Thread: Roger Clemens
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Old 11-11-2004, 12:57 AM   #30
swampdragon
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mlyons
Easy there, sunshine. I never made any sort of claim that Randy Johnson was a better pitcher than Clemens. I just think you're making a bit of a leap going from "best pitcher of his generation" (which, while debatable, is at least defendable) to "best pitcher since Walter Johnson". Whitey Ford, Bob Gibson, Hoyt Wilhelm, Steve Carlton, Nolan Ryan, Tom Seaver, and Sandy Koufax all fell in between, after all.
The case for Clemens is defensible. Bill James, in the New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract puts Clemens at No. 11, without taking into account the years 2001-2004, and goes on to say:

"Like all the modern pitchers, he may deserve to rank higher than I have ranked him. In fact, like Seaver, there is actually a very good argument that he is the greatest pitcher who ever lived."
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