O/T Best Starting pitcher of all time.

[prewarsports]

Walter Johnson hands down. The only pre-war pitcher even close would have been Lefty Grove had Baltimore not refused to sell him for about 5 years of his prime. If he averages 25 wins a year (which would have been easy for him) we would be talking about Grove with 400+ wins.

Modern era, Randy Johnson was absolutely dominant. I have never seen anything like the Big Unit personally. Completely underappreciated considering he was pitching against all the juicers!

[71buc]

Originally Posted by prewarsports

Walter Johnson hands down. The only pre-war pitcher even close would have been Lefty Grove had Baltimore not refused to sell him for about 5 years of his prime. If he averages 25 wins a year (which would have been easy for him) we would be talking about Grove with 400+ wins.

Modern era, Randy Johnson was absolutely dominant. I have never seen anything like the Big Unit personally. Completely underappreciated considering he was pitching against all the juicers!

I live in the Northwest and sat near the Mariner bullpen during game 5 of the 1995 League Division Series. I'll never forget the electricity generated by Randy warming up and entering the game as Welcome to the Jungle blared. Wow it still gives me chills. Priceless....

[Touch'EmAll]

Sneaky underrated, not flashy, but boy, could sure get the job done - will eventually get his name on the "best of all time" list .... Greg Maddux.

Also underrated (if that is possible) - lost HUGE prime years to war ... Bob Feller.

Walter Johnson & Matty are epic great I know, but they did not have to "bring it" and bust a gut on every pitch like they have to do nowadays. The stats they compiled would still be awesome, just not to the stature you see on the stats page. Could you imagine a pitcher today laying off on a few pitches to save themselves for when they really neded it - they wouyld get busted up.

Babe Ruth beat Walter Johnson in 1915/16 on 5 consecutive decisions - yes you read that right - 5 consecutive decisions.

When "on' the best stuff was probably Ryan or Koufax.

[nsaddict]

Great variety of opinions, but so many variables come into play here. One poster mentioned not to include the first 4 as they played long ago. But notice no pitcher is dominating in the polls post 40s, "someone else" has the most votes divided between several. No doubt Koufax was totally dominant for 5 years and that was good enough to get him into the Hall but only dazzled for a short period. Cy Young's record of wins will never be closely challenged and the award is named after him. In my opinion he was a very good pitcher but not great. His career stats are more based on him being an incredible workhorse. My vote went to Johnson as I believe he is a cut above all others. Second in career wins for a team that struggled for many seasons,very low ERA and leader in career shutouts. Verlander should get the Walter Johnson award this year

[Touch'EmAll]

If I were starting a team and could choose any starting pitcher in their rookie year thru end of career....

Satchell Paige