Greatest Pitchers of All Time

Granted, the list is primarily comprised of pitchers who played after World War II even though there are many pitchers who put up staggering numbers prior to that period, but it is hardly a fair comparison to include the earliest pitchers who played in a far less competitive era when many of the best players weren?t even allowed to join the league. Don't agree with the list? Vote for an existing item you think should be ranked higher or if you are a logged in, add a new item for others to vote on or create your own version of this list.

The Top Ten

1
Nolan Ryan

Struck out more people than any1 in history.

Flyingcobra

This is subjective based on fans, but I think Ryan is the best all-time with stats, longevity, numerous pitching records, and his ERA was 3.18 over 5,000 plus innings which is amazing. Consider the steroid era of pitchers like Rogeroids Clemens, Pedro Martinez, Glavine, Maddux, and even Randy Johnson.

Not number one, too many walks issued, not enough wins, but in the top 5 for sure

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2Walter Johnson
Not even close. Best pitcher ever by far. Clemens, Maddux, Alexander, and Grove are also amazing, but not at his level of sustained dominance.
Stats say it all
Nolan Ryan walked as much as struck out batters, The Big Train was controlled
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3Sandy Koufax

Would have been the greatest ever by far if he didn't get injured. Here is my top 5 list.

1. Walter Johnson
2. Sandy Koufax
3. Warren Spahn
4. Lefty Grove
5. Christy Mathewson

Nolan Ryan is not the best ever.

Crazydudewithabeard

From 1961 to 1966 the greatest ever. If I had to pick a pitcher to win one game Sandy is the man.SBL

Had he not been injured in 1962 & 1964 he would have won 5 Cy Young awards in a row when there was only 1 given for the entire major leagues each year. He was the greatest pitcher ever! No one was even close!

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4Cy Young
Even among his peers at the time he was the best. Just a freak of nature. If around today would still be at the top. Great control and fantastic speed. Imagine nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens in one person
you are all idiots you should know that cy young is the best pitcher ever and just because walter johnson and christy mathewson aren't the best because they were in the first class
If he is the best then he should have the most strikeouts he may have more wins bet nolan ryan had more strikeouts so nolan ryan is 1st and cy young 2nd
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5Tom Seaver

The first player ever to be referred to as "The Franchise", need I say anything more?

awesome player this is my fav met of all time


6Bob Gibson

Hands down, the greatest competitor in any sport... Ever. Ending the 1968 season with an ERA of 1.12? Insanity! He did not want to give up ever ONE run per game!

Greatest money pitcher of all time.

yeah they did lower the mound because of him... he was unbelievable. he could hit too. he was amazing just amazing... two times better than pedro hahaha don't give me crap about pedro.. he was good but not gibson good, by any means

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7Christy Matthewson

Mathewson was way better than Nolan Ryan. He tops him in everything but strikeouts. One overlooked aspect of his game is his postseason mastery. He pitched single-handedly won a World Series by pitching 3 shutouts in 5 days! His World Series ERA was 0.97 in 101.2 innings! Sorry Ryan, sorry Koufax, you guys shouldn't be close to Big Six.

Way to underrated. He got 373 wins despite playing only 17 years. great friend. once played 13 checker players at the same time blindfolded, won 7 and DREW 6. Here is my list:
1. Christy mathewson(by far)

2. Cy Young(by even more far)

3. Walter Johnson(just barely)

4. Warren Spahn

5. Gregg Maddux

Underrated old times pitcher


8Greg Maddux
My name is James Filippi... I pitched against "the baby faced assassin" in 1985 in Peoria Illinois (mid west league Chisox) and before the first inning was over I knew it would be very difficult to beat him... This in itself was a great weapon! He had an exploding fastball and the hitters just could not get a good swing on his pitches! If we got one run against him that was an accomplishment... All game and all the time it was like this... Very tough! Great fielder too! Extremely smart pitcher... He had great command of everything he threw and he threw very hard and strode incredibly long at that time... I thought I had a long stride but when I took the mound I was landing at the back of his landing which I thought was unusual because it had never happened before! He only got better from there! I still think "POUND FOR POUND THE BEST PITCHER EVER TO PLAY THE GAME" I believe this! And he was maybe 6ft 150lbs at that point!
At least in the last 30 years since well televised games have been available, any objective real baseball fan and professional that is honest knows Greg Maddux was the most skilled pitcher of the era.
He was truly the thinking man's pitcher. It's been said that he would purposely give up hits, in meaningless situations, in order to fool the same hitter when it really mattered. One of the stories I've heard is, once when a manager came to the mound, Maddux told the manager (I forget whom), not to worry because the next batter he would make pop-up to third. The mgr. Let him in and the next batter popped to third, as Maddux had predicted.
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9Randy Johnson
You have to give the benefit of the doubt to the lefties. Its harder to pitch in the majors as a lefty and Randy did better than all lefties and righties of his era.
He just went out there and pitched. He's the strongest thrower I've ever seen. He was the last true great of his generation.
His strikeout ratios were absurd. In my opinion, that's how you measure true dominance. I think the Unit is underrated. He was a beast and I'm saying that as a fan of the game and a Dodgers fan. He was an intimidator and we haven't seen one since.

10Pedro Martinez

by far the best ever, no doubt. From 1997-2003 no one could ever touch him! at one point his ERA was 1.74 and THE NEXT GUY (Clemens) was over two RUNS HIGHER! hands down the best! if it wasn't for his injuries (Koufax) he would have dominated even longer

Pedro Martinez is the most dominat pitcher I have ever seen. He also has the best fastball in the history of baseball.

gocanes52

I agree... while you have to take into account that his arm failed him as he got older, you also have to take into account that his ERA was often well below other pitchers of his day, and he man-handled hitters during the heart of the steroid era.

In his prime he was THE best. There are very very few others that you could argue were better.

bruski1986

More comments about Pedro Martinez

The Contenders

11Warren Spahn

12Mariano Rivera
Best era in the live ball era and with the DH which adds 1/2 a run to your era-he would be even lower that anyone. Lowest WHIP except for addie Joss-dead ball era-no dh. And the 9th inning pitchers face the best hitters (PH) the team can put up. ERA plus-amazing check out those numbers-no one ever even close! Single most dominating pitch in history and no one can throw it like he has! You can argue that a starting pitcher might be more valuable to a team than a releiver or even a closer, but if the question is the best pitcher those stats don't lie. But look at the playoffs and world series and he has been even greater there-walter johnson is the closest and its not that close.
My top ten:
1. Mariano Rivera
2. Nolan Ryan
3. Sandy Koufax
4. Roger Clemens
5. Randy Johnson
6. Walter Johnson
7. Warren Spahn
8. Pedro Martinez
9. Cy Young
10. Tom Seaver
He'll move up. In the end he gets the job done.

haineroid

More comments about Mariano Rivera

13Roger Clemens

14Lefty Grove

15Grover Cleveland 'Pete' Alexander

16Satchel Paige

if you look only at MLB numbers not too impressive. but he didnt pitch that long in the MLB. His numbers in the negro leagues...unreal.

orangeturtle


17Fernando Valenzuela

Lasorda didn't use this guy properly. He could have lasted years if he wasn't kept in the game as much as he was.


18Bob Feller

19Steve Carlton

You have got be kidding me. You put walter J. In front of carlton here is my 5 list
sandy koufax
steve carlton
nolan ryan
walter johnson
satchel page


20Tim Lincecum

21Whitey Ford

22Mark Buerhle

23Tom Glavine

24Johan Santana

25Curt Schilling

Three World Series Rings, 200+ wins, 2,000+ stikeouts. Truly amazing.


26Zach Greinke
7-1.61 era... Enough said!

phigginskc


27Orel Hershiser

28Don Drysdale

29Aroldis Chapman

He is the best closer ever! Number 1 will ever be better 105 mph that is insane! Aroldis chapman could absoulutely, definitely be a starter! I think he could be one of the top starters ever! A blazing fastball and an oustanding slider leaves batters scared to come to theplate and devistated when they leave! And I'm not over exadrating one bit! And what can I say I'm a reds fan


30Don Sutton

31Gaylord Perry

32Jaba Chamberlin

one of the youngest pitchers to throw 100 give the new yankees pitcher some props guys cmon

dissthisnoob


33Justin Verlander

34Roy Halladay

35Jim Palmer

36CC Sabathia

37Mordecai Brown

38Cliff Lee

39Catfish Hunter

40Cole Hamels

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List Info

This list was created 7 years, 163 days ago and has been voted on over 1,000 times. This top ten list has been remixed 2 times and has been blogged about 3 times.

Updated Tuesday, May 21, 2013


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