Max Scherzer’s Legacy
 

In collecting HOF’ers autos I’ve also turned to collecting surefire inductee’s such as Max Scherzer. I (along with many others) was disadvantaged in watching a lot of HOF’ers during their playing days, however Max is someone I’ve watched through his prime. When I look at his stats in addition to watching him, he was as dominant as they came. Which leads me to the topic of where does he rank with the greats? 20 years from now how will he be discussed when we talk about the greatest to ever play the game?

Notable accomplishments:

3x Cy Young winner
2x World Series winner (mostly contributed to 2019 w/ WSN)
3,400 K’s (and counting)
20 strikeout game
2 no hitters
5 top 5 Cy Young finishes
Current 3.15 career ERA
8x All Star
75.5 WAR
3 top 10 MVP finishes

He's also got a 20K game. That's a very short list with some impressive names.

One of the last three truly great pitchers the game will ever see.

Max is awesome! I think he’s going to be held in very high regards along with Kershaw and Verlander.

I have 6 of Max’s base Bowman Chrome Superfractors so I’m definitely biased!

He also threw 2 no hitters

He was super dominant and overall a classy guy. I think his only downfall was the number of teams he played with, six. Hard to build a true fan base like that. That is why Kershaw shines a little bit brighter for me.


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:doh:

Edited the original post to add those accolades. I meant to put in the 20 K game but totally forgot about the no hitters.

I’ve always preferred Scherzer to Kershaw and Verlander. That said, all three are great and we’ve been incredibly spoiled to see them all pitching at the same time. I suspect that fact slightly hurts each of them when it comes to recognition.

Unfortunately, I believe he will always be viewed behind Kershaw and Verlander amongst his contemporaries, so I think his legacy will be held back since he would be considered the third best from his era.

One of three guys with three immaculate innings which I find fun. He's hard to separate from Verlander and Kershaw but he's going to be part of the last big crop of traditional pitchers to make the Hall. After the three guys mentioned and Greinke, the only likely HOF starting pitchers playing are Gerrit Cole and Chris Sale and neither is a slam dunk. I'm not sure where they go on my all-time list but at some point there would be seven spots that look like this:

1. Roger Clemens
2. Pedro Martinez
3. Greg Maddux
4. Randy Johnson
5. Max Scherzer
6. Clayton Kershaw
7. Justin Verlander

[QUOTE=jduds;19556526]One of three guys with three immaculate innings which I find fun. He's hard to separate from Verlander and Kershaw but he's going to be part of the last big crop of traditional pitchers to make the Hall. After the three guys mentioned and Greinke, the only likely HOF starting pitchers playing are Gerrit Cole and Chris Sale and neither is a slam dunk. I'm not sure where they go on my all-time list but at some point there would be seven spots that look like this:



1. Roger Clemens

2. Pedro Martinez

3. Greg Maddux

4. Randy Johnson

5. Max Scherzer

6. Clayton Kershaw

7. Justin Verlander[/QUOTE]Nolan Ryan doesn't crack that list with 5700k and 7 no hitters?

[QUOTE=jduds;19556526]One of three guys with three immaculate innings which I find fun. He's hard to separate from Verlander and Kershaw but he's going to be part of the last big crop of traditional pitchers to make the Hall. After the three guys mentioned and Greinke, the only likely HOF starting pitchers playing are Gerrit Cole and Chris Sale and neither is a slam dunk. I'm not sure where they go on my all-time list but at some point there would be seven spots that look like this:

1. Roger Clemens
2. Pedro Martinez
3. Greg Maddux
4. Randy Johnson
5. Max Scherzer
6. Clayton Kershaw
7. Justin Verlander[/QUOTE]

That’s the modern era “inner circle” of HOF pitchers in my book, too — minus Clemens, who’s DQ’d. Max might be higher on the list if he’d started earlier, but that’s conjecture.

I think Max's ultimate problem besides being a pitcher is that he mostly played for smaller market teams. He had a great half season with the Dodgers. He had one very good short season with the Mets but year two and his legacy there was a disaster. Then he's been in AZ, DET, WAS and TEX.

GOAT pitchers are underrated (and IMHO, undervalued).

I've been snagging pretty much every single Heritage Black Chrome I can find of Scherzer, Verlander, and Kershaw.

[QUOTE=rms13;19556559]Nolan Ryan doesn't crack that list with 5700k and 7 no hitters?[/QUOTE]

Ryan belongs to an earlier era of pitchers, in my opinion. Edit — also, his results were really inconsistent. You’d probably take the best five seasons of any of the other guys on the list over Ryan’s best five.

Max and JV will always be behind Kershaw for me because they seemed to be "hired guns" due to changing teams so often

Max is on the DC sports Mount Rushmore. His face was plastered all over and around the park while he was here. He’s one of a small handful of guys that 100% live up to a massive contract. He did EVERYTHING here. Two no hitters, robbed of a perfect game, title, CYA, he even hit a homer! Starting game 7 of a World Series clincher to boot…just an awesome run here.

[QUOTE=rms13;19556571]I think Max's ultimate problem besides being a pitcher is that he mostly played for smaller market teams. He had a great half season with the Dodgers. He had one very good short season with the Mets but year two and his legacy there was a disaster. Then he's been in AZ, DET, WAS and TEX.[/QUOTE]

Washington and Dallas are not small markets

Memorable for card purposes in that he didn’t have any Bowman prospect cards

[QUOTE=Natsfan32;19556623]Washington and Dallas are not small markets[/QUOTE]

Neither is Phoenix

In 20 years, I think he will be remembered in a similar fashion to how the Braves' big three are remembered in that his legacy is inexorably connected to Justin Verlander. They were two of the most dominant pitchers of their era, they came up with the Tigers, went on to win a ton and reunited late in their career. Essentially when people speak or think of Max 20 years from now, they will also think of Verlander.

[QUOTE=ThoseBackPages;19556586]Max and JV will always be behind Kershaw for me because they seemed to be "hired guns" due to changing teams so often[/QUOTE]


This! Though Verlander seemed to be more of a trade back & forth to Houston once gone from Detroit.

I [emoji817] view Scherzer as a hired gun

[QUOTE=Natsfan32;19556623]Washington and Dallas are not small markets[/QUOTE]

No but there is a huge drop off in national interest when you get past NY, LA, Boston, Chicago in MLB markets. Maybe the problem is just that Max has an unlikeable personaility

[QUOTE=Rbradleigh;19556648]This! Though Verlander seemed to be more of a trade back & forth to Houston once gone from Detroit.

I [emoji817] view Scherzer as a hired gun[/QUOTE]

I'm really not sure how that takes away from his dominance.

My high school coach got in a fight with him in juco

I feel like he would have a better legacy if he was a bit more likeable in general

I've TWICE seen him dominate my Cardinals in person and left thinking he was the best pitcher on the planet.