Don’t
know why it’s taken me so long to get this guy in my 1975 “In-Action”
series, but here you go, the great Nolan Ryan in the thick of his prime:
The man just reeled off his third 300+ strikeout season in 1974 with a
monster 367 K total to go along with a career-high 22 wins for the
California Angels, finishing third in the American League Cy Young race.
Incredibly enough it was his second straight 20-win season, and the only
such seasons of his legendary 27-year Major League career, yet still
ending up with 324 wins.
“The Ryan Express” also happened to walk a whopping 202 walks in 1974, a total he would actually top in 1977 when he issued 204.
Then, unbelievably in his MID-30’s, he harnessed that control to the
point that when he struck out 301 batters in 1989 at the age of freakin’
42, he “only” walked 98.
The man just wasn’t of this earth.
Legend!