Nolan Ryan "Mr. Intimidation"                                                

 By Jose Reyes   6/18/04

                    Throughout the history of baseball there have been pitchers that won more games, have had a better career winning percentage and have had a better lifetime ERA but no pitcher has had a more intimidating presence on the mound than the "Ryan Express", Nolan Ryan. Every time he stepped on that mound to pitch, the possibility of a no-hitter was drastically increased. The intimidation was ever present before he even made the windup. He would just stand there, impatiently waiting for the batter  to set up to hit. It was like standing directly in front of an active volcano, just before it erupts. He would then proceed, by curling his body and thrusting it in one quick, forward burst. As the ball left his hand, you would hear a very distinctive sound, even from the stands, a strong grunt, "UH!". The baseball  exploded out of his right hand like a fireball and a couple of milliseconds after, a loud "PUFF!", the ball smashing into the catcher's mitt.  If you were at the game, you would have to really concentrate to actually see the ball travel from his hand to home plate, that's how fast he was throwing. When the radar gun was developed so an accurate ball speed could be recorded, Major League Baseball was able to record the speed of his fastball and they were amazed when they saw the results, 102-103 Miles an Hour, simply unbelievable! His reputation was impeccable, as he dominated the baseball scene in the intimidation department, well beyond the age of 40 and retired at 46. Besides having most dominating fastball in the history of baseball, he also had the nastiest, drop-down 87 Mile Per Hour curveball that would literally freeze you like a photograph. When that curve ball was going over the plate as a strike, then you would be more than sure to be witnessing a great pitching performance and of course, a possible no-hitter. Overall, in his 27-Year career, he recorded 7 No-Hitters and 12 excruciating near missing, One-Hitters. Some batters broke the no-hit bid with less than 2 outs left in the ninth. Ryan even had a couple of one-hitters when the lead off batter would get a hit and then no one else would for the remainder of the game. These are just two of many career records that he set and still stand. 

                      He had a bionic arm that would just not give and his exceptional body mechanics were very beneficial to his long enduring career. Basically all his injuries were leg and muscle related. He never hesitated to place himself on the DL with precaution and had the great patience and took his sweet time to return to action. He waited until he felt 100% physically fit to return to action. Nolan Ryan's intense workout program in the off-season along with a special strict diet, prepared him greatly for the following year. After pitching 9 innings he would jump on a training bicycle for an hour in the locker room. He was totally dedicated to the sport year round. 

                       He managed to win 324 games but also lost 292 games because he pitched for a lot of losing non-hitting clubs and lost a lot of squeakers, he even lost a lot of games after going all 9 innings. Throughout his career he played for 4 teams and they were: The New York Mets, The California Angels, The Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers.

                              The New York Mets 1966,1968-71  

              He came up to the majors for two relief appearances in 1966 and got shellacked for 5 runs in 3 innings total and 15.00 E.R.A. He spent 1967 in the minors and in 1968 he came up officially as a rookie along side another great prospect, Jerry Koosman. He was 21 when he made his first start and went on to a 6-9 record, pitched 133innings, a 3.09 ERA and 134 KO's. In 1969 he got a taste of winning the World Series and it would be the only time in his 27 year career that he would be a world champion. 1970 and 71 were very similar, under .500 winning record,  493 strikeouts and a terrible 5.80 E.R.A basically because of the 1st year, all the other years he had an average E.R.A. of 3.50. The Mets gave up on him in the Winter of 1971 and traded him and 3 other players to the Angels for Jim Fregosi. On to California Angels he went.

                                        The California Angels 1972-79 

          The 8 years in the California Angels were considered the "Dominating Years" and many of the records he has, were achieved there. Here he set the strikeout record for One Season (383). He struckout over 300 batters 5 out of the 8 years, 3 in a roll. Altogether he struckout 2416 Batters in California, that's an average of 302 batters a year. He led the American League in strikeouts for 7 out of the 8 years. His E.R.A. went down drastically to 3.07 but his record was 138-121.The Angels were a poor hitting team, ending out in 4Th and 5Th place, basically every year he was there. Then finally in 1979, unfortunately his last year, he led the Angels to the playoffs. He left to Houston when the Angels refused to sign him for a salary increase. He pitched his first, second, third and fourth No-Hitters in California, including 2 in one year(1973). How can they let him go like that!

                                         The Houston Astros 1980-1988

       Nolan Ryan's 9 years in Houston were up and down but a lot of records were broken. He led the Astros to two divisional titles 1980 and 1986. He pitched his 5th and record breaking no-hitter, held by Sandy Kofax (4), against the LA Dodgers in 1981. He won the Cy Young award in 1981 with a  second in 87. His record was better (106-90) and his E.R.A was 3.07. His yearly strikeout totals went down and he was hurt a lot. In April 27,1983 he broke the strikeout held by Walter Johnson for 56 years (3509). In July 1985 he gets his 4,000TH Strikeout. In 1989 the owner of the Astros tried to lower his salary and he left to the Rangers.

                                          The Texas Rangers 1989-1993     

 "He's getting old", "He's over the hill", "He's finished", that was the general thinking process the Houston Astros' front office had in mind after the 1988 season. Nolan Ryan asked for free agency and Astros let him go. Well Ryan showed everyone who was skeptical, what a real warrior he was.

Considered a Hall-of-Famer already, he proceeds to strikeout 301 batters and goes 16-10 for the 1989 season. On June 11, 1990 he pitches his 6Th No-Hitter and on May 1, 1991, at the age of 44, he pitches his "7Th Heaven". 

                                   MLB Baseball Records  

1.All-time leader in strikeouts (5,714).

2.No-hitters (7)  One-Hitters (12, Tied with Bob Feller )

3.10-or-more strikeouts in a game (215)

4.Games with 10-or-more strikeouts in a season (23) 1973

5.Most seasons 300+ Strikeout (6) 

6.Most seasons, 200+ Strikeouts (15)

7.Lowest average hits per nine innings (Career) (6.55)

8.Lowest Batting average per nine innings (Career) (.203).

9.Most strikeouts in a Season: 383 (AL, 1973)

10.Most career Walks (2795)

11.Most Career Strikeouts per 9 innings (9.57)

12.Most Strikeouts per 9 innings in a Season (11.48)

13.Fewest hits allowed per 9 innings in a Season (5.26) (1972)

14.Fewest hits allowed per 9 innings in a career (6.41) 

                                       Major league Career Stats

 

CAREER PITCHING STATS
Year	Team	ERA	W	L	Sv	Svo	G	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
1966	NYM	15.00	0	1	0	0	2	3.0	5	5	5	3	6
1968	NYM	3.09	6	9	0	0	21	134.0	93	50	46	75	133
1969	NYM	3.53	6	3	1	1	25	89.1	60	38	35	53	92
1970	NYM	3.42	7	11	1	1	27	131.2	86	59	50	97	125
1971	NYM	3.97	10	14	0	0	30	152.0	125	78	67	116	137
1972	CAL	2.28	19	16	0	0	39	284.0	166	80	72	157	329
1973	CAL	2.87	21	16	1	1	41	326.0	238	113	104	162	383
1974	CAL	2.89	22	16	0	0	42	332.2	221	127	107	202	367
1975	CAL	3.45	14	12	0	0	28	198.0	152	90	76	132	186
1976	CAL	3.36	17	18	0	0	39	284.1	193	117	106	183	327
1977	CAL	2.77	19	16	0	0	37	299.0	198	110	92	204	341
1978	CAL	3.72	10	13	0	0	31	234.2	183	106	97	148	260
1979	CAL	3.60	16	14	0	0	34	222.2	169	104	89	114	223
1980	HOU	3.35	11	10	0	0	35	233.2	205	100	87	98	200
1981	HOU	1.69	11	5	0	0	21	149.0	99	34	28	68	140
1982	HOU	3.16	16	12	0	0	35	250.1	196	100	88	109	245
1983	HOU	2.98	14	9	0	0	29	196.1	134	74	65	101	183
1984	HOU	3.04	12	11	0	0	30	183.2	143	78	62	69	197
1985	HOU	3.80	10	12	0	0	35	232.0	205	108	98	95	209
1986	HOU	3.34	12	8	0	0	30	178.0	119	72	66	82	194
1987	HOU	2.76	8	16	0	0	34	211.2	154	75	65	87	270
1988	HOU	3.52	12	11	0	0	33	220.0	186	98	86	87	228
1989	TEX	3.20	16	10	0	0	32	239.1	162	96	85	98	301
1990	TEX	3.44	13	9	0	0	30	204.0	137	86	78	74	232
1991	TEX	2.91	12	6	0	0	27	173.0	102	58	56	72	203
1992	TEX	3.72	5	9	0	0	27	157.1	138	75	65	69	157
1993	TEX	4.88	5	5	0	0	13	66.1	54	47	36	40	46
		ERA	W	L	Sv	Svo	G	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
Totals		3.19	324	292	3	3	807	5,386.0	3923	2178	1911	2795	5714

 

Year	Team	GS	CG	Sho	GF	BB/9	K/9	RATIO	HR	HB	IBB	SH	WP	BK
1966	NYM	1	0	0	0	9.00	18.00	2.67	1	0	1	0	1	0
1968	NYM	18	3	0	1	5.04	8.93	1.25	12	4	4	12	7	0
1969	NYM	10	2	0	4	5.34	9.27	1.26	3	1	3	2	1	3
1970	NYM	19	5	2	4	6.63	8.54	1.39	10	4	2	8	8	0
1971	NYM	26	3	0	1	6.87	8.11	1.59	8	15	4	3	6	1
1972	CAL	39	20	9	0	4.98	10.43	1.14	14	10	4	11	18	0
1973	CAL	39	26	4	2	4.47	10.57	1.23	18	7	2	7	15	0
1974	CAL	41	26	3	1	5.46	9.93	1.27	18	9	3	12	9	0
1975	CAL	28	10	5	0	6.00	8.45	1.43	13	7	0	6	12	0
1976	CAL	39	21	7	0	5.79	10.35	1.32	13	5	2	13	5	2
1977	CAL	37	22	4	0	6.14	10.26	1.34	12	9	7	22	21	3
1978	CAL	31	14	3	0	5.68	9.97	1.41	12	3	7	11	13	2
1979	CAL	34	17	5	0	4.61	9.01	1.27	15	6	3	8	9	0
1980	HOU	35	4	2	0	3.77	7.70	1.30	10	3	1	7	10	1
1981	HOU	21	5	3	0	4.11	8.46	1.12	2	1	1	5	16	2
1982	HOU	35	10	3	0	3.92	8.81	1.22	20	8	3	9	18	2
1983	HOU	29	5	2	0	4.63	8.39	1.20	9	4	3	7	5	1
1984	HOU	30	5	2	0	3.38	9.65	1.15	12	4	2	4	6	3
1985	HOU	35	4	0	0	3.69	8.11	1.29	12	9	8	11	14	2
1986	HOU	30	1	0	0	4.15	9.81	1.13	14	4	5	5	15	0
1987	HOU	34	0	0	0	3.70	11.48	1.14	14	4	2	9	10	2
1988	HOU	33	4	1	0	3.56	9.33	1.24	18	7	6	10	10	7
1989	TEX	32	6	2	0	3.69	11.32	1.09	17	9	3	9	19	1
1990	TEX	30	5	2	0	3.26	10.24	1.03	18	7	2	3	9	1
1991	TEX	27	2	2	0	3.75	10.56	1.01	12	5	0	3	8	0
1992	TEX	27	2	0	0	3.95	8.98	1.32	9	12	0	6	9