[alfredoleal2001]

Its too difficult to point one guy out, but id maybe go with a guy who has an award named after him to prize the best pitcher per season. However, none of us saw him pitch so we cant base ourselves with that. Also, his wins record will probably never be broken and it will always belong to cy young.

[ryanmo5]

The best pitcher I've ever seen pitch is Randy Johnson hands down, not just because he played for the dbacks either cause I watched him all the time in seattle and other places. Purely dominant!!!

[jacobystealshome]

I just cant take wins or k's as a serious reason for making someone the best ever. wins is solely a dependent stat. k's can mean dominance, but if you have a high era and a boatload of walks, are you still a great pitcher?

[chrisolds]

The changes in baseball are seen more obviously with pitchers. makes it tough to pick one.

Take Twitter Superstar Old Hoss Radbourn ... a 59-game winner in 1884:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/player...ch01.shtml

Cy Young ... 500+ wins. Christy Mathewson ... ridiculousness.

There are plenty of examples.

Then there are players like Clemens. Chuckle.

I'd go Maddux and Ryan tied for modern-day guys, myself.

[alfredoleal2001]

I just cant take wins or k's as a serious reason for making someone the best ever. wins is solely a dependent stat. k's can mean dominance, but if you have a high era and a boatload of walks, are you still a great pitcher?

I agree but its hard not to say he is not the best if the award is named after him. I didnt check his era or any stat I just know his # of wins lol

[nolan5000]

"The Ryan Express" Nolan Ryan

Against the Oakland Athletics on August 22, Ryan struck out Rickey Henderson to become the only pitcher to record 5,000 career strikeouts. (Following the game, Henderson was quoted as saying, "If he ain't struck you out, then you ain't nobody.")

On July 15, 1973, as Nolan Ryan was working on his second career no-hitter, Cash went to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the ninth (after striking out his previous three at bats), holding a table leg from the clubhouse instead of a regulation bat. The stunt drew immediate action by the umpire, who ordered Cash to use a legal bat. Cash popped out using a regulation bat to end the game.

Is my selection really a big surprise?

[nyyankeesfan28]

I'm tempted to go with Ryan, as well.

[newfiecomicguy1]

I look at a guy Like Roy Halladay who won or dominate on a very sub par team in Toronto. Halladay won games even when the Jays shouldn't have. He didn't have the advantage of having a big scoring or great D team in front of him but he got the job done. Sure we have to use wins, loses, era etc but there are a lot of other factors as well. There were a lot of great pitchers who would have had much better numbers on teams named Yankees, Red Sox etc.

[pootshwan]

Just a little nugget of info. Nolan Ryan never won a cy young award in his 27 year career and was only selected to 8 all-star games. 19 years he was not an all-star.

Nolan was a great pitcher no doubt, but NOT EVEN in the discussion of best ever. Not even once was he considered the best pitcher IN HIS LEAGUE for 27 straight years.

Comparatively, Randy Johnson won the cy young 5 times and made the all star selection 10 times in a 22 year career. Just let that sink in.

Nolan Ryan is one the most overrated players in baseball history IMHO, and this thread confirms it. People are making an argument for Nolan Ryan as the best pitcher ever? laughable.

You have been completely brainwashed if you think Nolan Ryan is the greatest pitcher ever.

[cdillon17]

I asked Pete Rose who the best pitcher he ever faced was... the first name out of his mouth, and he said it immediately, was Juan Marichal. The second name out of his mouth was Sandy Koufax. He then went on to say that Bob Gibson was the most competitive pitcher he ever faced.

He then paused and thought for a second then said that those guys got him while he was young. He then thought for another second... you could tell he was thinking about guys he faced a lot during his career... and he said Steve Carlton. Carlton was the last name he voluntarily said. He also mentioned what a great teammate Carlton was... it was obvious he has a lot of respect for Steve Carlton.

I asked if any pitcher in the 80s stood out to him... and he couldn't think of anyone. I asked about Dwight Gooden... and he said something like 'oh yeah, he was really good' and then mentioned he was like 9-22 or something like that off of him.

Of course, this excludes all the pitchers pre-1960s.