Who is the best pitcher ever?

Question

I like Nolan Ryan , Koufax, Clemens

Answer 1

Here's the thing.... a lot of people will look at the wins and say Cy Young; however, he's started in more games than anybody else in the history of the game and pitched 1300 more innings.

Ryan's strikeout total (5714) is going to insanely difficult to beat; however, he only had 324 wins (14th all time) and an ERA of 3.19 (111th all time). You can point to his 7 no-hitters as evidence, but really no-hitters can happen to just about anybody. Sandy Koufax threw 4 in his career (as a side note, had Koufax not been injured and had his career cut short, I may be discussing him in this answer). Larry Corcoran threw 3 in his career. Johnny Vander Meer threw two in consecutive games. Randy Johnson and Hideo Nomo each have two no-hitters. I remember Bud Smith and Jose Jimenez throwing no-hitters. So you see, no-hitters are great, but I don't think they are necessarily a sign of all-time greatness. No-hitters are icing on a great career, but they do not make somebody a top 5 pitcher.

Christy Mathewson was an amazing pitcher. 374 wins and a 2.13 ERA is pretty hard to beat, but his stikeout totals (2508) are not all that impressive. Not bad by any stretch, but not eye-popping (7 active players are ahead of him at this point).

Most recently, people will argue Clemens. He is the greatest pitcher of our time (I think better than Ryan), but I don't think I'd put him in the top 5 all time. You can say that he has 7 Cy Young awards, but the Cy Young 1) is named for another pitcher, and 2) was first awarded in 1956. Besides, Randy Johnson has 5 Cy Young Awards, does that put him in the top 5 all time? I don't think so. Clemens' ERA barely puts him in the top 100 of all time. Strikeouts are nice, but let's face it, it's just another out. Who cares if the guy grounds out to short, pops out to right or strikes out? - an out is an out. If he was in the top 25 in ERA all time, then I would give him more serious consideration.

Here's the one who I would place as the #1 pitcher of all time: Walter Johnson. 417 in wins - 2nd all time; 3508 K's - 9th all time, and he pitched in an era when strikeouts were not all that common; 2.17 ERA - 9th all time; 531 complete games - 4th all time; he gave up less than 100 HR's (97) in twenty years; and most impressively, 110 shut-outs (20 more than anybody else in the history of the game, to put that in perspective, the active leader is Clemens who only has 46). The combination of W's, K's, ERA and shut-outs puts Johnson over the top as the best pitcher of all time in my book, hands down.

Answer 2

Walter Johnson.

Clemens might be in the top 5 (he's close), Koufax top 15, Ryan top 30.

For all you Ryan lovers, strikeouts are on indicator of a pitcher's effectiveness.....but so are walks. Take a look at Nollie's walk totals. Plus his winning percentage is good, but hardly worthy of ranking him number one.

I've said this before, Ryan is probably the most remarkable pitcher ever, but that hardly means best.

As far as Sandy...6 jaw-dropping years (helped by the pitching conditions of Dodger Stadium in the 60's) combined with 6 average (at best) years does not give him enough mileage to be ranked ahead of guys like Johnson, Grove, Gibson, Mathewson, Seaver, Clemens, Maddux, Young, Spahn....

Answer 3

Nolan Ryan

Answer 4

Nolan Ryan by far...He had the longevity of a true baseball warrior. The strikeouts to the no hitters to the first 100mph fastball. He is a baseball legend. If Clemens would have pitched for the Yankees instead of all those years in Boston he would have at least 50 more wins to his record tho. Same scenario of Ryan he had double-digit losses due to the team he played for.

Answer 5

Nolan Ryan-Strikeout King

Answer 6

Cy Young


I also like Nolan Ryan & Roger Clemens

Answer 7

Nolan Ryan is not in the top ten. Look at his numbers, he always had double digit losses. I like Koufax.

Answer 8

To many differnt types of pitchers to answer the question fairly.Best stats and longevity got to be Nolan Ryan,Roger Clemens.Most feared Bob Gibson,Walter Johnson,Randy Johnson.How about Warren Spahn.

Answer 9

now to not take something faraway from Mr. Glavin yet he's been fortunate to be on some effective communities. The lefties that come to my recommendations are, Lefty Gomez, Lefty Grove, Randy Johnson, Steve Carlton....John Tudor became an below rated lefty for the Cardinals. no longer that he's the desirable ever. purely not in any respect an allstar even. i imagine you'll ought to pass with Warren Spahn or Sandy Koufax notwithstanding.

Answer 10

Good choices... also Cy Young, Christy Matthewson, Bob Feller, Warren Spahn, Steve Carlton, Bob Gibson