Quote:
Originally Posted by jchcollins
I started collecting in 1986, buying the Topps packs at the grocery store. At the time, Ryan was of course a known commodity and a star player, but I would not have considered him a superstar, or among the very elite pitchers of the game. The speed was of course impressive, but he was inconsistent. He might pitch a one-hit shutout one night, and then give up 6 runs and lose in his next start. All that started to change for Nolan along about 1988-89, when he went to the Texas Rangers and everyone suddenly realized the precipice of all the records he was on the verge of passing - 5,000K's, 300 wins, and then of course by the time he unexpectedly added two more no-hitters for the Rangers, he was a God. His '68 Topps RC - which had been perhaps a $250 card in nice shape in 1988 - was suddenly worth well over a grand in 1992.
My point is not that Ryan is not a fantastic or even legendary pitcher, so much as it is just to point out that he's more noteworthy for how freakishly unique he is. The strikeout and no-hitter records will not ever be seriously approached, let alone equaled again. But remember at the end of the day those things alone don't win ballgames or lift teams. Ryan to me would make a super interesting study of how he was regarded over time. He may have been legendary in the 1990's on - but for the prime of his career in the 70's and early 80's you could generally make the argument that he wasn't even consistently among the top 3-4 pitchers in baseball.
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I agree with everything you said (only difference is I started collecting in '87 not '86).
Ryan never won a Cy Young, but he did finish in the top 5 six times. He got is his first Cy Young votes when he was 25 and amazingly finished 5th when he was 42.
One thing I did not know is that he holds the all time record for
fewest hits allowed per 9 innings at 6.6 He let up 3,923 hits in his career and walked 2,795 which is of course also a record.