Is Paul Skenes the Greatest Pitcher Ever...With a Mustache?
Paul Skenes has taken the MLB, social media, and sports cards collectors by storm. The chase is on to find his 2024 Chrome Update MLB Debut patch card one-of one auto. With everyone from his girlfriend Olivia Dunn, and the Pittsburgh Pirates offering a once in a lifetime package, it's incredible to think what this card is going to go for. Let's take a minutes and recap what this man has done, in such a short amount of time.
In his first year in the big leagues, he finished with a record of 11 wins, and only 3 loses, while carrying an incredible 1.96 ERA. With a fastball that can hit 100 MPH, he managed to strike out 170 batters, in just 133 innings.
When it was all said and done, he started the All Star game, finished 3rd in the Cy Young race, and brought home the Rookie of the Year award.
All of this had me thinking, is he the greatest pitcher ever? Well wait, let me rephrase that. Is he the greatest pitcher ever, with a mustache?
While making this list, I had to give myself a couple of rules.
- The player had to be known to have a mustache. The mustache couldn’t be a 1 season wonder or appear on the baseball card one time.
2. Beards and goatees don’t count. These pitches had to sport the stache.
3. The mustache doesn’t have to be wild, it just needs to be a mainstay.
Ok, so now that we have the rules out of the way, here are my top 5
Number 5: Rich "Goose" Gossage
Rich Gossage pitched for 22 years, ended up a 9 time All-Star. He finished with a record of 124 wins, and 107 losses. He pitched in over 1000 games, and saved another 310. 5 times he finished in the Top 5 in Cy Young votes.
Number 4: Catfish Hunter
Catfish Hunter, pitched to a 224 win career, getting over 20 wins in a season 5 times, leading the league in wins twice. He brought home the Cy Young award in 1974, and was a 5X World Series champion.
Number 3: Rollie Fingers
The man with maybe the greatest mustache ever. Finishing his career with 114 wins, when only starting just 37. He amased 341 saves, and a career 2.90 ERA. He was awarded the top relief pitcher award (Rolaids Relief) 4 times. He is an MVP and Cy Young award winner, and 7x All Star.
Number 2: Dennis Eckersley
The man who went from a being a bonified starter, winning 20 games in 1978, to being arguably a top 3 closer of all time. “The Eck” finished with 197 wins, and 390 saves. In 1992 he won both the Cy Young and the MVP, as the closer. The hall of famer was a 2x Top Reliever award winner, 6x all star, and world champion.
Number 1: Randy Johnson
Randy Johnson is not only #1 on this list, but can be argued as a top 5 pitcher of all time. A 300 game winner, 5x Cy Young award winner, and probably the most intimating player of all time. When he threw his fastball from his 6-10 frame, you basically had no time to react. He finished being a 10 time all star. Triple Crown winner, 4 time ERA winner, and a world champion.
Im sorry, but Paul Skenes did not make this list. Skenes has a wonderful stache, that I hope stays, but these 5 Hall of Famers are more worthy. It will be amazing to see how well this article ages in the years to come, and I do wonder if Skenes will be able to make the list when he hangs up his cleats.
In the meantime, lets acknowledge the greatness of all these pitchers. One thing I can say, you can pick up a RC of these top 5 guys for a lot less than a Skenes.
However, its not going to stop most of use to rip some Topps Chrome Update, hunting for that once in a lifetime card.
