Old-Time Pitchers: 5 Who Would Be Great In the Modern Era (And 5 Who Would Have Trouble)

April 14, 1920, 100 years ago today: Babe Ruth makes his debut for the New York Yankees. It doesn't go so well for them: They lose 3-1 to the Philadelphia Athletics, at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.

In the 1st inning, Wally Pipp hit a home run, followed immediately by Ruth's 1st Yankee at-bat, a single to right field. He then struck out in the 4th, beat out a grounder to 2nd base in the 6th, and popped up to 3rd base in the 8th. So he went 2-for-4.

But, for the A's, Cy Perkins hit a game-tying home run in the 5th, and the Yankees' center fielder misplayed a fly ball in the 8th, leading to the winning runs, as Philadelphia's Scott Perry outpitched Yankee ace Bob Shawkey. The Yankees' center fielder that day? Babe Ruth. Yes, "the GOAT" (Greatest Of All Time) was "the goat" (scapegoat).

The 1920 season was a watershed for baseball. It wasn't just that Ruth hit home runs farther and more frequently than anyone had before. Pitching changed as well. Doctoring the baseball -- scuffing it, and putting various substances on it, including human saliva, all of which got put under the category of "spitball" -- was banned. Also, new balls were put into play as soon as possible, to keep them whiter and easier to see, thus less dangerous.

As a result, a new era of big hitting began, the Lively Ball Era. And pitching feats like winning 30 games in a season fell by the wayside.

Some pitchers who were great before 1920 managed to adjust. Some didn't. Some didn't get that far, having already retired.

There have been other major changes since. After "The Year of the Pitcher" in 1968, the pitcher's mound was lowered from 15 inches high at its crest to 10 inches. The strike zone, allegedly, has also been changed. We still saw lots of "high strikes" in the 1970s, but in the 1980s, they became fewer and farther between.

I wonder: Which pitchers from the Dead Ball Era (1900 to 1919) -- or even the pre-Divisional Play Era (up until 1968) would have excelled in today's game? And which would have had trouble?

10. Would Be Great: Cy Young

Denton True Young (pictured above) originally had the nickname "Cyclone," because an early minor-league manager said the fence he was throwing his fastball against looked like a cyclone, or a tornado, had hit it. It was shortened to "Cy." Good thing he wasn't called "Tornado": You think MLB would have established a "Tor Young Award"?

He pitched in the majors from 1890 to 1911, and he successfully adjusted to both the 1893 and the 1901-03 changes. Given that he began to rely more on his curveball as he got older, I have no doubt that he could have handled big sluggers -- be they Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Reggie Jackson or Aaron Judge -- with finesse.

The trick would have been to see how he would have adjusted to pitch or innings limits. Cy didn't just win an all-time far-and-away record 511 games: He pitched 7,356 innings, including 749 complete games. Don't show those stats to Brian Cashman, or he might have a stroke.

9. Would Have Had Trouble: Jack Chesbro (And Any Other Spitballer)

"Happy Jack" pitched in the majors from 1899 to 1909, winning Pennants with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1901 and 1902, and almost doing so with the Yankees (then known as the New York Highlanders) in 1904, winning 41 games. However, his spitball got away from him in his last start, resulting in a wild pitch that let in the winning run, costing the proto-Yankees the game against the Boston Red Sox (then known as the Boston Americans) and giving them the Pennant.

These days, finding a catcher who can catch a decent knuckleball is hard. Can you imagine finding one willing to catch regularly doctored balls? From guys like Chesbro? Ed Walsh? Stan Coveleski? Red Faber? Burleigh Grimes? All 5 of those guys made the Hall of Fame. They would have to have adjusted to not having their "money pitch" today, as well as to today's boom-boom-boom game.

8. Would Be Great: Christy Mathewson

Pitching for the New York Giants from 1900 to 1916, "Big Six" won 373 games. He had the greatest array of pitches the game had yet seen. A good fastball, a good curveball, and he was the 1st major league pitcher to master the screwball, which he called the "fadeaway." There aren't too many guys today who can hit it.

Most of all, Matty had exceptional control. And he was hailed as the smartest pitcher of his era. It's not hard to imagine him "pitching with his head," like Catfish Hunter or David Cone.

7. Would Have Had Trouble: Walter Johnson

In their 1981 book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time, Lawrence S. Ritter and Donald Honig wrote, "He had just one pitch, a fastball -- but what a fastball!" The fastest pitcher of his era? It helped "The Big Train" win 417 games from 1907 to 1927, 1st all-time in American League play, including a record 113 shutouts, and his record of 3,508 strikeouts stood until 1983.

But without a 2nd pitch, managers would be skeptical. He might be converted into a reliever. A closer with just a fastball? How well does that work for today's fastest pitcher, Aroldis Chapman? Usually, very well. Sometimes, however... Let's face it: Jose Altuve didn't need anyone to cheat, he knew a fastball was coming.

6. Would Be Great: Grover Cleveland Alexander

"Old Pete" pitched from 1911 to 1930, and won 373 games (tied with Mathewson for 3rd all-time and 1st among National Leaguers -- Cy Young spread his 511 over both Leagues) against just 208 losses. From 1911 to 1920, he had 6 seasons of at least 27 wins, 3 of at least 30. But from 1921 to 1930, he still managed seasons of 22-12 (at age 36), 12-5, 21-10 and 16-9.

In 1923, 1926 and 1927, he led the NL in WHIP (not that anyone knew about that stat at the time). From 1921 onward, he had 7 seasons with an ERA+ of at least 120 (making him 20 percent better, or more, at preventing runs than the average pitcher of the time), and peaked at 160 in 1927 -- at age 40, his 21-10 season.

Thanks to the 1952 film The Winning Team, starring Ronald Reagan in the role, the image of Alexander now is of the old drunk coming in because he was needed to save the day for the St. Louis Cardinals against the Yankees in Game 7 of the 1926 World Series, and working through both the hangover and the Bronx Bombers to do it. By his own account, he wasn't hungover at the time, but he did mix his pitches up to strike Tony Lazzeri out. That shows quick thinking.

Also, today, both his alcoholism (already present before he served in World War I, but what he dealt with in the war made it worse) and his epilepsy (which began in the war) would be properly treated. There was no Betty Ford (or, given his era and the epilepsy, Ida McKinley) Center back then. There is now. And medication would have helped. "Alexander the Great" could absolutely have been a good pitcher had he come along 100 years later, especially since he wouldn't have had to go off to war.

5. Would Have Had Trouble: Dizzy Dean

But another Cardinal great wouldn't be. Jay Hanna Dean might have had the talent to pitch today, but nobody would put up with his antics. His braggadocio would have ticked his teammates off, never mind the opposition. On September 21, 1934, he and his brother Paul, a.k.a. Daffy Dean, both pitched shutouts in a doubleheader. Except Paul's was also a no-hitter. And Diz said, "Gee, Paul, if I'd a-known you was gonna throw a no-hitter, I'd a-thrown one, too." As it turned out, that was something Diz ended up never doing.

It's easy to imagine "Ol' Diz" getting into a feud with an opposing hitter with a big mouth. It's easy to imagine him getting into a Twitter war, something not possible in the 1930s.

If you're familiar with his career, you know that a good but not great Cardinal team won the 1934 World Series mainly on the right arms of Diz (30-7, the last 30-win season in the NL, plus 2-1 in the Series) and Daff (19-11, plus 2-0 in the Series).

You may also know that, in the 1937 All-Star Game, Diz took a line drive off the bat of Earl Averill off his foot. Looking at an X-ray, the doctor told him that the big toe was fractured. Diz said, "Fractured, hell, the damn thing's broken!" And in order to favor the toe, he changed his pitching motion, and that hurt his arm. Goodbye, fastball: He was done in 1941, age 31.

You might think that better medical techniques would have saved his arm, and allowed him to pitch until he was 40 or so. Probably not: That requires the patient listening to the doctor, and Diz didn't listen to anybody.

Furthermore, without his fastball, he was finished. After the Cardinals traded him to the Chicago Cubs in 1938, he had a memorable "last stand," helping them win the Pennant and holding the Yankees off for 8 innings in Game 2 of the World Series, but they ultimately got to him. He would have needed another pitch to make it today, and he really didn't have one.

4. Would Be Great: Bob Feller

Like Walter Johnson, "Rapid Robert" was believed to be the fastest pitcher of his era. Unlike the Big Train, he also had a very good curveball. He won 266 games, despite losing most of 4 seasons in his prime to serving in World War II. He won 93 in his last 4 seasons before The War, and 65 in his 1st 3 full seasons after it -- in each case, an average of 23. Given that he came back in late 1945, The War probably cost him around 80 wins, which would have given him 356, nearly as much as Mathewson, Alexander, and Warren Spahn (363).

Given that he started in 1936, when he was still just 17 and in high school, it's not surprising that he threw his last professional pitch in 1956, at 37. But as late as the Cleveland Indians' 1954 Pennant season, at 35, he was still 13-3, with an ERA+ of 120 and a WHIP of 1.186.

3. Would Have Had Trouble: Satchel Paige

"Ol' Satch" is more myth than man. He pitched in the Negro Leagues from 1926 to 1947, before finally getting called up to the major leagues at age 42 in 1948, helping the Indians win the World Series. He lasted in the majors until 1953, plus a 3-inning one-shot deal in 1965, making him, at 59, the oldest player in MLB history.

And what an array of pitches he allegedly had, and what great control he had. He claimed he could throw a pitch over the top of a soda bottle, and, "I ain't never thrown an illegal pitch. But, sometimes, I throw a pitch that ain't been seen before -- by this generation."

Now, imagine Leroy Robert Paige coming along 50 years later. Integration would have been a fact of life. Had he reached the majors in 1976, the mystery would have been gone pretty quickly. He might have had a career like that of Fernando Valenzuela: Sensational at first, but soon, hitters like Wade Boggs and Tony Gwynn would have used videotape to break his mechanics down, discovered any weaknesses he had, and rendered him a good, but not great, pitcher.

2. Would Be Great: Sandy Koufax

Break the Koufax career into thirds. From 1955 to 1960, he was talented, but erratic. Then, Los Angeles Dodger scout Kenny Myers showed him how to correct a hitch in his windup, and catcher Norm Sherry told him to ease up on his fastball a little, and work on his curve. He had been trying too hard to strike everybody out.

By not trying to do that, he ended up striking out more batters than anybody had ever seen, and, from 1961 to 1966, he was maybe the best pitcher the Lively Ball Era would ever see. Then, with his arm wracked with arthritis, he retired just before turning 31, so we never got to see the final third of his career.

If Koufax had come along 50 years later, in 2005, his problems would have been addressed at age 19, not 25. The arthritis issue could also have been dealt with early, given modern technology. Given a great fastball and an equally unhittable curveball, a Koufax who reached the majors in 2005 could still have been excelling in 2019, at 33.

1. Would Have Had Trouble: Nolan Ryan

But "The Ryan Express" had just the fastball. He didn't get it really controlled until he went to the team then known as the California Angels in 1972, at 25. Now, imagine he came along 40 years later. A 2006 debut, with hitters studying his fastball, might have meant he got clobbered.

Speaking of clobbering, lots of fans not old enough to remember the "unhittable" Ryan of the mid-1970s know him from his elderly no-hitters of 1990 and 1991, and his "noogie" of Robin Ventura in his last season, 1993. Now, imagine old Nolan Ryan facing the insane, steroid-boosted Manny Ramirez of 2003. It would have been Tyson vs. Spinks, and Ryan would not have been Tyson.