Had terrible eating habits. "If they had a higher league, he could be in it," outfielder Hal McRae said. Nolan Ryan had 5,714 strikeouts over his career. [74], The Nolan Ryan Foundation is a Texas nonprofit organization that supports youth, education, and community development and is headquartered in Round Rock, Texas. I did not order the cookbook, but did pick up the two most recent biographies, hoping to find some insight. Nolan Ryan - Baseball-Reference.com Home. [8][9] Ryan held the school's single game strikeout record for 44 years, striking out 21 hitters in a 7-inning game. Good morning, Mets fans! Hardest At midnight on August 5, 2010, the Ryan/Greenberg group, Rangers Baseball Express, was announced as the winners of the final auction to purchase the Rangers, after final approval from Major League Baseball. Ryan was a right-handed pitcher who consistently threw pitches that were clocked above 100 miles per hour (161km/h). Maybe the Kornheiser piece best figures out Ryan. "It was one of those days when I knew how old I was when I woke up. Best batter-pitcher matchups of all NOLAN RYAN Sullivan, 1999); Kings of the Hill (with Mickey Herskowitz, 1992), about contemporary pitchers; and instructional books Pitching and Hitting (with Joe Torre and Joel Cohen, 1977), and Nolan Ryan's Pitcher's Bible (with Tom House, 1991). [13] In 1966, Ryan pitched for the Class A Greenville Mets of the Western Carolinas League, where he went 172 with a 2.51 ERA and 272 strikeouts in 183 innings. He needed every ounce of stamina -- physical and mental -- to concentrate on every pitch of every start. Two starts later he pitched a one-hitter with 12 strikeouts. On July 9, 1972, Ryan struck out three batters on nine pitches in the second inning of a 30 win over the Boston Red Sox; he became the seventh American League pitcher to accomplish the immaculate inning, and the first pitcher in Major League history to accomplish the feat in both leagues. [50] Although Texas oil magnates Ray Davis and Bob Simpson served as co-chairmen and held larger stakes, Ryan became the undisputed head of the franchise, with Davis and Simpson serving mostly as senior consultants. He has maintained a decades-long friendship with the Bush family, partially due to George W. Bush being a part-owner of the Rangers while Ryan played there.