Bill James' view of Nolan Ryan?

Question

For starters,,Nolan Ryan was by far my favourite player, although I never saw his California years. I enjoy reading Bill James's stuff and was wondering what you think of his opinion of Ryan (for those who remember Nolan).

James ranks Ryan a "generous" 24th on the all-time pitchers list (in a 2002 book) and suggests that years down the road he will fall alot more. He dwells on the fact that Ryan would never give in to a hitter (which accounts for the huge walk totals) and refused to comprimise.

He also suggest Ryan's winning percentage was lousy, he never won a Cy Young and compared to the league average he was never that great.

So basically, in his opinion Ryan's legacy is based on K's, his no-hitters and the fear/respect players gave him.

Ryan had the second highest HOF vote in history.

Is Ryan a top all time pitcher or just a power pitcher who pitched a long time? All I know was that he was the most exciting pitcher to watch pitch.

Answer 1

To me, this is a bittersweet topic. I believe Ryan was a great pitcher, as his K totals speak for themselves, but like James said, he wasn't the best. He continually walked batters, many times in clutch situations. I'm not a Ryan expert but I don't believe his legacy is really what he was. In my opinion Bob Gibson was the absolute best pitcher in the majors. Never backed down, much like Ryan, but could go deep into the game longer than most pitchers could, all while keeping is K/BB ratio in a reasonable area. Another thing was his intimidation factor, ask any hitter of that era, and one of the pitchers they feared most. But enough about Gibson. I do think that Ryan was a great pitcher, probally not as low as 24th, maybe top 15, but not too much higher.