Top 10 Pitchers of My Lifetime-8. David Cone

Year IP W ERA SO 1988 231.3 20 2.22 213 1994* 171.1 16 2.94 132 1998 207.7 20 3.55 209

8. David Cone 1986-2003 Royals Mets Blue Jays Yankees & Red Sox

5 World Series

5 All Star Appearances

1 CY Young Award

2 NL Strikeout Leader

Deciding between Cone and Hershiser for the 8 spot was one of the most difficult decisions to make for the list. The tricky thing about David Cone is the fact that he doesn’t have a really dominant stretch and nothing really jumps out at you when looking at his numbers. It took me thinking long and hard to realize exactly what makes David Cone a very good pitcher, and there are a few reasons that I found.

The first thing that made Coney an appealing choice for this list is the consistency throughout the course of his career. When using that adjective to describe a pitcher, one is usually using it to for a mediocre player who has a few bright moments (it’s similar to describe an ugly person by saying they have a nice personality). However Coney was consistently very good and consistently one of the best in the league. From his first full season starting until almost his 37^th birthday Cone had an ERA 3.5 or lower and was double digits in wins in 11 of those 13 seasons (two season were because he was under 15 starts). Coney also became 1 of 17 pitchers in Major League history to toss a Perfect Game.

Not only was David able to remain consistently very good for all those years, he was able to peak at two different times in his career. Early on with the Mets Cone had some of his best statistical season registering 80 wins and 1159 strikeouts in 165 starts (that’s 8.75 K/9). Cone was then able to remain consistently good, and then peak again later on in his career with the Yankees. Discounting the 2000 season, which was when Coney clearly started to lose it, he put together a four year run with the Bronx Bombers that included 60 wins and 768 strikeouts in 766 starts (that’s 9 K/9).

Coney run with the Yankees is what really put him over the top as one of the best 10 in the last 25 years, and this reason goes beyond numbers. Anyone who reads my stuff knows that postseason ability is something that is very important for me in determining greatness. Now you can look at David’s stats in the postseason and be impressed: 8-3 with a 3.8 ERA, and 2-0 with a 2.12 in the World Series.

Stats, however, is not where I will decide to look for Coney big game grit. Instead I will go a different route and ask all you just one question: What team was the best dynasty in the last 30 years? If you answered anyone other than the 96-00 Yankees, I would love to hear an intelligent reason why. The next question I want to ask is: Who was the best starting pitcher on those Yankee teams year after year? Sure many will answer Andy Pettitte was the “true Yankee” or Clemens was the best pitcher to wear the pinstripes. In reality though Cone was truly the best pitcher the Yankees had from the moment they got him in 1995-1999 (once again I leave out the 2000 season because he was at the end of his rope). In those years Coney was either the leader or close to the leader (.4) in ERA and only Pettitte had more wins (81-60) in 43 more starts.

Coney’s ability to be very good over the course of his career along with his postseason ability and his Perfect Game is something not to be overlooked. However the one thing that put him over the top for me was the fact that he was the best pitcher on the best team in baseball for a 5 year stretch. For these reasons David Cone should be known as one of the best pitchers of his time.

* Strike Shortened Season