Ryan is loved because of his fastball and all of those strikeouts, and that is why the non baseball fans and casual baseball fans all know who Nolan Ryan is, and his cards are worth more than pitchers who were significantly better than him. This is also part of the reason baseball fans don't consider Ryan among the greatest of the greats. Is he a HOFer, yes, due to the 300 wins and strikeouts, but in a team game strikeouts are no better than groundouts or popouts. Ryan's insistence on trying to srike every batter out lead to the all time record for walks. While Ryan padded his K numbers he hurt his team, and that is why he is a .500 pitcher. Palmer, Seaver, Carlton and others from that era are far better pitchers. Ryan had superior stuff, but was the inferior pitcher to those other HOFers from the era. Sadly there card values might not say so, but that is not the point. Ryan never got a Cy Young because he never deserved one.
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