The article is saying he was a "big game pitcher". Some are saying he was the best pitcher in Astros history. That's about the extent of it. I guess the OP was talking about Gammons on TV saying something about the HOF, but everyone here knows better.
Yeah, but take away that lifetime 23-3 2.80 ERA against the mostly bad during his heyday Reds and he is just another pitcher.
That's very true, but I'm an advocate for a relatively small hall, in fact, there's plenty of people I'd want kicked out because their inclusion was a mistake to begin with. That said, as it stands baseball's HOF is still the most elite in sports so I can't complain too much.
checking out is wiki page and saw this story - never heard this before..interesting story https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Oswalt In 1999, when Oswalt was with the Class A Michigan Battle Cats in the Midwest League, he suffered an apparently serious shoulder injury. After a month of pain in his upper shoulder, Oswalt was convinced that his shoulder was torn. Shortly thereafter, he was checking the spark plug wires on his pickup truck. He touched one of the spark plug wires, causing the truck's engine to start. The truck's electric current flowed through Oswalt's body, and consequently the muscles in his hand tightened on the spark plug wire. Unable to let go of it, Oswalt grasped the wire for almost one minute. Oswalt then claimed his foot slipped off the truck's bumper and he was finally "thrown off." After the electric shock, Oswalt told his wife that his shoulder's condition improved and that he no longer felt any pain. According to Sports Illustrated, he reported it thus to his wife: "My truck done shocked the fire out of me, and my arm don't hurt no more."[6] Apparently, the electric charge loosened accumulated scar tissue in the shoulder. Oswalt claims he has not felt any pain in his shoulder since the incident.[7] He finished 1999 with 143 strikeouts and a club-high 13 wins.
Roy O had the best "career" as an Astros pitcher. If J.R. wouldn't have suffered a stroke more than likely his career would have been more impressive (but we're not dealing with "if"). That said Richard was a freakin BEAST!!!!! I'll never forget his '76 season when he got it all together. 20-15 2.75 ERA 39 GS 14 CG 291 IP 214 K After that '77-'79 was incredible (and he was 10-4 with a 1.90 era in '80 before the stroke). Back to Roy O. As Gammons mentioned his case is certainly interesting to look at, and I was unaware of Bill James top big game pitchers ranking for the past 50 yrs (that's why I posted it here). If Johan Santana isn't getting in it's going to be tough for Roy O (JS has Cy Young awards). Roy O is one of my favorite 'Stros ever, and as much as I loved him I think he's going to fall short. Before this last yr Roy O's gm 6 against the Cards in the NLCS (@ St Louis) was the best pitching performance ever in my opinion. Yes Mike Scott's gm 1 against the Mets in the NLCS was incredible as well, however Roy O's clinched a berth to the WS (it was on the road) and it was after the Brad Lidge debacle. Will be interesting to see how Billy Wagner's case plays out. I was not aware that he holds the record for the highest K per 9 IP for any pitcher that had at least 800 innings. With Hoffman getting in this yr and Rivera getting in next yr I just don't see it ever happening.
Were you guys not Astros fans back then? Because not having heard that story is basically like not knowing that Dwight Howard and Josh Smith were AAU teammates.
I love oswalt. Maybe my favorite player of all time. HOF-paced first ten years to his career but fell off a cliff--could have made it if he kept up the pace for ~5 + years. Will always remember how great he was his rookie year and of course game 6 2015 nlcs (after the Pujols debacle).
Considering all you need is 10 years to be hall eligible... like Kirby Puckett... who knows how his numbers would have dropped off once his prime was over...
Not sure if you are referring to Puckett or not, but he played 12 years and had a .894 OPS and 130 OPS+ (both over his career averages) in his age 35 (12th) season.
Sandy Koufax had a really short career also, 200 wins, I know he has won many World Series games, but the Hall of Fame, Has many players that haven't won a World Series. Honestly I wish we had Roy Oswalt right now on this Pitching Staff, Dallas Keuchel is not a guy I like at all, plus a Boras guy, Lance McCullers Jr. and Gerrit Cole are real nice but Boras guys too.
Roy Oswalt did take the Astros discount, wish he had better run support, better hitters, during those bad years, Drayton Mcclane cheap drafting really hurt those years. Oddly, George Springer, Dallas Keuchel, Jose Altuve Drayton years, came after Oswalt was traded.