[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.

[DrMitchJ]

(12-30-2012 04:41 AM)jacobystealshome Wrote:  There are lots of arguments about who the best pitcher was. And there are infinite ways to argue it.

For me, the best that ever was? Satchel Paige...and it isnt close.

cant argue that statistically, of course.

i could bring up the fact he started a game in 1965, at the age of 58 - FIFTY BLEEPING EIGHT, pitched 3 innings and only allowed 1 hit and no runs - against the red sox, a lineup including yaz, tony c, malzone, petrolcelli, lee thomas (who has 22 hr's that year)

They didn't tell you that Satch took them out drinking the night before

But seriously, Satchel was probably the greatest ever but it's hard to compare due to segregation of baseball during his prime pitching years. I would go with Koufax just slightly over him. It might be a close race, but I think Sandy was the most dominant force in the majors for 5 years. From 1962 - 1966 the guy was off the charts. In any 3 of those seasons his ERA was below 2.0 (1.88, 1.74, 1.73), he won 20+ games (25, 26, 27), he struck out over 300 (306,382,317 ), walked less than 60 (57,58,53) and won the Cy Young Award (3x).
No hitters, World Series wins, an MVP in 1963. Hell, his WHIP was below 1.0 in 4 of those 5 seasons ( .875, .928, .855, .985)!!!!
In all 5 of those seasons he had the lowest ERA in the league and gave up the least amount of hit per game in the NL.
If he didn't have a shortened career, he might have amassed more impressive numbers, but was elected to the HOF just on the merits of those 5 seasons. If you take 5 seasons of any of the other greats, The Left Hand of God was probably the best of them all.
IMO
Mitch

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(12-30-2012 07:22 AM)jacobystealshome Wrote:  Counterpoint to randy johnson being the best:

i rest my case, your honor

BTW: probably the funniest / embarrassing picture ever. Thanks for the best laugh I had this year. Who could be intimidated by THAT!