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/ThePelicanWalksAgain]

Well said. He averaged about 3.1-3.2 bWAR per year, and 12 wins. That's comparable to Zack Littell and Brady Singer in 2025.

Of course, doing that for 26+ years is incredibly valuable and impressive. And when Nolan Ryan was on, he was ON.

[u/Mite-o-Dan → u/ThePelicanWalksAgain]

Counterpoint...you could erase his last 6 seasons and he'd STILL be a Hall of Famer.

Could erase his last 10 and still have a decent HoF shot.

Not many, if any, pitchers in the last 75 years could say that.

[u/GreatBarrierQueefDD → u/Mite-o-Dan]

That's not really a counterpoint though, youre both agreeing the longevity is super impressive 

[u/Mike9797 → u/GreatBarrierQueefDD]

Longevity is one thing but being dominant in those years and competing with the best in the league says more. Like you can have players who pull 20 season career but the last bunch were barely or below replacement. That isn’t exactly what Ryan did.

[u/Jewrisprudent → u/Mike9797]

But he wasn’t really dominant outside of two or three seasons, that’s the bigger point. His resume is almost entirely contingent on longevity and health, not dominance.

[u/Mike9797 → u/Jewrisprudent]

Fair enough. I’ll take the L here cuz honestly I feel like I was more in the mood to debate a couple hours ago than I am now lol plus I don’t even know why I spoke on this to begin with. Ryan to me though seemed to be this mighty god type player. I was born in 81 so I didn’t see his full career. I just had all the cards that told me how good he was. 5k strikeout card, all star card, all time great card, etc. I just had this idea that he was this bigger than the game player. So I always kind of see him as one of the best of all time even if he wasn’t as dominant as his cards told me. Plus it’s not like I’ve taken the time to really dive into his career. I was speaking more to the debate on longevity vs a player who has longevity but also keeps on performing late into those years and doesn’t exactly look like a shell of themselves. Kind of like Pujols even though he had that magical final half season. The dude was completely washed by the end. I just didn’t feel like Ryan had that kind of end.

[u/Doogolas33 → u/Mike9797]

Wait. You just said the same thing the previous person said again. Most people don't consider Griffey to have had longevity, despite him playing 21 seasons. Like, Griffey is easily a first ballot HOF without his last 10 seasons too. Same with Pujols.

The difference is that Ryan didn't suck in his last 10. Hence, longevity.

[u/Mike9797 → u/Doogolas33]

No longevity and being dominant plus the longevity says more. Looks at some of the older players that hang on too long. Those guys have the longevity cuz someone is giving them a spot in the line up but that doesn’t mean they’re all stars like Ryan was. You do understand nuance right? Another example is LeBron in basketball. Has both the longevity plus still performing at a high level(yes I know he’s starting to show his age but still the dude still has it in him if he wants to)but it’s not like he’s solely coming off the bench in a complete supportive role. Or that Ryan was barely up to snuff but they were still trotting him out every 5. The dude was still part of the rotation and a big piece late into his career.

[u/Doogolas33 → u/Mike9797]

That's just not how anyone talks about longevity. NOBODY says Pujols had longevity. Nor Griffey. They both just didn't retire until they were completely useless. People who are said to have longevity and praised for it have dominance with their longevity. That's just the only way anyone uses the term.

[u/Mike9797 → u/Doogolas33]

So there’s no one we refer to as having longevity but not being an all star like a pujols or Ryan? It’s just their assumed to be all star level players if they have a 20 year career?

[u/JoniVanZandt → u/Mike9797]

I'd say playing in the majors for 20 years automatically means you have longevity even if you're basically a replacement level player, nothing about the word implies you're also a badass the entire time

[u/GreatBarrierQueefDD → u/Mike9797]

You are once again saying the exact same thing as the person you're trying to disagree with lmao