Sunday, June 10, 2012

Debunking the Myth of a 'Legend'



            Nolan Ryan was a hard-throwing right-handed pitcher, known for regularly having his fastball clocked above 100 miles per hour. He played in the Major Leagues for a record 27-years for four different teams (New York Mets, California Angels, Houston Astros and Texas Rangers). Often regarded as one of the greatest players to ever step foot on a pitching rubber, his list of flaws, weaknesses and shortcomings in my opinion, greatly outweigh his list of assets, strengths and accomplishments.

            Any list of the greatest players will always be up for debate. Different people see different things and what is one man’s criticism is another man’s praise. The one thing, however that should not be up for debate is that Nolan Ryan being on any list with the likes of Bob Feller, Sandy Koufax or Tom Seaver is a complete and utter joke. Nolan Ryan being considered an all-time great is a myth among myths. Longevity doesn't make up for mediocrity!

            I will even go one step further, a man who started his career just two years before Nolan Ryan finally hung up his cleats, who spent his entire career pitching in the American League East, facing the offensive juggernauts of the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and (in the early to mid 90’s)       Toronto Blue Jays, was flat out better. Not only was this man a better pitcher than Nolan Ryan, but he’s one of the best pitcher’s of the steroid era, who is never even mentioned in that list. (Yet Pedro Martinez and Roger Clemens are). This man didn’t have the same enigmatic charisma that Pedro Martinez exhibited, nor did he possess the cocky surliness that Roger Clemens possessed (the icy-hot to the groin every 5 days probably gave him that surly look).  No, this pitcher didn’t manage to do any of that.
           
            All he did was take to the mound every 5th day with a dignity and respect for the game that is often lost in this newfound era of pomp and circumstance (cue every boisterous celebration that Jose Valverde or Fernando Rodney have after achieving a save).

            Not only that, but, in borrowing a page from Skip Bayless’ book when referencing Tim Tebow; ALL HE DOES IS WIN!

             The man I am referring to is Michael Cole Mussina, one of the best pitchers of the 90’s and 2000’s, who you’ve probably forgotten entirely about and he’s also better than Nolan Ryan.

            Although Nolan Ryan managed 54 more career wins than Mike Mussina (324 to 270), he did so while playing 9 more seasons. If Mike Mussina wanted to pull a Jamie Moyer and pitch until he were 47, he would easily eclipse Ryan’s win totals and be nearing 350 by the time it was all said and done.

            Mussina only lost double digit games in 6 of his 18 seasons and only twice did he finish with a record under .500 (including his first season when he only threw 87 innings).  Ryan managed to lose double digit games in 17 of his 27 seasons, including an impressive 11 years in a row between 1970 and 1980 (smack dab in the prime of his career).

            Speaking of the primes of their career, most baseball minded people describe the prime years of a pitcher’s career to be the seasons between ages 27 and 32. Well, taking a look at both Ryan and Mussina, these were their combined numbers during that 6 season interval:


Ryan:

Games Started: 211

Games Won: 98

Games Lost: 89

Winning Percentage: .524

Innings Pitched: 1,570

Strikeouts: 1,704

Walks: 983

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Mussina:

Games Started: 197

Games Won: 112

Games Lost: 62

Winning Percentage: .643

Innings Pitched: 1,344

Strikeouts: 1,193

Walks: 304


            It’s a tell tale story of two different careers. Ryan started a handful more games than Mussina, but threw nearly a season’s worth more innings and struck out a few hundred more batters. But, he also won considerably fewer games, lost a lot more and walked nearly three times as many men. In short, Mussina put his team in a better position to win during the prime of his career than Nolan Ryan did, yet Ryan is revered as one of the greatest of all-time and Mussina is a forgotten man.

            In 13 of Mussina’s 18 years, he finished with a winning percentage over .600, while Ryan, on the other hand finished with a winning percentage under .500 in nine seasons. Out of his 27 year career, 1/3 of the time, Ryan had a losing record, while 1/3 of the time in Mussina’s career, he won at least 18 games.

            Nolan Ryan had as many walks between 1973 and 1976 (883) that Mike Mussina had in his entire career (785). Nolan Ryan finished in the top 6 in the Cy Young Award voting 6 times during his 27 year career. Mike Mussina? 9 times in 18 years, this means that every other year, Mike Mussina was routinely one of the top 6 pitchers in the league.  
           
            Mussina was a 7-time winner of the Gold Glove award, given to the pitcher who best fields his position. Nolan Ryan is often regarded as one of the worst fielding pitchers of his time.

            Only five pitchers in the history of major league baseball have won as many games throughout their career as Mussina (270) and have a better winning percentage: Christy Mathewson, Lefty Grove, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson. Mussina’s .638 career winning percentage is good for the 40th best in the history of Major League Baseball and is among the company of Dizzy Dean, Jim Palmer and Randy Johnson. Nolan Ryan meanwhile, finds his .526 career winning percentage as the 530th best in the history of baseball, joining the likes of Kelvim Escobar, Jon Garland and Braden Looper. (Yankee fans would like to know that A.J. Burnett is currently sporting a higher career winning percentage than Nolan Ryan. I guess that means A.J. Burnett is the next Walter Johnson). 

            Mussina managed to end his career an astounding 117 games over .500 and he won at least 15 games in a season 11 times in 18 years, while Ryan is only a paltry 32 games over .500 and accomplished the same feat of winning 15+ games only 8 times in 27 years.

            The most batters Mike Mussina ever walked in a single season was 69 for the 1996 Orioles, which is also the fewest number of batters Nolan Ryan ever walked in a single season (for the 1984 Houston Astros). Mussina’s career average for number of walks per season was 50, while Nolan Ryan walked almost 2 and a half times more than that per season (120)

            Nolan Ryan is the all-time leader in strikeouts and the 5,714 batters that he punched out during his career is 839 more than the runner-up, Randy Johnson. But, on the flip side, his record 2,795 walks is almost 1,000 more than the man who is #2 on the list, Steve Carlton.

            He also threw 7 career no-hitters, which is the most no-hitters in history by a wide margin. He threw his first no-hitter in 1973 and his last in 1991, at the ripe old age of 44. While that feat alone is remarkable, a few games do not make an individual an all-time great, nor does it make them a Hall of Famer (don’t mention that to Bill Mazeroski who’s only in the Hall of Fame because of one swing).

            Nolan Ryan was nothing more than a mediocre player who threw the ball hard, who in 27 years never learned how to ‘pitch.’ In fact, I would say that the best control and most accurate throws Nolan Ryan ever managed out of his right hand happened in succession on August 4, 1993. Granted it wasn’t a baseball he was throwing and it wasn’t a glove he was connecting with. It was his fist and Robin Ventura’s head. That bench clearing brawl (a highlight of my childhood) is one of the most replayed moments in Ryan’s career (and the only other highlight of Ventura’s, next to the walk-off Grand Slam Single in the 1999 NLCS).

            I still remember that evening fondly. My family and I were on vacation in Florida visiting my grandparents and my brother and I were spending the night at my Aunt’s house. We were watching the movie Under Siege (show a 7 year old boobs for the first time and it’s a moment he’ll never forget, ever) and my mom called  to tell me that Nolan Ryan got into a fight with a White Sox player. Having always been a fan of old guys who beat up kids (odd, I know), I immediately made us pause the movie and turn on the news so I could watch the replay over and over again, as Ryan wedged Ventura’s head between his forearm and armpit in a perfect headlock and reigned blows upon his head (which is also a move my brother has imitated on me about 4,055,139,218,128 times in the 19 years since that day).

            Don’t get me wrong about Ryan, he was a must-see whenever he was on the mound. On any given night, Ryan was a threat to throw a no-hitter. Notice, I said ‘throw’ and not ‘pitch.’ He was also a threat to walk 11 batters and hit another 5, because he had no idea where the ball was going half the time (A.J. Burnett calls this effectively wild).

            I don’t want to belittle the fact that Ryan amassed 7 career no-hitters during his lengthy career, since it is an extremely hard feat to accomplish. But, it’s a feat that any pitcher is capable of achieving. If it wasn’t, then explain to me the names Bud Smith, Jose Jiminez and Eric Milton. Or better yet, explain to me how Kent Mercker, Kevin Millwood and Hideo Nomo have thrown 2. (I’d put asterisks next to Mercker’s first and Millwood’s second, since each only went 6 innings in their starts and the bullpen pitched the last 3 innings in both).

            I could point out that Justin Verlander has already thrown 2 career no-hitters and was extremely close to his third this season, but no-hitters aren’t what make Justin Verlander the most dominant pitcher in baseball. Justin Verlander is the pitcher that Nolan Ryan wished he could have been. Every 5 days when Verlander takes the mound, he instantly gives his team an advantage over his opponent. The same can’t be said for Ryan. If that were the case, then his career winning percentage would be a hell of a lot higher than .526 and a lot closer to the .647 that Verlander has posted in his 8 years as the Tigers ace.

            So, now you tell me; who would you rather have had throughout the primes of their career: Nolan Ryan or Mike Mussina? What about Nolan Ryan or Justin Verlander?

            To me, the answer to both of those questions don’t include the names Nolan or Ryan and frankly, it isn’t even close (and if you put Mussina up against Verlander, it’d be a lot closer decision than you’d like to think, but that’s another topic, for another day).

            Now I began writing this article as a dissection of the career of Nolan Ryan and how I view him as one of, if not the MOST overrated ‘pitcher’ in the history of Major League Baseball and how it is a travesty that he is viewed as one of the greatest pitchers of all-time.

            But, in retrospect, my emotions aren’t as fixated any longer on the career of Nolan Ryan, who received 98.8% of the vote when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

            Instead, they are fixated on Mike Mussina and the fact that if he isn’t voted in as a first ballot hall of famer when he is eligible in 2013; then that is the greatest travesty of them all.

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