Baseball has had plenty of superstars over the years. It's also had plenty of legends. Sometimes the two categories overlap.
Nolan Ryan has elements of both in his life story, but the legend has something of a lead at this point in history.
This was someone who broke into the major leagues at the age of 19. He was still playing at the age of 46, still throwing fast balls that players half his age couldn't touch. Ryan won 324 games, threw 5,386 innings, and struck out 5,714 batters. In other words, he struck out more than a batter per inning during the course of 27 years. Radar guns weren't used to measure pitcher's speed for much of Ryan's career, but most eyewitnesses say no one has ever thrown the ball harder.
In an age when starting pitchers frequently don't make it to the sixth inning, Ryan had 222 complete games. All of baseball had a total of 25 in 2025, and the leaders had two each. Ryan had 26 in a season twice.
And how about seven no-hitters? Think anyone will ever break that record unless the rules are rewritten? Me neither.
Get the idea? They don't make pitchers like this any more, so author Tim Brown is on to something good when he takes on the hurler in a biography, "Nolan."
Brown's initial problem is that for a superstar, Ryan had an unconventional career. He appeared in one World Series, but only had a small role in the New York Mets' stunning championship of 1969. The pitcher did take part in the 1980 and 1981 playoffs, but his Houston Astros fell short of the Series. Otherwise, he didn't participate in any October baseball. There's not much team glory to cover here.
While Ryan won a lot of games, he lost a bunch of them too - 292. That's the most in the modern era (since 1961), 26 ahead of Gaylord Perry. The biggest conclusion that can be drawn from that is Ryan played for some mediocre or worse teams that didn't give him enough offensive support. His 294 wild pitches are the most of any player since 1901.
Brown - who worked with Jim Abbott on that pitcher's fine book - makes a good decision, then, to step away from a straight-forward recap. After all, this isn't the first book about Ryan. Nolan and his wife both wrote one, and others chipped in too. Brown instead focuses on several aspects and moments of Ryan's life, telling the overall story that way. He takes a look at Alvin, Texas, which is proud as you'd expect of his native son. The author looks at how a scout had to talk the Mets into drafting him in the 11th round, The book includes Ryan's use of intimidation on the mound, storeis about/from his family, the reaction of teammates and opponents to Ryan's abilities, the last pitch in his career, and life after baseball ... among some other topics. Brown certainly does his homework here, with all sorts of interviews and references including some time with the man with the fastball called "The Express."
A couple of minor problems do pop up here. Ryan comes off really well here, to the point where it seems a little overdone in spots. The standout player certainly was an admirable player and person, but some of the praise is a little over the top. Brown's writing also is a little interpretive in spots, which is another way of saying flowery.
Overall, "Nolan" gets very good grades for telling a new generation about this great and unusual player. Accept no duplicates - he was an original.
Four stars
Learn more about this book from Amazon.com.
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