How Good Was Stephen Strasburg?

As a Gen-X person who grew up rooting for the Dodgers, I can't put it better than this:  He was better than both Don Gullett and J.R. Richard:

Strasburg:

247 starts

1,470 innings pitched

1,723 strikeouts

record of 113-62

3.24 ERA

32.3 wins above replacement

Richard:

221 starts (17 relief appearances)

1,606 innings pitched

1,493 strikeouts

record of 107-71

3.15 ERA

22.2 wins above replacement

Gullett:

186 starts (80 relief appearances)

1,390 innings pitched

921 strikeouts

record of 109-50

3.11 ERA

18.2 wins above replacement

Also, if you go by Wins Above Replacement (as you should), Strasburg is the third-best Washington National (behind Max Scherzer and Ryan Zimmerman), and the 10th-best MLB player for a Washington team in over 80 seasons going back to 1901.

Also, he pretty much won the World Series for Washington in 2019.  Here were his stats in the 2019 post-season:

5 starts (1 relief appearance)

36 1/3 innings pitched

47 strikeouts, 4 walks

record of 5-0

1.98 ERA

MVP of the 2019 World Series, only the second World Series ever won by a team from Washington, D.C.

Congratulations to Stephen Strasburg on his retirement, and I hope he really enjoys the rest of his life as much as I enjoyed watching him play.