Ryan Express Celebrates 77th Birthday

Nolan Ryan, who earned the nick name The Ryan Express for his overpowering work on the mound during a career that earned him a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame, turned 77 on January 31..

Known as the Ryan Express for his overpowering mound work, Ryan became the first pitcher to surpass Walter Johnson’s record 3,508 strikeouts in 1983. He finished his career in 1993 at the age of 46, having struck out a record 5,714 batters.

Ryan was taught to play baseball by an elder brother and was a wild but fast pitcher in high school before he was signed by the New York Mets in 1965. He pitched for their minor league teams (1965–67), and, except for time out for military service, he pitched regularly for the Mets through the 1971 season.

He was then traded to the American League California Angeles. Although he pitched brilliantly in relief for the Mets in 1969 when they won the pennant and the World Series, he came into his own as a pitcher with the Angels. Ryan led the league in strikeouts seven of his first eight years with them (1972–74, 1976, 1977–79). In 1980 he moved as a free agent to the Houston Astros, for whom he pitched until moving to the Texas Rangers in 1989.

The extraordinarily durable Ryan was still a leading pitcher in his early 40s. In 1989 he struck out his 5,000th batter. He also set the record for most strikeouts in a “live-ball era” (post-1920) season (383 in 1973). He led the American League in strikeouts a total of 10 times.

He was the oldest pitcher ever to lead a league in strikeouts in 1990, when he was 43.. In 1991 Ryan, who was nicknamed the “Ryan Express,” pitched his seventh no-hit game, establishing another record. He also held the major league record for most games with 15 or more strikeouts in a career (26).

In 1993 Ryan retired from baseball, and in 1999 he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. At the end of his 27-year career in the major leagues, Ryan finished with 324 wins and 292 losses and an earned-run average of 3.19, He also finished fifth in innings pitched (5,386) and tied with former Mets teammate Tom Seaver for seventh all-time in shutouts (61).

Following his retirement from playing, Ryan continued to be active in the sport, including having an ownership interest in two minor league teams and serving as a consultant to the Houston Astros.

In 2008 he became team president for the Texas Rangers. Ryan was a member of the ownership group that purchased the Rangers in 2010. In 2011 he became the CEO of the Rangers. Two years later he gave up his title of president of the team.

At the end of the 2013 season, he resigned as CEO and sold his Rangers ownership stake. Ryan joined the Astros organization as an executive adviser in 2014. He helped the Astros win a World Series title in 2017, but he resigned from the team amid front-office turmoil shortly after the end of the 2019 major league season.

Ryan wrote several autobiographies, including Throwing Heat: The Autobiography of Nolan Ryan (1988), written with Harvey Frommer; Miracle Man: Nolan Ryan, the Autobiography (1992), written with Jerry Jenkins; and Nolan Ryan: The Road to Cooperstown (1999), written with T.R. Sullivan and Mickey Herskowitz. He also collaborated on instructional guides, such as Pitching & Hitting (1977) and Nolan Ryan’s Pitching Bible (1991).