Best players eligible for HOF, not yet in?

According to this SI article, a young Carlton Fisk said after the game that Rose said it to him in the 10th inning.

Everything came up Reds: Cincy wins '75 World Series

In one of my favorite books, Lawrence Block's "When the Sacred Ginmill Closes," the narrator is talking about what he remembers from 1975, when the story's main events happened, and says, "I never paid much attention to the international news or the political stuff, or anything much aside from sports and local crime, but I was at least peripherally aware of what was going on in the world, and it's funny how utterly it's all vanished. What do I remember? Well, three months after the stickup at Morrissey's, Cincinnati would take a seven-game series from the Red Sox. I remember that, and Fisk's home run in game six, and Pete Rose playing throughout as if all of human destiny rode on every pitch..."

 

Santana never had a FIP under 2.60.

Richard had five seasons under 2.60. He put a 2.21 and a 1.94 one the board his last two seasons. Nolan Ryan never got that low. Koufax did.

 

Richard pitched in a moderate-scoring era with half his games in the best pitcher's park in baseball, one which particularly suppressed HRs, making his FIP look much better than it would've in a more neutral context. His career ERA at home was 2.58, quite good for that era, but on the road it was 3.76, which was worse then than it would be now. Santana pitched in the steroid era in home parks that didn't help him as much (3.04 vs. 3.39 on the road). His 3.20 career ERA is a lot more impressive than Richard's 3.15 once era and home parks are considered, and his career was longer. Even without Richard's big home park advantage, he led his league in ERA 3 times and ERA+ and FIP 3 times (4 different years), while Richard led his league in ERA once and FIP twice (2 different years). Richard's best year was his 113-inning last year that was cut short by his stroke, so he probably would've led the league in ERA & FIP that year too if he had pitched enough. Observers of their time were more impressed with Santana than Richard; the best Cy Young results for the two were 3rd, 4th,and 7th (Richard) and 1st, 1st, 3rd, 3rd, 5th, and 7th (Santana).

One counterargument to the above is that Richard didn't seem to be helped by the dome as much in his dominant last 1-1/2 years - only half a run better ERA at home in 1979 and actually 0.04 worse ERA at home in 1980, though that was only in 52 road innings. May just have been luck/small sample size - in 1978 his home ERA was 2.06 and his road ERA was 4.58.

Richard's numbers do show something I've never noticed in any other pitcher - from 1974 to 1980, his FIP was lower each year than in the previous year.

 

Great post...

Richard was having a career sort of like Koufax where he found his control, a little, and that filthy slider later in his career.