Who is the all-time best black baseball pitcher? I'm thinking Gibson...Pedro Martinez is also very good but

Question

his name sounds Hispanic...I shudder to think how good J. R. Richard might have been if he hadn't had the stroke.

Answer 1

We can't count Satchell Paige, since he pitched in the ***** Leagues and rarely had to face white hitters, so we really have no criteria by which to base any analysis of him.

Of the ones we can analyze, I've been watching baseball since 1966, so I've seen quite a few.

Without a doubt, Bob Gibson was the best. He was intimidating on the mound. He was the one guy that NOBODY wanted to face.

Ferguson Jenkins was great (He's from Canada). He is underrated due to winning most of his games for the Cubs. He and Gibson were workhorses when the word workhorse meant something.

Dave Stewart was excellent, once he got his career together. You can thank Dave Duncan for that.

I never saw him but, Don Newcombe is often mentioned in this kind of discussion. However, he only had 2 20-win seasons and won just 146 games in a 10-year career. I really think that he ranks well below Gibson and Jenkins. However, some of his early season were spent in the ***** Leagues so, therefore, we have no base for comparison.

We'll never know how great J.R. Richard would have been. He was excellent for the time he was well. He could have been another Nolan Ryan in the K category. He had problems with walks early in his career, but was getting better before his stroke.

Jim "Mudcat" Grant was another good one in the 60s and 70s. He also set the tone for Dennis Eckersley, as he became a reliever for the As, Cards & Pirates after his starting days were done.

Earl Wilson was good for the Red Sox & the Tigers in the 60s. He was also a good-hitting pitcher who nailed 35 HR in his career.

A pretty good pitcher for the 60s Pirates was Bob Veale. He was a left hander who got a lot of Ks. He won 16= several years in a row. His major drawback was a high rate of BBs. Had he been with a better team, say the Cards, he might have been a multiple 20 game winner.

Al Downing was a good pitcher for the NYY, who later won 20 for the Dodgers, and is most famous for giving up Hank Aaron's record breaking #715.

On the whole, I would rate them as follows:

1) Bob Gibson
2) Ferguson Jenkins
3) J.R. Richard (based on what he showed in his limited career)
4) Don Newcombe
5) Jim "Mudcat" Grant
6) Bob Veale
7) Earl Wilson
8) Vida Blue
9) Al Downing
10) Dave Stewart
11) Dwight Gooden

I wouldn't count Pedro, even if he was not Hispanic. Pedro would not be able to do what those listed above did. He has never been much more than a 6 inning pitcher. Great for the first 100 pitches, trashed after that. In the heyday of the men above, Pedro would be a 4th starter or long reliever.

Answer 2

SMOKEY JOE WILLIAMS
A tall, lanky right-handed native of Seguin, Texas, Williams began his career pitching for the San Antonio Black Bronchos. He was the star pitcher in the early days of the ***** Leagues. Satchel Paige called Williams the best pitcher he had ever seen.
Pitching with exceptional velocity and control, Williams would routinely
reach double-digits in strikeouts, once striking out 27 Kansas City Monarchs in a 12-inning game. Available statistics show that he complied a 20-7 record, including 10 shutouts, against major league teams.
Williams was voted the top pitcher in ***** Leagues history in a 1952 Pittsburgh Courier poll.

Others, besides Bob Gibson (Josh Gibson threw between the plate and the mound, not the other way around, as he was an incredible catcher according to legend which says he is the only man to hit a fair ball out of Yankee Stadium), include

Satchel Paige, . Paige is the best-known player to come out of the ***** Leagues. This tall, lanky right-hander employed masterful pitching skill with a colorful personality to achieve folk-hero status.
He was the consummate showman. He sometimes would pull in the outfielders
to sit behind the mound while he struck out the side.
It is estimated that Paige pitched 2,600 games, 300 shutouts and 55 no-hitters.
Paige was offered a contract to play for the Indians and, at age 42, became the oldest rookie in major league history. He helped Cleveland to the 1948 World Series title.
He became the first ***** Leagues star inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Martin Dihigo- Dihigo, born in Cuba, is the only man inducted into four national
baseball halls of fame (Cuba, Venezuela, Mexico and the United States).
He played both summer and winter ball most of his career and won more than 260 games as a pitcher. In addition to pitching, he played every other position except catcher, usually batting well over .300.

Ferguson Jenkins-who had more wins than any black and than any Canadian in MLB history.

Answer 3

The best all time black pitcher is Satchel Paige. The man didn't get into the actual MLB until late in his career, but what is documented about his career from the ***** leagues is pretty phenomenal. For instance the man threw a no-hitter while in his 50's. This man was the Nolan Ryan of black pitchers, and probably would hold most of today's records had the color barrier been broken earlier in his life, and his stats been more accurate.

Answer 4

Gibson would probably be at the top of my list too. But there have been others like Dave Stewart, Fergie Jenkins (though I think he may have been Cuban,) and J.R. Richard was a monster. My uncle told me that he once saw him throw a fastball at 95mph and then a slider at 89mph.

I also wonder how good Satchel Paige might have been if he'd been allowed into the majors earlier. I heard stories about that guy's fastball and knee buckling breaking stuff.

Answer 5

Bob Gibson was prob the best statistically but Satchel Paige was more impressive because he was still pitching at age 56!!!! You show me a pitcher that could pitch in the major leagues at age 56 now a days

Answer 6

BOB Gibson no doubt was the most dominate. I really liked Lee Smith but he didn't get the respect he deserved in the closers role. I'd also give a shout out to Vida Blue although he may have been of Hispanic origin.

Answer 7

Leroy 'Satchel' Paige.

After him, if you don't want to count him (you'd be wrong not to, but I won't argue), um, I'd say. . .Doc Gooden early in his career, Bob Gibson at his zenith, Juan Marichal for a career.

Hey, what's wrong with Pedro being Hispanic? He's black, too. Are you meaning American blacks only? Then Gibson for the career, too.

Answer 8

Josh Gibson the catcher is the best. He played in the ***** leagues, where stats were not always recorded, but he is estitimated to have hit about 800 career HR and batted over .350 in his career.

Answer 9

You had to see Bob Gibson and he was batting.400 as well.
Juan Marachell before Pedro. Sorry

Answer 10

Ummm...whoever mentioned it, Josh Gibson was a catcher.

The best black pitcher that I ever saw? OK, I'll go with J.R. Richard. I didn't see Bob Gibson in his prime, but he was still damn good.