Most overrated baseball player of all time

Not sure I agree, but Lou Brock's name often gets tossed around when statheads mention overrated players.

 

Nolan Ryan, with all these whacko detractors, is one of the most underrated players.

 

i worked with a guy many years back who said roberto clemente was one of the most overrated players of all time.

 

Players who steal lots of bases but don't have great OBPs usually get racked by the sabrheads. Tho I think it's pretty lame to rack someone who reaches the equivalent of triple-figure doubles.

 

Cheap shot.

You don't make somebody overrated when their body breaks down. For the short time he was healthy, he had stuff which a handful of pitchers EVER could boast of.

This might be blasphemy from anyone within shouting distance of the Chesapeake, but I think an earlier poster was on the right track with Ripken.

 

Ryan led his team in wins only six times in his long career:

1972
1973
1974
1977
1981
1989

 

Yeah, alright, this is where I stop treating you like a functioning adult.

 

The Cy Young thing isn't 100% drop-dead conclusive, but it does indicate that Ryan rarely had the type of seasons that he simply had to be considered one of the best pitchers in the league. And while consistency is good, you need absolute domination to be considered great. Clemens is probably the best pitcher since WWII because he combines both. I hate the man with a burning passion, but I defy any HOF voter to justify not voting for him (and not voting for him to prevent him from being the first 100% man doesn't count).

Lets take the incredible number of strikeouts out of the equation for a moment.

Pitcher A's career numbers
324-256, 3.26 ERA, 5,282 IP, 2.66 K/BB ratio, 1.142 WHIP, 23 year career

Pitcher B's career numbers
324-292, 3.19 ERA, 5,386 IP, 2.04 K/BB ratio, 1.247 WHIP, 27 year career

These pitchers were contemporaries with similiary long careers. In almost trade-off, Don Sutton (A) and Nolan Ryan (B) are basically equal. And Sutton was a borderline HOF'er. Which is what Ryan should be considered. He should be considered the equal of guys like Sutton and Gaylord Perry: pitchers who were very good (but rarely great) over a long period of time. Does Ryan get credit for all of the no-hitters? Yeah. No-hitters are generally feats of luck (which is why, say, Fergie Jenkins doesn't have one, but Bud Smith does), but accumulating enough of them shows some degree of skill. But its not the same as Koufax, where his gems corrolate to his period of amazing dominance.

In short, is Nolan a Hall of Famer? Probably. Is he a 99-percent of the vote, top 10 pitchers who ever lived good? No f'n way.

 

I don't know, Tex. I certainly don't think he's the MOST overrated, but it's at least an arguable point. He had a lot of mediocre seasons mixed in there for an "all-time great."

 

I said this wouldn't end well, and it won't. If anybody told me in a bar Nolan Ryan was overrated, I'd probably hit them (accidently on purpose of course) in a tender area with a pool cue. I'm having those urges now.

And Pope, no bringing nonsense like logic into this discussion  

 

Don't hit the coda who's at the bar.

 

What is your argument for Ryan being on of the 10 greatest pitchers of all-time?  Sure, he threw seven no-hitters - but that's only a few games.  I'm looking at his entire career, and I can't see how you can even put him in the top 20 pitchers ever.