I was so in awe of Ryan as a kid and young adult, that when I got married my wife had to warn me that if we had a boy, we would NOT be naming him Nolan or Ryan. Other pitchers of the era were arguably better in some ways. But, Ryan played for the Angels, Astros and Rangers in his prime - none were powerhouses. What if he had spent those same years playing for the Orioles, Yankees, Reds or A's during their dominant periods? Betting he finishes with 400 wins.
I'm not an expert by any means, but I do believe one of his issues was his lack of pitch variety. 9 times out of 10 it was coming in hard and fast and if you could get a piece of it, good for you. So he struck out a Hell of a lot of batters and scored those no-nos, but he also led the league in walks almost as often as in Ks (probably why there wasn't a perfect game somewhere in those no hitters) and he had a middling ERA. Had he worked to develop some better off-speed or breaking material, or concentrated more on location, things may have been different.
Like I said, I'm no expert, so my analysis may be highly suspect. Just somethings I've often thought about him. And don't get me wrong - I still love him and consider him one of the top 10 pitchers of all time, which some experts would argue with.
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