Remembering Willie Mays

Nolan Ryan might not even make the top 20 list of greatest living pitchers..
.
Remember that when he came to the Astros as the highest paid free agents that he was number 3 on the staff
 
Nolan Ryan might not even make the top 20 list of greatest living pitchers..
.
Remember that when he came to the Astros as the highest paid free agents that he was number 3 on the staff
Interesting factoid--

The lowest batting average against a pitcher (with 1500 innings) is .204---

Pedro Martinez----- nope, just kidding. Nolan Ryan.

So he has more strike outs and the lowest batting average against- as a pitcher-- in major league history. Call me crazy- but when you are the most difficult pitcher to hit in major league history, doesn't that make you........ the best?
 
Ryan had this pesky issue of win percentage....he only won something like 34 more wins than losses......with over 600 decisions.

I agree he had awesome talent, but for some reason he was a .500 pitcher for most of his career.
 
Nolan Ryan also is the all time leader in walks - by almost 1,000. That's a lot of extra base runners.
 
If you want to see what a top line pitchers stats look like with similar decisions ,check out Greg Maddox....he had 128 wins more than losses .
 
Ryan had this pesky issue of win percentage....he only won something like 34 more wins than losses......with over 600 decisions.

I agree he had awesome talent, but for some reason he was a .500 pitcher for most of his career.
Agree, but he played for some crappy Astro(ok, not all crappy) and Rangers teams. For some reason seems like every start he had, the offense disappeared.
 
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Agree, but he played for some crappy Astro(ok, not all crappy) and Rangers teams. For some reason seems like every start he had, the offense disappeared.
Disagree big time,..the 80's Astros were good.
And the 90's Astros had one of the highest win percentage in baseball
Ryans win percentage with the zRangets was the highest he had with any team
 
Disagree big time,..the 80's Astros were good.
And the 90's Astros had one of the highest win percentage in baseball
Ryans win percentage with the zRangets was the highest he had with any team
The 70’s Angels were BRUTAL. He was anll they had. No telling how many pitches he threw every game. And the 80s Atros had some good years but they were a 500 club for a big chunk of that decade. In 87 Nolan led the NL in strikeouts, E.R.A., and had a WHIP of 1.14 but ended the season with an 8 - 14 record. The Stros scored 1 run of less in 8 games. In addition to the 7 no hitters, he also threw 12 1 hitters and 18 2 hitters.
 
Sorry...defending Ryan with poor team behind him is weak sauce... Steve Carlton won 27 games one year for a Philadelphia team that won only 59 games one year....
Look....I was a big Ryan fan, but he was not the guy I wanted on the mound for a must win game...Mike Scott was THE man. Look at Ryans record in the 86 playoffs.
 
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Sorry...defending Ryan with poor team behind him is weak sauce... Steve Carlton won 27 games one year for a Philadelphia team that won only 60 games one year....
Look....I was a big Ryan fan, but he was not the guy I wanted on the mound for a must win game...Mike Scott was THE man. Look at Ryans record in the 86 playoffs.
Man, JR Richard was a baaaaad man.
 
Sorry...defending Ryan with poor team behind him is weak sauce... Steve Carlton won 27 games one year for a Philadelphia team that won only 59 games one year....
Look....I was a big Ryan fan, but he was not the guy I wanted on the mound for a must win game...Mike Scott was THE man. Look at Ryans record in the 86 playoffs.
Scott doctored his pitches. His fork ball (split fingered) was scuffed every time. It's widely known. Gary Carter saw several of the balls Scott threw after game 4 and even complained to the umps. Nothing was done. Nobody can hit a scuffed splitter. Nobody.

And BTW- game 5 in that series, Ryan pitched 9 innings of 1 run ball. Dwight Gooden pitched 10 innings of 1 run ball. Talk about a duel.
 
Scott doctored his pitches. His fork ball (split fingered) was scuffed every time. It's widely known. Gary Carter saw several of the balls Scott threw after game 4 and even complained to the umps. Nothing was done. Nobody can hit a scuffed splitter. Nobody.

And BTW- game 5 in that series, Ryan pitched 9 innings of 1 run ball. Dwight Gooden pitched 10 innings of 1 run ball. Talk about a duel.
Beat me to it.
Nolan Ryan - 1st Ballot HOF (98.8%)
Mike Scott - ?

And by the way, Carlton lost 20 games the next year. Funny how run support matters to a pitcher’s record.
 
Reggie Jackson if it's world championships you want than you can't top Mr October. I watched game 6 in the '77 WS. 3 home runs. When it came to theatre he was the best. Oh yeah over 500 home runs and 5 WS rings.

Sounds good to me
 
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Reggie Jackson was hot dog of such level that he out did even Pete Rose

JR Richard had a "drop off the table " slider that he threw at 95 mph....when you add in his 104 mph fast ball....and then threw in crazy wildness, ...well let's just say no one ever dug in against him
 
Speaking of Reggie and Pete...I could never think of either as a top ball player as neither could field their position
 
And
...since you brought it up.....Mr October my ass... Check the WS records of Jackson.
.and then look at Mickey Mantle...
No comparison
 
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And
...since you brought it up.....Mr October my ass... Check the WS records of Jackson.
.and then look at Mickey Mantle...
No comparison
Wait a minute all those Yankee players are dead. The Mick, Yogi all gone lol. We're talking about greatest living players.

I said this earlier but before too long Rickey Henderson will announce himself as the greatest living player. He was a guy if he was on your team you loved him. If you weren't you hated him. There are a lot of Rickey Henderson stories and all of them were true. One time in the locker room he looked in the mirror in a red jock strap and said Rickey's the best.

But hey has the record for stolen bases (tore out third base as a keep same. When he broke Ty Cobb's record for runs scored he slid across home and and took a victory lap. In the 2nd inning. And he had 3000 hits.

Well maybe he's not the greatest living player but definitely the most entertaining.

You know most of the living players don't compare to their predecessors. And those that are have tainted careers.