Nolan Ryan (1947- ), who was a professional baseball pitcher, retired in 1993 with the major league record for most career strikeouts (5714) and most career no-hitters (7), Nolan is considered the greatest pitcher in major league history. He was born Lynn Nolan Ryan, Jr., in Refugio, Texas. He attended Alvin Community College until he was drafted by the New York Mets in 1965. The greatly known scout Red Murff signed Nolan Ryan when he was only 18 years old. Ryan played for the Mets through the 1971 season, contributing to their 1969 World Series victory. From 1972 to 1979 Nolan pitched for the California Angels(now known as the Anaheim Angels). As a free agent Ryan joined the Houston Astros in 1980 and the Texas Rangers in 1989. He retired from the Rangers after the 1993 season.
Nolan Ryan was known as a durable power pitchee. Nolan consistantly threw fastballs in the high 90's, occasionly hitting 100-101 mph! He also set and broke numerous records throughout his major league career. He led the American League (AL) in strikeouts nine times (1972-1974, 1976-1979, 1989, 1990) and the National League (NL) twice (1987, 1988). In 1973 alone he recorded 383 strikeouts, surpassing the record set by Sandy Koufax for strikeouts in a season. Ryan also broke Koufax's record of four career no-hit games when he pitched his fifth no-hitter in 1981. Ryan pitched two more no-hitters-one in 1990 and the last in 1991-at the age of 44!, thus becoming the oldest pitcher to throw a no-hitter. Ryan also broke the record for career strikeouts; he is the only pitcher to have reached 5000 career strikeouts, and he retired with a total of 5714! That is an amazing feat to do!