I think all these bozos who think Nolan Ryan was overrated need to go ahead and charge the mound.....
Posted on 05/15/2014 1:17:52 PM PDT by BenLurkin
It’s difficult to judge an athlete’s true worth, even if on paper it’s clear they’re either a mega-loser or a mega-winner. But once you go beyond the stats and sabermetrics, and really take a look at what they’ve done, you inch a little closer to uncovering their true value.
In the cases of these five, we found a whole lot of nothing. These are some of the most overrated performers we’ve ever seen, and they should probably pay back all the money they’ve earned and go work at a Walgreens or something. Or CVS, if they prefer. We’re not picky.
5. Wilt Chamberlain
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Unfortunately, outside of a plethora of women’s phone numbers, he rarely won anything significant. In basketball, the ultimate team sport, Wilt was seen as a bad teammate, somebody who cared more about HIS shots and HIS stats than helping his team win rings. He won two titles, though given his gaudy numbers, plus the fact that his teams made the playoffs every single year he played save one, he really should’ve won more.
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4. Danica Patrick
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Here’s the issue: she’s never won. It’s not just that she’s never won a Sprint Cup — plenty of people have never done that. It’s more that, with the exception of ONE RACE back in 2008, she’s never won anything. She’s started over 230 races and won one. She rarely even finishes in the top ten. For somebody touted as a super-duper star, that’s pretty pathetic.
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3. Deion Sanders
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2. Dennis Rodman
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1. Alex Rodriguez
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(Excerpt) Read more at losangeles.cbslocal.com ...
The reason Ryan had such a long career, is that he started out in the Mets’ bullpen, so he didn’t throw too many innings in his early years.
“Were the Celtics the greatest team of the sixties? Undoubtedly. But they were fortunate to have their key players stay healthy for the playoffs”
And they kept their team intact. Once a Celtic, always a Celtic. Not so anymore.
I was there in 1991. Best baseball game I ever saw. Morris and John Smoltz toe-to-toe until the Twins finally got into the Braves bullpen.
My cousin, Cal Koonce, was a pitcher on the 1969 Mets team. There’s a championship poster of the team with him standing beside Ryan. Cal was mainly a relief pitcher with the Mets, started out with the Cubs as a starter.
Eric Lindros might have been the single greatest waste of talent ever to play in the NHL. Between him and Brian Lawton, anyway.
It is a telling statistic. Lots of pitchers have been stuck on poor teams (and in the days before free agency often for their whole careers). Ryan did pitch in the post-season six times, so it is not like he was always on lousy teams. Over their careers, great pitchers have the ability to rise above the mediocrity of poor teams. Ryan didn't seem to have that ability.
I'll admit he wasn't the greatest pitcher of all time, or even his era, but for someone to even elude he was overrated is absurd.
So how do you define overrated? I believe it is when someone's reputation greatly exceeds their accomplishments.
IMO, a necessary condition for a great or elite pitcher is consistency. Ryan just lacks that. To often, Ryan would follow up a brilliant performance with a lackluster one. A Bob Gibson would follow up a brilliant performance with another good one a few days later. With Ryan, you never had that confidence.
I brought up Nolan Ryan because I have often heard his name come up in discussions with casual baseball fans. He seems to be included with the elite pitchers in the minds of these fans - a position which a careful examination of his record doesn't support. A player like Ryan can be very good and still overrated.
A few years back on the FR, there was a thread about Pete Rose. Someone offended my Mick-idolatry (note my screen name) by saying that Pete Rose was the greatest switch-hitter of all-time. I took each player's five best seasons and compared them. Other than batting average, Mantle just crushed Rose - even Mantle's fifth best year far surpassed Rose's best. Power numbers weren't a surprise but on-base percentage was. That is supposed to be Rose's game and Mantle far exceeded him. Selecting the five best seasons for Rose was easy - the seasons to pick were quite clear - but for Mantle, there were 5-6 seasons which could have been included as his 4th or 5th best seasons. (IIRC, I used to MVP share to determine inclusion.)
It was during this analysis that I first concluded that Pete Rose is really overrated. I have not done the analysis but I be willing to bet that Eddie Murray's and Chipper Jones' best seasons would beat Rose's as well.
It’s a 53 man squad, QBs don’t win or lose alone. The best QB in the world can’t win when the rest of the team stinks.
If I’m the GM of a football team...What’s my top priority, Find the best Offensive Line Coach I can....Because if I have a guy that can take any ragtag bunch of Offensive Linemen and turn them into a good unit, I’m a contender regardless of what I’ve got at the other positions.
Ryan’s teams weren’t very good for the most part throughout his career.
2nd priority is defensive line, because all the points in the world won’t do you any good if you can’t keep the other team from doing the same thing.
Totally disagree with the inclusion of Deion Sanders on this list. Until injuries started to take control, no single defensive player could affect an entire offense like Sanders could. The opposing team’s #1 receiver was essentially useless for the game and the rest of the defensive secondary could help on the others.
Plus, Deion’s return capabilities.....I can still hear Chris Berman repeating ad nauseum.....”Prime Time.........Prime Time.......Prime Time.....” when he returned an INT or Punt return for a TD.
Tony Romo will never win the big game because Tony Romo doesn’t believe he can win the big game.
Until that changes, he’ll put up good numbers except when it counts.
Tony Romo will never win the big game because he’s a Cowboy and they haven’t won any big games in 20 years, and won’t until Jones stops being the GM or learns that his team plays real football not fantasy football and stacking the team with “sexy” receivers won’t win.
For the record, Ryan's teams were 2,024-1,960 in his career for an overall winning percentage of 50.80%.
This issue is actually making my point. If Nolan Ryan was an all-time great pitcher on mediocre teams, wouldn't you expect his teams to win far more frequently when he pitched? For his career, his teams were only about 3.5% more likely to win when he pitched than when he didn't. Admittedly, that is skewed by his time with the Mets but even later in his career, he never had the win differential that you'd expect from a great or elite pitcher.
I'm not saying that Nolan Ryan is a bad pitcher. I think that he was a very good pitcher who is HOF-worthy but he was not a great or elite pitcher. Those who classify him there are overrating him IMO. Overrated athletes is what this whole thread was about.
His ko’s of Pinklon Thomas, Tyrell Biggs, Holmes (Larry had enough to beat an always tough Ray Mercer)were masterpieces of efficient, almost clinical beatdowns...especially vs Biggs.
He was never the same after Cus D’Amato died, that’s when he lost his way.
I like the way he 'raped' Bruno as well. I loved his peek a boo style and movement. I had a former squad leader who was a golden gloves champion that grew up competing with Tyson. He said Mike always cried before his matches and was really scared. Keep in Mike was one of the few people as a kid that I've seen who would have the ability to maul a fully grown man at the age of 12 of 13.
Michael Spinks unfortunately will always be remembered for his loss to Tyson, in brutal fashion. But, Michael was one of the greatest lighthvys ever.
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