His 56.9 career wins above replacement (according to Baseball-Reference) are the highest of any Blue Jays player, and he also holds the franchise records for complete games (103), strikeouts (1,658), and innings pitched (2,873).

A promising outfielder prospect at Southern Illinois University, Stieb was converted to a starting pitcher after being drafted by the Blue Jays, who told him that it would be the quickest way to get him to the majors.

Born in Santa Ana, California, Stieb was primarily an outfielder during his time at Oak Grove High School and at San Jose City College.

[6] In his 1978 junior season, Stieb hit .394 with 12 home runs and 48 RBIs, and was named to The Sporting News's All-American team (along with Kirk Gibson and Bob Horner).

[7] Scouted by Bobby Mattick and Al LaMacchia of the Blue Jays as an outfield prospect in a varsity game, Stieb's performance failed to impress until he was pressed into service as a relief pitcher.

[6] Stieb was initially reluctant to take the mound as a starting pitcher until he was told by the Blue Jays front office that "the quickest way to make it [to the major leagues] would be pitching.

In 1979, he was promoted to the Blue Jays' AAA affiliate, the Syracuse Chiefs, working to a 2.12 ERA over a 5–2 record and 51 innings pitched.

[8] Stieb made 18 starts in 1979, ending with seven complete games, a 4.31 ERA, and an 8–8 record (the best winning percentage on the pitching staff).

With a 3.19 ERA, Stieb led the Blue Jays staff in 1981 (ranking third among AL pitchers for WAR), though the season was shortened due to the 1981 strike.

Stieb worked to a 2.83 ERA, started the All-Star Game, and led the majors in IP (267.0) and in WAR (7.9), but finished seventh in Cy Young voting.

[15] He was awarded a World Series ring after the Blue Jays won their first championship later that year, despite not pitching in the postseason due to injuries.

Despite a five-year hiatus from baseball, Stieb noticed that his old injuries did not bother him while throwing, and he eventually asked manager Tim Johnson for the opportunity to pitch.

[2][16] Stieb entered the league primarily as a power pitcher,[17] relying on a high, inside fastball to strike batters out.

Stieb had a high-strung personality and was known as a fierce competitor on the mound; he was regularly seen having animated conversations with himself between pitches when in difficult situations.

A shrink might have found him a sympathetic figure, but among a bunch of sports writers feeling a deadline approach and waiting forever for Stieb to deign to speak to them, there were few warm thoughts.

He compared Stieb to Jim Bunning, arguing that both pitchers deserved "more than one" Cy Young Award, but never won one, thanks to poor run support.

[26] In 2009, a panel of Baseball-Reference historians listed him as the fourth best pitcher of the 1980s, behind Tommy John and Hall-of-Famers Nolan Ryan and Bert Blyleven (and ahead of Jack Morris).

[35][36] Part of the reason has been the emergence of advanced sabermetrics; among starting pitchers in the 1980s, Stieb leads the decade in wins above replacement (WAR) and adjusted ERA+.

[38] Jay Jaffe of Baseball Prospectus (the creator of JAWS) wrote that Stieb, along with Orel Hershiser, was the best pitcher from "[a] very underrepresented era of pitchers" in the Hall of Fame, adding that his career "[fits] well within the range of many Hall of Fame starters whose places in Cooperstown don’t keep us lying awake at night.

"[39] In their Captain Ahab documentary series, Alex Rubenstein and Jon Bois suggested that Stieb's brief comeback in 1998 hurt his candidacy; by "restarting the clock" on the five-year retirement period necessary before consideration, Rubenstein and Bois argued, Stieb guaranteed that the BBWAA members voting in 2004 would barely remember his dominant seasons of the early 1980s.

[31] In 2017, Stieb told The Sporting News that, based on the traditional metric of wins-and-losses, he knew that he didn't belong in the Hall of Fame.