Observations while hunting for a Ryan rookie....

[jchcollins]

I don’t think anyone is crapping on Nolan Ryan.

His best selling point is that what he did is totally unique. There’s not really any comps for him in terms of other pitchers. He’s a first ballot HOF’er by a mile, even with his flaws. But again, just interesting how baseball greatness and baseball card greatness aren’t necessarily the same thing. Fans get all juiced up over strikeouts and no-hitters, but that’s not at all the best measure of how effective a pitcher is. Yeah, Seaver had nowhere near Ryan’s longevity; nobody did. But even on his career, he has the better winning percentage, ERA, WHIP, far fewer BB, significantly higher WAR, etc. etc. - standing tall in literally every other category than Ryan except strikeouts and no-hitters. It’s not so much saying anything bad about Ryan, as it is illustrating how much Seaver and others like him are underrated.

True in the card world pitchers are nowhere near as popular as hitters. I’m just tired of the notion with postwar vintage that Ryan and Koufax are the only pitchers there are room for. It’s not true, but it certainly would be easy to get that impression.


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