Andy Pettitte has the most wins of any active pitcher since 1995, and is second in starts and innings pitched, trailing only Greg Maddux.
I read that fact in Tom Verducci’s Sports Illustrated article earlier this month, titled “World Domination.” The premise of the story is that the Yankees had a lot of performances from older players exceeding expectations.
Anyway, after reading that fact about Pettitte, I started thinking about how he was a borderline hall of famer going into last year. Now he can call himself the winningest pitcher of his era, and that includes World Series rings as well. Here’s a look at his career line:
| Years | W | L | GS | IP | ERA | SO | WHIP |
| 15 | 229 | 135 | 458 | 2926.1 | 3.91 | 2150 | 1.361 |
What I think hurts him most is his high ERA.
I argue that it isn’t that high for the Steroid Era. Plus, he has a lot of other things going for him.
- He’s collected the most wins of any pitcher during his time
- He has five World Series rings and 18 postseason wins
- He has one of the best pickoff moves ever
- He has won 21 games in a season twice
- He spent most of his career on the big stage of New York
One thing I neglected to mention is his use of HGH. He admitted to using HGH twice in order to recover from an injury more quickly. His usage should hurt his chances a little bit, but I don’t think as much because at least he admitted it. Barry Bonds hasn’t admitted anything yet.
