RYAN'S RECKONING; HALL OF FAME CAREER STARTED WITH STRUGGLES.Byline: Bill Sullivan Houston Chronicle When the trade came down, folks in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, figured it was the steal of the century. Trouble was, most worried they were on the wrong end of the heist. Some kid named Nolan Ryan adj. 1. Moderately warm; lukewarm. 2. Lacking in emotional warmth or enthusiasm; halfhearted: "the tepid conservatism of the fifties" Irving Howe. results in parts of five seasons with the New York Mets
And for this, the Angels had parted with Mr. Angel, the great Jim Fregosi Small wonder, then, that the transition from one coast to the other and from National to American Leagues American League (AL) One of the two associations of professional baseball teams in the U.S. and Canada designated as major leagues; the other is the National League (NL). had its rocky moments - all magnified by the arrival of son Reid and the specter of a strike that threatened to delay the start of the season, and a much-needed paycheck. Years later, Ryan would describe his eight years in Anaheim as ``the foundation of my career.'' It began, however, with more moments in which he considered packing up and going home than ones spent pondering the text for his acceptance speech in Cooperstown. For starters, the looming strike threatened to make Ryan a rancher. That first spring training camp, the Ryans lived in a borrowed trailer in Holtville. When the team moved on to Palm Springs, Nolan made a daily 180-mile round-trip commute in a borrowed Volkswagen Beetle This article is about the original Volkswagen Beetle. For the one introduced in 1997, see Volkswagen New Beetle. The Volkswagen Type 1, more commonly known as the Beetle . Things were so tight that Ryan borrowed $1,500 to rent a house in Anaheim for the season to come. Had the strike lasted very long - ultimately, opening day was delayed and eight games lost - the family would have been packing up and heading back to Alvin. Early on, some Angels fans probably wished he had done just that. Ryan had what he termed ``a horrible spring,'' and it continued with a 2-4 start in which he failed to last beyond the fifth inning five times, rendering hearts all the fonder about the departed Fregosi. Pitching coach Tom Morgan, who in time would become a close friend, worked on streamlining Ryan's delivery. In late May, they began to get results as Ryan won nine of 10 decisions, pitching five consecutive complete games in the process. The run culminated with a one-hitter in which he struck out eight straight batters and fanned the side on the minimum nine pitches. By the time the smoke cleared, few were lamenting Fregosi, who went on to become another in a long line of failed third-base candidates with the Mets. After going 29-38 in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , Ryan finished that '72 season with a 19-16 record, leading the league in strikeouts (329) and walks (157) while completing 20 games and compiling a 2.28 earned-run average. Tom Grieve Thomas Alan Grieve (Born March 4, 1948 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts) was a Major League Baseball player from 1970-1979 for the Washington Senators, Texas Rangers, New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals. , then an outfielder with the first-year Texas Rangers Texas Rangers, mounted fighting force organized (1835) during the Texas Revolution. During the republic they became established as the guardians of the Texas frontier, particularly against Native Americans. , says those numbers don't begin to tell the story. ``Back then, they didn't keep pitch counts,'' Grieve said. ``And he's walking nine or 10 guys in some of those games. There were probably a lot of times when he was throwing 200 pitches a game when he was 22, 23 years old.'' Grieve, later a Rangers general manager and now a television announcer for the club, laughs at the notion. ``You have a guy throwing 200 pitches now, you'll be taken in front of a judge for child abuse. The agent will get into it. The league will investigate.'' Ryan threw plenty of pitches the next two seasons, starting a total of 83 games and finishing with records of 21-16 and 22-16. He struck out a major-league record 383 hitters in '73 and 367 the following year. In each of those seasons, the Angels scored a paltry pal·try adj. pal·tri·er, pal·tri·est 1. Lacking in importance or worth. See Synonyms at trivial. 2. Wretched or contemptible. 22 runs in the 16 losses. Undaunted, Ryan posted ERAs of 2.87 and 2.89 and threw a total of 52 complete games. He tossed the first of his seven no-hitters on May 15, 1973, at Kansas City Kansas City, two adjacent cities of the same name, one (1990 pop. 149,767), seat of Wyandotte co., NE Kansas (inc. 1859), the other (1990 pop. 435,146), Clay, Jackson, and Platte counties, NW Mo. (inc. 1850). . His second came two months later at Detroit. No. 3 would follow on Sept. 28, 1974, at home against Minnesota. In one particularly gritty performance, Ryan threw 235 pitches in a 13-inning outing against Boston and got a no-decision. A quarter-century later, Grieve vividly recounts the ``thrill'' of stepping to the plate against a young Nolan Ryan. ``He was the only pitcher I faced - other than J.R. Richard in Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (1990 pop. 444,719), state capital, and seat of Oklahoma co., central Okla., on the North Canadian River; inc. 1890. The state's largest city, it is an important livestock market, a wholesale, distribution, industrial, and financial center, and a farm , where you couldn't see because of the lights - that fear entered into the at-bat,'' he said. ``He was throwing so hard, and he was wild, and you knew he was mean. He'd knock you down, and you never knew whether it was on purpose or not. ``He had a curveball that he threw so hard, and it broke so much. It started up around your head, and if you couldn't recognize it and it turned out to be a fastball, you were going to get hit.'' What to do? ``I backed off the plate a little bit. I backed up in the box a little bit. Instead of being nice and relaxed up there, every part of your body was alert.'' Those years would showcase Ryan at his most dominant. In August of '74, his fastball was clocked at 100.9 miles an hour, though Ryan believes he has thrown harder than that. All that effort, however, would begin to exact a toll. In 1975, Ryan started the season 10-3 with five shutouts, seven complete games and an ERA of 2.24. On June 1, he produced his fourth no-hitter. Trouble, however, was on the way. Ryan's elbow had been hurting for months. After one mid-April start, he awoke to discover that he could not fully extend his arm. Dr. Frank Jobe, the noted orthopedist, prescribed ice and whirlpool treatments, but the pain persisted. In August, after losing nine of 13 decisions (eight straight at one point), Ryan finally told the club he could go on no longer. Calcium deposits were removed. Once again, Ryan pondered the question of whether he would pitch again. ``If my arm wasn't better the next spring,'' he said, ``I was going to retire.'' That wouldn't be necessary, though Ryan was up-and-down in 1976. He pitched in 39 games and struck out 327 hitters but went 17-18 with a 3.36 ERA. Some of the issues were mental. Some of the trouble was because of stiffness, and the elbow occasionally would catch. In trying to compensate, Ryan fell into bad habits bad habit Unhealthy habit Clinical medicine A patterned behavior regarded as detrimental to physical or mental health, which is often linked to a lack of self-control. Cf Good habit. as well. He lost five straight in May but came back to win seven of his last eight decisions and finished with 21 complete games, seven of them shutouts. The following year, he went 19-16 with 341 strikeouts and a 2.77 ERA, with 22 complete games and four shutouts. But the good times in Anaheim were coming to an end. In 1978, Buzzie Bavasi Emil Joseph "Buzzie" Bavasi [pronounced buh-VAY-zee] (born December 12 1914 in New York City) is a former executive in Major League Baseball who played a major role in the operation of three franchises. He also was a key figure in the integration of minor league baseball. arrived as executive vice president. A month later, GM Harry Dalton Harry I. Dalton (August 23 1928 - October 23 2005) was an American front-office executive in Major League Baseball. He served as general manager of three American League teams, the Baltimore Orioles (1966-71), California Angels (1972-77) and Milwaukee Brewers (1978-91), and was a left after Bavasi accused him of running a ``country club.'' Ryan didn't like Bavasi or his ways, and physical problems added to the pitcher's misery. A pulled hamstring put Ryan on the disabled list from June 14 to July 5. Later, a rib separation landed him on the DL from Aug. 20 to Sept. 6. In the end, a 10-13 season and a 3.71 ERA had Bavasi eyeing the bottom line as Ryan eyed the door. ``I wouldn't have come back as long as he was the general manger manger cattle trough which served as crib for Christ. [N.T.: Luke 2:7] See : Nativity ,'' Ryan said. His contract, however, ran one more season, and it would be an eventful e·vent·ful adj. 1. Full of events: an eventful week. 2. Important; momentous: an eventful decision. one. Reid, then 7, was struck by a car, eventually losing his spleen spleen, soft, purplish-red organ that lies under the diaphragm on the left side of the abdominal cavity. The spleen acts as a filter against foreign organisms that infect the bloodstream, and also filters out old red blood cells from the bloodstream and decomposes and a kidney. As his son endured a lengthy hospital stay, Nolan was helping the Angels win the American League West The American League West is one of three divisions in Major League Baseball's American League. The division currently has four teams, but it has had as many as seven teams before the 1994 realignment. for the first time. Despite the distractions, Ryan finished 16-14 with a 3.59 ERA and 17 complete games. His contract was up, and agent Dick Moss approached the Angels with an incentive-heavy proposal that could have made Ryan the game's first $1 million player. Bavasi scoffed at the offer. In one particularly colorful moment, he indicated he could replace Ryan with two 8-7 pitchers. Thirteen years later, that comment echoed when, in June 1992, the Angels retired Ryan's number while he was still pitching in the major leagues. And while Nolan speaks fondly of the California years, life once again was changing. Bavasi would save his money. The Ryans were on their way back to Houston, and ultimately, a place in baseball's Hall of Fame. NOLAN RYAN'S CAREER STATISTICS Year, Team W L SO ERA 1966, NYM Nym humorous thief and rogue. [Br. Lit.: Merry Wives of Windsor; Henry V] See : Thievery 1. (tool, networking) nym - /nim/ (From the third syllable of "anonymous"; or "nym server") A server that functions as an anonymous remailer. 2. 0 1 6 15.00 1968, NYM 6 9 133 3.09 1969, NYM 6 3 923.54 1970, NYM 7 11 125 3.41 1971, NYM 10 14 137 3.97 1972, Cal 19 16 329 2.28 1973, Cal 21 16 383 2.87 1974, Cal 22 16 367 2.89 1975, Cal 14 12 186 3.45 1976, Cal 17 18 327 3.36 1977, Cal 19 16 341 2.77 1978, Cal 10 13 260 3.71 1979, Cal 16 14 223 3.59 1980, Hou 11 10 200 3.35 1981, Hou 11 5 140 1.69 1982, Hou 16 12 245 3.16 1983, Hou 14 9 183 2.98 1984, Hou 12 11 197 3.05 1985, Hou10 12 209 3.80 1986, Hou 12 8 194 3.34 1987, Hou 8 16 270 2.76 1988, Hou 12 11 228 3.52 1989, Tex 16 10 301 3.20 1990, Tex 139 232 3.44 1991, Tex 12 6 203 2.91 1992, Tex 5 9 157 3.83 1993, Tex 5 5 46 4.88 Totals 324 292 5714 3.19 RYAN'S NO-HITTERS American League May 15, 1973, Angels, at Kansas City, 3-0 July 15, 1973, Angels, at Detroit, 6-0 Sept. 28, 1974, Angels, vs. Minnesota, 4-0 June 1, 1975, Angels, vs. Baltimore, 1-0 June 11, 1990, Texas, at Oakland, 5-0 May 1, 1991, Texas, vs. Toronto, 3-0 National League Sept. 26, 1981, Houston, vs. Dodgers, 5-0 CAPTION(S): Photo, 3 Boxes Photo: (Color) Nolan Ryan, here pitching for the Angels in 1977, described his time in Anaheim as ``the foundation'' of his Hall of Fame career. Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. File Photo Box: (1) NOLAN RYAN: BY THE NUMBERS (2) RYAN'S NO-HITTER (See text) (3) NOLAN RYAN: A CLOSER LOOK (See text) |
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