whos better: randy johnson or roger clemens ?

Question

BASED ON THEIR ENTIRE CAREERS!

Answer 1

That's a very good question. I looked up some stats and found some amazing similarities.

Roger Clemens.
348 - 178 (.662) in 690 starts (691 total games)
3.10 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 354 HR allowed
4,604 SO in 4,817.2 innings, 2.97 SO/BB
Opp BA: .228
1 AL MVP
7 Cy Young (6 AL, 1 NL, last in 2004)

Randy Johnson.
280 - 147 (.656) in 546 starts (556 total games)
3.22 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 361 HR allowed
4,544 SO in 3,798.2 innings, 3.23 SO/BB
Opp BA: .217
5 Cy Young (1 AL, 4 NL)

All this would seem to back up the notion that Randy Johnson pitches better (more SO's, lower Opp BA), but Roger Clemens is a better pitcher (lower ERA, less HR allowed over many more innings).

Based on longevity and consistency, I'd have to give an oh-so-slight edge to Clemens. Clemens worst years look downright respectable compared to Johnson's worst years, and his career spans 4 more years.

That being said, I wouldn't have wanted to face either of them in their prime.

Answer 2

That's a really good question. Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens both have to be the best pitchers in the last 30 years. Based on their entire careers, however I would say that the better pitcher is Clemens is better as his ERA is a bit lower than Johnson's and his winning percentage is a little higher. But in terms of influence in a team, Johnson is the better player as he really did shape the Arizona Diamondbacks. Clemens is a better pitcher but is hated by many of his teams. Johnson is the lesser of the two, but is obviously much loved by the Arizona Diamondbacks fans.

Answer 3

Roger Clemens

Answer 4

Sabermetric founder and baseball stats man Bill James found a way to analyze the statistics of a player based on four criteria.

The Black Ink test measures how many times a player was the league leader and the Grey Ink test measures how many times a player was among the league leaders.

The HOF Standards is how deserving a player is to be in the Hall of Fame and compares to Hall of Famers. The HOF Monitor is how likely the player is to get into the Hall of Fame.

These are the numbers with the all time rankings listed behind the score:

Roger Clemens
Black Ink: Pitching - 100 (5) (Average HOFer ≈ 40)
Gray Ink: Pitching - 314 (8) (Average HOFer ≈ 185)
HOF Standards: Pitching - 72.0 (5) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)
HOF Monitor: Pitching - 326.0 (3) (Likely HOFer > 100)

Randy Johnson
Black Ink: Pitching - 96 (7) (Average HOFer ≈ 40)
Gray Ink: Pitching - 275 (13) (Average HOFer ≈ 185)
HOF Standards: Pitching - 62.0 (13) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)
HOF Monitor: Pitching - 320.0 (4) (Likely HOFer > 100)

Based on these calculations, Clemens is the better pitcher based on the whole career and was more dominant.

However, there were no calculations on how many times a player threw a bat at Mike Piazza.

Answer 5

Clemens --he has many more wins and has won 20 games or more 6 times as compared with Randy Johnson's 3 times.

Answer 6

Roger Clemens is still on fire at age 44. You can't say the same thing for Randy Johnson. Clemens gets the edge.

Answer 7

Clemens by a longshot. He is 44 years old, over a decade past his prime, and he is pitching better than Randy Johnson during his prime. Clemens is arguably one of the top pitchers in baseball history. Johnson is not so much. He gets strikeouts, but pitching isn't about blowing batters away.

Answer 8

Based on their entire careers, Roger Clemens.
Based on anything else: Roger Clemens.

Answer 9

Roger Clemens far and away has a better record careerwise. He's one of the greatest pitchers of all time, and without question the best active pitcher in baseball (he hasn't announced his retirement, again...). Johnson is starting to physically breakdown. Even the Yanks don't want him. He's 43. Randy is a hall of famer, too, but overall Clemens is in my top 5 pitchers of all time.

Answer 10

Clemens