Observations while hunting for a Ryan rookie....

[G1911]

Strikeouts don’t matter if you’re walking 150 guys. Ryan’s ERA+ is 112, 12% better than the league. He wasn’t that good at not giving up runs, a pitchers central job. Strikeouts are one way to not give up runs, but if a pitcher is walking huge numbers of batters, he apparently ends up not saving many runs.

That said, pitching effectively for 27 years is Hall worthy alone. Being 12% over the league for a quarter century is nuts. The legend of Nolan and his statistical value are miles apart, but by even the most negative reading of him he’s a star. I don’t think anyone is dumping on him.

I’d take a Seaver rookie over his any day. I need both for my sets, the price on Nolan’s is annoying because that series of 68 Topps is extremely common, and that he was one of the 66 in the MB’s makes it even more common than most to basic set collectors. Seaver’s is a pain to find (by Topps standards, there is no such thing as a rare basic Topps card).

Carlton, Palmer, Jenkins, all are still cheap. I think they’re a bargain. Pitchers tend to be, usually.