Greg Maddux tied Tom Seaver for 17th on the all-time wins list yesterday. Of course, wins not really mattering to me that much in the overall scheme of things, let's see who was the better pitcher, Maddux or Tom Seaver. ERA is the translated version from the Davenport Translated Cards.
Greg Maddux 1986-2005
Career WARP3: 157.4
Peak WARP: 57.4
JAWS: 107.4
PRAR: 1515
PRAA: 471
ERA: 3.18
ERA+: 141
Tom Seaver 1967-1986
Career WARP3: 147.7
Peak WARP: 49.7
JAWS: 98.7
PRAR: 1497
PRAA: 436
ERA: 2.99
ERA+: 127
Maddux bests him in everything but translated ERA, but beats him handily in Adjusted ERA+. How about their awards?
Maddux
1992 - NL Cy Young
1993 - NL Cy Young
1994 - NL Cy Young
1995 - NL Cy Young
Gold Gloves 1990-2004 (That is 14 Gold Gloves)
Maddux finished in the top 5 for the Cy Young 9 times, winning 4 of those times. He is also an 8 time All-Star.
Seaver
1967 - Rookie of the Year
1969 - NL Cy Young
1973 - NL Cy Young
1975 - NL Cy Young
Seaver was a 12 time all-star. He finished in the top 5 for the Cy Young balloting 8 times.
I went into this thinking that Maddux might be the better pitcher, and he appears to be. Tom Seaver is still one of the all-time greats, but Maddux is most likely one of the top 10 pitchers of all-time when everything is said and done. If Seaver is there now he might not be when this current crop of stars retires; Maddux, Johnson, Clemens, and Pedro Martinez. ESPN should give Maddux his due for being better than Seaver rather than for being his equal or someone who tied his wins total. Hopefully Rob Neyer is on the case already over there.
ESPN.com had an interesting small piece though, that you can find here: Maddux and Seaver