Andy Pettite retires

[giantfan121262]

As a New York baseball fan, I always appreciate a good product over time and that is what Andy Pettite is. Although I think his 240 wins are just short of hall of fame induction, Pettite had the career 99.99% of the general population dream of. A fixture in the rotation and a class act. He was also the best big game pitcher I have ever seen and had the best pickoff move to 1st base as well. He will be sorely missed

 

[jaba]

I'm a Dodger fan, but i've always admired Andy Pettite. That guy was money in the New York bank nearly every time he hit the mound.

You don't think he will make the Hall of Fame?

 

[ndj101982]

If Curt Schilling somehow gets in, then Pettite should be a no brainer. There are a few other guys in the hall of fame with 240 or less wins. However, he is part of the Steroid Era that is probably going to keep pitchers like Rogers Clemens out of the Hall. Pettites confession to the use to HGH as well as his involvement with Roger Clemens probably won't help his chances when it comes to the voters unfortunately.

 

[giantfan121262]

If Curt Schilling somehow gets in, then Pettite should be a no brainer. There are a few other guys in the hall of fame with 240 or less wins. However, he is part of the Steroid Era that is probably going to keep pitchers like Rogers Clemens out of the Hall. Pettites confession to the use to HGH as well as his involvement with Roger Clemens probably won't help his chances when it comes to the voters unfortunately.

If Schilling gets in then, yes, Pettite will be a no brainer. One can make a case for him now b/c of his success in the post season. He is the all time leader with 19 post season wins. Also, if there was a must win game, there is nobody I'd rather give the ball to than Pettite. Another thing I thought of is that if the years in Houston were replaced by New York, I think he would have at least 260 wins. He missed alot of time b/c of injuries and not having Rivera to close games for him

 

[thetmfobserver]

Pettitte and Schilling should be Hall of Famers, though maybe not first ballot.

As a Red Sox fan, I took a very deep sigh of relief when I read this. Pettitte is one of the few Yankees I liked, so I'll be sad to not watch him pitch anymore, though I'll be glad I don't have to worry about him pitching against Boston.

 

[luvgirlsfeet]

I'm not a Yankees fan nor will i ever be my heart belongs to the Red Sox but he was an excellent pitcher and hope he enjoys his retirement.

 

[Mitchell]

Pettite finished his career 102 games over 500, at 240-138, a very good record.

Whitey Ford made it to the Hall with only 236 wins. The thing with Whitey, is that he had only 106 losses, and a much better ERA than Pettite. Pettite's career ERA was 3.88, Ford's was only 2.75.

With five man pitching rotations, the Hall may have to lower it's standards for starting pitchers to get in, such as using ERA, strikeouts, etc, instead of "The guy must have 300 wins to qualify". With less decisions, a guy with 250 wins.. who is say.. 100 games over 500 for his career, with a good ERA of around 3.00 or so, should probably merit consideration.


Very few pitchers in modern history who pitched in five man rotations their whole careers, ended up with 300 wins. The only four that come to mind are Glavine, Maddux, Randy Johnson, and Clemens. The first three are no brainer first ballot Hall of Famers. Clemens? Well.. we all know about him.

Some of the 300 game winners in the 60s and 70s spent time in four man rotations for a time, including guys like Niekro, Seaver, Ryan, etc.

Pettite was a very good pitcher. His record is fine, but his ERA to me seems high for a Hall of Famer. I think he might fall short.

Mitch

 

[usgrant]

With the DH I don't think his 3.88 ERA is all that bad. His 240 - 138 outstanding, as is his 19 - 10 postseason. I think the steroid thing may kill it for his Hall of Fame chances or at least getting in quickly... I would vote for him, I think his post season 19 - 10 puts him over the top.

 

[giantfan121262]

Catfish Hunter made it in to the HOF with 225 wins and ERA of 3.26 and "only" 59 games above 500. I don't think u can compare Pettitte to Ford because Ford pitched in a much different time than Pettitte. That was the time of the pitcher. Those were the days that Gibson had a 1.12 ERA and McLean had 30 wins and pitchers had more control over their fate by finishing games. I think Pettittes ERA is a little high for a HOF candidfate however, by the same token, his postseason record merits serious consideration as well. He was a stud in the postseason.

I think there are some pitchers who won 300 games only because they were arounf for 25 years or so. Do you consider Sutton a hall of famer? The guy finished his career only about 30 games aover 500. Granted he had over 300 wins but during his career, there was predonminately a 4 man rotation. I think if Pettite pitched with a 4 man, he would have 300 wins easy.

I don't think there will ever be another 300 game winner again because of the 5 man rotation and the pitch count. Whenever a pitcher leaves a game after 6 innings (on the average) there is always that possibility a relief pitcher will implode and relinquish the lead hence costing the starting pitcher a win. The Hall really needs to start thinking about that.

 

[ndj101982]

With the DH I don't think his 3.88 ERA is all that bad. His 240 - 138 outstanding, as is his 19 - 10 postseason. I think the steroid thing may kill it for his Hall of Fame chances or at least getting in quickly... I would vote for him, I think his post season 19 - 10 puts him over the top.

In terms of the HGH scenario, my thoughts are that probably almost every pitcher was using something like that during that time span. If Clemens ever gets in the Hall, Pettite deserves it too. His win to loss ratio is great. However, from what I have read, there are a good number of writes who said they will NOT vote anyone into the Hall of Fame who played most of their careers during the Steroid Era.

 

[jaba]

I'm no baseball stat guy, so I will have to defer to the expertise of many of you here as far as Andy's numbers. But in football, wide reciever Lynn Swann made it to the Hall in part because he made spectacular catches at critical times in high profile games. You guys don't think voters will take Andy's play, when it really counted, into consideration?