Who's the best pitcher of all time?

Question

All stats considered, past or present who's the best??

Answer 1

Ugh Stats Don't Make A Pitcher, My Favorite And The Best Is Sandy Koufax, If He Had Pitched As Long As Nolan Ryan He Would've Been On Top Of Baseball

Thats not what i mean, you cant completly based preformance off stats

Answer 2

It's hard arguing with Johnson so I'm not going to.

Tom Seaver is the second greatest pitcher of all time and not the beyond over-rated Nolan Ryan.

The last time I checked pitchers got paid to win games and not just to rack up gaudy but essentially meaningless personal stats.

His 311-205  2.86  beats

Ryan's 324-292-  3.19 by  long shot

Answer 3

Bob Gibson for sure,  then Cy Young.    Walter johnson and especially nolan ryan dont even compare to those two.

Answer 4

Bob Gibson

Answer 5

Love Nolan Ryan but he is not even close to the greatest pitcher of all time.

Walter Johnson is probably right, but it is impossible to compare eras in baseball, so I will make an argument for Pedro Martinez.

Johnson's career era was a full point lower than the league average during his career, but Pedro's is 1.64 points lower than the league average.  His 7 year stretch from 97-03 is the greatest stretch in history imo, even better than Koufax's last 5 years.

If you want to consider relievers, Mariano Rivera's numbers are completely off the charts.  His Career ERA is 2.24 bellow the league ERA for his career.

Answer 6

nolan ryan

k.

Answer 7

Walter Johnson and I think his stats pove it.  Take a look at them.

He had a 21 year career.

417 Wins

531 Complete Games

5,914.7 Innings Pitched

2.17 ERA

3,509 Strikeouts

97 Home Runs given up in 21 years

AL MVP in 1913 and 1924

Led the league in ERA 5 times, Wins 6 times, Strikeouts 12 times, Complete Games 6 times, Shutouts 7 times

He had 12 years with 20+ Wins and 2 years with 30+ Wins and won 3 Triple Crowns(1913, 1918 and 1924).

He's #2 on the career wins list, #9 in career strikeouts and #1 on the career shutout list. He only gave up double digit home runs in 2 of his 21 seasons.

I do see this question asked quite a bit on here and I must say that a lot of people answer either Sandy Koufax or Nolan Ryan, NEITHER of whom is remotely the greatest pitcher of all time, and it's not even close.

Compare Nolan Ryan to Walter Johnson and I think it's clear that Ryan, while still dominant, doesn't belong in the same sentance.

Johnson - 21 Year Career

Ryan - 27 Year Career

Johnson - 417 Wins

Ryan - 324 Wins

Johnson - 531 Complete Games

Ryan - 222 Complete Games

Johnson - 2.17 ERA

Ryan - 3.19 ERA

Johnson - 97 HR's given up (2 seasons giving up double digit HR's)

Ryan - 321 HR's given up (20 seasons giving up double digit HR's)

Johnson - 5,914.7 Innings Pitched

Ryan - 5,386 Innings Pitched

Johnson - 14 Years of 20+ wins (12 years 20+, 2 Years 30+)

Ryan - 2 Years of 20+ wins

Johnson - MVP Awards 2

Ryan - MVP Awards 0

Johnson - 3 Triple Crowns

Ryan - 0 Triple Crowns

Had Johnson been around during the time of the Dy Young award he would probably have multiple Cy Youngs.  Ryan was around during the time of the Cy Young and he has 0 to show for it.  All Ryan could do is strike people out.

JJ, if stats don't mean anything for a pitcher, why is it the basis of a pitcher making it to the Hall of Fame or not?

Answer 8

Cy Young

Answer 9

the strikeout king Nolan Ryan

Answer 10

Cy Young. Winning is all that matters.

Greg Maddux for the last 30 years. He is freakish and psychic. Have you ever seen someone fans 15 hitters not throwing more than 85 on average? That is him.

Answer 11

Nolan Ryan, Never will another pitcher get over 5000 Ks and 7 no hitters!!!