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Possibly the greatest fastball pitcher of the modern era, Nolan Ryan was drafted by the New York Mets in 1965. While he was a permanent member of the Mets in 1968, he first made a name for himself a year later, setting a major league record for relievers with the “Miracle Mets” by recording the most strikeouts in a National League
Championship Series.
Traded to the California Angels in 1971, Ryan became a starter, leading the American League in 1972 with 329 strikeouts. His breakthrough year was in 1973 when he threw two no-hitters, set a major league record with 383 strikeouts in a season, and won 20 games. While he was known to walk a lot of batters (he led the league six of his eight years with California), his “Ryan Express” fastball led him to also lead the league in strikeouts seven of those eight years.
In 1980, Ryan moved home to Houston as free agent, signing with the Astros. Despite already being in the majors for 13 years, Ryan actually got better as time went on. He led the National League in 1981 with a 1.69 ERA. He improved his control, walking less than 100 batters a season over the last 10 years of his career (1984-1993). He ended his career with the Texas Rangers, playing from 1989-1993.
Ryan’s records include seven no-hitters, three consecutive years with 300 or more strikeouts, 11 strikeout titles, and a career strikeout total of 5174. Ryan was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on the first ballot in 1999. He was named on 98.79 of the ballots, the second highest total only to Tom Seaver’s 98.84% in 1992.
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