Tapani and Erickson were better in 1991? Were you watching the same year I was? Erickson was a one trick pony, a pony that was average at best the last half of the season, Tapani was decent, but when it came down to it when the Twins needed a big win, it was Morris delivering it. How did the careers of Tapani and Erickson go after 1991, seems to me once Morris left, neither were the same again.

Jack Morris was the “winningest” pitcher of the 1980’s, due to the fact that he played on some awesome Tigers teams, but anyone who thinks Morris was the BEST pitcher of that (or any other) decade is flat-out smoking crack. There are about a dozen pitchers who pitched the full decade span who compiled a much better ERA than Morris, such as Fernando, Dave Stieb, Mike Scott, and even Joe Niekro. Removing the arbitrary cutoff point of having started prior to 1980, you can include pitchers like Doc Gooden, Clemens and Hershiser, who were all FAR better pitchers during the latter half of the decade.

And as far as Morris being this ultimate champion with a fistful of WS rings, not once was he the true “ace” on any of the three teams where he played a significant role. Dan Petry had better numbers in 1984… both Scott Erickson and Kevin Tapani were better pitchers during the 1991 regular season… and Juan Guzman was far superior to Morris on the 1992 Jays. The fact that Morris was on so many of these WS squads does not prove squat. He was a mercenary who wanted to go play for good teams on high dollar, short term contracts. I would compare him to Charles Haley in football or Robert Horry in basketball - very good players who were excellent at their role and seemed to bring extra intangibles to push their teams over the top to a championship. But does this place them among the elite players of their generation? Not in the least.