Baseball Greats - Nolan Ryan

Born Lynn Nolan Ryan, Jr. in January of 1947, Nolan Ryan is a former pitcher of Major League Baseball fame. He played for 27 years and still holds several pitching records, many of which beat old statistics so drastically that they will most likely remain unbeaten for years to come. His most notable achievements are probably his unprecedented ability to throw blazing fastballs, regularly clocking in over 100 miles per hour, even into his forties. Many revere him as the fastest pitcher of all time.

Ryan’s records include a ranking as the number one in strike outs of all time (with 5,714, to be exact), fewest hits allowed per nine innings (only 6.56), number five in innings pitched (having pitched 5,386 innings), second in game starts (having started 773 games), and other records regarding shutouts and wins.

However, to mortalize the legend, we can also discuss his high rankings on four negative records list. As a young pitcher, he racked up walks and ranks first for all time walks allowed, with 2,795. He’s also first on the list with number of wild pitches, totaling 277.

He even ranks third on the list of most losses, with 292 (of course, when you’ve played for 27 years, it’s quite easy to be on the top of the list for games won AND games lost at the same time). Since no other pitcher has played more seasons in the history of baseball, and only one has more strikeouts per nine innings (Randy Johnson), these faults are taken with a grain of salt by comparison to the man’s achievements and great athletic ability and talent.

In 1999, his first year of eligibility, Nolan Ryan was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The same year, The Sporting News published a list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, ranking Ryan number four. He was then inducted into the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame in 2003.

Currently, he owns two minor league teams (the Class AA Texas League tem the Corpus Christi Hooks and the Triple-A Pacific Coast League team the Round rock Express). Both of his teams have an affiliation with his former team, the Houston Astros. He has done several television commercials, and recently threw out the first pitch of Game 3 in the 2005 World Series, the first one ever played in Texas (and the longest in terms of time).