The counter arguement that he did this in a week hitting era does not prove that he would not have done it in any era. After all ERA is a statistic that has a lower theoretical limit (it cannot be less than 0) and a low practical limit (given the fact that this is a game played by at least 18 humans with a ball that can do peculiar things it seems reasonable to argue that an ERA of 1.00 is essentially perfect (remember WS ERA .97). So With truely outstanding pitchers (ERA around 2.0) ERA cannot be a good metric. So in comparing pitchers of different eras one has to rely on other tools. How about the opinion of other players (pitchers and hitters)? Koufax is almost unanimously rated as the best by players and baseball folks who saw him pitch. People like Bob Feller and Bob Gibson who do not give complements to other pitchers often both had stated he was the best. Hank Aaron another weak hitter from the era sadi the same. See next post
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