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Lynn Nolan Ryan, Jr. (born January 31,
1947) is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball who played in a
record-tying 27 seasons. Ryan still holds many major-league pitching
records, some by such wide margins over previous marks that they will
likely stand for many years.
Ryan, a hard throwing right handed pitcher,
threw pitches which were regularly recorded in the 100-mph range, even
past the age of 40. The media tagged him "The Ryan Express" (a reference
to the 1965 film Von Ryan's Express).
Ryan was an eight-time MLB All-Star, and
his 5,714 career strikeouts rank first in baseball history. He leads the
runner-up, Roger Clemens, by approximately 1,200 strikeouts. Similarly,
Ryan's 2,795 bases on balls lead second-place Steve Carlton by
962—walking over 50% more men than any other pitcher in Major League
history.
Ryan is also the all-time leader in
no-hitters with seven, three more than any other pitcher. He is tied
with Bob Feller for the most one-hitters with 12.
****
Early life
Ryan was born in Refugio, Texas, but his
family moved to the Houston suburb of Alvin when he was 6 weeks old. He
developed his fastball as a high-school pitcher.
Playing career
New York Mets
In 1965, after graduating from high school,
Ryan signed a professional baseball contract with the New York Mets, and
was assigned to a minor league team in the Appalachian League called the
Marion Mets in Marion, Virginia. When Ryan was called up, he was the
second-youngest player in the league. He would end his career as the
oldest player in Major League Baseball. His first strikeout victim was
Pat Jarvis, and he gave up his first major league home run to Joe Torre.
Ryan spent 1967 back in the minor leagues
because of his inability to find the strike zone, something he would
struggle with for much of his career. Ryan did not make the majors for
good until the 1968 season, and even then he was unable to crack the
Mets outstanding pitching rotation led by Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman.
Ryan was used more as a reliever and spot starter by the 1969 Mets.
Ryan pitched well in the 1969 postseason
for the Mets. Against the Braves in the NLCS, Ryan completed a Met sweep
by throwing seven innings of relief in Game 3, getting his first playoff
win (it would take him 12 years to get another). Then in the 1969 World
Series, Ryan saved Game 3, pitching 2⅓ shutout innings against the
Baltimore Orioles. The Game 3 victory gave the Mets a 2-1 lead in the
Series, which they went on to win in five games.
On April 18, 1970, Ryan tied a Met record
by striking out 15 batters in one game. Four days later, Tom Seaver
topped it with 19.
By 1971, Ryan had become increasingly
frustrated and was considering retiring from baseball. His record for
the season was 10-14. He let it be known to Met management that he
wasn't happy in New York and requested to be traded.
California Angels
Ryan was traded to the California Angels in
1972 along with pitcher Don Rose, catcher Francisco Estrada and
outfielder Leroy Stanton for shortstop Jim Fregosi (who would later
manage Ryan in Anaheim). In his first season with the Angels, Ryan had a
league-leading 329 strikeouts-- nearly a third more than the AL
runnerup, and to that point, the fourth-highest total of the 20th
century. Within five seasons, the season would only be Ryan's
fourth-highest strikeout total.
Although the Angels were a sub-.500 team
and remained one for much of his time there, Ryan managed to post some
winning records, notably 19-16 1972 (with a 2.28 earned run average,
second lowest in franchise history behind only Dean Chance's 1.65 in
1964), 21-16 in 1973 and 22-16 in 1974 (the 22 wins remain an Angels
franchise record, tied with Clyde Wright in 1970). Ryan also led the
league in losses in 1976 with a 17-18 record (one short of the franchise
record for losses). In the early 1970s, many teams used a four-man
rotation and expected the starter to complete the game; thus almost
every game Ryan started ended in a decision.
In 1973, Ryan set his first major record
when he struck out 383 batters in one season, eclipsing Sandy Koufax's
old mark by one.
He threw two no-hitters in 1973, added a
third in 1974 and a fourth in 1975, tying another of Koufax's records.
In 1974 he twice struck out 19 batters, tying Tom Seaver and Steve
Carlton for the single-game record for a nine-inning game, a record
later broken when Roger Clemens struck out 20 in 1986.
His fastball was "officially" clocked by
the Guinness Book of World Records at 100.9 miles per hour in a game
played on August 20, 1974 vs. the Chicago White Sox.
The Angels finally made the playoffs in
Ryan's eighth and final year there. He started Game 1 of the LCS and
threw seven innings against the Orioles' Jim Palmer, but neither man was
involved in the decision as Baltimore won in the 10th inning. Ryan was
scheduled to pitch Game 5, but the Angels were eliminated in four. The
season complete, Ryan became a free agent.
Nolan Ryan led the American League in
strikeouts seven times during his eight seasons with the California
Angels. However, he also led the league in walks in six of those years,
and finished second in the other two seasons: 1975 and 1979. Aside from
Bob Feller in 1938, Ryan is the only man since 1900 to walk 200 batters
in a season, which he did twice: in 1974 and 1977.
Though Ryan's strikeouts and no-hitters got
him considerable media attention, Ryan did not win over Angels General
Manager Buzzie Bavasi, who dismissed him as a flashy .500 pitcher. (Ryan
was 26-27 during the two seasons that both were with the Angels). When
Bavasi let Ryan leave after a 16-14 record in the 1979 season rather
than agree to Ryan's demand to become the first player to be paid $1
million per year, Bavasi remarked he only needed to replace Ryan with
two 8-7 pitchers.
Houston Astros
Ryan signed a lucrative free-agent contract
with the Houston Astros after the 1979 season, in which he became the
first player to be paid $1 million a year. The normally light-hitting
Ryan got his Houston years started with a bang in a nationally televised
game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 12, 1980, when he hit a
3-run home run off future fellow Hall of Famer Don Sutton. It was the
first homer of Ryan's career (he only hit one other) and produced half
of the 6 RBI he would get that year.
On July 4 of that season, against the
Cincinnati Reds at Riverfront Stadium, Cesar Geronimo became Ryan's
3,000th career strikeout victim (Geronimo had also been Bob Gibson's
3000th strikeout victim, in 1974). Ryan got his second taste of
postseason play in 1980, but the Astros were stopped one game short of
the World Series.
In the 1980 NLCS versus the Philadelphia
Phillies, Ryan pitched well in Game 2, leaving the game tied 2-2 in the
seventh (having contributed to both Astros runs with a run scored
following a walk, and a sacrifice bunt leading to a run) but again got a
no decision in a game that went extra innings. In the fifth and final
game of the series, Ryan and the Astros held a 5-2 lead entering the 8th
inning. But Ryan allowed three consecutive singles before walking in the
third run. The Houston bullpen allowed the Phillies to take a 7-5 lead,
and only a game-tying Astro rally permitted Ryan to escape the loss.
On September 26, 1981, Ryan threw his fifth
no-hitter, breaking Koufax's mark while becoming the third pitcher to
throw a no-hitter in each league. That season, his 1.69 ERA won the
National League ERA title.
Facing the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1981
NLDS, Ryan threw a complete game 2-hitter in the opener, outlasting the
Dodgers' rookie sensation Fernando Valenzuela. It was Ryan's second and
last career postseason win. In the fifth and final game of the series,
Ryan left trailing 3-0 and took the loss.
By the end of the 1982 season, both Ryan
and Steve Carlton were approaching Walter Johnson's all-time strikeout
record, sometimes passing one another's career totals in successive
starts. On April 27, 1983, Ryan won the race with his 3,509th whiff.
(Steve Carlton would reach the same mark two weeks after Ryan.)
In 1986, Ryan's Astros faced the New York
Mets in the National League Championship Series. Ryan had a shaky start
in Game 2, taking the loss. He returned in Game 5, throwing 9 innings of
2-hit, 1-run, 12-strikeout ball. However, one of those hits was a Darryl
Strawberry home run which tied the game at 1-1, as Dwight Gooden matched
Ryan pitch for pitch. Ryan got a no decision as his Astros lost in 12
innings.
In 1987, Ryan led the major leagues in both
ERA (2.76) and strikeouts (270) at the age of 40--but finished 8-16.
Despite his .333 winning percentage, Ryan tied for 5th place in the 1987
Cy Young voting.
Texas Rangers
Ryan left Houston in a contract dispute
following the 1988 season and joined the Texas Rangers.
In 1989, he went 16-10 and led the league
with 301 strikeouts. Against the Oakland Athletics on August 22, Ryan
struck out Rickey Henderson to become the first and only pitcher to
record 5,000 career strikeouts. (Following the game, Henderson was
famously quoted as saying, "If he ain't struck you out, then you ain't
nobody.") Two years later, at 44, he finished fifth in the league in ERA
(2.91) and third in strikeouts (203).
In 1990, Ryan threw his sixth no-hitter (on
June 11), and earned his 300th win (on July 30, against the Milwaukee
Brewers). He pitched his seventh no-hitter on May 1, 1991, striking out
Roberto Alomar of the Toronto Blue Jays for the final out.
Coincidentally, Ryan's second baseman in his first two no-hitters had
been Alomar's father, Sandy Sr.
Before the 1993 season, Ryan announced his
retirement, effective at the end of that season. On August 4, just
before the end, Ryan had yet another high profile moment--this time an
on-the-mound fight. After Ryan hit Robin Ventura of the Chicago White
Sox, Ventura charged the mound in order to fight Ryan, who was 20 years
his senior. Ryan secured the 26-year-old Ventura in a headlock with his
left arm, while pummelling Ventura's head with his right fist six times
before catcher Iván Rodríguez was able to pull Ventura away from Ryan.
Videos of the incident were played that evening throughout the country.
While Ventura and White Sox manager Gene Lamont were ejected, Ryan--who
had barely moved from his spot on the mound in the fracas--was allowed
to remain in the game and pitched a no-hitter the rest of the way. Ryan
had learned to be more aggressive after he submitted to Dave Winfield's
beating in 1980. [1]
Nolan Ryan's very durable arm finally gave
out in Seattle on September 22, 1993, when he tore a ligament, ending
his career two starts earlier than planned. Briefly attempting to pitch
past the injury, Ryan threw one further pitch after tearing his
ligament; with his injured arm, his final pitch was measured at 98 miles
per hour.
Current Activity
Ryan's current business interests include
ownership of two minor league teams – the Corpus Christi Hooks, which
play in the Class AA Texas League, and the Round Rock Express, a Class
AAA team in the Pacific Coast League. Both teams are affiliates of the
Houston Astros, for whom Ryan also serves as a Special Assistant to the
General Manager.
Ryan threw out the ceremonial "first pitch"
before Game 3 of the 2005 World Series between the Astros and the White
Sox, the first World Series game ever played in Texas. That game went 14
innings, equalling the longest in innings in World Series history (at
5:41, it was the longest in time). ESPN wryly suggested the Astros might
have needed to pull the 58-year-old Ryan out of retirement if the game
had gone much longer.
Ryan has co-written six books:
autobiographies Miracle Man (with Jerry Jenkins, 1992), Throwing Heat
(with Harvey Frommer, 1988) and The Road to Cooperstown (with Mickey
Herskowitz and T.R. Sullivan, 1999); Kings of the Hill (with Mickey
Herskowitz, 1992), about contemporary pitchers; and instructional books
Pitching and Hitting (with Joe Torre and Joel Cohen, 1977), and Nolan
Ryan's Pitcher's Bible (with Tom House, 1991).
In addition to his baseball activities,
Ryan is majority owner and chairman of Express Bank of Texas and owns a
restaurant in Three Rivers, Texas. He served on the Texas Parks and
Wildlife Commission from 1995 to 2001. He appeared as a TV spokesman for
Advil for several years, promoting the pain medication he recommended
for his own arm. He also has appeared in various television commercials
shown in the Texas market.
During election years in the late 90s,
Ryan's name would frequently come up in the news as a potential
candidate for some statewide office (usually for the Republican Party).
However, he has never run in any race, and these rumors have quieted.
In spite of his focus on physical fitness,
Ryan suffered a heart attack on April 25, 2000, and had to receive a
double coronary bypass.
Criticisms
Despite Ryan's longevity, his place among
the game's greats has been questioned.[1][2] The major complaint against
Ryan was his low winning percentage, .526.
Statistical comparisons with Walter
Johnson, Ferguson Jenkins, Lefty Grove and other Hall of Fame pitchers
have been run, showing that Ryan was only slightly better, in winning
percentage, than the teams he played on. These studies have shown that
despite the common belief that Ryan played mostly for bad teams, his
teams (disregarding Ryan's own wins and losses) had a .503 winning
percentage over his career (.506, if you disregard the 1966 New York
Mets for whom he pitched three innings and who lost 95 games). Thus, his
winning percentage was only, at best, .023 better than the teams for
which he played. (Walter Johnson, by comparison, was better by .107 than
the teams he played on.) Other Hall of Fame pitchers studied in this
respect fare worse than Johnson, but better than Ryan. Bill James's
Historical Baseball Abstract shows that only a few Hall of Fame starting
pitchers do worse than Ryan in this area. Notably, only two teams (the
1973 New York Mets and the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals) have made the World
Series with a winning percentage worse than Ryan's lifetime .526.
Ryan never won a Cy Young Award, finishing
second once in 1973. For his career, Ryan was only 32 games over .500,
and his "average" season saw him post a record of 13-12. Ryan's 292
losses rank him third overall, and first among pitchers who played
entirely after 1900. He ranked in the top ten in the league in wins
eight times, and in losses eight times. He had little success in leading
teams to the postseason, making it there only five times, and only once
to the World Series in 1969 with the Mets. In the postseason, Ryan's
record was 1-2 in 7 starts (he gained another win, and a save, in relief
appearances).
Legacy
Ryan and Koufax are linked by the fact that
Ryan broke Koufax's records for most no-hitters and the single-season
strikeout mark. There are similarities; both Ryan and Koufax started in
the majors at a very young age and struggled early in their careers,
both were primarily "extreme fastball" pitchers noted for achieving
previously unprecedented strikeout totals and multiple no-hitters, and
both were very closed and private away from the game (Koufax more so
than Ryan). They also were both very conscious of their value and had
tenacious contract disputes with their owners. An astute businessman,
Ryan readily admitted the money was a large part of the reason he played
as long as he did.
But there are many differences too: Koufax
pitched left-handed and Ryan right-handed; despite his early troubles,
Koufax played his entire career with one team whereas Ryan played for
four. Koufax played on four championship Dodgers teams, whereas Ryan
found himself on mostly mediocre teams. Ryan had a mediocre won-loss
record; Koufax had a stellar one, especially in his final four years.
Ryan had a won-loss record only slightly better than the teams he played
on; Koufax had a significantly better percentage than his Dodger teams.
Most importantly, thanks to a strong arm that could handle a lot of
work, Ryan had one of the longest careers of any player, whereas
Koufax's sterling career was cut short in its prime by arthritis and arm
trouble. Nonetheless, both stand out as the best-known "power pitchers"
of their times.
Ryan played in more seasons than any other
player in baseball history, and his career strikeout mark is considered
one of the most distant records in baseball. Ryan ranks first all-time
in strikeouts (5,714), fewest hits allowed per nine innings (6.56), and
no-hitters (7). He is also fifth in innings pitched (5386), second in
games started (773), seventh in shutouts (61) and is tied for 13th in
wins (324). He also ranks high on the list for four "negative" records;
he ranks first all-time in walks allowed (2,795), first in wild pitches
(277), third in losses (292) (and the most in the "modern" era), and
ninth in hit batsmen (158). Ryan is the only pitcher in MLB history to
give up ten grand slam home runs.
Ryan is the only major league player to
have his number retired by three different teams[2] (excluding Jackie
Robinson, whose number 42 was retired by Major League Baseball for all
teams, with players wearing 42 at the time of retirement allowed to keep
wearing it--New York Yankees, closer Mariano Rivera is the last). The
California Angels retired the number 30 on June 16, 1992; the Texas
Rangers retired his number 34 on Sept. 15, 1996; and the Houston Astros
retired number 34 on Sept. 29, 1996.
Nolan Ryan was elected to the Baseball Hall
of Fame in 1999, in his first year of eligibility with 98.79% of the
vote, just six votes short of a unanimous election.[3] That year, he
ranked 41st on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball
Players and was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.
He was inducted into the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame in 2003, and named
the Rangers', and Astros' Hometown Hero in 2006--the only player to be
so named by two franchises.
Trivia
On April 19, 1968, Ryan struck out three
batters on nine pitches in the second inning of a 2-1 win over the St.
Louis Cardinals; he became the eighth National League pitcher and the
14th pitcher in Major League history to accomplish the
nine-strike/three-strikeout half-inning.
On July 9, 1972, Ryan struck out three
batters on nine pitches in the second inning of a 3-0 win over the
Boston Red Sox; he became the seventh American League pitcher to
accomplish the nine-strike/three-strikeout half-inning, and the first
(and currently only) pitcher in Major League history to accomplish the
feat in both leagues.
Ryan was the last player who had played in
the 1960s to retire from Major League Baseball, beating out Carlton Fisk
by three months.
Alvin Independent School District recently
announced that a future school will be named Nolan Ryan Junior High
School. It is scheduled to open in 2008-2009.
See Also
List of Players in Baseball Hall of Fame
With Over 90% of the Vote
Statistics
Year Team G GS W L PCT ERA CG SHO IP H ER
HR BB SO
1966 New York Mets 2 1 0 1 .000 15.00 0 0
3.0 17 5 1 3 6
1968 Mets 21 18 6 9 .400 3.09 3 0 134.0 559
46 12 75 133
1969 Mets 25 10 6 3 .667 3.53 2 0 89.1 375
35 38 53 92
1970 Mets 27 19 7 11 .389 3.42 5 2 131.2
570 50 10 97 125
1971 Mets 30 26 10 14 .417 3.97 3 0 152.0
705 67 8 116 137
1972 California Angels 39 39 19 16 .543
2.28 20 9 284.0 166 72 14 157 329
1973 Angels 41 39 21 16 .568 2.87 26 4
326.0 238 104 18 162 383
1974 Angels 42 41 22 16 .579 2.89 26 3
332.2 221 107 18 202 367
1975 Angels 28 28 14 12 .538 3.45 10 5
198.0 152 76 13 132 186
1976 Angels 39 39 17 18 .486 3.36 21 7
284.1 193 106 13 183 327
1977 Angels 37 37 19 16 .543 2.77 22 4
299.0 198 92 12 204 341
1978 Angels 31 31 10 13 .435 3.72 14 3
234.2 183 97 12 148 260
1979 Angels 34 34 16 14 .533 3.60 17 5
222.2 169 89 15 114 223
1980 Houston Astros 35 35 11 10 .524 3.35 4
2 233.2 205 87 10 98 200
1981 Astros 21 21 11 5 .688 1.69 5 3 149.0
99 28 2 68 140
1982 Astros 35 35 16 12 .571 3.16 10 3
250.1 196 88 20 109 245
1983 Astros 29 29 14 9 .609 2.98 5 2 196.1
134 65 9 101 183
1984 Astros 30 30 12 11 .522 3.04 5 2 183.2
143 62 12 69 197
1985 Astros 35 35 10 12 .455 3.80 4 0 232.0
205 98 12 95 209
1986 Astros 30 30 12 8 .600 3.34 1 0 178.0
119 66 14 82 194
1987 Astros 34 34 8 16 .333 2.76 0 0 211.2
154 65 14 87 270
1988 Astros 33 33 12 11 .522 3.52 4 1 220.0
186 86 18 87 228
1989 Texas Rangers 32 32 16 10 .615 3.20 6
2 239.1 162 85 17 98 301
1990 Texas 30 30 13 9 .591 3.44 5 2 204.0
137 78 18 74 232
1991 Texas 27 27 12 6 .667 2.91 2 2 173.0
102 56 12 72 203
1992 Texas 27 27 5 9 .357 3.72 2 0 157.1
138 65 9 69 157
1993 Texas 13 13 5 5 .500 4.88 0 0 66.1 54
36 5 40 46
Career
1966-1993 (27 Years) 807 773 324 292 .526
3.19 222 61 5,386.0 3,923 1,911 321 2,795 5,714
References
1. Freeman, Denne H. "Raging Ryan strikes
Ventura." Austin American-Statesman, August 5, 1993. Page C1.
2. Texas Rangers Retired Number History on
mlb.com Retrieved May 18, 2006
3. Ryan Baseball Hall of Fame bio Retrieved
April 26, 2006
Pietrusza, David, Matthew Silverman &
Michael Gershman, ed. (2000). Baseball: The Biographical Encyclopedia.
Total/Sports Illustrated.
****
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