MovieChat Forums > Fastball (2016) Discussion > The Top 3 Guys

The Top 3 Guys

posted 8 years ago by speeder-985-717588
1 reply | jump to latest

So the movie gives us their best guess for the fastest pitchers of their respective eras and ends up ranking them thusly:

1. Nolan Ryan
2. Bob Feller
3. Walter Johnson

If you knew nothing about baseball history or pitching in general, you might easily decide this ranks who was "the best". After all the doc stresses how much harder it is for a hitter the harder they throw, etc.....

But let's look at their career numbers:

Ryan: 324-292 record, 3.19 ERA
Feller: 266-162 record, 3.25 ERA
Johnson: 417-279 record, 2.17 ERA

So if we were ranking them based on this, I think it would look like this:

1. Johnson
2. Feller
3. Ryan

So velocity really isn't everything. And we haven't even gotten into the Greg Maddux issue.....a pitcher with an average fastball and career record of 355-227 with a 3.16 ERA

Bottom line: this documentary was pretty good but it overemphasizes velocity. There are many, many hard throwers who actually suck as pitchers. And many finesse guys who are/were great.

[–] tempmail1974 8 years ago

I think you may have misunderstood the documentary.

The film is NOT about who the best pitcher in history was. It is about who threw the hardest fastball.

Further, they do not rank Walter Johnson #3.

Secondly, you have to use statistics that apply across eras and reflect pitcher-ability (as opposed to team ability),so drop "Wins" and "ERA".

The ERA measure you want is "ERA+", which standardizes ERA for era (hitters faced) and ballparks pitched in (which can have a HUGE effect). Randy is tied for #22, with a 135. And still, his number is impacted by the fielding ability of the team behind you.

The best single number to compare pitchers, and it's not perfect by any means, is probably Career WAR, which we only have data on from 1974 forward.

Even after this, you aren't going to be able to rank "best ever" because their are multiple ways to interpret the question ... Best Overall Career? Best Season? Best Career Streak?