ESPN had an article on stats. One was the lowest batting average allowed in a season by a starting pitcher. Ryan has the 2nd and 5th best seasons ever. Crazy part is that his were 19 years apart.

When he had a nuclear fastball and later when he had more pitches?

One of the very greatest.
And I don’t think he doctored the ball or used steroids.

And robin in a head lock beating his face!
God bless Nolan!

A Texan hero

I believe he and Earl Campbell are the only athletes to be named Texas heroes by the state. Just insane to me how he was that dominant for that length of time. I googled after the OP and he struck out 8 sets of both the father and son

Unreal.....

Like to think he wasn’t juicing

YUGE Ryan fan. The guy was a STUD.

He seemed to get stronger as the game went on.

I remember one of the top hitters, cannot remember who right now, say “if he has the curve working you might as well put the bats in the rack. Cause they won’t do you any good “

Probably about mid career .

He was awesome

My fave of all time. Supposedly very down to earth guy too which makes it even better.

He was great, but George Brett totally won Baseball with this story.

I was able to enjoy watching him the last few seasons he played.

He was awesome when he was on, saw him pitch a couple of times.

Mine as well.

His lifetime ERA is epic...

He IS Ironman.

7 no hitters

A puzzy with no beard.

And a guy I know said he hunts whitetails with a freaking 270. Sheesh.

Yep - he's a badass...

His Ventura beatdown is awesome..

Most Unhittable record holder. And, the infamous headlock. Striking men out with a busted lip.

I Coached Tommy Greene (Phillies) Donnell Nixon (Giants) and played with Otis Nixon (Braves) and all 3 said between him and Randy Johnson there was almost no touching there pitches when they had it going on that day....

Complete and total side note.....

I was in high school and a bunch of buddies and I went to an Oakland A's series in Oakland.

Otis Nixon was fresh off a bunch of cocaine charges, I mean, like his first game back after some suspension, if I recall. We had seats right behind home plate, for all 3 games of the short home series.

Every time he came up to bat, the entire lower infield went, "Kiiii-Looo" "Kiiii-Looo" (as in "kilo of cocaine")

I think he went 1-13 in the series. And the azzhat A's fans loved it.

I’m one of them Azz hats!

No kidding. I got to ask Pudge Rodriguez about that incident. As you know Pudge was catching that game. Pudge is a great guy and I was needling him about not helping Nolan out. He says " I wasn't really paying much attention to Ventura because he hesitated so long in running out there, i was sort of looking off in another direction. When I noticed he was charging the mound he was already way out there, then I started hearing what sounded like Nolan beating the hell out of a watermelon. It was Ventura's face". I laughed my butt off hearing him tell it.

Awesome....

Where did you coach them at?

May 1, 1991 Nolan Ryan threw his seventh no hitter, tipped his hat, was congratulated by his teammates, and was a humble gentleman.

The same day Ricky Henderson broke the stolen base record and promptly declared himself the “greatest of all time”

To their credit ESPN gave Nolan more coverage.

At least that is the way I remember it.

Henderson was Ryan’s 5000th strikeout.

Randy Johnson vs. John Kruk is one of my favorite moments in sports. Kruk: "All I wanted to do is make contact, and after the first pitch all I wanted to do was live."

Remember that one too...

The Big Unit was an animal..

American Legion and at Whiteville high school. Otis played at West Columbus high School and American legion with me. He went to Louisburg Jr college and I went to Appalachain State. He signed after soph season and spent I believe 11 years with yankees before trade to brave. Yes he had and still has his problems,

Freaking great

That clip with Randy Johnson is one of my favorites. It's funny watching everybody in the dugouts reactions

He's been my favorite player since I was a kid. I shared a hunting camp last year with one of his lifelong friends, who shared some stories. He was the real deal. He pitched in the era of pitchers trying to pitch as long as possible every few days. In his last game, he was 46 and tore a ligament in his arm. His elbow was toast from the tear and wasn't working. He threw one more pitch to feel it out that was clocked at 98mph. I expect the vast majority of pitchers in the MLB today can't touch 98. Nobody will ever surpass his accomplishments because pitch counts are watched so closely now. He could be wild as hell too and threw allot of wild pitches. Not a good thing but 100+mph wild pitches tend to shake up batters.

And coming from some where out of right field side of second baseman didn't help either.

LMAO!!

We had the sports page clip of Nolan with Ventura in a headlock on the wall in my college apartment the entire time. And my freshman year was the best 2 years of my life!

Pudge was a good'un.

Classic! Reminds me of when Larry Walker flipped his helmet and "switch hit" against RJ in the all-star game!

Classic!

Another baseball fact:

My mother was 9 months pregnant with me, 45 years ago, this very day.

Her and my dad were at the Dodgers game, she had a Dodger dog. It put her into labor, and I was born tomorrow, 45 years ago at about 1 AM.

[bleep] the Dodgers and their crappy azz dogs for tearing me out of my mother's warm womb.

GO ROCKIES!

Look up the stats for Greg Maddux. Talk about impressive!! One that really stands out is this one. He faced 20,421 batters in his career and only 310 saw a 3-0 count!!

And a good many of those were intentional walks!

But his plate was 50% wider than others...

Ryan was a physical marvel. What he did will never be done again. 7 no hitters and 20+ years with a blazing fastball. Amazing !

“Nolan Ryan was the only pitcher I was ever afraid of—you knew that man could stick a fastball in your ear, kill you stone dead, and not feel one bit bad about it!”—-Kirby Puckett

Career strike outs and no hitters will be Ryan's forever.

Didnt he throw out a first pitch a few years back and was still clocked in the mid 80s without even trying? Nolan was and forever will be the best power pitcher.

Our ace in HS was drafted by the Mariners and he could hit 95...scarey as hell hearing the seams sizzle and the mit explode when it hit.

Some claimed that Randy cheated with every pitch that he threw as the ball was 1/2 way to the plate before he even released it.

Just goes to show every man has a flaw.

That's the way I remember it too. My little brother was a Ricky Henderson fan, for some reason. He had all of his baseball cards. I was a Nolan Ryan fan. I remember Henderson plucking second base out of the ground and holding it over his head. Then, Ryan pitched his 7th No Hitter and not another word was wasted on RH. Brother was pooch lipped about it.

Another pretty good Pudge/Nolan story that Pudge told me........

Pudge had been in the Big League's a couple/three years by now and it was spring training time. One afternoon they were having an intersquad game, and Nolan was pitching, but Pudge happened to be on the opposing team so he was at the plate. He said by some act of God he swung at a fastball out over the plate and launched one out of the park to right center field. He couldn't believe it either. The next time at he was at the plate Nolan drilled him in the left thigh with a "toned down" 90mph fastball. Pudge said it was a more glancing blow thank goodness. In typical Nolan fashion he was about half way to home plate after the incident, and Pudge by than had dropped his bat and started towards first base. He says to Nolan "hey man, what are you doing, I'ts SPRING TRAINING.....I'm still your every day catcher"! Nolan had a grin on his face and replied, "you know I can't let you or anyone else get away with that don't you"? Pudge told me........."That's why I love Nolan, and that's exactly the kind of guy I want on my team"!

I thought that was just an awesome story.

ryan and Johnson both great. how often does a starter pitch a 9 inning game?

here's the ball. try to hit it!.

Yes, he was & no, what he did will never ever be done again..............nothing even close, game & pitchers have changed too much.

I'd have to rank Ryan & Sandy Koufax as the two most game dominating pitchers I've ever seen...........Koufax's arm just didn't last nearly as long.

Both had incredible fastballs & curves that dropped off a table, enough control to pitch effectively & enough wildness to spook hitters.

Johnson, though surely great, is down the list a ways in my book.

MM

When I was a kid, Ryan and Tom Seaver were rookies with the Mets. A new grocery had them and two other pitchers there as an attraction at their grand opening.

I had a baseball signed by both. I wonder what it’d be worth now, and wish I knew then what I know now.

He was so dominant in his second no-hitter against the Detroit Tigers, that the Tiger first baseman, Norm Cash went to bat in the 9th with a table leg rather than a bat....

There is a particular moment that stands out in the lore of Norm Cash, one that is so absurd and wonderful that you don’t believe it can be true until you actually see it. It occurred on July 15, 1973 in old Tiger Stadium, when the incomparable Nolan Ryan — then with the California Angels — was blowing through the Detroit Tigers en route to his second career no hitter.

Norm Cash, the Tigers irascible first baseman (lovingly known as “Stormin’ Norman”), was fed up by being struck out by Ryan. After three strikeouts in the game, he’d had enough. He got a table leg from the locker room and headed off to home plate to take his swings. When he was informed by the umpire, Ron Luciano, that he couldn’t use it, he replied “Why not? I won’t hit him anyway.”

Youtube video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEboSkPUgUo

Among his other outstanding qualities is that he doesn't believe in pitch counts.

Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson got called up to the Majors on the same day—I know because my kid brother was the trainer for the Portland Beavers at the time. Both of them had to get into his Gremlin car for the ride to Seatec airport. My Bro claimed nobody would believe they actually fit in that POS car.

And Norm Cash was no slouch at the plate....had a MLB career of over 16 years, was a 5 time all star, 271 career hitter, he hit .361 in 1961 and won the American League batting title. He still thought there was no way he was going to hit Ryan that day.

I liked Cash a great deal, but I think that he also holds the record for largest drop in BA the year after winning the title.

Don’t remember Seaver and Ryan being rookies the same year. Thinking Seaver was the year before. Jerry Koosman was a rookie with Ryan I think.

Ryan’s longevity a dominance are amazing. Had he been it’s a decent team anytime in his career he would be more widely remembered. Lots of players have been similarly afflicted.

Look at Ryan’s stats and compare/contrast win/loss with ERA. Now think what the win/loss might have been if his teams had any semblance of offense. Prime of his career with the Angels and Astros. Pity. Same could be said of many other players through the years, Mathews, Banks, Kaline, etc..... .

Another amazing stat, Ryan stuckout 383 in 1973. Likely untouchable and everybit as incredible to me as Dimagio’s 56 game hit streak.

My middle grandson Nolan is an awesome Little League pitcher. When he was 8, his team was undefeated and his ERA was 0.00. His coach’s last name was Ryan, and Nolan told him at the end of the year .....”Coach, if I was your son, I’d be Nolan Ryan.” Back then, there was a 65 pitch limit to how many pitches a kid could throw before he had to be relieved. Nolan had many 10 pitch innings, which meant he could pitch an entire 6 inning game.

Heard a story once that the Cardinals had a father/son game for fun in spring training and Bob Gibson knocked his son down for crowding the Plate

You're right. Ryan's debut was Sept 1966; Seaver's was 7 months later, both with the Mets. So it may have not been until '67. Jerry Koosman and Tug McGraw? were the other two.

Ryan and Koosman shared a rookie card back when they put two rookies on the same one. But from what I remember Ryan was officially a rookie in 1968. He was a late callup in 66 that didn’t get enough innings to lose his rookie designation and then spent 67 on military duty