[catfish1957]

Nolan Ryan was a bad ass. 5714 K record WILL NEVER be broken, and the 7 no hitters probably never be broken.

[t4texas]

In the latter part of his career he detested batters trying to lay down a bunt. During a radio interview after he retired, he was asked about it by Dan Patrick and Rob Dibble (another bad ass.) The question implied that whenever a batter failed to get a bunt down on the first attempt the next pitch was usually “chin” music. He replied that was because he wasn’t about to allow any hitter to, “Make this old man field his position.”

Everybody knows knows about the career no-hitters and strikeouts but he also still holds the single season strikeout record (383) and is tied with Bob Feller for career 1 hitters with 12.

In his last start he suffered a torn ulnar lateral ligament which was never repaired. Later he would briefly become an assistant baseball coach at TCU when sons Reid and Reese played for TCU. Occasionally he threw team batting practice and was still able to reach 90 mph.

[Alberta's Child]

Between his lack of control and the fact that he played on some pretty bad teams, he also had some strange statistical anomalies in his career.

His 1987 season with Houston was bizarre. He led the league with a 2.76 ERA and 270 strikeouts, but only had an 8-16 record.