The Boss has passed.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by slotdirt

So, what's your point? Dwight Gooden was one of the two or three best pitchers in baseball for a similar period. Does he deserve to be in the HOF?

Name the one modern pitcher currently enshrined in Cooperstown who had a worse career ERA+ than Catfish Hunter.

You are implying that somehow Hunter wasnt a great pitcher when he most certainly was. You want to hold his last three years against him and the fact that he had a shorter career than most.

Dwight Gooden was a better pitcher at his best than any of those other pitchers, but his peak came during the 1st years of his career and his demise was self-induced. If he had 2 or 3 more seasons like his first 5 he too would have been in the HoF.

Hunter's weakness was the HR as he gave up a lot because he wasnt a power pitcher and didnt strikeout a lot of guys. But the idea that he somehow is much worse than the other guys listed is without merit.