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Marc S.I think this is a great board.
I'm with David on this one. I think that he is a great pitcher, one of the better of my generation of growing up, and no doubt a Hall of Famer. That said, I think people look at the no-hitters and strikeouts and tend to ascribe a lot more value to them than they're worth. Very dominating...at times, but he never won the Cy Young award.
In one seven-year period of time, Nolan led the leads in walks six times. If anything, that just shows me Nolan was consistently inconsistent (e.g. he would either walk them or strike them out).
Rob, there are always ways to take data and manipulate to make your point. I'll just take your example and fill it in with my data
1987 Astros
teams record = 76-86
nolan ryans record = 8-16 2.76 ERA
1985 Astros
teams record = 83-79
nolan ryans record = 10-12 3.80 ERA
1971 Mets
teams record = 83-79
nolan ryans record = 10-14 3.97 ERA
1978 Angels
teams record = 87-75
nolan ryans record = 10-13 3.72 ERA
1980 Astros
teams record = 93-70
nolan ryans record = 11-10 3.35 ERA
Really less of an issue as to whether or not Nolan is a great pitcher. I think we all concede his is, and I think he is a strong Hall of Famer, definitely a first balloter, one of the stronger pitchers in the Hall of Fame. But I would not say that he is one of the Top 10 - 20 pitchers of all time.
Marc