Is Randy Johnson the greatest pitcher ever?

TheRash said:
“Without a doubt, the most intimidating pitcher in the history of the game”

-Randy Johnson on Nolan Ryan.
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That's just GOAT humility. Like MMA GOATs calling Fedor GOAT.

Both had crazy velocity on their pitches.

But what's more intimidating, a 102 mph fastball from a 6'10 southpaw that's a little wild sometimes and might just nail you in the arm and end your career, or a 102 mph fastball coming from a 6'2 rightie?

I never got to see Nolan Ryan pitch, but Randy was by far the most intimidating pitcher I've ever seen step on the mound.
 
Everyone has their own idea of what determines the “greatest”. But its tough to to imagine many top 5 lists that don’t include Randy Johnson.
 
His world series run vs the Yankees was awesome and I'll always remember ow great he pitcher...
 
blackheart said:
That's just GOAT humility. Like MMA GOATs calling Fedor GOAT.

Both had crazy velocity on their pitches.

But what's more intimidating, a 102 mph fastball from a 6'10 southpaw that's a little wild sometimes and might just nail you in the arm and end your career, or a 102 mph fastball coming from a 6'2 rightie?

I never got to see Nolan Ryan pitch, but Randy was by far the most intimidating pitcher I've ever seen step on the mound.
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I understand what you are saying, but it’s absolutely legitimate to call Fedor the GOAT.

Now with Nolan Ryan you had the mystique of the man himself. He was in league for nearly 3 decades, he literally started during the Vietnam war and beat the piss out of Robin Venture in 1993. Ryan ate a Bo Jackson one bounce chopper, and still pitched 7 inning with a bloody mouth. Couple all of that with the common knowledge that Ryan had no hesitation in backing a batter off the plate with a fast ball to the ribs. IMO all this makes Randy Johnson’s quote true.

The Nolan Ryan express was in Major League Baseball for so long that he struck out 7 players, who had sons grow up to be struck out by Nolan Ryan.

5714 strikeouts NR
4875 strikeouts RJ

7 no hitters NR
2 no hitters RJ

27 season NR
22 seasons RJ
 
TheRash said:
I understand what you are saying, but it’s absolutely legitimate to call Fedor the GOAT.

Now with Nolan Ryan you had the mystique of the man himself. He was in league for nearly 3 decades, he literally started during the Vietnam war and beat the piss out of Robin Venture in 1993. Ryan ate a Bo Jackson one bounce chopper, and still pitched 7 inning with a bloody mouth. Couple all of that with the common knowledge that Ryan had no hesitation in backing a batter off the plate with a fast ball to the ribs. IMO all this makes Randy Johnson’s quote true.

The Nolan Ryan express was in Major League Baseball for so long that he struck out 7 players, who had sons grow up to be struck out by Nolan Ryan.

5714 strikeouts NR
4875 strikeouts RJ

7 no hitters NR
2 no hitters RJ

27 season NR
22 seasons RJ
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This is not to take anything away from Nolan Ryan, he’s absolutely one of the few that can be considered the greatest ever. But you’re cherry picking stats that are “padded” by his extra long career. Those stats are certainly amazing on their own, but not stats that should be used when comparing the strike outs of two pitchers. Strike outs per game or per nine innings, for example, is more apples to apples.
Again, not trying to take anything from Ryan. He may lead in all of those other stats too, I’m not sure. Personally, those are my two favorite pitchers ever, no matter their stats.
 
Him and Schilling were pretty clutch in AZ. Pedro has to be up there.

No hitters are good, but when I think of big game pitchers who win when absolutely needed, I remember RJ & Schilling.
 
Belaya Smert said:
It’s all Hot take garbage when a guy has seven no hitters.
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Oh don't get me wrong. He has a lot of records.....because he played so long and was a workhorse Casuals love him for that.

He also holds some of the worst records of any pitcher. More walks than anyone by like 1000. One of the worst fielders of all time and refused to work on that part of his game. Almost 300 losses.

Brett Favre is a good comparison. "Wow look at all the touchdown throws.....almost as many as his intercepted throws in the playoffs"
 
Halifax said:
Oh don't get me wrong. He has a lot of records.....because he played so long and was a workhorse Casuals love him for that.

He also holds some of the worst records of any pitcher. More walks than anyone by like 1000. One of the worst fielders of all time and refused to work on that part of his game. Almost 300 losses.

Brett Favre is a good comparison. "Wow look at all the touchdown throws.....almost as many as his intercepted throws in the playoffs"
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…..Because he played a long time.
 
AFanNotAFighter said:
Why no Cy Young's then?
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Almost all of his peak seasons where with teams that weren't making the playoffs. Killed his chances.

Imagine if Peyton Manning had his current career stat line but doing so while being drafted by a Lions teams that never sniffs the playoffs, would he be 7x first team all pro ? (hell no)
 
Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, we used to go to Mariner games all the time. Back then, you go to the ticket office of the Kingdome and buy great seats right before the game. Anyways, we saw Randy Johnson vs Roger Clemens of the Red Sox and it was "guaranteed no hitter day". Which meant if neither of them threw a no hitter, everyone on the stadium got free tickets to randoms games. They didn't throw no-no so we ended up getting free tickets to another game, but i can't remember what game it was. I'm 80s and 90s baseball was the best.
 
OIP.TTOvEqLMY5NOyH0I-tH-HwHaF3
 
Belaya Smert said:
…..Because he played a long time.
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You can't separate the fact that he also owns a lot of the worst records in pitcher history and was abysmal in the post season.

Why does he have more walks than any pitcher in history(horrible stat), and one of the worst infield fielding percentages in history(horrible stat) and among the most losses in pitcher history(horrible stat)

He also couldn't win when it counted most.

A lot of pitchers have much better ratios for good stats vs bad stats and came up clutch when it counted. He didn't.
 
Halifax said:
You can't separate the fact that he also owns a lot of the worst records in pitcher history and was abysmal in the post season.

Why does he have more walks than any pitcher in history(horrible stat), and one of the worst infield fielding percentages in history(horrible stat) and among the most losses in pitcher history(horrible stat)

He also couldn't win when it counted most.

A lot of pitchers have much better ratios for good stats vs bad stats and came up clutch when it counted. He didn't.
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You can condemn a man apparently for the same longevity you commend him for?

I imagine both Billy Martin and Earl Weaver were both bad mangers because they lost a lot of games. Combined 2,073
 
mjmj said:
This is not to take anything away from Nolan Ryan, he’s absolutely one of the few that can be considered the greatest ever. But you’re cherry picking stats that are “padded” by his extra long career. Those stats are certainly amazing on their own, but not stats that should be used when comparing the strike outs of two pitchers. Strike outs per game or per nine innings, for example, is more apples to apples.
Again, not trying to take anything from Ryan. He may lead in all of those other stats too, I’m not sure. Personally, those are my two favorite pitchers ever, no matter their stats.
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I understand completely. I’m a Texan and live for Texas baseball, so you can imagine how highly regarded Nolan Ryan is for us.

That being said, I’ll, and most baseball fans will agree that Randy Johnson was the better baseball player of the two.

My post was specifically about the “intimidation” factor. Skill or no skill, Nolan Ryan was the more feared pitcher. He was wild, he threw heat every pitch, he was an asshole, wasn’t scared to send a heater to your knee if you crowded him, and he never left a game. He’d be your starter and your closer. As an opponent he’d be around for your entire career throwing fastballs on the inside.

Randy Johnson himself agrees that Nolan Ryan was the most intimidating pitcher to ever step on the mound. Don’t mistake the words, RJ didn’t say the most “skilled”, he said the most “intimidating”, and that was my point.
 
Belaya Smert said:
You can condemn a man apparently for the same longevity you commend him for?

I imagine both Billy Martin and Earl Weaver were both bad mangers because they lost a lot of games. Combined 2,073
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He was good. He was also bad.

Pitchers with better ratios were better
 
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