Mike Silva's New York Baseball Digest » Blog Archive » Is Pettitte the Next Jack Morris?

Is Pettitte the Next Jack Morris?


By Mike Silva ~ February 6th, 2011. Filed under: Hall of Fame, Mike Silva, New York Yankees.

Just 48 hour after Andy Pettitte announced his retirement, the internet has been ablaze debating his Hall of Fame candidacy that is five years away. The dialogue is predictably taking a stats vs. eye test position. The pro Pettitte supporters point out his wins and postseason success. The detractors point to his ERA, advanced metrics, and even penalize him for playing for the Yankees. It appears some want to put Pettitte’s career in a neutral environment, which is patently ridiculous. This debate is very similar to the “Jack Morris in the Hall of Fame” dialogue the last few years.

Pettitte and Morris have similar cases. Both played for very good teams throughout their career, won a ton of games (254 to 243), pitched to a higher than normal ERA (3.88 to 3.90), and have signature postseason moments. Morris is entering his thirteenth year on the ballot and is currently at 53.5% of the vote. Unlike Pettitte, Morris doesn’t have the specter of HGH hanging over his head. I would also suspect there is a contingency that will penalize Pettitte for playing for the hated Yankees.

As I said yesterday, I believe Pettitte is a Hall of Famer. Based on the early returns readers of this site agree. I do think it might take some time if Pettitte gains induction to the Hall. How the Jack Morris story ends might be a hint as to what lies ahead for Andy Pettitte.

Mike Silva is a freelance writer and radio host since March of 2007. This website is his own personal "digest" of New York Baseball He's also hosts NYBD Radio on Blog Talk Radio and 1240 AM WGBB. Check out his sports media commentary at www.sportsmediawatchdog.com. Check out his official website, www.mikesilvamedia.com
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3 Responses to Is Pettitte the Next Jack Morris?

  1. Steve S.
    February 6th, 2011 at 10:49 am

    I disagree. If you’re going to be a good-not-great pitcher who pitches on lots of really good teams, you have to get to a magic number like 300 to get in for me. His post season record looks good, but he had so many more opportunities than Smoltz, Beckett, and Ford, all of whom were better pitchers. A great example of this is Andy is #2 in post season strikeouts, and he wasn’t even a strikeout pitcher. He’s nowhere to be found in SO/9.

  2. The Great Dane
    February 6th, 2011 at 11:21 am

    It just gets worse and worse. Had Pettitte not played for the Yankees, we wouldn’t be having this discussion. I refuse to believe that a difference in personalities will cause Pettitte to be voted into the HoF, while Kevin Brown is discarded with only 12 votes. It’s absurd.

  3. birtelcom
    February 7th, 2011 at 1:47 pm

    Mike: The comparison to Morris may not be fair to Andy. Though Morris and Pettitte had very similar career ERAs, Jack’s 3.90 ERA came in a period (1977-1994) during which the average ERA in the American League was about 4.10, while Andy’s 3.88 career ERA came in a period (1995-2010) during which the average ERA in the American League was about 4.58 — about half a run higher than when Morris was pitching. Andy’s 3.88 was much more vlauble than Jack’s 3.90. I doubt that Andy merits HOF induction, but he has a better case than Morris.

    A better match in career value to Pettitte (setting aside post-season games) is probably Chuck Finley.

    It is interesting that 2011 will be the first season in 35 years that neither Pettitte nor Morris is pitching in the majors.

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