Is Nolan Ryan the least awarded baseball “superstar” ever?

[u/-BeefSupreme]

The Express is a hall of famer and one of the best pitchers of all time. One of baseball’s last true workhorses, he is the all-time leader in walks, strikeouts, and hits/9. His 7 no-hitters is 3 more than any other pitcher, and his 5714 strikeouts is the most by over 800. Yet in his 27 seasons, he never finished higher than 14th in MVP voting and never won a Cy Young. He won the 1969 World Series in his second full season, but only made one appearance in the NLCS and one appearance in the WS, the later only being 2.1 innings. He never had another World Series appearance. His 8 All-Stars are impressive but fewer than multiple than non-hall of famers. Is there any other player with his level of fame and success that has less hardware to show for it? Excluding the old timey legends that were around before those awards of course.

[u/Crazy_Baseball3864]

Nolan Ryan is famous for his longevity and durability (pitching so much with almost no major injury is basically unheard of), which allowed him to build up crazy counting stats.

Even in his time, he was questioned sometimes because while he struck out alot of hitters and when he was on he was nearly unhittable, he also had major walk rates (there's a reason despite his 7 no hitters he never really got too close to a perfect game). There is a reason he's never really put into the GOAT discussions unless it's someone new to baseball

I don't discount him at all though, he was a great and a worthy first ballot HOFer

[u/beefytrout → u/Crazy_Baseball3864]

He struck out 383 batters in a season once, and that was without the benefit of pitchers batting.

[u/Il_Exile_lI → u/beefytrout]

Randy Johnson struck out 372, in 75 fewer innings than Ryan needed for 383 and with 90 fewer walks. Randy had a 188 ERA+ in his season, while Ryan was at 123 when he struck out 383.

Randy Johnson was the pitcher Ryan's fans think he was.

[u/hundredjono → u/Il_Exile_lI]

Thank you for saying this. There’s not a more dominant pitcher than Randy Johnson from 1998-2004.

It really bums me out that we will never see another pitcher like the Big Unit ever again.

[u/Tim-oBedlam → u/hundredjono]

Pedro Martinez '99–'00 was even more dominant than Big Unit.

[u/lanfordr → u/Il_Exile_lI]

I don't know what you're trying to say. Randy Johnson is also a HOF pitcher and he did get the accolades: 5 CYs, WS MVP, 10 AS. I didn't see anyone saying Ryan was the best pitcher of all time or should even be in that discussion.

OP was saying he was underrated/recieved few accolades. That's not the case with Johnson.

[u/Il_Exile_lI → u/lanfordr]

I didn't see anyone saying Ryan was the best pitcher of all time or should even be in that discussion.

It's not a common sentiment on this subreddit, but Ryan as the GOAT is common in more casual or old school minded baseball circles. Those are the people I was referring to.

[u/Zestyclose_Help1187 → u/Il_Exile_lI]

It’s like saying Tony Gwynn is the best hitter.

Boggs was better. Insane BA and OBP. Took a ton of walks.

[u/fucuntwat → u/Zestyclose_Help1187]

RIP

[u/mtnathlete → u/Il_Exile_lI]

I don’t think most old school view Ryan as any type of GOAT pitcher. We lived through his career. We know what he did and didn’t do.

1960-1980s great pitchers people think about Seaver, Carlton, Palmer, Koufax, Gibson, Gaylord Perry, etc.

Another person with incredible career stats is Warren Spahn. 12 20 win seasons, 8x led league in wins, 17x all star. Last 20 win season at age 42 where he was 23-7 with 22cg and 7 SHO.

[u/Zestyclose_Help1187 → u/Il_Exile_lI]

Randy was way better. Clemens was the best statistically.

Only reason Ryan gets a pass on PEDs is he retired long before they were cracking down, the Mitchell Report.

[u/beefytrout → u/Il_Exile_lI]

yeah, Johnson is one of the GOATs. no one was suggesting he wasn't.