Proficient Pitchers – Part Two

Hey baseball fans!

Here’s part two of my blog of the Proficient Pitchers greatest nicknames ever:

The Rocket -  Roger Clemens
Clemens is called “The Rocket” for a reason. His blazing fastballs were a big part of why he won seven career  Cy Young Awards, far more than any other player. Clemens is the only pitcher to start a season 20-1 (2003 with the Yanks) and he also started the memorable sixth game of the ’86 Series, a game he was taken out of due to a blister on his pitching hand. His career from 1984-2007 with the Red Sox, Blue Jays, Yankees, and Astros is surely one to marvel at.

The Big Train -  Walter Johnson
The second winningest pitcher in baseball history. How much more can you say? Well, from 1907-1927 with the original AL Washington Senators, Walter is considered by many a better pitcher than Cy Young (which I agree with)! He has a 2.17 lifetime ERA, surprisingly only good for 12th all time. However, his 417 wins is second all time to Cy Young. He also had 279 losses, but with numbers like his ERA, who cares. He earned his nickname because of his size and fastball. He was probably so intimidating, not even the best of his time could hit off him. He also has the most shutouts ever with 110, and had 3,508 career strikeouts (and held the strikeout record for over 50 years!!).

Ryan Express -  Nolan Ryan
Nolan Ryan has the most strikeouts of all time (5,714), 324 career wins, and pitched seven no-hitters! Like Johnson, he did have many losses as well, 292. But with stats like his about no-hitters pitched, who cares (deja vu)?  His overpowering fastball, which still was in the high nineties well into his forties, earned him the nickname “The Ryan Express”. He is considered by many to be overrated, because he pitched for such a long time, from 1966-1993 (with the Mets, Angels, Astros, and Rangers), and had he not pitched so long, he would not have reached 300 wins. Nonetheless, he’s in the Hall of Fame and on my all time  Dream Team  for a reason, right?

Well, that’s my list. Check out my blog in a few days for the greatest ever hitting nicknames. Thanks for reading and happy holidays to everyone!

Matt Nadel is a 13 year old baseball history kid blogger from Springfield, NJ who writes two baseball blogs under the name, Baseball with Matt.  Matt started  his original blog  back in April 2012 when he saw that a lot of his friends didn’t know anything about baseball history and he thought that a blog would be a fun way to educate kids and adults about baseball history.  After posting nearly 85 times, he was introduced to John Thorn, the official historian for MLB, and John liked Matt’s blog and arranged for Matt to have  his own Pro Blog on MLB , making Matt the youngest Pro blogger on MLB.com. You can also follow Matt on Twitter @BaseballwMatt.  Baseball with Matt is a member of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.