Nolan Ryan Essay, Research Paper
Lynn Nolan Ryan Jr., more commonly known as Nolan Ryan, developed the position of pitcher in baseball more than anyone else in the history of America?s favorite past time. With his flaming fastballs and his deadly curve ball, he was able to mesmerize batters like no other. Nolan also defied the age barrier by playing 27 years in the MLB. Beyond his amazing baseball skill, he was an incredible role model to anyone that met him. He handled himself with a poised and friendly manner that made the fans believe that there was still good athletes that cared about the fans.
Lynn Nolan Ryan, Jr. was born January 31, 1947, in Refugio, Texas. He was the youngest of six children. He grew up playing Little League baseball, his father coaching, and later played in high school. It was there when a New York Mets scout saw him and signed him to play Minor league baseball in Virginia. It was not until he was brought up to the Mets pro team that he finally married his high school sweetheart, Ruth. He has three children, Reid, Reese, and Wendy. Unlike many other celebrities, his entire family is devout Christians. He continues to do a lot of charity work, realizing how lucky he is to have such a great ability of pitching. He lives in Austin, Texas, presently, with Ruth and his daughter Wendy.
Baseball has been America?s game for generations. But until Nolan came around, no pitcher had ever been watched so closely as he was. He defied the age
barrier, playing in the majors for 27 years, and his awesome ability to regularly throw 90 miles per hour the entire game defied the speed limitations of pitchers. He also had the accuracy of a sniper, able to pitch anything he wanted, a fastball, curve, changeup, anything, and get the batter to swing a it. Through the duration of his career, he struck out 5,714 batters, had seven no-hitters, and holds 15 other MLB records, such as the oldest man to pitch a no-hitter, single-season strikeout record and he was the first man to be given a $1 million dollar contract, given to him by the Houston Astros. Ryan kept his awesome pitching performances going until 1993, when he retired, feeling that he had nothing left to offer in the Major League Baseball. He set many benchmarks pitching, and a few that will never be broken, but he gave other pitchers the drive to try to beat his records, making him one of the best baseball players ever.