TUPATALK: A closer look at one man's HOF All-Time pitching staff

I recently offered my Baseball Hall of Fame All-Time team.

Following is my look at my choice for the first-team pitchers — Bob Gibson, Tom Seaver, Walter Johnson, Jim Palmer and Sandy Koufax as starters, and Dennis Eckersley and Mariano Rivera out of the bullpen.

I’ve always believed Bob Gibson was the combination of an extraordinary talent and gladiator-tough intensity.

The Nebraska product stood at the crossroads of a pro basketball or pro baseball career — he played a year for the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team.

He struck out 31 batters in the 1964 World Series. Gibson won three games in the 1967 World Series and hit a homer.

In 1968, Gibson threw 13 shutouts, 28 complete games and carved out a record 1.12 earned run average.

He still holds the record for most strikeouts in a World Series game (17).

I’ve always believed Walter Johnson and Gibson probably had more determination in adversity than any other pitchers in baseball history.

I believe Seaver would bring tremendous assets, physically and emotionally, to the mound.

He finished with 311 wins (311-205), a 2.68 ERA, 231 complete games, 61 shutouts and 3,640 strikeouts in 20 seasons.

Walter Johnson loomed large on the bump at 6-foot-1, 200 pounds during his career mostly in the so-called dead ball era.

He fashioned a 417-279 record and 2.17 ERA. He also forged 110 shutouts and an incredible 531 games.

What made Johnson especially impressive was he played on some pretty bad Washington Senators’ teams. Even so, he record 12 20-win seasons, 10 of them in a row.

In 1913, he burst to a 36-7 record with 1.14 ERA and 11 shutouts.

Johnson was known for having an incredible fastball — perhaps the fastest in MLB history. But, he also located his fastball with solid precision, considering its velocity.

In 21 years, he issued 1,363 walks and struck out 3,509 batters — almost three strikeouts for every walk allowed.

I heard a batter describe Koufax’ slider as if it were a ball rolling off the end of a table.

He notched a 165-87 record and 2.76 ERA.

Due to injury, his career ended way too soon (age 30) — he averaged 24 wins a year his final four seasons. In 12 years he threw 137 complete games and 40 shutouts.

The left-handed Koufax won the Cy Young Award three times in four seasons in the mid-1960s.

Koufax also proved to be a man of principle by refusing to pitch a World Series game played on the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur.

Palmer might have been my biggest surprise pick for the first team.

I chose him for one main reason — other than his incredible skills. He was a winner. He dug and clawed and battled every pitch.

His 2.856 ERA is the third lowest since 1920.

Palmer amassed a 268-152 record, with 211 complete games and 53 shutouts. He struck out 2,212 batters, never gave up back-to-back homers or never surrendered grand slam.

Rivera tallied 652 saves and 82 wins (82-60) during his 19-year career as a reliever. In 2004, at age 34, he nailed down 53 saves.

Rivera allowed only 71 homers and walked just 286 batters compared to 1,173 strikeouts.

I like Eckersley because of his experience as both a starter and a closer.

He finished his career with 197-171 record and 3.50 ERA, with 390 saves.

Eckersley pitched as a starter the first 12 years of his career and finished up as a reliever the final 12 years. He turned in 100 complete games and 20 shutouts. At age 37 he weaved 51 saves for Oakland.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: TUPATALK: Analyzing my All-time pitching staff from the Baseball HOF