This is just my opinion but I believe Sandy Koufax would have been the undisputed GOAT if he stayed healthy and didn't have to retire at just 30-years old after a 27 win, 5 SHO, 1.73 ERA season in 1966. He was on a historic run for years leading up to that last year and I don't think it would have stopped anytime soon if he could have stayed healthy —– or —— (additional thought exercise) if they had our medical technology and ability back then

What is your counter to the Biggest 'What if' in MLB History? Do you think Sandy's legacy could have looked better than Maddux or Cy Young or Nolan Ryan or Pedro or any other All Timer?

34 comments

  1. Josh Hamilton. I’m very biased, but if he started his every-day-starter MLB career at 23ish and he stayed healthy, he’d be an all time great.

  5. Mike Trout is definitely the biggest “what if” in the modern day. He’s been playing less than 50% of games for the majority of his career due to injuries.

  7. This to me is not a what if at all. He is already the greatest lefty to ever pick up a ball. Considering his first 2 years in Brooklyn we’re not great, it makes his LA numbers look that much better.

    For my money, he is the single most culturally important ball player of all time.

    The greatest “what if” is Ted Williams. What if he lost no time to wars?! He would have insurmountable records….

  9. Thurman Munson- ROY, MVP, 7x All Star, 46 WAR, BA .292, 1500 hits, OBP .346, OPS .756. In a 10 year career cut short by tragedy.

    We dont think of him as a peer of Bench or Fisk. But he was. Should be in the HoF.

  10. If Bo Jackson didn’t get hurt and focused on baseball he could have been one of the all time great sluggers.

  12. Did you just somehow infer that the Left Hand of God is somehow NOT up there with the greatest of all time? You didn’t? Really?

  14. Herb Score gets no love in these conversations.

    16-10 with a league leading 245 Ks and 5.6 WAR as a rookie. First time ever a SP averaged better than 9 K/IP. Follows that up with a 20-9 with a league leading 263 Ks and 7.3 WAR in his sophomore season. Then Gil McDougal hits a line drive up the middle and hits Score in the face. Score was never the same.

  15. Sandy is the best lefty of all time. And the reason I grew up a Dodgers fan because my grandfather adored him and was my baseball coach.

    But, I see what you mean. However there are so many that fit this mold.

    Ted Williams. If he had never served his country and lost many seasons, he could have the greatest counting stats of all time, and be the undisputed GOAT in MLB History (offensively).

    Ken Griffey Jr. watching him in Seattle as a kid was what made most in my age group pick up a bat and ball in the first place. The guy was for baseball what Allen Iverson was for basketball. Not the best player. But had the aura of one. If Griffey hadn’t been so injury prone, who knows what he could have accomplished. If he had competent management during the years in Seattle where they were stacked at nearly every position but still couldn’t win, maybe we would be talking a Top 5/10 all time player.

    There are so many what ifs.

  16. Kerry Wood is my biggest what if. That dude was Nolan Ryan reincarnate. Dusty Baker mismanaged him horribly in the 2003 playoffs. That guy had the nastiest stuff I’ve ever seen before his arm was destroyed. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that kind of movement with that kind of velocity ever.

  17. Brien Taylor

    High schooler who would hit 98-99 and Lefty.
    Scott Boras said he was the best high school arm he’d ever seen.
    Injured in a very “Trailer Park Boys” way, by confronting a dude his brother got in a bar fight with at his trailer. Dudes friend got into it with Taylor, Taylor missed a haymaker, and fell on his shoulder. After surgery he absolutely stunk it up. Career over, after getting the biggest signing bonus at that time for a drafted player ever.

  18. Honestly, there’s only 1 reason I knew the name Sandy Koufax before I got into baseball… and thats The Big Lebowski.

  19. He was healthy but chose to retire because he didn’t want to permanently damage his arm. I was fortunate enough to see him pitch in Atlanta, August 1966. It was my second game to attend and I was 11 years old, but I will never forget it!

  21. I’m not a religious person at all but I used to like to say that Kershaw was god’s penance for taking Kofax from us too early. Then he started to break down so I stopped saying that.

  22. I just can’t. Mike Trout, Josh Hamilton, Kerry Wood. Koufax? No, what if’s. He’s a goat. Any pitcher alive would kill for his exact career. Including leaving the arm on the field at age 30. The only pitcher more dominant from that era was Bob Gibson.

  24. Addie Joss is the only Hall of Famer who didn’t play ten seasons. If he didn’t die tragically at the age of 31, we might be giving out the Addie Joss award to the best pitcher in the league instead of the Cy Young award.

  25. Mark Prior I thought.

    Edit: Sorry I think I meant Kerry Wood. I scrolled down and saw his name after a bit. Did they both play for the Cubs around the same time?

  26. Here’s the biggest what-if…

    Smoky Joe Wood was one of the best pitchers ever, injured and done at 25. Reinvented as an outfielder, had a good but not great 4 years there. He’s my top pick for this category.

    [https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/woodjo02.shtml](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/woodjo02.shtml)

    Others…

    Dizzy Dean, Hall of famer, a great pitcher his 1st 6 seasons, looked like an all-time great. After age 28, injured, never the same.

    [https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/deandi01.shtml](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/deandi01.shtml)

    Addie Joss, Hall of famer, career over at 30, died of tuberculosis.

    [https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/jossad01.shtml](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/jossad01.shtml)

  27. deGrom. He took his game to a new level in 2020 after already winning back to back cup youngs. Covid and injuries robbed us of what I truly believe would have been 5 straight cy young awards. 2021 was looking like he’d put up the GOAT pitching season

  29. I’d have loved to have seen a decade and a half of Prior and Wood leading the Cubs rotation.

  30. Griffey is the one for me, among players who were proven GOAT tier but injuries prevented it from happening.

    As an 80s Royals fan who spent a lot of time in right field GA, Bo will always be my biggest pure what if.

  32. Sandy is still considered the GOAT by many. For me it’s Trout and Griffey because of the records they would have set. 800 career homeruns would’ve been a thing by one of them. 

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