Bob Friend vs Catfish Hunter

[Joltin' Joe]

A lot of pitchers from the 60s/70s are overrated by casual fans. That being said, I believe that league quality was very high during Catfish's times, more so than in Friend's times. I went with Catfish.

[KCGHOST]

The stats say it is just about a push, but I saw both of these guys pitch a lot of games and just never thought of Friend being as good as Hunter.

[BigRon]

Seems to me there was aa thread on this last year, or at least a discussion about it. I remember Yankwood pressing hard for Hunter's superiority.

In my opinion they are very close. I saw Friend through most of his career. He was a good, no frills pitcher. Almost always healthy, able to go deep into games, no trick pitches. Friend was on more poor/mediocre teams than good ones. I think it is very likely that Friend's W-L record would have been at last similar to Hunter's had he been on good teams consistently. Both were very good, not great pitchers- neither one meets my personal criteria for HOF- worthiness, but they were both strong workhorses.

[Jackaroo Dave]

Two talented pitchers, respected by their teammates and opponents, both endowed with excellent nicknames--two very different careers. Who do you like? Was Catfish's strong suit his choice of teammates? Did The Warrior pitch just well enough to lose?