In the 40's there was Spud Chandler, in the 70's Don Gullet and the 90's had David Cone-he'd win a lot, lose few and have great ERA's and none of them made it to Cooperstown, Chandler was 29 when he debuted in the majors, therefore not enough time to pile up the numbs, Gullet and Cone suffered injuries that derailed their careers.
Cone was drafted by the Royals in the 3rd round of the 81 draft and spent his first two years in their farm system dominating the Rookie and A Leagues he pitched in. However, in 83 injuries took him out for a year and upon his return in 84 he struggled for the next two years until returning to form in 86 and getting his first call up that year. In March of 87 the Royals committed one of those rare but often marveled at deals, a deal so bad you wonder what they were thinking? Cone along with Chris Jelic were sent to the Mets for Rick Anderson, Mauro Gozzo and Ed Hearn.
After a mediocre 87 he helped the Mets win the National League East with his 20-3 and 2.22 ERA. Pitching to a 1-1 with a 4.50 the Mets were knocked out by eventual World Series winners the Dodgers. His next three seasons were all 14 win seasons but in 92 he was traded to the Blue Jays for Jeff Kent, that is what we call a win-win since both teams got something out of it-unlike the Royals in their boneheaded deal. Another 1-1 in the LCS but the Jays won the pennant. In two Series starts he had no decisions but the Jays won the first of what would be five World Series appearances for him.
Realizing their blunder of years previously the Royals signed Cone as a free agent. (Yes Virginia, there was a time teams in small markets like Kansas City signed big name free agents.) Two-and-a-half good years including a Cy Young Award in 94 resulting in a return trip to Toronto in 95. Again all the Royals got in return was David Sinnes, Tony Medrano and Chris Stynes. Mind boggling really.
Half way through the 95 season he was sent to the Yankees, in another bad deal, and his career reached a new level of success.
Injuries limited his regular season appearances in 96 to just 11 games but in the post-season he went 1-1 with his win coming against the Braves in the Series which the Yankees won. In 98 and 99 he won Series games and had a no-decision in 99 all of which the Yanks won again.
In 2000 he slumped to a miserable 4-14 and next year was in Boston where eked out a 9-7 mark, he was out all of 2002 and made a brief comeback with the Mets in 2003 but made his final appearance in May of 03.
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