Randy Johnson: The Greatest Left Hander Of All Time?

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Meanwhile, Johnson has a 4.32 ERA in his last five seasons, and he has only won 15 games in his last two seasons. However, Ford was not a strikeout pitcher. The Hall of Famer and career Yankee pitched to contact. With only 1,956 career strikeouts, Ford struck out 5.6 batters per nine innings and had a career 1.21 WHIP.

Ford allowed base runners, but he rarely allowed them to scamper past third. Finally, Ford was a winner. He led the Yankees to six World Series Championships in his career and he posted a career 2.71 ERA.

Steve Carlton won 329 games in his career, yielding a 3.22 ERA while striking out 4,136 batters. However, Carlton had only a .574 winning percentage, and he started in 709 games. Carlton also lost 80 more games than Johnson in his career (Johnson: 164, Carlton: 244). Carlton may have more wins, but Johnson’s 24 seasons were more valuable than Carlton’s.

That leaves only one pitcher who has as many wins as Johnson and an even higher winning percentage: Lefty Grove. Grove finished his career with 300 wins and boasted a dominant .680 winning percentage.

Grove was able to win 300 games in only 17 seasons, and he quit right after number 300. However, Grove also pitched in another time, finishing his career in 1941 with the Boston Red Sox. He struck out 2,266 batters and lost only 141 games in his career.

Tom Glavine has more wins than Johnson, and Johnson is unlikely to pass Glavine, because both are active and Glavine currently leads Johnson by five wins. But, Glavine has lost over 200 games, and his .600 winning percentage is not on par with Johnson.

Is greatness really measured by wins? It is unlikely that this generation will see another left-handed pitcher reach 300 wins any time soon, but there are several left-handed pitchers, retired and active, who have better winning percentages than Johnson.

Sandy Koufax, Ron Guidry, and Johan Santana (age 30) all have significantly higher winning percentages, but their win counts are unlikely to ever reach 300.

Koufax won 53 games in his last two seasons, leaving on top. This year, Johnson will be lucky if he wins ten. So is he the greatest left-handed pitcher of all time, or did he just last the longest?

Only one thing can be for sure: Johnson has to be in the conversation. 

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