So last night on the MLB Network at the end of their HOF coverage they started talking about guys who will be eligible for the first time on the next ballot. Peter Gammons started talking about Roy O. He said that Bill James did a study on his top Big game pitchers over the last 50 yrs and he had Roy O rated #1 on his list (Bob Gibson was #2). Gammons didn't say that Roy O was a HOF, but he did say that his case is pretty interesting. Here's the Bill James article: https://www.sbnation.com/2014/1/28/5353248/big-game-pitchers-roy-oswalt-all-time
my advanced stats say baseball is the sport that players touch their junk the most. I have to do it if billy jean or thriller play on the radio. oh yeah, big roy o fan here.
Yes, and there's not really a great argument statistically against him. Him, JR Richard, Dierker and Nolan Ryan all have pretty similar numbers. But Roy did it in early 00's MMP, not 70's-80's Astrodome. He almost singlehandedly slayed the MMP beast that was supposed to be impossible to pitch in. Had JR Richard not had his career derailed, he was trending towards best ever.
Larry Dierker knew how to break in pitchers. I think a lot of the success of pitchers back then was due to how well Dierk was with them. Oswalt by far the best of that group that had so much promise. Loved his command of the strike zone and that 6 to 12 curve.
IMO he's the best - numbers, dome to Enron/MMP transition, steroid era - he flat out dominated. Dad talks about JR Richard in such high esteem - compares him to Gibson in how batters were afraid of him. The youtube clips i've watched he seems to have been a monster, wish his career could have lasted longer.
While he hasn't had the best single season as a starter for the Astros, he's been the best starter for the Astros. He was great for longer than anyone else pitching for the Astros.
I think Any player with >50 career fWAR has a case for the Hall, and Oswalt meets that bar. Unfortunately he just doesn’t have any of the other stats that greatly help his case, and there are a lot of guys who have similar careers who didn’t get in.
Sorry Roy O., enjoy uncle drayton’s bulldozer for getting us to the series, it took a Charlie Morton too win it
I think this is a lost cause. Sure he was amazing for the first 7 or 8 years of his career, but when he needed to have a minimum of 3 or 4 more amazing seasons, instead he fell apart completely. He's got no shot, and he shouldn't have a shot at the HOF.