Nolan Ryan

Nolan Ryan is often highly regarded as one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball history. As one of the hardest throwing right-handed pitchers ever, Nolan Ryan threw pitches that were regularly hit above 100 mph on the radar gun.

Nolan Ryan started his career with the New York Mets in 1966 and played with the organization until 1971. In 1972, Nolan Ryan was traded to the California Angels and lasted eight seasons there until he signed a lucrative free-agent contract with the Houston Astros after the 1979 season. Nolan Ryan then left Houston in a contract dispute following the 1988 season and joined the Texas Rangers.

For his career, Nolan Ryan compiled a 324-292 record as a starter and struck out 5,714 batters, which is still a MLB record. Nolan Ryan also holds the record for most career no-hitters with seven.

Nolan Ryan finished his stellar career with an ERA of 3.19, was an eight-time All-Star and a World Series champion in 1969. He was also named American League The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year in 1977 and is the only player to have his jersey retired by three different teams (California Angels, Houston Astros and Texas Rangers).

Nolan Ryan was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999 and earned 98.2% of votes, which was just six votes short of a unanimous election. He’s often compared to the great Sandy Koufax (Los Angeles Dodgers), since Nolan Ryan broke two of Sandy Koufax’s records (no-hitters and the single-season strikeout mark).

Nolan Ryan is a true pitching legend, although some like to question his place in history because of his low winning percentage (.526). But while other pitchers might have had better stats, arguably no player mastered the strikeout as well as the Nolan Ryan “Express.” He was also incredibly durable, too, as evidence that he played in more seasons (27) than any other player in Major League Baseball history.