"In the 50s in New York baseball, of course, the debate was about center
fielders. It was about Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle and Duke Snider,
“Willie, Mickey and The Duke” in Terry Cashman’s iconic song, 'Talkin' Baseball'"
You sound like every Sunday morning WFAN caller
"And by the way? If you don’t think Duke Snider belonged that in that particular conversation, go look at his stats, and see that he was the one who was the home run king of the city in that time, and by a fair amount, averaging 41 homers a year between 1953-57."
I stand corrected.
"Now, all this time later, we have a different kind of debate, built around two pretty remarkable starting pitchers -- Jacob deGrom and Gerrit Cole -- one that makes you ask this question:
Who’s the ace of New York?"
I think deGrom gets the benefit of the doubt.
I also don't think anybody cares.
"It happens to be the kind of conversation we haven’t had a lot with the
Yankees and the Mets over the years. When Tom Seaver was at his most
brilliant, the Yankees didn't have a comparable ace. When Ron Guidry was
25-3 for the Yankees in 1978, it was after Seaver had been traded to
the Reds. But it is worth noting that when Dwight Gooden was 24-4 seven
years later, the 34-year old Guidry was still around, and still had
enough arm and stuff to go 22-6 that year."
Dwight Gooden mentioned in a Mike Lupica column. Huh.
A prominent pairing I can easily think of is Mattingly/Hernandez.
Jeter vs. Reyes (and even Ordonez, believe it or not), though Jeter easily won the war.
I actually think an interesting present-day comparison, for those interested in that kind of thing, is first base. Voit led the league in HRs, though no one seems to care.
If you compare their overall statistics ... meh ... does anyone do this anymore?
I didn't read the rest of the article, but I expect Cole to have a great year. Maybe win the Cy Young. Still, deGrom gets the benefit of the doubt.
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