What Makes an Elite Pitcher?: Young, Mathewson, Johnson, Alexander, Grove, Spahn, Seaver, Clemens, and Maddux

by Warren N. Wilbert

Elite baseball pitchers are elite for a reason. They seem to have it a variety of pitches that no one can lay a bat to; cool heads and confidence in their "stuff" when they get in a jam; and the kind of dexterity that makes difficult plays seem easy. Is elite status revealed through statistics? Though the author of this book considers statistics of both the traditional and sabermetric sort, he argues that the greats are proved not by broad statistical comparison with all other pitchers, but by their record against one another. In a thoughtful discussion of the evidence of head-to-head matchups, he finds the nine pitchers who make up the true Cy Young, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, Grover Alexander, Lefty Grove, Warren Spahn, Tom Seaver, Roger Clemens, and Greg Maddux. For each pitcher the book provides biographical information, career highlights, and a list of the feats that put him in the record books.

394 pages, Paperback

First published May 7, 2003