MLB Power Rankings: Randy Johnson and the 25 Most Intimidating Pitchers Ever

What are the keys to being a successful pitcher?

A good fastball?  Sure.  A nasty curve?  Yeah.  A change-up, slider or cutter?  OK.

But in the history of baseball, there can be no doubt that there has been an extra element which so many of the game's most successful pitchers have employed.  It has very little to do with pitching skill or ability or training and everything to do with moxie, with attitude, with personality.

A clear line can be drawn through baseball history connecting the pitchers who added the element of intimidation to their game.  It has made mediocre pitchers good, good pitchers great and great pitchers immortal.

25. Sam McDowell

Self-described as "the biggest, most hopeless and most violent drunk in baseball," Sam McDowell nevertheless led the AL in strikeouts five times in six years (and walks five times in seven years) over one of the most dominant strikeout stretches in baseball history.  

He lived hard and fast, though, and by the age of 30, his career was all but over.

24. J.R. Richard

One of the most underrated pitchers of the last 40 years because his career ended prematurely due to a stroke, J.R. Richard came from the Nolan Ryan school of pitching—just throw it as hard as you can and let it fall where it will.  

At 6'8" and with a 100 mile-per-hour fastball—and a 93 mile-per-hour slider—Richard regularly led the league in walks and wild pitches, but in 1978 and 1979, he had back-to-back 300 strikeout seasons and was on his way to a third—along with a sub-2.00 ERA—in 1980 when the stroke felled him midseason.

23. Jim Bunning

Do you think Jim Bunning relied on intimidation to become a successful pitcher?

During the best four-year stretch of his career, with the Phillies from 1964 to 1967, Bunning led the league in players hit-by-pitches every season.  He was a tough S-O-B on the mound and he was a tough S-O-B in the United States Senate.

22. Trevor Hoffman

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CINCINNATI - MAY 18: Trevor Hoffman #51 of the Milwaukee Brewers throws a pitch in the 9th inning during the game against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on May 18, 2010 in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Reds won 5-4. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty I

Awful 2010 season aside, Trevor Hoffman is one of the most intimidating closers in the history of baseball.

His entry song, Hell's Bells, set the tone for what batters had to face in the ninth inning against the Padres for more than a decade.

21. Kevin Brown

Kevin Brown would rather hit a guy than give him a walk and, in some seasons, it seemed he was more likely to do the former than the latter.  

While leading the NL in ERA with a shocking 1.89 for the 1996 Marlins, Brown walked only 33 batters but hit 16.  During his best years, Brown didn't give up many hits or walks, and he struck out plenty, all of which had to do with his on-the-mound persona as much as anything else.

20. Dave Stewart

In an otherwise mildly successful career, Dave Stewart spent four years as one of the most successful pitchers in baseball with the 1987-1990 Oakland A's, winning 20 games each season.  

A big part of his dominance was his mound presence.  Stewart was a mean-looking guy, and his piercing pre-delivery stare got batters knees knocking.

19. Jack Morris

Mean, gritty and durable, Jack Morris led the 1980s in wins and may have led the decade in gravitas as well.  

Just about the only thing Morris did particularly well was throw wild pitches; he led the league in the category six times and his 206 career wild pitches rank 13th all-time despite the fact Morris ranks 50th all-time in innings pitched.

18. Juan Marichal

One of the last pitchers to utilize a full leg-kick, Juan Marichal was able to disguise pitches until the last second by going nearly-vertical to the ground in his windup.

Despite this, Marichal was a precision pitcher, rarely walking batters and striking out plenty.

17. Dennis Eckersley

Known as "Eck the Wreck" until his reclamation by Tony LaRussa and Dave Duncan with the Oakland A's in the late 1980s, Dennis Eckersley had a deceptive motion by which his glove would come through his pitching motion ahead of his pitching hand, disguising the pitch until the last instant.  

Then, after he'd gotten you out, he'd point at you, yell at you and laugh at you.

16. Lee Smith

Lee Smith was a big man out on the mound and one of Major League Baseball's most intimidating closers.

Listed as 6'5", 220 pounds, he was at least 6'6", and 220 was a pipe-dream.  His enormous palms devoured the baseball and his delivery brought him, seemingly, halfway to home plate.

Smith pitched for 18 seasons and led his league in saves in seasons 12 years apart, finishing with 478 career saves.

15. Al Hrbosky

Nicknamed "the Mad Hungarian" for his crazed appearance and on-the-mound persona, Al Hrbosky intimidated hitters to the tune of 12 successful major league seasons without a whole lot of pitching talent to work with.

14. Goose Gossage

With a larger-than-life mound presence, a dominant fastball and a fu-man-chu moustache, Rich Gossage was the reliever of the 1970s and had one of those personas that represented him even better than his actual playing ability did.

13. Early Wynn

Alleged to have said he'd throw at his own grandmother and described by Mickey Mantle as so mean he'd knock you down in the dugout, Early Wynn burnished his reputation as a guy who would come inside on you despite amassing only 64 HBP in 4,500 career innings pitched.  

Reputation, and reputation alone, might explain how it is that this merely above-average pitcher got into the Hall of Fame.

12. Sandy Koufax

Taken from the game well before his time by injuries, Sandy Koufax's intimidation factor truly came from his pitching ability more than persona or physical appearance.

A genuinely nice, professional guy, Koufax nevertheless had wicked stuff.  Ritchie Ashburn once said: "Either he throws the fastest ball I've ever seen, or I'm going blind."  Unlike band-mate Don Drysdale, Koufax did not hit batters to command respect; his 18 career HBP was less than Drysdale had in the 1961 season alone.

11. Rube Waddell

Here's a tip about the old days of baseball: guys who were nicknamed "Rube" didn't earn their nicknames for their calm demeanor or intellectual disposition.  

Rube Waddell was a dominant pitcher and led the league in strikeouts for six straight years, but his sheer craziness is what made him scary.  Check out this blurb:  "Waddell was unpredictable, and had a habit of leaving the dugout in the middle of games to follow passing fire trucks to fires. He performed as an alligator wrestler in the offseason. He was easily distracted by opposing team fans who used to hold up puppies and shiny objects, which seemed to put Waddell in a trance on the mound."

10. Sal Maglie

Nicknamed "the Barber" for his close shaves, Sal Maglie had a wide variety of pitches and set them all up by coming high-and-tight at the start of an at-bat. Take a minute to check out his stats, by the way: he made his debut in 1948 as a 28-year-old and didn't appear again until 1950, at the age of 33, when he led the league in ERA.

9. Pedro Martinez

Mean as could be, dominant on the mound and featuring a seemingly endless repetoire of deadly pitches, Pedro Martinez sent shivers down the spines of opposing hitters just by taking the mound.  Despite his diminutively frame, he would go after anybody, as he demonstrated when he grabbed the 150-year-old Don Zimmer by the noggin' during a brawl and threw him to the ground.

8. Roger Clemens

Say what you will about the anti-climax at the end of Roger Clemens' career— the PED accusations, the philandering, the affair with an apparently underage Mindy McCready—all of that stuff really seems to imbellish Clemens' reputation as a mean S-O-B.  

On the field, though, he was one of a kind. A three-decade fireballer, he was tough, mean and aggressive. He'd hit you if he needed to. He'd stare you down and out shout you.  He once threw at his own kid during an exhibition game. The moment that seems most symbolic of Clemens' on-field demeanor, though, was in the 2000 World Series when, after Mike Piazza broke his bat and sent the barrel of his bat flying towards Clemens on the mound, Clemens picked it up and threw it at him, as if Piazza possibly could have done it on purpose.

7. Mariano Rivera

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ARLINGTON, TX - OCTOBER 22: Mariano Rivera #42 of the New York Yankees throws a pitch against the Texas Rangers in Game Six of the ALCS during the 2010 MLB Playoffs at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington on October 22, 2010 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Step

When Mariano Rivera starts warming up, buzz begins to circulate around the park.  When he is done warming up, and Enter Sandman begins to play on the PA system, the crowd becomes electric.  And usually, three confused batters later, the game is over.

Rivera is as dominant now, at the age of 40, as he was at the age of 25 or 30.  

Why?

Because he is awesome but also because he intimidates.

6. Don Drysdale

The legend of Don Drysdale's toughness knows no end.  

Mickey Mantle once said: "I hated to bat against (Don) Drysdale. After he hit you he'd come around, look at the bruise on your arm and say, 'Do you want me to sign it?'"  

He led the league in HBP five times and ranks 18th on the all-time list despite pitching only 3,400 innings.

5. Bob Feller

Simply the most dominating pitching force of his time, if not for World War II, the Greatest Pitcher of All-Time conversation might begin and end with Bob Feller.  

He led the league in wins five straight years on either side of the war and in strikeouts for seven straight years. Feller was considered deadly by his contemporaries, with a leg kick that brought his foot well over his head before firing almost blindly towards the plate.

4. Nolan Ryan

With his high leg kick, record-breaking strikeouts, bases on balls and low-hit and no-hit games, Nolan Ryan was one of the most powerful forces of nature ever to take the mound.  

At the end of his career, though, perhaps his most intimidating moment came when Robin Ventura dared charge the mound against him, and Ryan delivered what has become known in some parts as "the Texas Haircut" and/or "the Texas Hat-Fitting."

3. Randy Johnson

The tallest pitcher of all-time and one of the hardest throwers in the history of the game, Randy Johnson began his windup with a menacing, over-the-glove stare from what appeared to be 10 feet off the ground, then delivered with laser-like execution.  

One obliterated bird and a freaked-out John Kruk are just two parts of the Randy Johnson legend.

2. Bob Gibson

An absolute mercenary on the mound who once pitched with a broken leg, he could pitch on back-to-back days if he had to and he pitched with a take-no-prisoners attitude: Bob Gibson was one of those guys opposing batters actually feared.  

Red Schoendienst once commented that Gibson couldn't pitch in today's game, because he'd consistently get thrown out in the first inning of the game for pitching inside too much.

1. Walter Johnson

Nicknamed "the Big Train," Ring Lardner once said of Walter Johnson that: "He's got a gun concealed about his person. They can't tell me he throws them balls with his arm."

Johnson was the standard bearer for strikeout pitchers for more than 50 years and remains arguably the greatest pitcher of all-time.  Babe Ruth once struck out looking against Johnson and turned to the umpire to complain, arguing that the pitch "sounded high."