San Francisco Giants Madison Bumgarner is no Sandy Koufax
This is going to be like reading a headline that says, “Microsoft Falls To Number Two Behind Apple “. And then you read the fine print in the the story and you see that Microsoft had total sales in 2015 of $93.58 billion and you say to yourself, “Mmm, not too shabby “. Still, one elclipsed the other. And that’s the case between the postseason records of San Francisco Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner and Dodgers legend Sandy Koufax.
Sandy Koufax last appeared in a major league uniform more than four decades ago. He retired prematurely at the age of only 31 due to a degenerative arthritic condition in 1972 and marched into the Hall Of Fame on schedule five years later.
He won only 165 games in his career (Bumgarner already has 100 at the age of 27). But one-quarter of his wins were shutouts (46). He pitched more than 300 innings in a season three times (today, the barometer is set at 200), and he made more than 40 starts three times when the season lasted only 154 games.
Strikeouts? Oh yeah, he had those too, fanning 300 or more three times, including a high of 382 in 1967. Of note, the leader this year was Max Scherzer with 284. He also won 3 Cy Young awards.
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But it was in the postseason that he excelled (even more). Before we take a look at some of his numbers, remember that he pitched in a era when the postseason consisted only of the World Series with no Wild Card and Division Series to maybe pad the numbers against the also rans in the playoffs.
His record only stands at a modest 4-3, but when you see his ERA of 0.82 you begin to take notice.By contrast, Bumgarner has a 8-3 postseason record with a 1.94 ERA. As we said before, not too shabby either, but nowhere approaching the standard of greatness set by Koufax.
However, to be fair, it’s San Francisco Giants ace Madison Bumgarner who has pitched better in the World Series with a perfect record of 4-0 and a remarkable 0.46 ERA. Koufax leads in the shutout department 2-1.
Remembering The Past Allows Us To Appreciate The Present
So, the point of this is not so much to contrast and compare two eminent pitchers as it is to celebrate the accomplishments of Sandy Koufax.
Because the beauty of baseball, unlike all other professional American sports, is that it has a long history. One, in fact, that dates back to the days of the Civil War. And while it’s natural for us to live in the here and now marveling at the feats of Madison Bumgarner, it should also give pause for us to reach back to recall feats of the same kind.
Doing that gives us a historical perspective that may cause us to appreciate what someone like Madison Bumgarner has accomplished in the postseason. And the good part is that there’s still more to come when he squares off against the Cubs with his team down 2-0 and on the verge of elimination.
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That’s baseball at its best and Sandy Koufax, just like Bumgarner today, would know what that would feel like. And just like Bumgarner, he would only have one thing to say, “Skip, gimme the ball”.