Ode to Greatness - Nolan Ryan

Ode to Greatness:  Nolan Ryan

Quick Wiki overview:

Lynn Nolan Ryan, Jr. (born on January 31, 1947), nicknamed "The Ryan Express", is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He is currently part-owner, CEO, and team president of the Texas Rangers.
During a major league record 27-year baseball career, he pitched in 1966 and from 1968–1993 for four different teams: the New York Mets, California Angels, Houston Astros, and Texas Rangers. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999.^[1]
Ryan, a hard-throwing right-handed pitcher, threw pitches that were regularly recorded above 100 miles per hour (160.93 km/h), even past the age of 40.
While his lifetime winning percentage was a relatively pedestrian .526, Ryan was an eight-time MLB All-Star, and his 5,714 career strikeouts rank first in baseball history by a significant margin.^[1] He leads the runner-up, Randy Johnson, by 839 strikeouts. Similarly, Ryan's 2,795 bases on balls lead second-place Steve Carlton by 962—walking over 50% more hitters than any other pitcher in Major League history. He is currently the only major league baseball player to have his number retired by 3 different teams: the Angels, Astros, and Rangers (other than Jackie Robinson whose number was retired by the entire MLB).
Ryan is the all-time leader in no-hitters with seven, three more than any other pitcher. He is tied with Bob Feller for most one-hitters, with 12. Ryan also pitched 18 two-hitters. Despite the seven no-hitters, he never threw a perfect game, nor did he ever win a Cy Young Award. Ryan is one of only 29 players in baseball history to date to have appeared in Major League baseball games in four decades.

Ok...but here is where it gets CRAZY.  Did you happen to see the 12 one hitters???  Or maybe his 5,714 total K's?  Yeah, he walked some guys...ok, a LOT of guys but he also threw more innings than most guys.  Retired his number on THREE of his teams? 

Check out these stats:

Struck out over 300 batters:  SIX times.  329,383,367,327,341,301.  The last one was with an eleven year gap when he struck out 301 in 1989.

Only won 20 games twice.  How sad is that?  Looking at his ERA, hits vs. IP and k's it is quite apparent his teams were horrible all those years.  This also explains why he never won a Cy Young award.  Yes, that's correct, he never won a Cy Young award.  Baffeling really when you have years like this:  1973 with the California Angels  21-16, 2.87 ERA, 26 Complete Games with 4 Shutouts, 326 Innings Pitched (not a typo), 238 hits for only a 6.9 H/9IP, and 383 K's.  That is the all time single season record over Sandy Koufax's 381.  Came in second for the Cy Young that year.  He had a lot of years like that, huge IP, CG, K's, and didn't win a lot of games or lost a lot because of the team he was playing for.  In that sense his career in a lot of ways paralled Hank Aarons.  Hank never hit more than 44 homers in one season yet is/was the All Time Homerun king.  Every season he consistently put up stellar numbers, if not the best of the year, and over the course of his long career he put up All Time Great numbers.  Just like Nolan Ryan and his 27 seasons, all 27 where he was throwing 100 mph including after he hit 40 years old.  Steroid Free. 

3.19 Career ERA.  324 wins and 294 losses.  Say's a lot right there about the offense he had behind him all those years.  1987 he led MLB with a 2.76 yet had a 8-16 record...

222 Complete Games.  For comparison here's the list of Active Leaders today....

1. Roy Halladay - 63

2. Liván Hernández - 50

3. Jamie Moyer - 33

4. Tim Wakefield - 32

5. CC Sabathia - 30

Pretty sure they won't ever even reach that.  Although to put Ryan's number into perspective Cy Young himself leads all time with 749 Career Complete Games. 

Couple interesting items about Nolan Ryan. 

He once pitched over 200 pitches in a 13 inning game in 1974.  That may help back up his current disregard for pitch counts with his Texas Ranger pitchers. 

By the time Ryan got to high school, he threw extremely hard, but was very wild, and he remembers one game in particular.

"The first guy I hit in the arm and broke his arm," he remembers. "The next guy I hit in the head and split his helmet, and the third guy went down to the third base coach and begged not to hit and I don't blame him. That was a reflection of how wild I was."

Umm...yeah. 

Also, he's been married to his High School girlfriend for over 35 years.  Great American.

Lastly, doesn't Nolan Ryan make you think of a cowboy that would single handedly break up a cattle rustling group with his fists and guns, just smash some drunks face off the bar and then slam a shot of whiskey before riding off into the sunset with some hot brod?  Me too.  I love him.