Tom Seaver or Nolan Ryan?

Question

Who's the better pitcher? Please give some proof to back up your argument, and not just the number of no-hitters.

Answer 1

To watch live in hopes of witnessing something historic -- Ryan.

To win a game -- Seaver.

Generally the second is more important, but the first is not easily dismissed either.

Seaver was the better pitcher. He was better at preventing baserunners and at preventing runs, and these are the core competencies needed to excel at pitching.

Answer 2

It is always difficult when you try to compare two great pitchers. Depending on what you are looking at you could make an argument either way. Seaver: 15 seasons with more than 14 wins, 311 career wins, career ERA under 3.00, 11 all-star teams, 3 Cy Young's, and he was also rookie of the year in his rookie season. Ryan 324 career wins and many other accomplishments of his own. Neither pitcher played on great teams throughout their careers and Ryan lost 93 more games than Seaver (298-203). Ryan was overpowering as demonstrated by his strikeouts and no hitters, which is just another way to win a game. I know I am going to take the minority view and pick Seaver as the better pitcher. He was more consistent throughout his career where Ryan had years when he had control problems. I had the pleasure of seeing both pitchers pitch and would give the nod to Seaver.

Answer 3

Seaver.

First of all, they both pitched for the same team in the 60's (the NY Mets) and although Seaver was established as a young phenom -- Ryan was mostly relegated to the bullpen vs. the Orioles in the WS, and Seaver was the ace. That says a lot, since the manager was the immortal Gil Hodges (and if Ryan was anywhere near Seaver-status, he'd have started over Gary Gentry on that staff).

Now, over time Ryan showed himself to have an excellent fastball and an amazing curveball. He also walked a TON of hitters. His win/loss didn't ever, and doesn't over his career match that of Tom Seaver -- who won and DOMINATED with NY Mets teams that couldn't hit & score, if you set a tee on home plate. He'd have 200+ innings, and ultra-low ERAs (check/track Seaver's ERA year by year with Ryans!) and still WIN despite awful Mets hitting.

Over time, Seaver went on to the Reds, White Sox, Mets again, etc. -- and his career wasn't as long as Ryan. Ryan's arm was magnificent, and he turned out to be the better athlete (over time) and able to compile awesome years, well into the ages that most SPs before him would retire. His 5,000+ K's will NEVER be broken, but put those years on many other SPs (Koufax, Seaver, etc.) and you'd have it shattered. Roger Clemens is pitching near as long as Ryan -- but he's not coming close to Ryan's Ks. (but, Ryan walked many hitters too.. and Seaver just didn't).

If you're starting Game 1 of the WS today -- and you have a 26 yr old TOM SEAVER or a 26yr old Nolan Ryan -- which are you picking? (there's your answer)

Answer 4

Tom Seaver

Answer 5

This depends on whether you are enanmored by the quality of the pitching, or you're just looking for a solid winner. Obviously, Ryan threw harder than anyone longer than anyone, but he walked a lot of batters and was not a consistent winner. Seaver was a guy you knew when he pitched, even towards the end of his career, your team had a good chance of winning the game. Seaver carried the Mets starting in the late 1960's until the mid-1970's, and then put up a couple of great years in Cincinnati. Ryan was better than average, but certainly was not helping any team rise above mediocrity in California, Houston, and then Texas. I would take Seaver.

Answer 6

Tom Seaver by far and I watched both pitch. Even when he was on a last place team, Seaver got many more wins than losses. Ryan almost had as many losses as wins. Seaver's ERA was also noticeably lower. While Ryan had more strikeouts, the strikeouts matter less if you don't win the game at the end of the day.

Answer 7

Nolan Ryan. He amassed 324 wins to go along with 5714 strikouts over his career while pitching for traditionally poor teams. For instance for a 3 year stretch between 1973 to 1975 he lost 16 games each year and his era was 2.28, 2.87 and 2.89.
Over the course of his career he averaged 9.54 strikeouts per 9 innings covering 3 decades. He threw a nohitter in 3 different decades and was still an overpowering pitcher up until the year before he retired striking out 157 batters in 157 1/3 innings pitched while compiling a 3.72 era at the age of 45.
If he had only pitched for better teams he would have won at least 5 if not more cy young awards. He finished in the top ten 8 different times and finished in the top 30 in mvp voting an amazing 7 times. It is a very real possibility that had he pitched for perrenial contenders that he would have amassed 400 plus wins.
Mr. Ryan was truly a transcendent pitcher of the likes that we will most likely never see again.

Answer 8

Nolan Ryan. He pitched for 27 seasons, an ungodly number for a pitcher in today's major league. He holds the major league record for strikeouts (5714) and compiled 324 victories, 13 more than Seaver. He was an All-Star 8 times and also has the major league record for strikeouts in a season (383). In my opinion, no pitcher was more dominant than Nolan Ryan.

Answer 9

How do you ignore the no-hitters. Thats like saying who was better Ruth or Ripken but lets not talk about home runs.

Anyway here are some other key stats:

W L PCT ERA
Ryan 324 292 .526 3.19
Seaver 311 205 .603 2.86

SHO IP H ER
Ryan 61 5,386 3,923 1,911
Seaver 61 4,782 3,971 1,521

BB SO
Ryan 2,795 5,714
Seaver 1,390 3,640

Looks relatively even between the two with Ryan owning the strikeout #s.

Answer 10

Nolan Ryan - Tore it up for 3 decades. He has the most K's ever in a career and the person in second is on his third stint off retirement and still 1000 K's away.

He led the Mets to the WS Championships.