It's an easy trap to fall into. Rating players solely on stats without reference to the era they played in. Dr. Sowell should know better. Anyone who pitched largely in the dead ball era, as did Johnson, will obviously have his shutouts and ERA magnified. Pitchers who excelled in a more hitter friendly era (Grove and Spahn are the first two that come to my mind) are always going to be underrated based on those numbers. A more fun question is "Who's the best player you ever saw?" As far as pitchers go, for me it's Bob Gibson, hands down. Speaking of eras, Gibson played during the modern day dead ball era of the late sixties with high mounds...etc...that magnified his pitching performances.
That said, Gibson was still one of the best I've seen.
Gibson played during the modern day dead ball eraYes he did, can't argue with that. But having watched him pitch a couple of times from a seat behind the plate at Wrigley, frankly I don't know how anyone ever had the nerve to get in the batter's box against him, dead ball, juiced ball, whatever.
The big change is not the ball or the mound, but the fact that pitchers aren't allowed to intimidate any more.