Maybe you think it's premature to rank Madison Bumgarner among the Giants' all-time best lefty pitchers because he's only 24 years old. OK, fair enough. But consider this: With 51 wins, Bumgarner is already nearly halfway to the most by a left-hander in the Giants' 57-year San Francisco history. Oh, yeah, and he's 2-0 with a zero ERA in two World Series.
Let's look at the more notable lefty pitchers in the Giants' SF history and decide for yourself where Bumgarner ranks among them today and where, if his talent and health hold up, he might rank in, say, 14 years.
Kirk Rueter. In 10 seasons with the Giants (1996-2005), Woody won 105 games, a Giants SF record for lefties.
Johnny Antonelli. SF's original star left-hander actually has three more wins as a Giant than Rueter, although only 41 in a San Francisco uniform. Antonelli's Giants career (1954-60) spanned the team's New York and West Coast eras. He was a two-time 20-game winner as a N.Y. Giant, and a 19-game winner for SF in 1959.
Mike McCormick. His career also spans the team's bicoastal eras, having made his big-league debut at 17 years old in 1956. Like Antonelli, McCormick was an original SF Giant in 1958. He has two more overall Giants wins than Rueter and only one fewer as an SF Giant. He also has something that no other Giant pitcher, righty or lefty, New York or San Francisco, has other than Tim Lincecum: a Cy Young Award. He earned it in 1967 when he was 22-10 with a 2.85 ERA.
Vida Blue. Although his best season, 1971, one of the best in modern baseball history (24-8, 1.82, eight shutouts, 301 strikeouts) was with the A's, 72 of Blue's 209 victories came as a Giant, including 18 in 1978.
Bob Knepper. In two stints with the Giants, Knepper won a combined 53 games, including 17 in 1978 and three for the pennant-winning Giants in 1989.
Billy Pierce. He won only 22 games in three seasons with the Giants, but his 16-6 record in 1962 included a 12-0 mark at Candlestick Park and a shutout of the Dodgers in the opener of a three-game playoff. He also beat the Yankees in Game 6 of the World Series.
Billy O'Dell. He won 56 games in five seasons with the Giants, including 19 in the pennant-winning season of '62.
Dave Dravecky. He won only 11 games in parts of three seasons with the Giants, but fans will forever salute his performance in the 1987 National League Championship Series against the Cardinals (15 scoreless innings, including a shutout in Game 2) and his courage in attempting to come back from cancer in 1989.
Atlee Hammaker. He won 58 games in eight seasons as a Giant. It would be sadistic to remind Giants fans of Hammaker's 1983 All-Star Game performance. Those interested in such unsavory statistics can dig it up themselves.
Shawn Estes. His 64 wins in seven years with the Giants included going 19-5 in 1997 and 15-6 in 2000, seasons in which SF was division champion.
Jonathan Sanchez. One of his 38 wins in six seasons with the Giants was a no-hitter on July 10, 2009, against the Padres. He struck out 11 and walked none. The only baserunner reached on Juan Uribe's error in the eighth inning.
Barry Zito. Sure, he got a ton of money and went 63-80 in seven years as a Giant. But he won Game 5 of the 2012 NLCS against the Cardinals when the Giants faced elimination, then bested Detroit ace Justin Verlander in Game 1 of the World Series.
For the record, lefties Warren Spahn, Steve Carlton and Randy Johnson, among the best in baseball history, all pitched (a little) for SF. Three of Spahn's 356 victories, one of Carlton's 329 and eight of the Big Unit's 303 came as a Giant.
And no list of notable Giants lefty pitchers would be complete without the best of them all: Carl Hubbell, called King Carl and Meal Ticket in his day. His entire 16-year career (1928-1943) was spent with the New York Giants, and his 253 victories included five consecutive 20-win seasons.
Let's see. If Bumgarner averages 15 wins for the next 13 seasons, in 2027 he'll be closing in on King Carl.
(Robert Rubino can be reached at RobertoRubino@comcast.net.)
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