[1] 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. In 1996 Ryan campaigned on behalf of Ron Paul in the election for Texas's 14th congressional district; his hometown of Alvin was located in the district.[84]. Exceeded rookie limits during 1968 season, View Player Bio There are times when you've won some sort of victory just hitting the ball. "Check his bat!" [1] Ryan was unable to crack the Mets' pitching rotation, led by Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman. The final game of Ryan's career. [4] Ryan's family lived in nearby Woodsboro, Texas in Refugio County, until they moved to Alvin, Texas in Brazoria County, when Nolan was six weeks old. Ryan is one of only three players in history to have his number retired by at least three teams, along with Jackie Robinson (whose number was retired by Major League Baseball) and Frank Robinson. In nine seasons as a pitcher with the Astros (his longest tenure with any team), Ryan compiled a 10694 record in 282 starts, a 3.13 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, with 796 walks and 1,866 strikeouts in 1,854 innings. "He's like a child prodigy. He was wild, sure, but it doesn't feel quite that simple. Reid and Reese were both pitchers for the TCU Horned Frogs. Alvin head coach Jim Watson and the other players on the 65 team described Ryans senior year performance with the same term: wheel horse. Apparently Walter Johnson or Lefty Grove or Satchel Paige weren't good enough. But his good mechanics allowed him to bounce back from them. Mark Vientos demolishes a breaking ball off the batter's eye in center field for a massive 469-foot three-run home run. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. [82], Ryan wrote in his 1992 autobiography "Miracle Man" that he voted for Jimmy Carter over Gerald R. Ford Jr. in 1976, but since then has generally identified as a Republican, though he does not automatically vote this way and looks at individual candidates, mentioning disgust at one particular election in which the two major parties were forcing a choice between "the racist or the criminal. He appeared as a TV spokesman for Advil for several years, promoting the pain medication he recommended for his own arm. It was his record-setting 10th grand slam given up of his career. David Schoenfield. Subscribe to Stathead Baseball: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Baseball Reference Database. Would never work. Emblematic of this, his 1974 no-hitter against the Minnesota Twins included eight walks. [81] Ruth Ryan also coached their sons' little league teams for a few summers. It was Ryan's only World Series appearance in his career. [12] Ryan signed with the Mets and immediately pitched for the Marion Mets in the Appalachian League and for the Mets team in the Florida Instructional League. Was he the fastest pitcher ever? Ryan himself seemed rather unimpressed with the whole affair, saying his biggest thrill in baseball remained pitching in the World Series for the Mets in 1969. Ryan missed much of the 1967 season due to illness, an arm injury, and service with the Army Reserve; he pitched only seven innings for the Mets' minor league affiliate in Jacksonville. Overall, he was 69 in 1965 with a 4.33 ERA and 150 strikeouts in 120 innings. Ryan had five of the 14 highest game scores of the season, a one-person highlight reel. [17], Ryan's performance declined sharply in the second half of his final season with the Mets. Imagine that. Ryan had a lifetime winloss record of 324292 (.526) and was an eight-time All-Star. In his first season with the Angels, Ryan was given a chance to pitch regularly as a starter for the first time in his career, mainly because by then he had fulfilled his military obligation and no longer had to commute to Houston every other week. 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 played in Texas. Ryan's last start was his career-worst; he allowed a single, four walks, and a grand slam in the top of the first without recording an out. Ryan also played various positions besides pitcher. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Ryan got a no-decision as his Astros lost in 12 innings. In the fifth and final game of the series, Ryan left trailing 30 and took the loss. It was the closest he ever came in the Cy Young balloting. [16] Ryan has credited his time with Seaver and the Mets with turning him from just a flamethrower into a pitcher. When was Nolan Ryan drafted? In 1987, Ryan led the major leagues in both ERA (2.76) and strikeouts (270) at the age of 40, but finished 816 as the result of extremely poor run support; the Astros scored a total of 27 runs in his 16 lossesan average of 1.69 runs per game. (19071970). In five seasons with the Rangers, Ryan had a 5139 record, a 3.43 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, with 353 walks and 939 strikeouts in 840 innings over 129 starts.[20]. [64] In another column, Neyer, while stating that Ryan belonged in the Hall of Fame, pointed to Ryan's record-breaking walks total and noted that his .309 on-base percentage against "wasn't even close to being in the top 100". In the fifth and final game of the series, Ryan and the Astros held a 52 lead entering the 8th inning. Verlander credited a 2019 meeting with Nolan Ryan as inspiring him to use the pitch more often, which he did before his injuries that caused him He fanned 383 batters in 1973, breaking Sandy Koufax's modern record. Ryan also pitched 18 two-hitters. Ryan is quoted as saying, "Todd Staples is the top prospect for the Texas Republican Party in 2014. He didn't throw as hard and didn't throw as many innings, but he cut way down on his walks, became more efficient and just as effective. It takes incredible concentration.". [67], Ryan was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999 in his first year of eligibility with 98.79% of the vote (491 out of 497 possible), six votes short of a unanimous election and the fifth-highest percentage in history, behind Mariano Rivera (100%, 425 out of 425 possible), Derek Jeter (99.75%, 396 out of 397 possible), Ken Griffey Jr. (99.32%, 437 out of 440 possible), and Tom Seaver (98.84%, 425 out of 430 possible). WebNolan Ryan is without a doubt one of the greatest pitchers of all time. "I walked a lot of guys," he said. In fact, even after more than 575 career innings and countless pitches hitting 100-plus mph, he also holds the title this season. In fact, we learn a lot about Ryan when he describes Mike Scott, his teammate with the Astros who won the 1986 Cy Young Award. Ryan briefly attempted to pitch past the injury, and he threw one additional pitch after tearing his ligament. On June 14, 1974, Ryan purportedly threw 235 pitches in a start against the Red Sox. Those Angels teams in the early and mid-1970s were woeful offensive clubs, finishing last or next-to-last in the American League in runs scored each season from 1972 to 1976. While ranking him as the 24th best pitcher of all time, he notes, "Ryan has been retired almost ten years [in 2001], in another ten perhaps we will begin to get a little bit of perspective on him. In 1990, Ryan threw his sixth no-hitter on June 11 against the Athletics, and earned his 300th win on July 31 against the Milwaukee Brewers. Didn't run. Nolan Ryan became baseball's first pitcher to 'light up the radar at a major league park. His views on this calmed only once he started running the Rangers and gained a better understanding of the business side of baseball. Ryan is the all-time leader in no-hitters with seven, three more than any other pitcher. I could feel every minute of these 44 years.". vs. SEA 0.0 IP, 2 H, 0 SO, 4 BB, 5 ER, L. Hall of Fame: Inducted as Player in 1999. [1] Ryan hit his second and final career home run in a 123 win on May 1, 1987, against the Atlanta Braves. BL-2664-73 (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library) Whether Ryan saw this as an achievement or not, his fourth career hitless game, delivered in front of a crowd of 18,492 at Anaheim Stadium on June 1, 1975 - tying him with Sandy Koufax as the only hurler to throw four no-hit games. How many teams has Nolan Ryan played for? Ryan was scheduled to pitch Game 5, but the Angels were eliminated in four. The season complete, Ryan became a free agent. Ryan Express is a nickname for Nolan Ryan. WebNot that he never had any injuries; he did. In the weeklong series focusing on a different baseball theme each day, we asked our MLB reporters to tell us the stories of the best they ever saw -- with only one rule: They had to be there to witness it in person. "He's throwing the ball harder than any man I ever saw in my life," first baseman John Mayberry said. The No. He writes about how when he came up with the Mets he didn't want to be like many of the teammates he saw: "They were in their 30s, but some looked like old guys, paunchy and out of shape. [76], The Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame inducted Ryan in 2010. He struck out 17 of the 20 batters he faced spanning 6 1/3 innings over two appearances, picking up the win in both contests. To put it another way, in 2019 Gerrit Cole struck out 326 batters in 212 innings. After ninth grade, Ryan quit playing football after a tackle and fumble caused by future NFL running back Norm Bulaich made him decide to focus on baseball. Just throw it down the middle, they won't hit it anyway. ANNAPOLIS, Md. WebNolan Ryanis a Hall of Famepitcher and strikeoutartist who is one of the most beloved baseball players of all time. On April 27, 1983, Ryan won the race with his 3,509th whiff, against Brad Mills of the Montreal Expos. WebRyan also pitched eighteen two-hitters. [47] Ryan suffered a heart attack on April 25, 2000, and had to receive a double coronary bypass.[48]. Join our linker program. He is tied with Bob Feller for the most one-hitters, with 12. After his retirement in 1993, Ryan served as chief executive officer (CEO) of the Texas Rangers and an executive advisor to the Houston Astros. [27][28], During a September 7, 1974 game against the Chicago White Sox at Anaheim Stadium, Ryan became the first Major League pitcher to have his pitch speed measured during a game. The most meme-worthy moments ever for all 30 MLB teams. It was deGrom's 33rd career start, and third in 2021, in which he allowed one run or fewer and failed to pick up the win, most in the majors since he made his debut in 2014. From 1972 to 1974, his first three seasons with the Angels, he threw 942 innings, 72 complete games and 16 shutouts. Only two pitchers have struck out more in a no-hitter: Max Scherzer and Nolan Ryan (he fanned 17 in the Norm Cash game). He has 5,714 career strikeouts, nearly a thousand more than the next closest pitcher (Randy Johnson). Ryan got his third taste of postseason play in 1980, but the Astros were stopped one game short of the World Series. (Age 19-223d, He lead his league in strikeouts a whopping 11 times, and six times he struck out more than 300 batters in a season. In those seven games, Ryan accumulated a total of 94 strikeouts and 26 walks; a ratio of 3.6 strikeouts per walk (his career K:BB was 2.0). 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. [58] The Astros won the 2017 World Series and won the 2019 American League pennant. 2 pitcher on the list. He's the only guy I go against that makes me go to bed before midnight. Ryan has written, by a quick accounting, at least four autobiographies, plus a pitcher's guide to performance written with his Rangers pitching coach Tom House, plus the "Nolan Ryan Beef & Barbecue Cookbook." "[32] His 4,999th and 5,001st strikeouts were against the same man, Athletics catcher Ron Hassey. "At the end of 12 innings I told him that's it, but he said, 'You got to let me pitch at least one more inning because I haven't set my record yet.'". Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. That started a careerlong dedication to conditioning. (Ryan ranks 12th in pitching WAR since 1920 and would rank lower on a list that measured a pitcher's seven best seasons or something like that.) For him, worrying about what somebody did the game before was a waste of energy. In 1989, he went 1610 and led the league with 301 strikeouts. He never threw either pitch that much, but it was a little something extra to throw at batters. Four of his five highest strikeout rates -- percentage of batters faced whom he struck out -- came in 1987, 1989, 1990 and 1991. So maybe you could call him stubborn. He walked 202 batters in 1974 and 204 in 1977. We have the numbers. [10] The record was eventually tied by Alvin High School pitchers Aaron Stewart and Josh Land in the same week in 2009. Interpreted as: How many regular-season complete games did Nolan Ryan throw? After throwing 235 pitches, he started on three days of rest -- and tossed six scoreless innings. Ryan threw 130 pitches and said, I was at the limit. Texas Rangers pitcher Nolan Ryan pitches during his sixth career no-hitter at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland David Schoenfield. His fastball averaged 93 mph. On Friday, Will Sammon of The Athletic released an article about Justin Verlander and how he is still attempting to introduce a changeup into his repertoire at this stage of his career. Niekro and Ryan both reach exclusive 3,000-strikeout club on Americas birthday Four With perfect location, it doesn't matter how bad your stuff is. Ryan, pitching for the Rangers in his 27th and final major league season at age 46, was a living legend. The record is 177, by Tim Wakefield. Mine is winning two-thirds of my games.". In the same game, he would set his career highs for walks (matched one other time) and strikeouts (matched three other times). [54], On February 11, 2014, Ryan accepted a position as an executive adviser for the Houston Astros under owner Jim Crane. A wave, a grim smile, and he was gone.". He was then promoted to the Class AA Williamsport Mets of the Eastern League, where he was 02 with a 0.95 ERA, striking out 35 batters in 19 innings. Beer flights. ANNAPOLIS, Md. WebDuring his 9 seasons in Houston, Ryan joined Cy Young as the only other pitcher in baseball history to win 100 games in both leagues (138 with the Angels, 106 with the Astros), Nine Blue Jays hitters swung and missed strike-three fastballs. We were teammates on Cleveland and driving past Anaheim Stadium. The Houston bullpen allowed the Phillies to take a 75 lead, and only a game-tying Astro rally permitted Ryan to escape the loss. The Texas Rangers and left-handed reliever Will Smith have agreed to a one-year, $1.5 million deal.