Grew up In Anaheim in the 70's watching him, not really appreciating what we were witnessing. Pitching was way different back then. We had 4 starters, Nolan, Clyde Wright, Rudy May and Bill Singer (later Frank Tanana) and they just went out there every 4th day and STAYED out there come hell or high water! The bullpen was just a bunch of rubber arms, there were no "specialists". No 8th inning guy, set-up guy, long or short relief guy, and definitely no closer! Many times the game would be 10-1 in the 8th inning and the starter was still out there getting rocked!
You are probably right. No manager is letting a pitcher throw 332 innings in a season, those days are long gone. Max Scherzer is the only other pitcher who would have had an outside shot based on his season to season pace but he didn't really start his career going until age 24 and who knows at age 38 how much longer he will pitch for.
If I had a team playing the 7th game of the World Series, and could have my pick of any pitcher in MLB history, knowing beforehand they'd have their best stuff that day, Nolan Ryan would be alone at the top of the list. When he was on, he was the most dominating pitcher I ever saw. I felt sorry for the hitters, especially when he pitched against us!!!
remember and most people don't 7 no hitters, ok everyone knows this; 12 1 hitters, 18 2 hitters. hence 30 hits away from 37 NO HITTERS. who can make that claim. WOW
Never be another rodeo bull like Bodacious, a race horse like Secretariat or a Major League pitcher like The Express.... Nolan Ryan threw with no fear and was a humble classy guy... tough too, ask Robin Ventura 😂
To think the last pitch of his 7th no hitter, when he was in his mid-40s was a flat trajectory missile straight from his hand to the catcher's mitt. That ball was sizzling.
198 career non win quality starts he went 0-107 with a 2.27 era just a freak and even in his loses and wasnt on him and over 24 no hitters broken up after the 8th
Anyone that says he wasn’t the greatest doesn’t know what they are saying. Ryan needed better teams to play with. If he had, he could have had 400 wins and more shutouts. We know Jordan is the greatest basketball player ever because of how feared he was. Well… Nolan Ryan was the most feared pitcher ever!
He got enough run support most of the time. What killed him was those 4-5 free passes he gave up every game. Leading the league 8x in BB doesn't help. It would have been even more had they not cut his starts way down. He walked more batters than anyone in history. In fact there isn't even anyone close. His closest contemporary, Steve Carlton, walked about 1000 fewer ... no telling how many games that lost him
With all due respect to the Express, a vastly overrated pitcher. Just too danged inconsistent. I watched him pitch again an again sometimes incredible ... other times not incredible at all.
