Blue Jays: Roy Halladay versus Dave Stieb for franchise best

The Toronto Blue Jays debate for the franchise best hurler always surrounds two former workhorses in Roy Halladay and Dave Stieb as their overall body of work can be discussed ad nauseam attempting to declare the unanimous winner.

This past summer Sportsnet revealed the Top 40 Blue Jays Players of All-Time after polling numerous experts from the field. The list ranked Dave Stieb number two while Roy Halladay pulled up in the third overall spot in the poll respectively.

The tragic news this week regarding Halladay inspired me to actually look at the numbers during their careers north of the border and compare the two hurlers statistically. Here is what I came up with.

The Numbers:

Roy Halladay:

Drafted in the 1st round, 17th overall in 1995 MLB Draft.

Spent 12 years with the Jays from 1998-2009.

Wins and Losses-148-76 in 287 starts with 313 total appearances.

3.43 Earned Run Average/ 1.198 WHIP

1495 Strikeouts/ 49 Complete Games

6.6 SO/9

2.0 BB/9

0.8 HR/9

48.5 WAR/ 2- 20+ Win Seasons

6-Time All-Star/ 1 Cy Young Award

6- 200+ inning seasons

Dave Stieb:

Drafted in the 5th round, 106th overall in 1978 MLB Draft.

Spent 15 years with the Jays from 1979-1992 and then again in 1998.

Wins and Losses-176-137 in 408 starts with 439 total appearances.

3.42 Earned Run Average/ 1.241 WHIP

1658 Strikeouts/ 103 Complete Games

5.2 SO/9

3.2 BB/9

0.7 HR/9

57.4 WAR/ 18 Win Season

7-Time All-Star/ Sporting News Pitcher of the Year Award in 1982

9- 200+ inning seasons

Pitched first No-Hitter in Blue Jays history.

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Both hurlers have a laundry list of personal accomplishments and accolades to their name while both pitched in different Blue Jays eras. Stieb was the first Blue Jays ace as well as the first pitcher to assert continued dominance on the league during the Jays lean years as a new franchise.

Halladay may one day be enshrined in Cooperstown for his career in both in Toronto and Philadelphia. However, Stieb received only 1.4% of the votes in his only year on the Hall of Fame ballot in 2004.

Ironically their earned run averages during their Blue Jays careers are only one point off one another at 3.42 (Stieb) and 3.43 (Halladay) respectively. Regardless of who you side with as the Blye Jays best all-time hurler, you can’t go wrong with either man. They were both absolute workhorses who perfected their craft and would not rest until accomplishing their goals on the baseball field.

Next: Blue Jays’ Roy Halladay and his TV commercial life

No matter how you break it down, they were 1 and 1A in my book and both would undoubtedly be more than happy to share the honour as the franchises best with one another.