The Greatest Pitcher in 100 Years

It's as if we didn't notice Greg Maddux or Roger Clemens pitching in the bigs. One of the greatest of all time is serving it up for a sixth season and and we've managed to allow our attention to be diverted, as if he's a solar eclipse.

While we've all been focused on Pujols and Cabrera, ARod and Jeter, and Verlander and Halladay these past few years, the left-handed Texan in question has the lowest career ERA of any pitcher with 1,000 innings since the Dead Ball Era. That's nearly 100 years of ball. Fire up the superlatives.

The list of pitchers with higher ERAs looks like this: Lefty Grove, Carl Hubbel, Whitey Ford, Warren Spahn, Sandy Koufax, Tom Seaver, Jim Palmer, Bob Gibson, Juan Marichal, Roger Clemens, Greg Maddux, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez. Christy Matthewson's lifetime ERA was 35% better than league average. Our protagonist, 44% better.

In six seasons, he's 72-44, 2.64. He's been worth 31 wins to his team, about double the value of Kyle Lohse in seven fewer seasons, and Lohse earns $11 million/year.

That's a lot of clues and yet...you can't for the life of you figure out who it is. At 6'3" 225 it's not like Clayton Kershaw is hiding. He's led the NL in ERA the last three seasons, won the Cy Young Award in 2011, finished second last year and is certain to merit a top-three finish this season. He's the Rodney Dangerfield of hurling even though everyone knows he's an ace.

Were he a rookie today, Kershaw would be blowing up Twitter. The number seven pick of the 2006 draft, he crushed minor league hitters and got to the bigs after 35 starts on the farm. Vin Scully has called his diving curve "public enemy number one," and it's not like his 97-mph heater is Miss Congeniality.

Now, Kershaw pitches half his games in Dodger Stadium, which acts like a fourth outfielder. It's a bit of a stretch to compare him to, say, Pedro, who toiled in a hitter's park partly during the Steroid Era, faced the Yankees three-four times a year and, like Kershaw, sported an ERA 44% below league average after 1000 innings. He also followed that by twirling four of the greatest seasons of all time.

Kerhsaw is just 25 and earns free agent status after the season. Can you say "scajillion?" When he gets it, you'll understand why.