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Posted By: howard

A simple comparison would be to compare lifetime ERAs to the ERA of the league as a whole while a pitcher was active. Although somewhat contemporary to Johnson and Mathewson, Young faced tougher offenses than both of them:

Career ERA: League ERA:

Young.......2.63 3.62
Mathewson...2.13 2.88
Johnson.....2.17 3.17

It appears as if Young was actually better than his "raw" stats in this case.