Veteran's Committee Inducts Orlando
Cepeda. They could've done better

Once again, the baseball's Hall-of-Fame Veteran's Committee has shown why it should go the way of the dinosaur. In giving

Orlando Cepeda

Orlando Cepeda baseball's highest honour, they have once again diminished the meaning of the phrase "Hall-of-Famer." There were a number of other fine candidates far more deserving of induction. Off the top of my head I can think of Joe Gordon, "Indian Bob" Johnson, Wes Ferrell, Lon Warneke, Carl Mays, or even ...

Luis Tiant

First off ... I want to deal with what many feel is the main argument for Luis Tiant as to his Hall-of-Fame candidacy ... Catfish Hunter. Yes ... statistically they're quite similar. Here's a quick comparison ...

As you can see they're similar statistically. That's a point, but it's good to bear in mind that it's just one point. There are other factors to take into consideration. First off, Hunter had four of his five 20-win seasons in a good pitcher's park (Oakland Alameda Coliseum). Tiant had three of his four in good hitter's parks (Fenway). Hunter was the ace of pitching staffs that won six pennants and five World Series (you can argue that Ron Guidry was the ace on the Yankee squads and I can't necessarily prove you wrong) ... Tiant never pitched on a World Series winner. Tiant once lost 20 games in a season ... Hunter's career high in losses was 17. They both had some of their best seasons from 1972-76. Over that span Hunter was 107-53 with an ERA of 2.41 and Tiant's ledger reads 96-52, 3.41 ERA ... a full run higher.

El Tiante ... overlooked?

You can attribute some of that to the parks they played in, but not all of it. But a point in Tiant's favour in that Hunter's winning percentage was just two points higher than El Tiante despite Hunter playing on somewhat better teams (Hunter's teams 57.3 win%, Tiant's 54.4). What I'm saying is that if you hitch Tiant's HOF bandwagon on Catfish Hunter it won't go very far. There were too many differences in their playing environs and circumstances. Let's face it 5-0 in World Series rings is a huge difference in comparing somebody's Hall-of-Fame credentials. If Phil Rizzuto had posted his career stats with the St. Louis Browns he'd be little more than a footnote in baseball history.

Having said that, Tiant may not need a boost from the "Catfish."

First of all, as pitchers' salaries go up, coupled with the (over)reliance of relievers, most notably the setup/closer genus which has made the 20 CG pitcher as rare as philanthropist agents, the extinction of four man rotations also has made twenty win seasons more and more difficult to achieve. Kevin Brown has had one 20-win campaign, Greg Maddux just two, Tom Glavine four, Jack Morris (who racked up complete games regularly) three, Roger Clemens five, Randy Johnson once (and he needed help from Lou Pinella to get number 20), David Cone twice, Don Sutton once and Nolan Ryan twice. There's two HOFers in that group and anywhere from 3-5 definite possibilities. From this impressive group of nine hurlers exists just twenty-one 20-win seasons. On the other hand; Walter Johnson and Cy Young had twenty-seven seasons where they topped 20 wins.

So it's a doggone cinch that the game has changed. So the fact that Tiant topped the twenty win mark four times is a definite plus. Several starting pitchers in the Hall-of-Fame had just two (or less) twenty win campaigns ... Waite Hoyt, Herb Pennock, Ryan, Sutton, Jim Bunning, Don Drysdale and Whitey Ford.

Tiant's career earned run mark is a little better than the league's he played in over the same span (3.30 to 3.62), but it most likely would've been better had he not pitched those years in Fenway. As previously mentioned Tiant's best win years had an aggregate ERA higher than his lifetime mark (3.41 to 3.30).

How was he though in comparison with his contemporaries? Don Drysdale has similar career numbers to Milt Pappas and Pappas is not in the Hall. Steve Carlton had no trouble getting a plaque in comparison with Don Sutton despite having totals quite a bit alike. But they were different pitchers. Drysdale and Carlton were routinely league leaders in various pitcher's categories whereas Sutton and Pappas surfaced atop the leader boards as often as a submarine with a screen door does.

In Tiant's favour is two ERA crowns (both times under two and once while pitching in Boston). He lead the league in shutouts three times and had the league's top K/IP ratio and fewest hits per 9 IP once each. Speaking of shutouts ... despite having just eight more career starts than Hunter, Tiant tossed seven more shutouts.

As a capstone, despite having not been on a World Series championship team he was a top notch post season performer. He received four post season starts, won three of them (one a shutout and one he surrendered no earned runs) and the one he got a no decision on the Red Sox won on Carlton Fisk's twelth inning shot in the 1975 Fall Classic. His post season ERA sparkles at 2.86 and is inflated a bit from the six runs he gave up in Game Six that year. It was his last post season game. When he took the mound that October 21st night his post season ERA stood at a miniscule 1.63.

A Hall-of-Famer? Someday I think he'll make it.