Who was the best starting pitcher in the modern era?

Question

Pedro? Randy Johnson? Curt Schilling? Greg Maddux? Roger Clemens.... no matter who you choose remember to take into consideration the difference between your favorite pitcher and the best pitcher, because I'll admit (as a red sox fan) I'd easily say Pedro, but I may have to look at some stats for this one...

Answer 1

Career - Clemens, hands down (well, Spahn, Maddux and Seaver are kinda close). But for a player's best few seasons... Pedro was as unhittable as anyone in baseball history.

Career:
(1) Clemens
(2) Warren Spahn (assuming modern era=post WW2)
(3) Maddux

Peak:
(1) Martinez
(2) Koufax
(3) Johnson

Answer 2

I guess the question I have for you is what do consider the "modern era"? Many baseball historians consider the modern era to have begun around 1950 so that seems as good a place to start as any.

Obviously, there's never going to be consensus. I'm looking at this in terms of career value, not peak value. My picks:

1) Clemens - don't like the guy but gotta give him his due
2) Seaver - the perfect pitching machine
3) Maddux - unreal consistency
4) Gibson - utterly dominant and the biggest of Big Game pitchers
5) Spahn - hard to overlook a guy with 360+ wins
6) Ryan - overrated by many, nonetheless an amazing pitcher
7) Carlton - the sheer breadth of his career is astounding
8) Martinez - in terms of peak value it's him or Koufax
9) Koufax - see above
10) R. Johnson - imagine if he figured out how to pitch sooner

I'm sure I'm forgetting somebody. I'm also sure if you ask me tomorrow the order on the list, excluding the top 3, would change. :-)

Answer 3

The modern era began in 1901 when both the American and National League began play, and the official records for pitchers goes back to 1893 when the mound was finally moved to 60'6". Clemens is the best in the last 25 years but overall..Walter Johnson...416 wins with a usually second rate team, held the record for strikeouts for 50 years, 110 shutouts, 39 losses by a 1-0 score, and batted .440 in 1925

Answer 4

A few years from now it will probably be Santana easy... but for now I have to say Clemens... the guy is still totally dominant and he's past 40! Pedro's good, but not the best.

My favorite however is either Johnson or Schilling - huge D-Backs fan.

Answer 5

Clemens. Last year his era was in the low 2.00 range which is phenominal in this day and age. And he is at the end of his career! Jeez. If he had any run support at all he would have been a Cy Young candidate at 40!

Maddux is not that great. He lived on umpires calling strikes on pitches 2 inches outside. The year the strike zone started being enforced as written Maddux's performance dropped like a rock, and Bobby Cox wasted a lot of breath arguing with umpires.

Answer 6

Roger Clemens has been acused of taking steroids by a source, but nobody talks about him and his records being tainted , so I would have to put an asterisk next to his name.

Randy Johnson is like the Shaq of baseball. He has a size advantage.

Pedro is good when he wants to be but doesn't have enough stats to put him over Randy Johnson.

I would have to say Nolan Ryan.

Answer 7

the picture of human beings that answered, I disagree besides. With all the historic past by all those gamers, our loved sport reached the position the well-known era baseball has reached. we ought to continually no longer ignore and honor the previous gamers extraordinarily those with huge fulfillment jointly with Cy youthful. hence, I say it would stay as Cy youthful. by the way, the stats you position - do not you imagine it really is impressive form in that era? i'm no longer doing any study yet what percentage video games they performed decrease back then? 30+ wins in 5 seasons? Wow!!! And starting up over 60 circumstances a year and his career lasted 22 years? He must have regarded after his body notwithstanding i do not imagine that they had a be conscious "conditioning" decrease back then

Answer 8

You'll never resolve that question but here's my nomination -
1972 - Steve Carlton
He won 27 games for a team that finished not only finished last but won only 59 games all season. The next best total among Phillies starters that year was 4. Along the way, he threw 30 complete games, pitched 346 innings, and struck out 310.

Answer 9

I think that it is Roger Clemens. He is second all time in strikeouts, has over 300 wins and won 7 Cy Young awards which is a record.

Answer 10

Roger Clemens. Easy. He has the ERA, K's, and the Wins. Not to mention he won some metal. He also played for 20 years and proved he is loyal to the game and keeps himself in shape.