Nolan Ryan

In 1965, after graduating from Alvin High School, Ryan eigtheen years old and never been away from home when he signed up to play for the New York Mets. They assigned him to Marion, Virginia, in the Appalachian League, a rookie league. The season started late so that high school and college players signed after graduation would have a place to play. Nolan's mother and Ruth went with him to the Airport in Houston , and he took his first plane ride.

Ryan won 29 games and lost 38 games in the four years with the Mets before he was traded in 1971 to the Califormia Angels, for whom he played through the 1979 season. He said he would have had a faster start toward 300 victories if his Met seasons had not been interrupted by the military training with a Houston army-reserve unit that consumed his energy every other week-end as well as a two-week stint each summer.

In his first season with the Angels, Ryan, given a chance to pitch regularly as a starter for the first time in his career, had a league-leading 329 strikeouts—nearly a third more than the AL runnerup, and to that point, the fourth-highest total of the 20th century. Within five seasons, the season would only be Ryan's fourth-highest strikeout total.

lthough the Angels were a sub-.500 team and remained one for much of his time there, Ryan managed to post some winning records, notably 19–16 in 1972, 21–16 in 1973 and 22–16 in 1974.

Nolan Ryan #1 The Unauthorized Biography (Limited Edition) [Comic]