A cross generational comparison

Randy Johnson is not a handsome man. At 6'10", the Arizona Diamondback's gangly left hander looks more like big bird with a mullet than a professional baseball player. On the other hand, the chiseled Barry Bonds looks like a baseball player, but also has the extra bulk of a bad attitude.

Despite their personal problems _ Johnson's looks and Bonds' attitude _ the two were the best pitcher and hitter that Major League Baseball had to offer in 2002. Accordingly, Johnson won the NL Cy Young last week and Bonds was named the NL MVP yesterday.

Flash back to 1965. A relatively inconspicuous Jewish lefthander by the name of Sandy Koufax won the Cy Young for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Perhaps the only interesting personal characteristics that Koufax possessed were that he was one of the few great Jewish athletes of the time and that he refused to pitch on the high holidays.

In that same year, Willie Mays, the "Say Hey" kid, the most loveable and charismatic player of all time, earned the NL MVP award.

So what is the relationship between Johnson and Koufax and Bonds and Mays? Well, other than the fact that Bonds is Mays' godson, the connection between Bonds and Mays and Johnson and Koufax is that both sluggers and both left handed pitchers are unequivocally the best of their generation.

The year 1965 makes for a perfect comparison between the two pitchers and the two outfielders because Koufax and Mays won the Cy Young and MVP respectively that year, just as Johnson and Bonds did this year.

Their statistics from that year are remarkably similar as well. In 1965, Koufax went 26-8 in 335.7 innings, struck out 382 and posted an ERA of 2.04. Johnson posted a 24-5 mark in 260 innings, with a 2.32 ERA and 334 strikeouts.

In 1965, Willie Mays had what was perhaps the greatest year of his career, when he hit .317 with 52 home runs, 112 RBIs, 118 runs scored, a .645 slugging percentage and 76 walks. Bonds posted a comparable season in 2002 when he hit .370 with 46 homeruns, 110 RBIs, 117 runs scored, a .799 slugging percentage and 198 walks.

Interestingly enough, the comparisons are not limited to 1965 and 2002. In fact, Randy Johnson and Sandy Koufax and Barry Bonds and Willie Mays are as statistically similar as any cross generation players in Major League History.

For his career, which spanned 12 years, Koufax went 165-87 with 40 shutouts 2,396 strikeouts and a 2.76 ERA in 2324.3 innings of work. Thus far in his 15 year career, which appears far from over, Johnson has gone 224-106 with 34 shutouts, 3,746 strikeouts and a 3.06 ERA in 3008.1 innings.

It is important to note, however, that Koufax pitched when the mound was seven inches higher, ERAs were lower (the league ERA during Koufax's career was 3.60 while it was 4.42 during Johnson's, excluding 2002), ball parks were bigger, players didn't use steroids or other muscle building substances such as creatine or amino acids, and many didn't even lift weights.

The stats of Bonds and Mays also share an eerie similarity. In 22 years, Mays hit .302 with 3,283 hits, 660 home runs, 2,062 runs, 1,903 RBIs, 338 stolen bases, 1,464 base on balls, a .384 OBP and a slugging percentage of .557. During Bonds' 17 year career he has hit .295 with 2,462 hits, 613 home runs, 1,830 runs, 1,652 RBIs, 493 stolen bases, 1,922 base on balls, a .428 OBP and a slugging percentage of .595.

As I said earlier, Johnson is forced to pitch against bigger, stronger players than Koufax faced. When Koufax pitched, it would have been ridiculous to suggest that a shortstop would one day hit 57 home runs. But, low and behold, Alex Rodriguez smacked 57 dingers in 2002.

For years, nobody except Babe Ruth himself and Roger Maris reached the 60 home run barrier. Since 1998, however, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Bonds have done it, with Bonds setting the all-time single season mark with 73 in 2001.

Sure, to some extent, Bonds must be a product of smaller ball parks (though he played in Candlestick and now PacBell, two of the worst hitters' parks in the game), diluted pitching, expansion, and he has admitted to using creatine and amino acids, both of which are perfectly legal but were unavailable to Mays. I don't think that Bonds, unlike many MLB players, would ever take steroids, simply because he loves himself too much to use anything that could potentially harm his body.

Now for the grand finale. Yes, the 2002/1965 comparison of Johnson and Koufax, Bonds and Mays makes for good copy. Even the career comparisons of the two pitchers and two outfielders are very justifiable.

That leaves two final questions. Who is the better pitcher, Johnson or Koufax? And who is the better hitter, Bonds or Mays? Here are two indisputable assumptions: Randy Johnson's career 3.06 ERA would have been a hell of a lot lower if he pitched in the 50s and 60s, and Willie Mays would be the all-time career leader in home runs and RBIs if he played during the past 15 years. If Brady Anderson, a nice little leadoff hitter was able to slug 50 homeruns in 1996, imagine the numbers Mays would be putting up these days.

Cross generational comparisons are always difficult, but I think that it would be safe to say that all four players would have been all-time greats no matter when they played. It would be easy enough to end this column by not coming to a conclusion. I could say that the competition between Johnson and Koufax and Bonds and Mays is too close to call. But I'm not going to cop out like that.

Johnson over Koufax, Mays over Bonds.