Who are your top major league baseball pitchers, all-time?

[the other mike]

Bob Gibson
Jim Palmer
Randy Johnson
Pedro Martinez

 

[WelfareQueen]

Greg Maddox
Randy Johnson
Tom Seaver
Steve Carlton
Roger Clemons

Some very nice picks, rw. Thanks.

Spahn and Sain and 2 days of rain

Spahn was seriously underrated

Greatest game of all time was against Juan Marichal. Both pitchers went 16 innings in a 0-0 game. Spahn finally won it in the 16th 1-0.

Before my time but probably the greatest left hander in history.

 

[WelfareQueen]

For all you Pedro Martinez homers. A little perspective.


Greg Maddux 355 career wins Cy Youngs 4 Career WAR 106.6

Pedro Martinez 219 career wins Cy Youngs 3 Career WAR 83.9


Pedro was real good. Maddux was in another zip code.

 

[rightwinger]

The best pitchers I ever saw are not in the Hall of Fame

Dwight Gooden
Ron Guidry
Fernando Valenzuela
J R Richard
Vida Blue

Wow, some great ones there! Didn't J. R. Richard die very young because of an undetected heart condition?

Oops, my bad! He's still among the living, 70 years of age.

I checked his career stats, he DID retire very young, at age 30, after only 10 seasons. I wonder if blew his arm out?

He was having his best year and kept complaining his arm hurt. The team called him a malingerer and told him to keep pitching. He had a stroke in the middle of the field and never pitched again

 

[eddiew]

For all you Pedro Martinez homers. A little perspective.


Greg Maddux 355 career wins Cy Youngs 4 Career WAR 106.6

Pedro Martinez 219 career wins Cy Youngs 3 Career WAR 83.9


Pedro was real good. Maddux was in another zip code.

Maddux was good Koufax was great

 

[WelfareQueen]

For all you Pedro Martinez homers. A little perspective.


Greg Maddux 355 career wins Cy Youngs 4 Career WAR 106.6

Pedro Martinez 219 career wins Cy Youngs 3 Career WAR 83.9


Pedro was real good. Maddux was in another zip code.

Maddux was good Koufax was great

Greg Maddux 355 career wins Cy Youngs 4 Career WAR 106.6

Sandy Koufax 165 career wins Cy Youngs 3 Career WAR 48.9



Don't think so.

 

[WelfareQueen]

I Thought I would put up Randy Johnson's career stats. He and Maddux were the two best I ever saw.


Randy Johnson. 303 Career Wins Cy Youngs 5 Career War 101.1


Maddux had 52 more career wins and a better career ERA. Randy has one more Cy Young, Pretty close. Maddux has a slightly batter career WAR.

Randy Johnson Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com

Check out the latest Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More of Randy Johnson. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, draft status, bats, throws, school and more on Baseball-reference.com

www.baseball-reference.com

 

[Mike473]

Pedro Martinez’s peak stats are even better than you remember

“This is the kind of trade that when you go to bed as a general manager, you dream of.’’

www.boston.com

•From 1998-2004, Pedro’s Red Sox years, the AL ERA was 4.65, 2.13 runs more than Martinez.

•His strikeout-to-walk ratio was 5.45 during a time when the rest of the league rate was 1.86.

•Martinez allowed 387 earned runs, the fewest for any pitcher throwing at least a thousand innings. The league average pitcher during that time period allowed 731 ER.

•Pedro’s WHIP was 0.978, the best in baseball.

•Pedro had a batting average against of .206, the best in baseball.

Pedro made 203 regular-season appearances, including 201 starts, and lost just 37 times (18.2%).

An “ace’’ provides a level of consistency beyond that of any pitcher in your rotation.

For example, during Pedro’s Red Sox years:

•He won 11 games in a row once

•He won 9 games in a row twice

•He won 7 games in a row twice

•He won 6 games in a row once

•He won 5 games in a row three times

While those streaks are impressive, these figures may have been even more important; during Pedro’s Red Sox years:

•He lost 4 games in a row once

•He lost 3 games in a row once

•He lost 2 games in a row twice

Low-hit starts:

•No-hitters—0

•One-hit—8

•Two-hits—16

•Three-hits—22

•Four-hits—35

•Five-hits – 33

 

[bluzman61]

The best pitchers I ever saw are not in the Hall of Fame

Dwight Gooden
Ron Guidry
Fernando Valenzuela
J R Richard
Vida Blue

Wow, some great ones there! Didn't J. R. Richard die very young because of an undetected heart condition?

Oops, my bad! He's still among the living, 70 years of age.

I checked his career stats, he DID retire very young, at age 30, after only 10 seasons. I wonder if blew his arm out?

He was having his best year and kept complaining his arm hurt. The team called him a malingerer and told him to keep pitching. He had a stroke in the middle of the field and never pitched again

Thanks for the info. That's right, he DID have a stroke. That obviously prematurely ended his career. But he's still with us, that's pretty amazing. Can you imagine the career numbers he may have put up if he had pitched until he was 40? Unfortunately we'll never know.

 

[rightwinger]

I Thought I would put up Randy Johnson's career stats. He and Maddux were the two best I ever saw.


Randy Johnson. 303 Career Wins Cy Youngs 5 Career War 101.1


Maddux had 52 more career wins and a better career ERA. Randy has one more Cy Young, Pretty close. Maddux has a slightly batter career WAR.

Randy Johnson Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com

Check out the latest Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More of Randy Johnson. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, draft status, bats, throws, school and more on Baseball-reference.com

www.baseball-reference.com

Two completely different pitchers.....
Power vs Finesse

I have no freaking idea what a WAR is or how it is calculated. I just have to accept what someone tells me.
Hate that stat

 

[rightwinger]

The best pitchers I ever saw are not in the Hall of Fame

Dwight Gooden
Ron Guidry
Fernando Valenzuela
J R Richard
Vida Blue

Wow, some great ones there! Didn't J. R. Richard die very young because of an undetected heart condition?

Oops, my bad! He's still among the living, 70 years of age.

I checked his career stats, he DID retire very young, at age 30, after only 10 seasons. I wonder if blew his arm out?

He was having his best year and kept complaining his arm hurt. The team called him a malingerer and told him to keep pitching. He had a stroke in the middle of the field and never pitched again

Thanks for the info. That's right, he DID have a stroke. That obviously prematurely ended his career. But he's still with us, that's pretty amazing. Can you imagine the career numbers he may have put up if he had pitched until he was 40? Unfortunately we'll never know.

He was having his best year when he had his stroke. Don’t know if he would have been an all time great, but at the time, he was one of the most dominant in the game

 

[JustAGuy1]

I'm REALLY starting to miss baseball. So I've decided to keep it alive, at least by talking about it. My top 5 pitchers all-time are - 1) Walter Johnson - possibly THE most overpowering pitcher ever. He won over 400 games and finished his career with over 4,000 strikeouts. And I believe he holds the all-time record for shutouts with 110. Just a fantastic pitcher. 2) Sandy Koufax, my pick for the best left handed pitcher ever. His last several seasons were phenomenal, it's a shame he retired so young because of arm problems. 3) Cy Young, great pitcher, the award for pitcher of the year was quite aptly named after him. His 511 career wins will NEVER be broken. 4) Roger Clemens, I've included him despite his alleged steroid use. IF he wasn't guilty of this, he's definitely my #4 pick. From what I've read, it's hard to tell if he WAS guilty of using banned substances. He was nearly as overpowering a pitcher as Walter Johnson and he put up some eye-popping numbers throughout his career. 5) Randy Johnson, THE most overpowering and menacing left handed pitcher all-time. He had just a fantastic career, highlighted by his 2001 season, where he helped the Arizona Diamondbacks win it all, including their exciting 7 game World Series crown over the New York Yankees. And I believe he's the tallest major league baseball player ever, at 6 feet, 10 inches. So here's MY top picks, who are some of yours?

As a chronic Dodger fan as a young kid in coastal SoCal, I saw Koufax pitch in I think '66 when I was maybe 7 or 8 years old years old. Always took my glove to the park and once caught a foul ball off one of his pitches. Still have it, wish it was autographed!

I'm with you man, I miss sports - ANY sport. On Friday I was so desperate that I resorted again to "sports entertainment" in the form of Friday Night Smackdown which is now being performed without an audience. SO embarrassing to admit.

But anyway, I haven't studied pitcher stats like you obviously have. But Koufax is my pick. He was also a tremendous role model and is yet at the age of 84, an all around GREAT guy.

Ode to a Private Man : What becomes a legend most? When it comes to Sandy Koufax--hero, role model, enigma--it's being left alone.

In the warm darkness of a summer night, my father and I are sprawled on opposite ends of our living room carpet.

www.latimes.com

I am a Giants fan, we went to see The Dodgers and Fernando was pitching. Behind us were four Hispanics who were not pleased that was rooting for the Braves. It almost went very badly.

 

[Harry Dresden]

Nolan Ryan.....if he was on a good team during his peak....dam....

My problem with Ryan was he never won a big game

Makes it hard to be a Big Game Pitcher

what is a big game?.....

Pennant
Playoffs
World Series

Nolan Ryan was a .500 pitcher
Most were not big games

Ryan lost a lot of one run games because of the half assesd teams he was on ......i know he lost a lot with the Angels....and he did win over 300 games....Bob Gibson,Whitey Ford,
Juan Marichal cant claim that.....and has 7 no hitters,how many have even one?......and strikes out more batters than any of the ones mentioned ......if Ryan was on the teams ford was on he may have won 30 games and would have been in lots of big games.....

 

[Harry Dresden]

Nolan Ryan.....if he was on a good team during his peak....dam....

My problem with Ryan was he never won a big game

Makes it hard to be a Big Game Pitcher

what is a big game?.....

Pennant
Playoffs
World Series

Nolan Ryan was a .500 pitcher
Most were not big games

But with that fastball of his, he WAS quite imposing.

Most imposing I ever saw
Reason he had more Strikeouts and No Hitters than any other pitcher

But I can’t put him as an all time great because he was not even the best of his era.

Maddox, Seaver, Carlton were better and they have the Cy Young’s to prove it.

Ryan was never even the best in a single year

and those 3 guys were on teams that scored them some runs....Ryan managed to win 300 games in spite of being on some half-assed teams.......you cant win those big games if your team sucks....

 

[22lcidw]

When I was a kid in the 1960's I had a Baseball book called "Great Baseball Pitchers" by Jim Brosnan. I looked it up before typing this and the book only gets about 4 dollars today. I do not have it anymore anyway. Other pitchers for consideration that ended with Koufax in that book then are Carl Hubbel, Satch Paige, Dizzy Dean, Bob Feller, Sal Maglie, Warren Spahn and Whitey Ford if not mentioned.

 

[DrLove]

I'm REALLY starting to miss baseball. So I've decided to keep it alive, at least by talking about it. My top 5 pitchers all-time are - 1) Walter Johnson - possibly THE most overpowering pitcher ever. He won over 400 games and finished his career with over 4,000 strikeouts. And I believe he holds the all-time record for shutouts with 110. Just a fantastic pitcher. 2) Sandy Koufax, my pick for the best left handed pitcher ever. His last several seasons were phenomenal, it's a shame he retired so young because of arm problems. 3) Cy Young, great pitcher, the award for pitcher of the year was quite aptly named after him. His 511 career wins will NEVER be broken. 4) Roger Clemens, I've included him despite his alleged steroid use. IF he wasn't guilty of this, he's definitely my #4 pick. From what I've read, it's hard to tell if he WAS guilty of using banned substances. He was nearly as overpowering a pitcher as Walter Johnson and he put up some eye-popping numbers throughout his career. 5) Randy Johnson, THE most overpowering and menacing left handed pitcher all-time. He had just a fantastic career, highlighted by his 2001 season, where he helped the Arizona Diamondbacks win it all, including their exciting 7 game World Series crown over the New York Yankees. And I believe he's the tallest major league baseball player ever, at 6 feet, 10 inches. So here's MY top picks, who are some of yours?

As a chronic Dodger fan as a young kid in coastal SoCal, I saw Koufax pitch in I think '66 when I was maybe 7 or 8 years old years old. Always took my glove to the park and once caught a foul ball off one of his pitches. Still have it, wish it was autographed!

I'm with you man, I miss sports - ANY sport. On Friday I was so desperate that I resorted again to "sports entertainment" in the form of Friday Night Smackdown which is now being performed without an audience. SO embarrassing to admit.

But anyway, I haven't studied pitcher stats like you obviously have. But Koufax is my pick. He was also a tremendous role model and is yet at the age of 84, an all around GREAT guy.

Ode to a Private Man : What becomes a legend most? When it comes to Sandy Koufax--hero, role model, enigma--it's being left alone.

In the warm darkness of a summer night, my father and I are sprawled on opposite ends of our living room carpet.

www.latimes.com

I am a Giants fan, we went to see The Dodgers and Fernando was pitching. Behind us were four Hispanics who were not pleased that was rooting for the Braves. It almost went very badly.

Fernando and Babe Ruth were living proof that in baseball, one can carry a bit of a gut and still be successful.

 

[Pogo]

I used to walk to Ebbets Field

You can stop right there, I'm already green with envy.

 

[justoffal]

I'm REALLY starting to miss baseball. So I've decided to keep it alive, at least by talking about it. My top 5 pitchers all-time are - 1) Walter Johnson - possibly THE most overpowering pitcher ever. He won over 400 games and finished his career with over 4,000 strikeouts. And I believe he holds the all-time record for shutouts with 110. Just a fantastic pitcher. 2) Sandy Koufax, my pick for the best left handed pitcher ever. His last several seasons were phenomenal, it's a shame he retired so young because of arm problems. 3) Cy Young, great pitcher, the award for pitcher of the year was quite aptly named after him. His 511 career wins will NEVER be broken. 4) Roger Clemens, I've included him despite his alleged steroid use. IF he wasn't guilty of this, he's definitely my #4 pick. From what I've read, it's hard to tell if he WAS guilty of using banned substances. He was nearly as overpowering a pitcher as Walter Johnson and he put up some eye-popping numbers throughout his career. 5) Randy Johnson, THE most overpowering and menacing left handed pitcher all-time. He had just a fantastic career, highlighted by his 2001 season, where he helped the Arizona Diamondbacks win it all, including their exciting 7 game World Series crown over the New York Yankees. And I believe he's the tallest major league baseball player ever, at 6 feet, 10 inches. So here's MY top picks, who are some of yours?

catfish hunter.....maybe not the best stats of all time but when that guy was on he was totally unhittable!

 

[JustAGuy1]

I'm REALLY starting to miss baseball. So I've decided to keep it alive, at least by talking about it. My top 5 pitchers all-time are - 1) Walter Johnson - possibly THE most overpowering pitcher ever. He won over 400 games and finished his career with over 4,000 strikeouts. And I believe he holds the all-time record for shutouts with 110. Just a fantastic pitcher. 2) Sandy Koufax, my pick for the best left handed pitcher ever. His last several seasons were phenomenal, it's a shame he retired so young because of arm problems. 3) Cy Young, great pitcher, the award for pitcher of the year was quite aptly named after him. His 511 career wins will NEVER be broken. 4) Roger Clemens, I've included him despite his alleged steroid use. IF he wasn't guilty of this, he's definitely my #4 pick. From what I've read, it's hard to tell if he WAS guilty of using banned substances. He was nearly as overpowering a pitcher as Walter Johnson and he put up some eye-popping numbers throughout his career. 5) Randy Johnson, THE most overpowering and menacing left handed pitcher all-time. He had just a fantastic career, highlighted by his 2001 season, where he helped the Arizona Diamondbacks win it all, including their exciting 7 game World Series crown over the New York Yankees. And I believe he's the tallest major league baseball player ever, at 6 feet, 10 inches. So here's MY top picks, who are some of yours?

catfish hunter.....maybe not the best stats of all time but when that guy was on he was totally unhittable!

I loved the A's until Finley sold the players off because of Free Agency. I've been a Giant's fan since.

 

[Pogo]

For all you Pedro Martinez homers. A little perspective.


Greg Maddux 355 career wins Cy Youngs 4 Career WAR 106.6

Pedro Martinez 219 career wins Cy Youngs 3 Career WAR 83.9


Pedro was real good. Maddux was in another zip code.

Maddux was good Koufax was great

Greg Maddux 355 career wins Cy Youngs 4 Career WAR 106.6

Sandy Koufax 165 career wins Cy Youngs 3 Career WAR 48.9

Don't think so.

Measuring a pitcher by wins is absolutely useless. All that tells you is what the team did for him. Koufax had his career shortened by injury, plus was not very good in the early Brooklyn daze. But once he developed, he was absolutely untouchable, like nobody else.