My last post compared Guidry and Drysdale and argued that they had very similar Hall of Fame qualifications - relatively brief careers but sustained excellence and exceptional records as big game pitchers. As I've noted, however, there are many who consider Drysdale's HOF qualifications marginal, a view apparently shared by many in the BBWAA, who waited ten years and ten ballots before inducting the Dodger great.

I'm very conscious of the fact that comparing HOF candidates to the most marginal inductees can lead to a gradual loosening of HOF standards. If a sufficient argument for induction is that a candidate is 95% as great as the most marginal Hall of Famers, then HOF standards will gradually be eroded. That's not to say that Guidry is any less deserving of the Hall than Drysdale, because in my opinion he is every bit as deserving and his induction would in no way represent a loosening of HOF standards. If there's any doubt about that, just compare Guidry to two Hall of Famers whom no one would suggest were marginal inductees.

Here's a comparison of the top seven seasons of three great pitchers, one of whom is Guidry. In the case of each pitcher these top seven seasons comprise the overwhelming bulk of their HOF qualifications. These are the respective averages of the top seven seasons for each of these three pitchers:


Pitcher 1 is Juan Marichal, who was inducted into the Hall in 1983 in his third year of eligibility. Pitcher 2 is Jim Palmer, a first-ballot inductee in 1990. The ERAs actually represent the ERA+ for each pitcher and an assumed league average ERA of 4.00.

Both Marichal and Palmer obviously made more starts and pitched more innings because they pitched in the conventional 4-man rotation that prevailed in the '60's and most of the '70s. Guidry, by contrast, pitched exclusively in a 5-man rotation throughout his career. Leaving aside that consideration, the average of their respective top seven seasons is remarkably close. I defy anyone to argue that Marichal and Palmer are solid and unquestionable Hall of Famers but Guidry is not.