You probably all know Lennon’s reply to being asked if Ringo was one of the best drummers in rock and roll; “He’s not even the best drummer in The Beatles!”
If he wasn’t…who was? Because I know you’ll all moan if I didn’t, I’ll include the musical ‘Fifth Beatle’ candidates; original drummer Pete Best, original bassist Stuart Sutcliffe, Quarryman member and washboard player Pete Shotton, substitute concert drummer Jimmie Nicol and substitute drummer on “Love Me Do” Andy White.
It’s Ringo Time!
The $64,000 question has always been… SUPPOSING that Ringo had been replaced by Buddy Rich, Billy Cobham, Bill Bruford, Ginger Baker or Paul McCartney or any number of other drummers widely regarded as more proficient, would the Beatles’ records have been any better?
No. Which speaks well for Richard.
Agreed. He played for the band, not himself.
Well, Ringo obviously. (I’m not sure I’d call Paul McCartney more proficient, at least not given what I’ve heard of his drumming on Beatles songs.)
Anyhow, isn’t that Lennon quote apocryphal?
John Lennon never said this.
This is true, although it’s a widely known apocryphal quote (should have said ‘the story of Lennon replying’ in the OP, my bad), so speaks to a public perception.
Paul McCartney could drum, but he was no drummer.
Who voted for George?
We had a Ringo appreciation thread recently (and probably others longer ago). Anyone who cares enough about the question to vote in this poll should read that thread if you missed it the first time around.
Best drummer in The Beatles was obviously Pete. 
I’ll go out on a limb here. I think Ginger Baker was the best drummer in The Beatles out of all the drummers who never jammed, rehearsed, recorded, or performed with The Beatles.
But Ginger’s a cantankerous prick - never could’ve handled Beatle-level insanity.
And again, Ginger demanded a voice outside the songs - his drumming had to matter. If you go to the thread Thudlow linked to that I started, and you listen to a track like Good Day, Sunshine - most drummers, and especially Ginger, would slit your throat before he’d lower himself to playing a drum part like that. And yet that drum part needed to be that way, dammit.
Go Ringo!
Like Lennon and McCartney could never be cantankerous pricks either? Then you name the best drummer in The Beatles out of all the drummers who never jammed, rehearsed, recorded, or performed with them, Mister Wordman Smartypants. Starkey doesn’t qualify as he did all 4.
At least you got the Mister Smartypants part right ;). I saw the mention of Ginger and simply commented on the thought of him in the Fabs. Lennon could be a right prat, but he was also the early leader who rallied the boys with the “Where are we going boys? To the Toppermost of the Poppermost!!” cheer.
Look, Jeff Beck is my favorite guitarist, and was mentioned at various points with the Beatles and Stones, but he would’ve been a psycho choice if he’d joined either. As pointed out by Clapton in his otherwise flat autobio, Baker was a walking mindfuck of a guy - and the excerpts I saw of that recent doc about him did nothing to dissuade me of that POV. I was just riffing on that. Brilliant, brilliant drummer - but a whack job.
The Beatles with Ringo stayed together from August, 1962 until the end of December, 1970. Cream lasted from July 1966 until November 1968.
Certainly seems like Ringo was better at keeping 3 other egos soothed than Ginger Baker was at keeping 2…
‘sall I’m sayin’. 
Hey, you left out Bernard Purdie.
Yeah, I think Purdie is an iconic drummer, but I would take what he says in regards to that with a rather large grain of salt.
ETA: Ah, I see the article you linked to comes to the same conclusion. Gotcha.
The thing I don’t understand about the Ringo bashers - John, Paul and George had every opportunity to replace Ringo whenever they wanted. They also had access to the advice of George Martin and Brian Epstein, both of whom would have had no compunction whatsoever about firing a drummer - the five of them had done it before, after all.
The main thing about The Beatles - the songwriting and arranging was the outstanding feature of the band, not the musical virtuosity of its individual members. George’s solos are not that polished, either, but that isn’t the point. A virtuoso guitarist like Jeff Beck or Jimmy Page would not have been a good fit, and would have thrown the balance out of whack. Likewise, a drummer of greater technical skill or flashiness would have heightened the tensions between the songwriters and the performers. Charlie Watts is the only other drummer I can think of who might have worked out. I think his schedule was kinda full…
I certainly get the impression that life in The Beatles was not that far off what was depicted in ‘Hard Day’s Life’ or ‘Help’. Ringo’s job was to keep everyone in the pocket and grinning at each other onstage and in the studio, while being the butt of most of their jokes.
People prefer flash to subtlety. Ringo was not a flashy drummer and hated solos (he practically had to be coerced into doing one on Abbey Road). His job was to keep the beat.
That’s essential, but boring to those who don’t work in a band. So you can point to more flashy drummers like Keith Moon or John Bonham or Ginger Baker and say, “See, Ringo’s not as good as them.” But that sort of drumming would have been out of place with the Beatles and would have hurt their sound.