Nolan Ryan Biography / Pictures

Nolan Ryan, Jr. (born January 31, 1947 in Refugio, Texas) is a retired pitcher in Major League Baseball and current president of the Texas Rangers.

Biography

Nolan played in a major league record 27 seasons for the New York Mets, California Angels, Houston Astros, and Texas Rangers, from 1966 to 1993.

Nolan Ryan was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999.

Ryan, a hard-throwing right-handed pitcher, threw pitches that were regularly recorded above 100 mph (160 km/h), even past the age of 40. The media tagged him, or more specifically his pitching, as "The Nolan Express" (a reference to the 1965 film Von Ryan's Express).

While his lifetime winning percentage was a relatively pedestrian .526, Nolan was an eight-time MLB All-Star, and his 5,714 career strikeouts rank first in baseball history.

Nolan Ryan leads the runner-up, Randy Johnson, by 871 strikeouts as of May 28, 2009. 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.

Nolan is the all-time leader in no-hitters with seven, three more than any other pitcher.

Nolan Ryan is tied with Bob Feller for the most one-hitters, with 12. Nolan also pitched 18 two-hitters.

On February 6, 2008, Nolan was introduced as the president of the Texas Rangers.