| Nolan Ryan was a Hall of Fame pitcher and strikeout artist who was always much more popular with average fans than he was with baseball stat experts. His 324 victories were impressive, but his .526 winning percentage and 292 losses were not. His 5714 strikeouts were impressive, but his lifetime 112 ERA+ is less impressive ("ERA+" is a way to comparing how he did compared to the league, taking into account park factors), since an ERA+ of 112 puts Ryan well below the top 100 pitchers of all time. The most similar player to Ryan is Steve Carlton, but Carlton had roughly the same number of victories while posting 50 fewer losses.
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