In my 4th “Compare/Contrast” segment I will be comparing and contrasting Dennis Eckersley vs John Smoltz. These were two right-handed pitchers who crossed-over from starting to the bullpen around mid-career and were highly successful in both roles throughout their careers.

Player’s Profile

Dennis Lee Eckersley (Eck) was born on October 3, 1954 in Oakland, CA. Dennis was drafted by theCleveland Indians in the 3rd round of the 1972 amateur draft. Dennis made his Major League Baseball debut on April 12, 1975 against the Milwaukee Brewers. He would go on to play 24 seasons for 5 teams, the Indians, the Red Sox, the Cubs, the Athletics, and the Cardinals.

John Andrew Smoltz was born on May 15, 1967 in Detroit, MI. John was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 22 round of the 1985 amateur draft. He was involved in one of the more famous baseball trades as he was traded from the Tigers to the Braves for Doyle Alexander in 1987 thus he never made an appearance for the Tigers. John made his MLB debut on July 23, 1988 against the New York Mets. He would go on to play 21 seasons for 3 teams, the Braves, the Red Sox, and the Cardinals.

Career Accolades

In Dennis’ 24 year career he made the postseason in 7 of those years and played in 3 World Series’ in1988, 1989, which was his only championship, and 1990. During his career he made 6 all-star teams in 1977, 1982, 1988, and 1990-1992, won a Cy Young and MVP Award in 1992, a ALCS MVP Award in 1988, Rolaids Relief Awards in 1988 and 1992, led the league in SV 1988 and 1992, in BB/9IP in 1986, in SO/BB in 1977, 1982, and 1985, in GF in 1992, and Fielding % as a Pitcher in 1978 and 1997. Dennis’ best season came as a closer in either 1990 when he put up a pitching stat-line of a 4-2 W-Lrecord, 0.61 ERA, 63 G, 61 GF, 48 SV, 73.1 IP, 41 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 73 SO, and a 0.614 WHIP or in 1992 with a pitching stat-line of a 7-1 W-L record, 1.91 ERA, 69 G, 65 GF, 51 SV, 80 IP, 62 H, 17 ER, 11 BB, 93 SO, and a 0.913 WHIP which garnered him both the AL Cy Young and MVP Awards. In the end, his 1990 campaign was the best even without the awards and one for the ages as well.

In John’s 21 year career he made the postseason in 14 of those years and played in 5 World Series’ in1991-1992, 1995, which would be his only World Series win, 1996, and 1999. During his career he made 8 all-star teams in 1989, 1992-1993, 1996, 2002-2003, 2005, and 2007, won a Cy Young Award in 1996, a NLCS MVP Award in 1992, a Rolaids Relief Award in 2002, led the league in Wins in 1996 and 2006, in SV in 2002, in Win-Loss % in 1996 and 1998, in SO/9IP in 1996, in IP in 1996-1997, in SO in 1992 and 1996, and in GS in 1992, 1997, and 2006. John’s best season came in 1996 as a starter with a pitching stat-line of a 24-8 W-L record, 2.94 ERA, 35 G, 35 GS, 6 CG, 2 SHO, 253.2 IP, 199 H, 83 ER, 55 BB, 276 SO, and a 1.001 WHIP which earned him the NL Cy Young Award.

Career Numbers

Compare/Contrast

In looking over the career stats for both players you can see that they were highly successful in whatever role they were asked to fill. Both players also played for some of the more successful organizations throughout their careers in which both players had a big part in those team’s sustained success. Dennis and John are the only two players in MLB history who have both won 20-games and saved 50-games in a season. Dennis put together 7 Hall of Fame type seasons in 1978-1979 and 1988-1992 while John put up 6 Hall of Fame type seasons in 1992, 1996, 1998, and 2002-2004.

While Dennis’ career was split down the middle as he spent his first 12 seasons as a starter and the last 12 years as a reliever, he was probably a bit more dominant as a closer and mostly remembered for his days with the Athletics’ powerhouse teams of the late 1980s and early 1990s. As a reliever, Eck was known for pinpoint control and attacking the strike-zone and the hitter without fear. As a starter he was no slouch either as he compiled 151 Wins, 100 CG, and 20 SHO from 1975-1986 along with throwing a no-hitter on May 30, 1977 as well.

Dennis was also known to be a fierce competitor with a signature “arm whip and glare” with every big strikeout in a big and/or tense moment of a ballgame. Unfortunately, many will remember him for being on the wrong end of a miraculous game-winning 2-run HR off the bat of the hobbled Kirk Gibson in the 1988 World Series…

…UNBELIEVABLE!…I don’t believe what I just saw…

…Eck compiled 15 SV in the postseason over his distinguished career. He is one of nine players who have ever won both the Cy Young and MVP Awards in the same season and was inducted, deservedly, into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2004 for his great contributions on the field.

As for John’s career, he will be more remembered as a starting pitcher and part of one of the best starting rotations the game has ever seen that included the likes of future Hall of Famers Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux. John was at times overshadowed by other pitchers on his own team but I always feared him more than any of his counterparts as he had the more dominating repertoire and “pure stuff.” John was a power pitcher who developed a nasty slider that he could consistently place right off the outside corner to a right-handed hitter as well as anyone I have ever seen.

As a reliever, John spent parts of 3+ seasons in the second half of his career in the closer’s role but he made the best of them as he was every bit as dominant in that role as he was as a starter no matter how brief it was. He would save 154 games during that time before returning to the starting rotation the last 5 seasons of his storied career. John was the only pitcher in baseball history to amass both 200 Wins and 150 SV. He also became the 16th member of the 3000 strikeout club in MLB history on April 22, 2008. John will, however, be mostly remembered for his historical postseason performance. He put up an astonishing career pitching stat-line of a 14-4 W-L record, 2.67 ERA, 41 G, 27 GS, 11 GF, 2 CG, 1 SHO, 4 SV, 209 IP, 172 H, 62 ER, 67 BB, 199 SO, and a 1.144 WHIP in postseason play. He was truly a “big-game” pitcher as well as one of the best ever.

Final Thoughts

This is another close call as both of these players were highly competitive and very successful in multiple roles. The biggest difference between the two careers is the postseason success that largely points in favor of John. With that said, I loved the passion to which Eck played the game and how dominant he was for those great Athletics’ teams. So, who was the better overall performer? The winner of the 4th “Compare/Contrast” and once again by a small margin, is John Smoltz. Dennis is already a Hall of Famer and John only has the waiting period to get through and then Eck will have company as John joins him as players who were stellar and similar in so many ways.