Back in my youth I enjoyed pitching a baseball. My adult coaches noted my immaturity and would say: "STOP trying to strike everybody out. It's selfish. You have fielders. USE THEM. Think of your team and not just of yourself" "YES, If you try to strike everyone out you WILL get more strikeouts. BUT you will also WALK more and the the hits will be fewer BUT they'll be HOMERUNS or other longballs between all those walks and strikeouts." "YES, if you try to throw a NO-HITTER each time you will eventually get a few . BUT the price will be MORE LOSSES for your team in between." "YES, if you pitch self-ishly you will make YOUr-self famous. BUT to the detriment of your team. YOU WILL BE LIKE A VAMPIRE--making records for yourself while keeping your team from championships with your 50-50 win-loss record that such pitchers get." "Be like SPAHN and FORD. They are NOT known for their strikeouts or no-hitters because they are TEAM PLAYERS who lead their teams to pennants. The guys who gamble for personal records are fancy ALBATROSSES around their teams' necks." "Ask ANY manager if he'd rather have a 20 game winner or a guy who is usually 12-10 but with lots of strikeouts and no-hitters to brag about while his teammates watch the series on TV." I guess every coach gave that spiel to his young players. But those were the 50s and early 60s. and we had "MORALITY' then. During the 80s rampant greed was worshipped and those who practiced it were considered heroes!? I'm glad my coaches died before they saw what is going on nowadays. I wonder what the coach of today says when some brat throws Nolan Ryan in his face,"HEY, nobody cares about Nolan Ryans'losses. Just his strikeouts and no-hitters. (and anything bad is blamed on "bad luck": 25 years of "bad luck")....In 1979 the California Angels had their first chance to go to a World Series. RYAN 16-14 3.59 in a WONDERFUL PITCHER'S PARK) could not win one playoff game for them....In 1980 the Houston Astros had their first chance to go to the world series. RYAN tried to strike everybody out on national T.V.. The result was typical: a "K" an inning. Paid for with a 5.54 ERA and NO playoff wins.(a 'coincidence'). He was 11-10 that year. ('coincidences'). In 1986 the Mets could not, NOT, beat Mike Scott. All the Astros needed was just one stinking win at last from Nolan Ryan, "future Hall of Fame shoo-in". But he tried for a no-hitter rather than just go for the win and wound up losing (0-1, 3.86) (another coincidence)....If I had told my coach I planned to throw one no-hitter every few years while racking up almost 300 losses in between and ruining every chance we had for the championship he would have kicked me off the team..But that same thing will get Ryan into the Hall of Fame....They say that the trade from the Mets for Jim Fregosi was one of the worst in history. The truth is that the Mets would have had LESS of a chance of winning the pennants in 1973 and 1986 if Ryan had stayed. STRIKEOUTS don't win pennants. A NO-HITTER a year dies not win pennants. WINNING GAMES WINS PENNANTS. (Don Larsen's perfect game did not win a pennant. Neither did Jim Bunning's. Nor many others. And lots of guys have now thrown 20 Ks in a game and 300 Ks in a season without their winning pennants). They did not need any 10-10, 11-10,or 12-10 pitchers, NO MATTER HOW MANY Ks THEY HAD when they were trying to win pennants. (Ryan's championship playoff record since being traded for Fregosi: five starts. ZERO wins.(For No-win Ryan),an ERA over 4.00, 34ip,39k,(whoopie, that 34-39 doesnt seem to be attached to much, does it?)...Ryan is just a Kingman who was nice to the press....A Nolan Ryan Game: kkk,bb,hr,kkk,bb,hr,...etc. Final score; loss 16-0, But with 27Ks Whoopee!.........Nolan Ryan Season: L,L,L,L,No-Hitter!,L,L,L,L,No-Hitter!,L,L,L...etc. Final Record 6-24 but, hey, look at those no-hitters eh?. ONLY Ks and No-hitters count, right?...1976-LED LEAGUE IN STRIKEOUTS!!(Shhh..and walks and LOSSES...Shhh). WANT TO SEE SOMETHING FASCINATING?? Check Sandy Koufax's wild, bad,immature years of 1956-1960. During those years he had the same stats that Ryan became loved for. Ryan is a perpetually immature Koufax....California and Houston had AIRPORT-sized parks. Check the other pitchers' records in them.They all did much better after arriving there and much worse after leaving. The early Mets needed clowns and freaks to draw crowds but when they became contendors they got rid of them....HERE'S A RULE OF THUMB I LEARNED FROM THE SOCIETY OF AMERICAN BASEBALL RESEARCH: to see how good a player was TO HIS TEAM check whom he was traded for. Obviously if people like Mantle and Mays had ever been traded during their great years it would have been for each other. Now name the guys that "SUPERSTAR" Nolan Ryan was traded for. Come on. Name those Superstars. Oh, still another 'coincidence"? or is this one a "mistake"? (Im being sarcastic here. Actually, Ryan was NOT traded even up for Fregosi. The Angels wouldn't take him. The Mets had to sweeten the pot by throwing in three other players. And we all know how many World Championships he then led the Angels to. After getting rid of Ryan the Mets went up twenty points in w/l% in 1972 and won the pennant in 1973 But it's politically incorrect to say that. However you can bet that had the Mets gone DOWN the next two years instead of up we would still be hearing about it....Nolan Ryan tried to throw a no-hitter every time out. Result: seven successes in a QUARTER-CENTURY and, what,270 losses?( oops, more like 290+) Sportswriters headline the seven and hide the 270, but, unlike them, the STANDINGS are honest and include ALL games. When a team accepted Ryan it lost its chance to go to the world series in return for more fannies in the seats. Popularity is not greatness. If Ryan's no-hitters mean everything and his miserable lifetime win-loss record means nothing, then I suggest we get rid of the standings and base trips to the world series on team no-hitters or strikeouts...Note: Ryan called a press conference to announce that he would bless America with another year of his selfish presence. Even Ruth and Mays never did that. Mantle only did it to say he was LEAVING. Press conferences are to announce the RETIREMENTS of great players with great all-around stats who led their teams to World Series!!WHAT CHUTZPAH!!!.... NOT PROOFREAD> IM A LOUSY TYPIST>>The 1965-66 Cleveland Indians made many strikeout records! SO WHAT!!!They went NOWHERE (and that was NO coincidence)..Bad football teams have LOTS of passing (long bombs).. ..The 1990 METS had FOUR of the Top FIVE strikeout pitchers! SO WHAT!!?? Where did they go?.....This rant is all taken from xeroxed pages and some parts will be from clippings I had on them....Nolan Ryan blames his poor win-loss record on his teammates ("IT TAKES MORE THAN A PITCHER TO WIN A GAME" he said. Then why is it that Mike Scott's win-loss % was so great so often? (cy young!). They pitched in the same airport the same time with the same teammates. Ryan is a perpetual 1955-1960 Koufax. When Koufax was stubbornly immature he'd throw as fast as he could, average ten Ks a game and had a bad win-loss %. When he matured, deliberately cut a few miles an hour off his speed to get more control, and tried pacing himself he dropped to nine Ks a game BUT thats when he became a TRUE Hall of Famer. As Casey said, "You can look it up". While Ryan was making excuses for his perpetual near-.500 seasons his fellow pitchers backed by the same teammates were going; (I pulled almanacs off the library shelves for this as they have the w-l's very starkly shown for each team): 19-12, 16-12, 25-7 (cy), 17-9, 18-12, 12-7, 20-10, 11-4, 18-11, 20-14, 16-9, 19-10, 15-9, 18-12, 14-8, 6-2, 10-4, 12-4, 20-12, 17-12, 13-8, 10-6, 11-4, 16-12, 15-10, 18-10 (cy), 5-2, 11-2, 17-12, 12-5, 10-2, 14-8, 14-5, 7-4, 16-10, 11-5, 18-8, 9-5, 11-6, 9-5. Most of these were guys who got no publicity as they weren't strikeout pitchers. Twenty-five years of "coincidence"? No, his teammates would have ALSO had bad win-loss %'s if they tried to throw a 27K no-hitter each time they went out......People keep living longer, batters keep striking out more, and lifetime records keep cheapening. There will be more high-total-strikeout pitchers in the Hall of Fame by the year 2099 and they will be able to have a high w/l % as well from being active so many years. Ryan will then look like a Ray Schalk. And what does his w/l % tell you about his leadership ability? This is all a syndrome of the "WHITE-TRASHING" of America. The average baseball fan nowadays is approaching what we called "white-trash" in his way of thinking. Back in the 60s only ignorant white-trash watched "pro"-wrestling, got tattoos, had pitbulls or rottweilers, covered himself with sports team logos, followed NASCAR (for the crashes), watched roller derby, and judged everything in sports by OFFENSE (i.e. brute power). The more a sport emphasizes POWER the more morons it attracts. And we're developing more morons all the time so that means more fannies in the seats. White-trash people want to see homeruns by batters and fastballs by pitchers (and hockey fights and race car crashes and basketball stuffing and high scores in every sport). Never mind that the homers are hit by doped-up players striking a doped-up ball in bandbox stadiums against minor leaguers brought up due to rapid league expansion. Never mind that swinging for the fences on every pitch causes more strikeouts so its much, much easier for a pitcher to rack up Ks today.....I think the most DESPICABLY DISHONEST SPORTSWRITERS are the ones who say,"I think that the most telling thing about the ability of a pitcher is his 'batting average allowed' or 'opposition batting average'. Such writers obviously worked backwards to find something that could most emphasize Ryan's good trait while hiding all the bad ones. This is obviously as stupid as saying that the way to tell the greatest player is to go by his batting average and nothing else. So a guy with a .288 b.a and No homeruns, No doubles, No triples, No walks is better than a .287 batter with 50 hrs, 50d, 50t, 150bb. Well, here are two years that the great Sandy Koufax led the league in OBA: one year he did it with a .220 oba and had 131k in 153ip. The other year he did it with a .207 oba and 197k in just 153 ip. Typical Ryan-like years. So they must have been great! Right? Well, the first one was in 1958 when Sandy went 11-11 4.48 era. And the second was 1960 when Sandy went 8-13 3.91era. Yes, Ryan was just a Koufax who never woke up.....I was just reading an article about the 'great' Ryan which said that he "BLOSSOMED ALL AT ONCE WHEN TRADED FOR FREGOSI" another "coincidence'? No, he was traded to a team with an airport stadium that was very pro-pitching. Had he been trade to Fenway or Wrigley they would have said he got worse....From Hidden Game of Baseball. Page 89: "This (all-time record biased-towards-pitchers ballpark record) held until 1981, when the Astrodome intimidated opposing hitters to such a point that in the 51 homegames of that strike-shortened season, Astro hurlers were touched for only 106 runs-2.08 per game. The Pitcher Park Factor of .817 for the Astrodome was the lowest ever. Those who suspected that men like Joe Niekro, Don Sutton, Vern Ruhle, et al., were perhaps not worldbeaters after all were right: Look at the ERAs the Astro starters registered that year, and what these ERAs might have been in an AVERAGE park like Shea that year (BPF: 1.00) or a moderately difficult pitcher's park like San Francisco (BPF: 1.06). Table V,5. Houston Pitchers. Nolan Ryan 1.69=2.07=2.19, joe Niekro 2.82=3.43=3.64, Vern Ruhle 2.91=3.56=3.77, Bob Knepper 2.18=2.66=2.82, Don Sutton 2.60=3.17=3.36, HOUSTON(all): 2.66=3.24=3.44, SAN FRANCISCO (all): 3.28=3.09=3.28. san Francisco with its team ERA of 3.28 had a better pitching staff than Houston with its 2.66; and Houston batters, regarded as a Punch-and-Judy crew by all observers, must have been a lot more effective than heretofore suspected. adjusted for park they're the BEST hitting team in the N.L. One might have come to a similar conclusion by examining the runs scored total for all NL clubs ON THE ROAD in 1981"..Me again: The point here is that 1) Ryan spent most of his career in pro-pitchers parks and 2) The ONLY time Ryan ever won an ERA title while having a winning record was when a) he pitched in the most bias pitchers' park in baseball history and b)the only time a strike eliminated the middle third of the season. He won his second ERA title in 1987 when he was 8-16 2.76. If a pitcher is in a SMALL batter's park with a bizarre record like that it means that the 8-16 was very unlucky and he got gypped. If he was in a BIG pitcher's stadium with a record like that it means that he was lucky to be in such a park and the ERA was a gift. Guess which type he was in?!(HINT: that 2.76 came from 2.21 at home and 3.41 away).......I don't understand these strikeout fanatics anyway. Do they believe that baseball is a game in which 9 men are allowed to get up 3 times each and after 27 batters the game stops? The fact is that all teams get 27 outs, whether they are the 1927 Yankees or the 1899 Cleveland Spiders and an INFINITE number of trips to the plate between those 27 outs. The 27 are always there. The 27 are always used (unless a rainout or hometeam ahead in ninth). IT DOES NOT MATTER IF THE 27 outs ARE 27Ks OR 27 POPOUTS OR 27 LINEOUTS OR 27 ANYOUTS. AS THE 27 OUTS ARE ALWAYS THERE IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT TYPE OF OUTS THEY ARE ( That makes as much sense as cutting yourself with a knife and the doctor caring about the knife's color) WHAT MATTERS IS WHAT HAPPENS BETWEEN, BETWEEN, BETWEEN THOSE 27 OUTS. What happened between Koufax's 27 outs was, "virtually nothing". What happened between Ryan's 27 outs was, "many walks followed by some extra-base hits"...........From Clipping: Ryan has to know that the trade to California turned his career around. In New York he might have become a second Rex Barney, a hard thrower of legendary proportions who just quite didnt make it........CLIPPING: "He relieved Gentry again in the 7th inning of the 4th Series game, was saved by Agee's great lunging catch. The Mets, recognizing his speed but concerned about his consistency, and repeated injuries, decided to give him up. Whil all in basebal admire Ryan for his speed, few speak of him with the same sense of pitching awe reserved for Koufax in his prime, Seaver, Gibson, Feller, Grove, Johnson, a few others. There has always been this sub rosa sense that with that incredible speed and that God-given pitching power, Ryan has been an underachiever, a pitcher who should have set as many records for winning as he has for strikeouts." CLIPPINGS: "To the extent that the Astros are perceived as a team with little power, it is largely a park illusion. The Astros hit only 26 homeruns in the Astrodome (Their opponents hit 28) but they hit 71 homeruns in neutral parks. Only the Dodgers hit more."....."My only disagreement with Gil (Hodges) was in the way he used me. I understood the situation with the reserve obligations and the other pitchers, but I just wanted to pitch more.It was very difficult when you are trying to establish your career and you pitch one day and sit for two weeks before you pitch again" (me: It was the 1969 pennant race. Hodges needed WINNERS, not PERFORMERS. A Ryan in the rotation would have LOST them the pennant (But, hey, he would have had lots of Ks and maybe a no-hitter and that's all that matters, right? Look what happened to the teams that DID give him the rotation spot he wanted. His w/l % remained low for decades. OOPS, "coincidences and bad luck" My mistake)......Sports Illustrated: "Ryan might have been another Rex Barney if he had pitched in 1950. The discipline of the hitters would have made it impossible for him to amass anywhere near 5,000 Ks. 1950: 8.10 Ks/game 4.14 era,,,1990: 11.67 Ks/game 3.49 era.......CLIPPING: 1984 : "Pitchers receiving WORST offensive support: (names listed are: mason, stewart, cocanower, haas, comer, langston, sutton, black, moore, schrom, russell, mcmurtry, rogers, valenzuela, deleon, tudor, honeycutt, mahler, robinson, show. Ryan was not on list.You can win games OR you can amass Ks. Few could do both. w/l % and Ks are usually mutually exclusive. Pitchers know this but put their TEAMS first)...CLIPPING : "righthanded starting pitching 1983" (note: 1983 was Ryan's BEST w/l year. The list has him ranked eleventh! under stieb, rogers, soto, dodson, morris, welch, hoyt, denny, hough, sutcliff,(ryan), petry.). NOTE: In a quarter-century Ryan was NEVER ranked the best pitcher in his league (never mind both leagues) by ANY ranking system anywhere. But one ranking system ,once in 1977, ranked him number three........CHECK LINKS BELOW........292 LOSSES....WHY DID HE REALLY QUIT? BECAUSE HE REACHED 292 LOSSES. HE WOULD HAVE GOTTEN HIS 300th LOSS THIS YEAR AND SOMETHING LIKE 330-300 WOULD HAVE BEEN VERY OBVIOUS.......Ever check out how little players struck out in Walter Johnson's day? There were guys who played the whole season and got under 20 strikeouts. Yet Johnson got 300 Ks by throwing a big puffball 100 mph past them. Actually players were ASHAMED to strikeout until the 1970s: just in time for Ryan. Since then its all been swing-from-the-heels for the rubes in the stands who are too stupid to understand anything but power. Duh!.. ...UNDER CONSTRUCTION<.... ..... NOT PROOFREAD..Pass the word of this website to others...Why am I writing this? 1) INCREDIBLE MEDIA BIAS. The same newspapers which publish unlimited slander against everything else ( Including Jesus Christ, the flag, etc.) will publish NOTHING sent to them disagrreing that ryan is NOT a God. In all the years I tried I only got three snippets published- and all 3 times the disonest, biased editors saw fit to go out of their way to write an insult and run a bigger pro-Ryan letter right after mine. Yet they published unlimited PRO-Ryan letters without any equal time for those who disagreed.....2) THE DAN QUAYLE FACTOR: I was no fan of Quayle. I even had a letter published in a national magazine attacking him. But the anti-Quayle hysteria was on at the same time as the pro-Ryan hysteria was at its peak. Quayle was called a coward and a traitor for dodging the Vietnam War yet Ryan, who dodged it the same way was considered an all-American hero. Now either they were BOTH right to dodge OR they were BOTH wrong. You can't have it both ways! (Me? I got drafted and kicked out when they discovered I had an ulcer)..... ..... CHECK OTHER NOLAN RYAN PAGE ON BOTTOM SET OF LINKS. ..Im sorry but Im just not excited about a 330 game winner who is also a 300 game loser. Divided by 30 years that's 11-10. DO NOT FORGET TO GO TO PAGE TWO OF THIS NOLAN RYAN SCREED.
...LINK THIS TO MESSAGE BOARDS... ..When I was a kid I used to get upset when sportswriters who were ADULTS and were supposed to KNOW baseball would write incredibly STUPID things like about what an amazing "COINCIDENCE" it was that so many batting title winners were Pittsburgh Pirates. As if it had NOTHING to do with Forbes Field. LOOK: there are TWO major factors that cause ballpark bias: size of park and backround visibility. Obviously the farther back you push the fences the fewer the homers you get BUT also the higher the batting averages you will cause. Because as the wall goes back the outfield area increases and the outfielders have to defend a bigger area. If a player can hit,say, .300 and 25 homers in a park before the fences are pushed back he might hit .320-20 homers afterwards- IF the backround stays the same. However most big stadiums have bad backrounds as well so the batters can't see the ball. So the OVERALL batting APPEARS worse and the pitching APPEARS better. Sportwriters marvelled at how Joe Morgan suddenly turned into a superstar in 1972- when he went from the HOUSTON ASTRODOME to Cincinnati. Well, duh! (What qualifications does it take to be a sportswriter. Just to be able to type?) (I wonder what Ruth's stats would have been if he stayed at tiny Fenway?). It's a damn shame that Ryan didnt have one year in Fenway or Wrigley or Tiger Stadium. (DO NOT BOTHER ME WITH THE SO-CALLED "GREATNESS" OF BATTERS WHO HIT IN SMALL PARKS OR PITCHERS WHO PITCH IN BIG PARKS!). My TOTAL BASEBALL pnly lists Ryan with the Astros from 1984 -1988. Here are his ERAs for the huge, bad backround Astrodome that he pitched half the time in each year: 2.16, 3.14, 2.56, 2.21, 2.91. NOW here are his games in all the other league parks that averaged out to normal: 3.70, 4.72, 4.57, 3.41, 4.08. EVERY REAL BASEBALL FAN KNOWS that a pitchers REAL ERA is his ROAD ERA when he isnt being helped by his home stadium bias. Unfortunately, the home stadium is where he is for half his games so it really WARPS his ERA. Road ERA= ALL STADIUMS minus one. Home ERA=ONE BIASED STADIUM.......But here's an interesting fact the MOMENT Ryan was traded to the Angels he started winning STRIKEOUT TITLES. He got there in 1972 and stayed through 1979. I guess it was another "COINCIDENCE" that he won every strikeout title during those exact same years of 1972-1979 (except the year he was injured) and it all "COINCIDENTALLY" stopped the moment he went to Houston in 1980. He never won one before the Angel Airport, suddenly won every year at the Angel Airport (except injury year), and the streak stopped the instant he left the Angel Airport. "Coincidence?". He then had no Strikeout titles at Houston for SEVEN YEARS. Obviously the Angel Airport gave him his K titles. The Astrodome Airport then gave him his two K titles: one during the strike year of 1981, the other while going 8-16 in 1987. Why? Obviously California had the worst backround while Houston had the larger stadium. Anaheim: 370-404-370, Houston: 390-400-390, later 'reduced' to 378-400-378. Will Ryan get elected? Sure! The media bias brainwashed everyone including the Hall of Fame voters ( the young idiots I knew better than when I was a kid now turned more senile). Who are the voters? The names are hidden. All I know is that there are about 450-500 of them and they average one per newspaper circulation of 100,000. So if you have a paper of 500,000 circ there are probably 5 Hall voters affiliated with it.......Ryan home 1984-1993: 67-46 3.03, On Road: 38-51 3.81. Remember: road stats are the REAL ones. Throughout history (since 1900) pitchers have been .543 at home and .457 on the road. But Ryan is .593 at home these years mentioned. Stadium bias.......Yes, it's all "coincidence" and "bad luck". I had probability and statistics courses during my ten university years but I won't get into the the complications here. Let's just say that you can be either coincidentally good or coincidentally bad. Or have good luck or bad luck. Like flipping a coin. Ignoring a standing on edge. A quarter-century of bad luck, bad coincidences against Ryan? That's a 50% chance one year. For two years straight it would be 50% x 50% equals 25%. For 3 years it would be 50% x 50% x 50% equals 12.5 %. When you start getting to 23, 24, years you get a number so small it's like an Atomic Number. IF A MAN IS 8-16 2.76 IN FENWAY IT MEANS THE 8-16 IS INCREDIBLY BAD LUCK. IF HE'S 8-16 2.76 IN THE ASTROAIRPORT IT MEANS THE 2.76 WAS INCREDIBLY GOOD LUCK..........."But Ryan had no batting support". Hey, goof. The same pro-pitching anti-batter park that lowered visiting batter stats ALSO lowered his own batters' stats. His batters did fine on the road, some years the best of all........Ryan's playoff record nicely reflects his regular season record. 46Ks in 41 ip. A three-hitter and a four-hitter. BUT 1-1 3.70 as he STUNK between the strikeouts and stunk when not throwing a low-hitter. Six games: two good, four terrible. Just like his season stat rate.....Let's take a look at the stadia involved.SHEA STADIUM 1966-1971 1964-1971+ stats: 341-371-410-371-341 (to outfield walls)..... ANAHEIM STADIUM 1972-1979."known as Big A" Site of 1967 All Star Game.(The one that went 0-0 through nine innings).1966-1972: 375-386-406-386-375. .1973: 369-386-402-386-369 1974-1988: 374-386-404-386-374 1989: 370-386-404-386-370... ..HOUSTON ASTRODOME: 1980-1988: 1977-1984: 340-390-406-390-340..1985-1988 330-378-400-390-330.....TEXAS 1989-retirement.1972-1993: 330-380-400-380-330..Now note the following. He NEVER won any strikeout titles before he went to Anaheim.Just before they got him they pulled in the fences. Then they suddenly got him and immediately pushed the fences back. And there's no record if the backround was alrerady bad or if they made it worse deliberately. But he then proceeded to win the strikeout title there every single year he had that synthesized stadium behind him (except the one year he was injured). Then he left. The moment he left, Total Baseball lists vast changes that were done to the rear of the stadium where the batters had to look all those years for the ball. Large things were suddenly removed from the outfield and the outfield was enclosed and triple-decked. Unfortunately the next year was the strike year with its weird stats so we cant tell the effect. But it sure looks like they quickly pushed back the fences and messed with the batters' backround view just for him, did not touch the field while he won all those strikeout titles, and , the moment he left they suddenly removed a vast amount of pro-pitcher backround . Note that after he left that stadium he suddenly forgot how to win strikeout titles for the next SEVEN years........To put Ryan's 1981 strike year ERA title in perspective please recall that that was the year that Goose Gossage pitched in 32 games and had an ERA of 0.77.. ....A Phila. News poll picked Ryan as the greatest pitcher in history. Shows how easily people can be brainwashed by only being allowed to hear one name all the time and only hear one side of the story. Thank God trials arent like the press. Only the STATE would be allowed to give its case. And why does the adding up of the opinions of a hundred idiots make it more correct than one idiot alone? Here's a man who never won ONE Cy Young Award and never led his team to ONE pennant. Well, I realize its an insult to compare the greatest pitcher of all time not to the other (but lesser) great pitchers of all time but I even dare to list the sainted Ryan with the best pitchers of his day. ..... ..... 1966 koufax 27-9 1.73, marichal 25-6 2.23, bunning 19-14 2.41, perry 21-8 2.99, short 20-10 3.54 gibson 21-12 2.44, maloney 16-8 2.80, ryan 0-1 15.00, kaat 25-13 2.75, peters 12-10 1.98, siebert 16-8 2.80, nash 12-1 2.06, aker 8-4 1.99 ..... ..... 1967: Gone! with Dan Quayle? ..... ..... 1968: gibson 22-9 1.12, marichal 26-9 2.43, washburn 14-8 2.26, jenkins 20-15 2.63, blass 18-6 2.12, kline 12-5 1.68, short 19-13 2.94 koosman 19-12 2.08, seaver 16-12 2.20, ryan 6-9 3.09, mclain 31-6 1.96, lolich 17-9 3.19, mcnally 22-10 1.95 tiatnt 21-9 1.60, culp 16-6 2.91, ellsworth 16-7 3.03, stottlemyre 21-12 3.45, bahnsen 17-12 2.05, odom 16-10 2.45 ..... ......... 1969: seaver 25-7 2.21, koosman 17-9 2.28, ryan 6-3 3.53, mcgraw 9-3 2.24, jenkins 21-15 3.21, hands 20-14 2.49, gibson 20-13 2.18, carlton 17-11 2.17, niekro 23-13 2.57, perry 19-14 2.49, marichal 21-11 2.10, maloney 12-5 2.77, osteen 20-15 2.66, singer 20-12 2.34, dierker 20-13 2.33, cuellar 23-11 2.38, mcnally 20-7 3.22, palmer 16-4 2.34, mclain 24-9 2.80, nagy 12-2 3.11, bosman 14-5 2.19, stottlemyre 20-14 2.82, ..... ..... 1970: jenkins 22-16 3.39, holtzman 17-11 3.38, seaver 18-12 2.81, gibson 23-7 3.12, nolan 18-7 3.26, simpson 14-3 3.02, perry 23-13 3.20, ryan 7-11 3.41, palmer 20-10 2.71, cuellar 24-8 3.47, mcnally 24-9 3.22, peterson 20-11 2.91, mcdaniel 9-5 2.01, mcdowell 20-12 2.92, hargan 11-3 2.90, bosman 16-12, j.perry 24-12 3.03, hall 11-6 2.55, williams 10-1 1.99, wright 22-12 2.83 ..... ..... 1971: blass 15-8, 2.85, ellis 19-9 3.05, carlton 20-9 3.56, jenkins 24-13 2.77, seaver 20-10 1.76, mcgraw 16-12 2.76, marichal 18-11 2.94, sutton 17-12 2.55, downing 20-9 2.68, ryan 10-14 3.97, gullett 16-6 2.64, wilson 16-10 2.45, cuellar 20-9 3.08, palmer 20-9 2.68, dobson 20-8 2.90, mcnally 21-5 2.89, lolich 25-14 2.92, coleman 20-9 3.15, blue 24-8 1.82, hunter 21-11 2.96, drago 17-11 2.99, hedlund 15-8 2.71, wood 22-13 1.91, messersmith 20-13 2.99..... ..... 1972: blass 19-8 2.49, ellis 15-7 2.70, jenkins 20-12 3.21, pappas 17-7 2.77, seaver 21-12 2.92, matlack 15-10 2.32, gibson 19-11 2.46, marshall 14-8 1.78, carlton 27-10 1.97, nolan 15-5 1.99 (No, not ryan. Ryan never had a year this good), wilson 15-10 2.68, sutton 19-9 2.08, osteen 20-11 2.64, john 11-5 2.89, bryant 14-7 2.90, ryan 19-16 2.28, nelson 11-6 2.08, kaat 10-2 2.07, lolich 22-14, 2.50, coleman 19-14 2.80, fryman 10-3 2.05, tiant 15-6 1.91, palmer 21-10 2.07, cuellar 18-12 2.57, kline 16-9 2.40, lyle 9-5 1.91, g.perry 24-16 1.92, wood 24-17 2.51, hunter 21-7 2.04, holtzman 19-11 2.51, odom 15-6 2.50...... (NOTE: Major League Baseball has been around since 1871. That's 127+ years. Yet in all that time ONE-THIRD of all the 300 game winners that ever lived pitched at the same time. Is that a 'coincidence"? NO! It means the particulars of the time caused it to become a lot easier to win 300 in that particular era. Just like it was much easier to bat .400 in certain dead-ball eras... ..... 1973: seaver 19-10 2.08, stone 12-3 2.80, rooker 10-6 2.85, renko 15-11 2.81, marshall 14-11 2.66, rogers 11-5 1.54, billingham 19-10 3.04, gullett 18-8 3.51, sutton 18-10 2.42, messersmith 14-10 2.70, osteen 16-11 3.31, john 16-7 3.10, roberts 17-11 2.85, bryan 24-12 3.54, palmer 22-9 2.40, cuellar 18-13 3.27, b.lee 17-11 2.74, tiant 20-13 3.34, coleman 23-15 3.53, medich 14-9 2.95, colborn 20-12 3.18, holtzman 21-13 2.97, blue 20-9 3.28, hunter 21-5 3.34, blyleven 20-17 2.52, ryan 21-16 2.87, singer 20-14 3.22 (Note how he can barely win 20 when everybody else can win 20. Just like he made 300 in the period when lots were reaching 300 and 300 game winners were so plentiful that they were even pitching against each other. Its called inflation. ......... ..... 1974: rooker 15-11 2.77, mcglothln 16-12 2.70, lonborg 17-13 3.21, messersmith 20-6 2.59, sutton 19-9 3.23, marshall 15-12 2.42, gullett 17-11 3.04, niekro 20-13 2.38, capra 16-8 2.28, caldwell 14-5 2.95, cuellar 22-10 3.11, dobson 19-15 3.07, tiant 22-13 2.92, g.perry 21-13 2.52, ryan 22-16 2.89, j.perry 17-12 2.96, hunter 25-12 2.49, jenkins 25-12 2.83, kaat 21-13 2.92, johnson 10-4 2.73, busby 22-14 3.39, fitzmorris 13-6 2.79, (Note that a TRUE Cy Young Winner has a record something like 25-5. Its not until there are off years where the Cy winner had losses in DOUBLE FIGURES AND BARELY SCRAPED 20 WINS THAT RYAN EVEN GOT MENTIONED FOR A CY. AND THOSE WERE HIS ONLY COUPLE OF GOOD YEARS. ..... ..... 1975: reuss 18-11 2.54, seaver 22-9 2.38, forsch 15-10 2.86, hrabowsky 13-3 1.67, nolan 15-9 3.16, gullett 15-4 2.42, hooton 18-7 2.82, montefusco 15-9 2.88, jones 20-12 2.24, palmer 23-11 2.09, torrez 20-9, hunter 23-14 2.58, eckersley 13-7 2.60, blue 22-11 3.01, busby 18-12 3.08, g.perry 12-8 3.03, blyleven 15-10 3.00, kaat 20-14 3.11, tanana 16-9 2.62, ryan 14-12 3.45, ..... ..... 1976: carlton 20-7 3.13, lonborg 18-10,3.08, candelaria 16-7 3.15, seaver 14-11 2.59, koosman 21-10 2.70, denny 11-9 2.52, zachary 14-7 2.74, gullett 11-3 3.00, eastwick 11-5 2.08, sutton 21-10 3.06, rhoden 12-3 2.98, hough 12-8 2.21, richard 20-15 2.75, montefusco 16-14 2.84, lavelle 10-6 2.69, r.jones 22-14 2.74, metzger 11-4 2.92, palmer 22-13 2.51, garland 20-7 2.68, tiant 21-12 3.06, kern 10-7 2.36, fidrych 19-9 2.34, hiller 12-8 2.38, blue 18-13 2.36, torrez 16-12 2.50, fingers 13-11 2.47, campbell 17-5 3.01, tanana 19-10 2.44, ryan 17-18* 3.36, SHOULDN'T A FIRST BALLOT HALL OF FAMER AT LEAST STAND OUT A LITTLE BIT AT SOME TIME IN HIS OWN LEAGUE??? ..... ..... 1977: carlton 23-10 2.64, candelaria 20-5 2.54, gossage 11-9 1.62, forsch 20-7 3.48, reuschel 20-10 2.79, john 20-7 2.78, seaver 14-3 2.34, richard 18-12 2,97, guidry 16-7 2.82, lyle 13-5 2.17, palmer 20-11 2.91, leonard 20-12 3.04, goltz 20-11 3.36, ryan 19-16 2.77, tanana 15-9 2.54 ..... ..... 1978: guidry 25-3 1.74, fugueroa 20-9 2.99.. ...FOR LACK OF SPACE THIS LIST HAS BEEN CONTINUED ON PAGE TWO. GO BELOW AND CLICK ON "NOLAN RYAN NOT AGAIN"..... ..... ..... 10-7-98 ..... ..... ..........Well, if he wasnt the greatest of all time or even the greatest of his era maybe he was at least the greatest on his own team.:..... METS 1966 ryan 0-1, 1967 gone, ..... ..... 1968 seaver 16-12 2.20, koosman 19-12 2.08, ryan 6-9 3.09, ..... ..... 1969: seaver 25-7 2.20, koosman 17-9 2.28, mcgraw 9-3 2.24, ryan 6-3 3.53 ..... ..... 1970: seaver 18-12 2.81, koosman 12-7 3.14, gentry 9-9 3.69, ryan 7-11 3.41 frisella 8-3 3.00 ..... ..... 1971: seaver 20-10 1.76, gentry 12-11 3.24, koosman 6-11 3.04, sadecki 7-7 2.93, ryan 10-14 3.97, mcgraw 11-4 1.70, frisella 8-5 1.98 bye bye Ryan. Mets had enough..... ...... Hello biased park. ANGELS 1972 ryan 19-16 2.28, wright 18-11 2.98, may 12-11 2.94, barber 4-4 2.02,..... ..... 1973: ryan 21-16 2.87, singer 20-14 3.22, ......... ..... 1974: ryan 22-16 2.89, hassler 7-11 2.61, tanana 14-19 3.11, singer 7-4 2.97, ..... ..... 1975 ryan 14-12 3.45, tanana 16-9 2.62, figeroa 16-13 2.91, kirkwood 6-5 3.11, ..... ..... 1976 tanana 19-10 ryan 17-18 3.36, ross 8-16 3.00, hartzell 7-4 2.77, ..... ..... 1977: ryan 19-16 2.77, tanana 15-9 2.54, .......... 1978: tanana 18-12 3.65, ryan 10-13 3.71, knapp 14-8 4.21, laroche 10-9 2.81 ..... 1979: frost 16-10 3.58, ryan 16-14 3.59, clear 11-5 3.63 bye bye Ryan. The Angels hoped that re-making the stadium for you would lead them to pennants...... ..... HOUSTON: 1980: niekro 20-12 3.55, ryan 11-10 3.35, ruhle 12-4 2.38, forsch 12-13 3.20, richard 10-4 1.89, smith 7-5 1.92, ..... ..... 1981: niekro 99-2.82, sutton 11-9 2.60, knepper 9-5 2.18, ryan 11-5 1.69, sambito 5-5 1.83, ..... ..... 1982: niekro 17-12 2.47, ryan 16-12 3.16, sutton 13-8 3.00, ..... ..... 1983: niekro 15-14 3.48, knepper 6-13 3.19, ryan 14-9 2.98, scott 10-6 3.72, dawley 6-6 2.82, ..... ..... 1984: niekro 16-12 3.04, knepper 15-10 3.20, ryan 12-11 3.04, danley 11-4 1.93, smith 5-4 2.21, ..... ..... 1985: knepper 15-13 3.55, ryan 10-12 3.80, scott 18-8 3.29, smith 9-5 2.27, ..... ..... 1986: scott 18-10 2.22, knepper 17-12 3.14, ryan 12-8 3.34, deshailes 12-5 3.25, kerfeld 11-2 2.59 ..... ..... 1987: scott 16-13 3.23, ryan 8-16 2.76, deshaies 11-6 4.62, d.smith 2-3 1.65 ..... 1988: scott 14-8 2.92, ryan 12-11 3.52, deshaies 11-14 3.00, knepper 14-5 3.14, l.anderson 2-4 2.94, d.smith 4-5 2.67, ..... 1989: brown 12-9 3.35, ryan 16-10 3.20, russell 6-4 1.98, ..... ..... 1990: witt 17-10 3.36, ryan 13-9 3.44, rogers 10-6 3.13, arnsberg 6-1 2.15, brown 12-10 3.60, ..... ..... 1991: guzman 13-7 3.08, ryan 12-6 2.91, russell 6-4 3.29, ..... ..... 1992: brown 21-11 3.32, guzman 16-11 3.66, ryan 5-9 3.72, rogers 3-6 3.09, russell 2-3 1.91 THE MAN DOES NOT EVEN STAND OUT ON HIS OWN TEAM!!!MUCH LESS HIS LEAGUE!!!.....TO BE WORKED ON LATER .... ......MORE TO COME. ...NOT PROOFREAD YET> Perpetually under construction.. ....RYAN'S PLAYOFF RECORD: 1969: came into third game with Mets behind 2-0. Mets suddenly scored SEVEN runs to hand him his win. 7-4. ..... ..... 1979: started first game. Taken out in 8th 3-3 tie. Montague in to lose. Not back for remainder of series. 1980- Started second game. Again taken out with 3-3 in 7th. LaCorte in to win. Started 5th (FINAL DECIDING GAME in those days). Taken out without winning. But, hey, how many Ks did he get, eh? After all that's all that matters) LaCorte in to lose. That's the 3rd time in a row he was taken out as they didnt trust him with a tie. And twice his teammates saved him with SEVEN runs. 1986: Started 2nd game. Blown away 5-1. Started 5th game. Taken out 1-1 (No trust). Kerfeld in to lose. HAD RYAN WON HIS GAME METS WOULD HAVE BEEN FORCED TO FACE SCOTT WHO CRUSHED THEM IN GAME ONE 1-0 AND GAME FOUR 3-1. Special note: In the weird 1981 strike year divisional playoffs he won the first game 3-1 but in the DETERMINING GAME (5th) he got blown out 4-0.....Bill James once did a study of Don Drysdale's most important games and how poorly he did. I'll bet that both Nolan Ryan and Don Newcombe were just as bad.... .....Ryan 1974- 367k, 202 bb 1977-341k, 204 bb, 1976-327k, 183 bb. Remember 2bb=one single.. ....CORRECTION: I just did find one ranking system which once ranked Ryan number one for a year somewhere. Of course it was in the weird 1981 strike year. In Total Baseball there is a Top Five list for both All-Players and Just-Pitchers. All Players: N RYAN: 1966-no, 1968-no, 1969-no, 1970-no, 1971-no, 1972-no, 1973-no, 1974-no, 1975-no, 1976-no, 1977-no, 1978-no, 1979-no, 1980-no, 1981-4th! 1982-no, 1983-no, 1984-no, 1985-no, 1986-no, 1987-no, 1988-no, 1989-no, 1990-no, 1991-no, 1992-no, 1993-no. Pitchers: 1966-no, 1968-no, 1969-no, 1970-no, 1971-no, 1972-no, 1973-no, 1974-no, 1975-no, 1976-no, 1977-2nd!, 1978-no, 1979-no, 1980-no, 1981-1st!, 1982-no, 1983-no, 1984-no, 1985-no, 1986-no, 1987-no, 1988-no, 1989-no, 1990-no, 1991-no, 1992-no, 1993-no, Well, 1981 was made to order for immature fireballers who never learned to pace themselves. They could throw their arms out for the first one-third of the season, then rest for months during the strike, then throw hard again for the last third. Note that in that same year, 1981, Goose Gossage pitched in 32 games and had an ERA of 0.77. That is NOT a typo: 0.77!!! Can you possibly imagine any other Hall Of Fame pitcher with such little Top Five dominance in his league, much less in all of baseball?....As for MVP, in 22 of 29 years not one voter in 500 gave him even one point for MVP!!! Out of a COUPLE THOUSAND possible MVP points during his career he got 75!!! That's Hall of Fame material???.......Check Randy Johnson's great years.!! Check Sandy Koufax's great years.!! Check their ERAs, strikeouts, win-loss records, and what they did at the end of the seasons to LEAD their teams to pennants.!!! Where do you see that anywhere in Ryan's career???...under construction...9-30-98...I STILL CANT GET OVER THE FACT THAT SO MANY SO-CALLED KNOWLEDGABLE SPORTSWRITERS STILL COUNT THE METS TRADE-AWAY OF NOLAN RYAN AS ONE OF THE WORST TRADES IN HISTORY!! WHY? BECAUSE OF ALL THE PENNANTS HE LED HIS TEAMS TO IN THE NEXT TWENTY YEARS? BECAUSE OF ALL THE CY YOUNG AWARDS HE WON? BECAUSE OF ALL HIS TRIPLE CROWN SEASONS? BECAUSE OF ALL HIS MVP AWARDS? PERHAPS IT WAS BECAUSE OF THE METS COLLAPSE THE YEAR AFTER THEY GOT RID OF HIM? ( In actuality, like a diver cutting a cinder block off his ankle, they jumped up twenty points after ridding themselves of him and then won the pennant). They didnt need another "performer", they already had Mr.Met. ..... ..... ...... CHECK LINKS ON BOTTOM..... DO NOT FORGET TO GO TO PAGE TWO OF THIS NOLAN RYAN SCREED.. https://members.tripod.com/~NolanRyanNot/index-2.html is the second page. The first page is https://members.tripod.com/~NolanRyanNot/index.html for those who wish to link to it or put it on message boards.
THIS IS A HALL OF FAMER: 0-0, 8-5, 21-10, 15-12, 21-14, 21-17, 22-14, 14-19, 23-7, 21-12, 17-14, 20-11, 21-11, 22-11, 21-15, 21-10, 21-13, 18-14, 23-7, 6-13, 7-16 (spahn). AND THIS IS A JOURNEYMAN PITCHER: 0-1, 6-9, 7-11, 10-14, 19-16, 21-16, 22-16, 14-12, 17-18, 19-16, 10-13,16-14, 11-10, 11-5, 16-12, 14-9, 12-11, 10-12, 12-8, 8-16, 12-11, 16-10, 13-9, 12-6, 5-9,(ryan).....Led in walks allowed 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982, Lost 18 once, Lost 16 five times, Lost 14 twice. 319-287. The 287 is the third most losses in baseball history. The 319 is nowhere near the third most wins in history, Total Baseball ranks him the 86th best pitcher in history and the 250th best player in history. I think theyre biased towards him. Or being kind.. .....PEOPLE WOULD SAY STUPID THINGS LIKE, "WOW!, Imagine a team rotation of all Nolan Ryans." OKAY, above is Nolan Ryan's record. Which four of those seasons do you want? Would even his very best four seasons be enough?..Now just imagine the four best seasons of a guy like Young or Johnson or Grove or Mathewson or Koufax or Alexander or, or, or, ... .......Phil Mushnik column of Sept.14, 1998 (When McGuire and Sosa already had their phony 62):"Jeromy Burwitz, a former Met who now plays for the Brewers, has 35 (homers). Vladimir Guerrero broke the Expos' single-season team record Saturday with his 37th. You'd barely know that Jose Canseco is still in the majors. He's with the Jays this year. He has 42. His teammates Shawn Green and Carlos Delgado have 32 and 31, respectively. Cleveland's Manny Ramirez has 37. Nomar Garciaparra, Boston's 167-pound shortstop, has 31. eric Davis, with 150 fewer at-bats than Burnitz, has 27. Brave catcher Javy Lopez has 33. Friday night, Shannon Stewart of the Blue Jays hit a ball that left the bat as an opposite-field pop fly and landed over the right-field wall in Yankee Stadium. Hmmm." What Phil is getting at here is the PHONINESS of homeruns nowadays. Mushnik, Oct 2,1998: Phil mentions ROOKIE Shane Spencer hit ten homeruns in 1998 in just 67 at-bats. At that rate he could get close to a hundred. PHONY BLOATED STATS!! People who KNOW baseball know that that stats can be rigged by changing the equipment, stadiums, rules, etc. (I say they are doped-up players hitting doped-up balls in bandbox stadiums thrown by minor-league pitchers brought up due to runaway expansion caused by MLB needing the entry-fee cash quickly. They know that HOMERUNS by batters and STRIKEOUTS by pitchers put (white-trash) fannies in the seats.).......From, i believe, Hidden Game: "Nolan Ryan's lifetime ERA, an impressive 3.11, has been hugely helped by the fact that he has pitched all his home games in pitchers' parks, first Shea, then Anaheim, now the Astrodome. His lifetime PF (park factor) of .942 is lower than that of all the top 100 pitchers except Warren Spahn, Lefty Gomez and Don Sutton. Ryan's ERA at home through 1982, in fact, was 2.41, while on the road it was 3.75-NOT EVEN A LEAGUE-AVERAGE PERFORMANCE (My capitalization). The ERA title is worth more than the won-lost title, which in turn is worth more than the strikeout leadership. It's possible to lead the league in strikeouts in an otherwise poor year, as Nolan Ryan did a couple of times with the Angels." My Note: even if you average Spahn down in proportion to his PF he is still VASTLY beyond Ryan) "Of the 815 men who have played in 1000 or more games since 1900 NO batter has suffered more for his "choice" of home park than HOUSTON'S Jose Cruz.".....Table V.6.Worst Hitter's Parks Since 1900: 1981 HOUSTON, 1906 chicago, 1981 TEXAS, 1918 boston al , 1958 milwaukee, 1926 boston nl , 1976 HOUSTON, 1950 boston nl , 1953 cleveland, 1975 oakland.. ....In 1990, right after Ryan threw one of his no-hitters, the players voted for "best in game". Jose Canseco came in first with 122 votes. Ryan got a token ONE vote.....When the players voted for who should be the AL starter in the all-star game the players gave Clemens 111 votes and Ryan a token ONE vote. Players can see beyond the occasional no-hitter. They want their pitchers to be consistent winners to lead them into pennant contention.....Roger Simon of Baltimore Sun (major columnist): "Think about it: Nolan Ryan, one of the most ballyhooed pitchers in baseball, has a lifetime record of 300-267. Would that kind of record make him a star in any other endeavor?" (Hey, Rog. It's all "coincidences', 'bad luck', 'non-support'. For a quarter-century!) CLIPPING: Palmer: Oriole all the way: Jim Palmer, 44, won 268 games and lost 152, in a 19 year career spent exclusively with the Baltimore Orioles. He was 4-1 in six years of AL playoffs and 4-2 in six World Series. Palmer won 20 games or more eight times. HE NEVER STRUCK OUT 200 IN A SEASON.(My caps). He took full advantage of the exceptional defensive players with whom he played. Palmer won the Cy Young Award three times. In 1973, 75, and 76" (NOTE: RYAN=ZERO). Well, Palmer COULD have struck out more than 200 as he had the arm, but he was trying to win pennants, not strikeout titles. Ryan also had great fielders (Morgan might have been the best infielder of all time) but he only wanted Ks)...CLIP; Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers no-hit Oakland June 11 but lasted only five innings in his next start against Seattle." YES, that was typical. Blown out, blown out, blown out, no-hitter !, blown out, blown out.. ...That's what USUALLY happens when all one does is throw hard. It's like buying lottery tickets until you finally win one. .....CLIP: The Pirates' Ray Miller is among the most respected pitching coaches in the game. "SPEED is extremely overrated", he says,"If throwing hard had anything to do with anything, Nolan Ryan would have won 600 games by now. They talk about him like he's the eighth wonder of the world, but until he got the changeup and curve over the plate, he wasnt that much above .500" Note; he started throwing them too late)....."fifteen years ago, Tanana was the Angel's complement to Ryan, with consecutive seasons of 269 and 261 strikeouts" (same huge stadium).. ..."WE feel that kids start to focus on how hard theyre throwing and FORGET WHY THEYRE OUT THERE and it can actually retard their development as pitchers", says Gerry Hunsicker, the club's director of minor league operations.... ..."but is still irked by a long running double standard: finesse pitchers get judged much more hastily than fireballers. A few rocky outings may convince a club to let go of a young sinkerballer, while the guy with the hot fastball--which often takes time to be harnassed-may be cut years of slack".."THE ONLY NUMBER THAT REALLY COUNTS IS IN THE W COLUMN, and there are lots of ways to get there...Ray Miller, who has spent his life studying pitching, says, "I think we're losing perspective. THIS ISN'T THE CIRCUS. The idea isn't to hit the little thing with the sledgehammer and see if you run it up and make the bell ring. You don't get any prizes for hitting the bell. THE IDEA IS TO GET PEOPLE OUT.".... ..This writer has never liked the idea of Lifetime Stats being used in arguments for the Hall of Fame in the first place. It is like adding apples and oranges. We live baseball a season at a time. The book opens in April and is closed and sealed in October. Between seasons the owners can make what ever changes they want to the game but not during the season. So no two seasons have the same parameters. For example, between seasons they owners can double the strike zone or cut it in half. They can introduce different balls and different rules. They can push the outfields 50 feet back or bring them 50 feet forward. So each season has to be looked at independently. I have always believed that a player should be a viable Hall candidate if he has FIVE individual superstar seasons. In this case 'superstar' can be defined as, say, being one of the top ten players in the league. Compare 1961 stats with 1963 stats or 1968 stats with 1970 stats and you'll see why its ridiculous to add stats of different years. I dont think that by any definition of a 'superstar' that Nolan Ryan ever made it five times, possibly two or three. And 5 times is a minimum. ..I'll bet that Gary Peters, now forgotten, was more of a superstar between 1963 and 1967 than Ryan ever was and he would only have four such seasons......It's Clemons and Seaver who are known for 19, 20 strikeouts in a game, not Ryan. They could do it but they knew that more K-attempts mean more losses. Check the box scores. When Ryan won he was usually under one K per inning. When he had more Ks, he lost. But he knew that it was the Ks that made him famous. Nobody remembers 20-9 100K, they do 13-12 350 K.....Ryan got 383 Ks to Koufax's 382. Koufax was 26-8 2.04. Suppose Koufax was just going for strikeouts and was willing to change his 26-8 to , say, 12-11. Don't you think he could have gotten ONE more strikeout by doing that? But he preferred to win the triple crown and the World Series than to pile up Ks... ...CLIPPING: " Nolan Ryan met a similar fate last week, in his first shot at No, 300, against the Yankees. He was throwing in the mid-90s. He was getting pounded." (Note; this might go with the CIRCUS quote)."Now that they have a way to measure speed, people are just number crazy." (Me: lucky Ryan: the speed gun comes along just for him).Roland Johnson is the Mets director of scouting. "Every letter or call I get about a kid says,'This guy throws 91. This guy throws 92' Its like they think there are magic numbers. There's a lot more to pitching than velocity, but all you hear about now is miles per hour." The fastball has always had a special aura in baseball. From Walter Johnson to Sandy Koufax, overpowering pitchers have their own fabled places in history. A little lefty in thick glasses and a short arm motion, Steve Dalkowski, has one, too. Though he never spent a day in the majors DALKOWSKI is widely considered the fastest pitcher ever, reputedly bringing it in the low 100s. "I hit against them both, and he definitely threw harder than Nollie." Tommy John says. The fastball is called No. 1, and the number is fitting. It is the essesnce of power. Its easy for the AVERAGE fan to relate to. Pitcher grabs ball, cranks up,blows a batter away." (DUH! MORONS!).. ...CLIP: "Clemons is likely to see some work at Wrigley, but old reliable Texas Ranger Nolan Ryan, who leads the league with 116 strikeouts, was not selected to the All-Star squad." (Because Ks dont win games)...CARTOON: "I'm Nolan Ryan. If it's got to where you can't take TV sports because you're so sick of watching me sell things....".....Lately there has been much comparison of Randy Johnson with Nolan Ryan. What an insult for Randy! Yes, Randy repeatedly led the league in Ks at an even greater rate than Ryan BUT Randy also repeatedly had GREAT WIN-LOSS percentages AND GREAT ERAs. AND he did EVEN BETTER coming down the stretch. He was at his greatest during pennant races and playoff games. Ryan did none of this......How Great Was Ryan Really Considered In His Time?: MVP AWARD POINTS: 1966-zero, 1968-zero, 1969-zero, 1970-zero, 1971-zero, 1972: 2 (allen 321), 1973-20 (jackson 336), 1974- 24 (burroughs 248), 1975- zero, 1976- zero, 1977-3 (carew 273), 1978- zero, 1979-zero, 1980-zero, 1981 (weird strike year) 23 (schmidt 321), 1982-zero, 1983- zero, 1984- zero, 1985-zero, 1986-zero, 1987-zero, 1988-zero, 1989-2 (yount 256), 1990-1 (henderson 317), 1991-zero, 1992-zero, 1993-zero, 1994-zero....Note that NO manager ever complained about the loss of Nolan Ryan. And when one was asked by a biased reporter,"How are you ever going to replace the great Nolan Ryan?", the manager calmly replied,"With two 6-6 pitchers" Remember: THIS IS NOT THE CIRCUS!. ......Now, The years before Ryan arrived at Houston 1980, what was the Astrodome like? 1979: JR Richard lead in ERA 2.71, tied for 3rd in wins 18, LED IN Ks 313, 2nd in complete games 19. And Niekro 2nd in league w/l %, 5th in ERA, FIRST in wins-21, FIRST in complete games. 1978 JR Richard led in Ks- 303, 3rd n complete games, 5th in wins. 1977: JR Richard 2nd in Ks, 4th in complete games, 1976: JR Richard 2nd in Ks, coplete games, 4th in wins 20, 1975: JR RIchard 5th in Ks. Dierker 5th in complete games.So Ryan didnt even do as well as the guy he replaced and the stadium had a lot to do with these figures......How Many Times Between 1966-1992 Was Nolan Ryan In Top Five In Either Winning Percentage, ERA, Wins, Or Complete Games? 1966-no,no,no,no 1968-no,no,no,no, 1969-no,no,no,no, 1970-no,no,no,no, 1971-no,no,no,no, 1972-no,no,no,3rd tie 1973- no, 4th, 4th, 4th three way tie, 1974-no,no, 3rd four way tie, 4th, 1975-no,no,no,no, 1976- no,no,no,4th tie, 1977-no,3rd, 4th First-tie, 1978-no,no,no,no, 1979-no,no,no,2nd three way tie, 1980-no,no,no,no, 1981-strike year-4th, First, no,no, 1982-no,no,no,no, 1983-no,no,no,no, 1984-no,no,no,no, 1985-no,no,no,no, 1986-no,no,no,no, 1987-no, First,no,no, 1988-no,no,no,no, 1989- no,no,no,no, 1990-no,no,no,no, 1991- no,5th,no,no, 1992-no,no,no,no,. So in 26x4=104 chances he was First 3 times (one was a tie). A Hall Of Famer? .....Here' something weird I read: "The career of baseball's strikeout parallels that of Sandy Koufax- the great fastball and overpowering curve, the control problems, early failure, final success- with Ryan's longevity being the obvious difference. Koufax retired at 32, an age at which Ryan was leading the league in strikeouts for the 6th of 12 times" HELLO! ANY BRAIN IN THERE?? THE REAL "OBVIOUS DIFFERENCE" WAS THAT SANDY WOKE UP, DELIBERATELY SACRIFICED SOME SPEED FOR CONTROL AND WON THREE TRIPLE CROWNS IN FOUR YEARS and would have won a fourth if not injured. Koufax went 25-5 1.88 306, 26-8 2.04 382, 27-9 1.73 317. Ryan NEVER did anything even remotely close to that. Koufax also led in ERA FIVE times in a row: 2.54, 1.88, 1.74, 2.04, 1.73. People waited for decades for Ryan to be a Koufax and he never did. (Of course Ryan is a Texas Gentile and Koufax was a New York Jew so that explains some of it)..... .....NOTE: MUCH MORE TO COME> NOT EDITED YET> NOT PROOFREAD>MORE TO ADD> I still have pages of stuff i had typed before discovering this internet thing.now sept 18,1998 friday. Plenty to add next week.and beyond. I REALIZE THAT for every 100 people who visit, 99 of them will be brainwashed idiots but to the ONE logical person I say: help me out by speading word of this. Just type in the https://members.tripod.com/~NolanRyanNot/index.html anywhere it might be seen. Maybe a couple of voters will see it and REASON will at least get a small voice over mindless propaganda.... .....I don't hate Nolan Ryan. I hate his mindless white trash fans who know NOTHING about baseball. ...CY YOUNG AWARD WINNERS DURING HIS CAREER (So you can see what REAL Hall Of Fame stats are: 1966: koufax 27*-9 1.73* (Third Triple Crown),1968 gibson 22-9 1.12* (led to pennant)(All time record ERA), 1969 seaver 25*-7 2.21 (led Miracle Mets),1970 Gibson 23*-7 3.12 (2nd cy), 1971 jenkins 24*-13 2.77, 1972 perry 24*-16 1.92, 1973 palmer 21-10 2.07 (led to division champ), 1974 hunter 25*-12 2.49* (led to pennant), 1975 palmer 23*-11 2.09* (2nd cy),`1976 palmer 22*-13 2.51 (3rd Cy), 1977 lyle (relief) 13-5 2.17 (led to pennant), 1978 guidry 25*-3 (record %) 1.74* (led to pennant), 1979 flanagan 23*-9 3.08 (led to pennant), 1980 carlton 24-9 2.34 (led to pennant), 1981 (strike) valenzuela 13-7 2.48 (led to pennant)(But Seaver had better year), 1982 carlton 23-11 3.10, 1983 denny , 1984 sutcliff (relief) , 1985 gooden , 1986 scott , 1987 bedrosian , 1988 hershiser , 1989 saberhagen , 1990 welch, 1991 eckersley (relief) , 1992 mcdowell ,...... ....ACTUALLY, Nolan Ryan is to pitching what Dave Kingman was to batting. All personal-interest power that does not help their teams. I believe that Kingman was the only 30 homerun hitter in history his last season that no one would touch. Both had the fans screaming for their powerful exploits. Both were bouncing from team to team with their managers saying, "Good riddance to bad rubbish" because the managers had to WIN to keep their jobs and these two guys were just circus performers (Remember the albatross Leo Durocher had with the aged Ernie Banks whom the public (and sportswriters loved) but who no longer could help the team?? The ONLY difference between Nolan Ryan and Dave Kingman is that the press did not like Kingman and they liked Ryan. But Ive never forgotten how that Irish jerk (whatshisname?)( Michael Burke!)(Note: my granddaddy was Patrick Ghormley of Connaught, Ireland) took over the Yankees for CBS, knew nothing about running a team, BUT bought off the press with COLD CUT spreads theyd praise in their columns and defended the man until he left no matter how badly he did his job. Bought for cold cuts! that woke me up about the press when I was a teenager. Kingman should have bought them coldcuts. Then they'd now be pushing him for the Hall of Fame......10-2-98..... ........ So he has a lot of strikeouts? So what? Anyone can double his strikeouts if he's willing to double his losses. Every spoiled brat teenage pitcher wants to blow the ball past the other team. RESULT: ten Ks and many longballs hit over the fence or off the far wall and lots of walks. WHEN RYAN IS ELECTED TO THE HALL OF FAME IT WILL SEND A MESSAGE TO KIDS GROWING UP THAT THE WAY TO GET IN IS TO FORGET ABOUT WINNING PENNANTS BUT TO SPECIALIZE IN ONE SPECIFIC STAT TO HAVE YOUR NAME CONNECTED TO THAT STAT. JUST AMASS TOTALS IN THAT ONE STAT LIKE CRAZY AND DEPEND UPON THE LIE OF OMISSION LIKE RYAN DOES. YOUR HIGH TOTAL WILL MAKE YOU FAMOUS. THE MANY LOW TOTALS IS CAUSES WILL BE IGNORED>. Get 300 wins (and 300 losses), get 300Ks (and a 50-50 win-loss record), get 40 homeruns like Kingman (and bat .180 like kingman), get lots of doubles (and no triples and be thrown out a lot stretching singles). Heck you can have the record for least walks allowed by a pitcher (if you throw every ball down the center of the plate) . Which is better for a team; a guy who throws two five hitters and wins or a guy who throws one no-hitter and one ten-hitter and loses? (Obviously the latter to you Ryan fans). Ryan noticed that people recall the one unusual thing more than the many bad things. Just like Don Larsen will always be remembered for his one great game and not his horrible win-loss records. THE PURPOSE, IN BASEBALL, IS TO WIN THE GAME AND WIN THE PENNANT. RYAN'S TEAMS DONT WIN GAMES AND DON'T WIN PENNANTS. (And editors have no more knowledge of what journalistic integrity is than they do what morality is). HEY!, Let's put Steve Dalkowski in the Hall of Fame!! He was the GREATEST STRIKEOUT PITCHER in minor league history. He'd get twenty strikeouts a game! Of course he' also get lots of hit batsmen, walks, and many homers a game hit off him. Its hard to hit such pitchers but when you do its like three or four hits as its out of the park. Its three times as hard but causes four times the damage when you do. So Ryan won 300 (and lost 300). So what?? Everyone lasts a lot longer nowadays. When Early Wynn won his 300th it was agreat achievement as it was so rare in 1963. But in the 1980s/1990s the 300 winners became a dime a dozen. They were even pitching against each other for God's sake. Look it was a big deal for a 1930s pitcher to make it as people aged faster and medical science wasnt much good. To win 300 in the 12 years you had it meant 25 wins a year! When youve got 30 years to win 300 you only have to win 10 games a year. NOTE: Due to longevity, not only 300 game winners but 500 homer hitters and 3000 hit men are getting to be a dime a dozen compared to 30 years ago. My favorite player, Al Kaline had over 3000 hits and 399 homers yet he his lifetime B.A. was .297 and he never hit 30 homeruns. (Its no "coincidence that the Cubs and Redsox don't win pennants. Their tiny parks make the batters selfish to amass totals and the hell with the team. Ryans huge stadiums did the same to the Angels and Astros. In them the PITCHERS got selfish and amassed big BLOATED totals). (Phony stats at the expense of the teams) .Ryan is the perfect hero for my selfish, self-centered baby-boom generation. RYAN IS A "KIDDULT" HERO. When Johnson got his Ks batters raely struck out. Now with little shortstops swinging for the fences Ryan should get 600 to equal Johnson as there are at least twice as many Ks by each team nowadays. And think of seeing the ball in night games. The data shows that pitchers get WAY more Ks at night. W.Johnson never pitched at night. Ryan was especially expert, thanks to his parks, at taking advantage of "pitchers' years". Like the STRIKE YEAR of 1981 when 1.00 ERAs were more plentiful. And 1990 when everybody seemed to be throwing no-hitters. He's not stupid. When Koufax left the Dodgers they collapsed. None of Ryan's teams went into that type of tailspin. The managers didnt care. They needed winners to keep their jobs. Yes, it is true that Ryan's averages were above those of his teams- BY ONE GAME. Is that enough for the Hall of Fame? If a team is 81-81 and you are 13-12 are you great? Steve Carlton, anyone? Remember Carlton's 27 wins on a last place team? IT WAS MUCH MORE DIFFICULT TO HIT 30 HOMERUNS ON RYAN'S TEAMS IN THOSE BIG STADIUMS THAN IT WAS TO GET 300 Ks. Look it up!. So the batters who got 30 homers are more deserving of the Hall than he is. Managers did NOT take Ryan for 1990 All Star game despite recent No-hitter and TWO near-no-hitters. They also remember all the BAD performances. ... .... .... ... https://members.tripod.com/~NolanRyanNot/index.html ..... ... ... UNDER CONSTRUCTION.... ..... 10-2-98 ..... .....9-30- Looks like Randy (Big Unit) did it again. Yesterday's NY Post said that after going to Houston he went 10-1 with an ERA well below 1.99 with over 300 Ks (325?) and led still ANOTHER team to the playoffs. When did Ryan ever do that? Note: I was NEVER either a Koufax or Randy Johnson fan. I was a Gary Peters and Tom Seaver fan. Its just ridiculous to compare a Ryan who could never win to a Koufax or a Johnson who could pull off FANTASTIC win-loss records while ALSO getting over 300 Ks no matter how bad the teams behind them and still lead teams to post-season play!!!..... ....UNDER CONSTRUCTION .....still working on it 9-30-98...not done yet..I built part of this page and then I sent notice to over one hundred sportwriters. BUT I forgot to put on a counter until a week later so the number of writers visiting this is higher than the number below. The vast majority of my notices were to sportswriters. .....TATTOOS, GANG COLORS ON UNIFORMS. HULK HOGAN, ROLLER DERBY, 'ARE YOU READY TO RUMBLE', FACE PINTERS, DRUNKEN LOUTS, FOUR LETTER WORDS ON PRIMETIME, NOLAN RYAN POWER WITHOUT CONTROL, QUARTERBACKS INJURED AT ALL TIME RATE, 'PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING', WHITE TRASH, BODY PIERCING, 'IN YER FACE', END ZONE DANCES, PREENING AND WATCHING OWN HOMERS, 'ATTITUDE', RAP MUSIC, 'GOTHS', DOPED UP PLAYERS HITTING DOPED UP BALLS IN BANDBOX PARKS AGAINST MINOR LEAGUE PITCHERS BROUGHT UP BECAUSE OF RUNAWAY EXPANSION TO PUT MORE MINDLESS LOUTS IN STANDS, BASKETBALL STUFFING, HOCKEY FIGHTS WITH CHEATERS' CURVED STICKS, APOLOGISTS FOR BOBBY KNIGHT AND MARV ALBERT, DALLAS COWBOY ASSAULTS, WORTHLESS COLLEGE TIME FOR ATHLETES WHO DONT MAKE PROS, SOCCER RIOTS, RACECAR CRASH WATCHERS, .....OCT 19 MONDAY 1998 ...Oct 25 Mon.... CHECK LINKS ON BOTTOM FOR MORE ON RYAN.... .... .... ..... EVERY PITCHER GETS 27 OUTS TO WORK WITH. IT DOES NOT MATTER IF HE CAUSES 27 POP OUTS, 27 LINE OUTS, 27 GROUND OUTS, 27 STRIKE OUTS OR A MIXTURE OF THEM. IT DOES NOT MATTER IF ALL OF THEM WERE 27 STRIKE OUTS IF HE LOSES THE GAME WITH THE HITS AND WALKS HE ALLOWS BETWEEN THE 27 OUTS!!!. WHAT HE USUALLY DID WITH THE SPACES BETWEEN THE OUTS WAS TO ALLOW A COUPLE OF HITS AND A BUNCH OF BASES ON BALLS AND A COUPLE OF HOMERS! THAT IS WHY HE ALMOST LOST 300 GAMES!!! ..... ..... NOTE THAT BARRY BONDS AND NOLAN RYAN HAVE THE SAME SYMPTOMS!!!!! ..... ..... ...... DO NOT FORGET TO GO TO PAGE TWO OF THIS NOLAN RYAN SCREED !!!!!!!