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Tim NewcombYes, we probably should give Nolan credit for four or five more no-hitters, and while we're at it we could throw in another 50-75 wins too-- after all, that mound was lowered just before he came in. And we all know what a hitters' paradise the AL in the 1970s was-- In fact, they loved all the slugging so much that they added the DH to get even more!
C'mon guys, Ryan's career (1966-1993) was for the most part a highly favorable era for pitchers. And as Howard mentioned, he played in excellent pitchers' parks most of the time.
Sure, you can create a distorted comparison by looking at Koufax, but Koufax is an almost unique case. He became a great pitcher at the same moment his team moved into maybe the most extreme pitchers' park in ML history (first years of Dodger Stadium)-- but he was also 54-19 on the road between 1962-66, so you can't blame it all on the stadium.
For every Koufax there are several pitchers whose stats -- especially ERA-- are hurt by the era they played in, especially between 1920-1940. I consider a bunch of those guys --some of them not in the HOF-- greater pitchers than Ryan.
And I see Lefty Grove as by far the greatest pitcher since 1920, for that reason. In an extreme hitters era, he led the league in ERA 9 times in 14 seasons (1926-1939) and went 276-116 with a cumulative era of 2.87 during those seasons. How can anybody claim Ryan's outstrips a record like that??
Sure, Ryan is a HOFer without doubt. It just seems to me with that amazing arm and longevity, he seriously underutilized his talent.