Over a record 27-year playing career in Major League Baseball (MLB), Ryan pitched for the New York Mets, California Angels, Houston Astros, and Texas Rangers.

Similarly, Ryan's 2,795 bases on balls lead second-place Steve Carlton by 962 – walking over 50% more hitters than any other pitcher in MLB history.

Ryan, Pedro Martínez, Randy Johnson, Trevor Hoffman, and Sandy Koufax are the only five pitchers inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame who had more strikeouts than innings pitched.

Lynn Nolan Ryan Jr. was born on January 31, 1947, in Refugio, Texas, a small town located just south of Victoria in the southern part of the state.

Ryan joined Alvin Little League Baseball when he was nine, made the all-star team when he was 11 and 12,[5] and pitched the first no-hitter of his life a few years later.

After ninth grade, Ryan quit playing football after a tackle and fumble caused by future NFL running back Norm Bulaich made him decide to focus on baseball.

Coach Watson recounted to Murff that some opponents refused to bat against Ryan and how his hard pitches would sometimes break bones in his catchers' hands.

"[5] As a senior in 1965, Ryan had a 19–3 record and led the Alvin Yellow Jackets to the Texas high school state finals.

[7] After graduating from Alvin, the New York Mets selected Ryan in the 12th round, with the 295th overall pick, of the 1965 Major League Baseball draft.

Playing in only two games, his first strikeout was Pat Jarvis, and he gave up his first major league home run to Joe Torre.

[1] Ryan missed much of the 1967 season due to illness, an arm injury, and service with the Army Reserve; he pitched only seven innings for the Mets' minor league affiliate in Jacksonville.

Against the Atlanta Braves in the NLCS, Ryan completed a Mets sweep by throwing seven innings of relief in Game 3, getting his first playoff win (it took him 12 years to get another).

[21][22][23] In his first season with the Angels, Ryan was given a chance to pitch regularly as a starter for the first time in his career, mainly because by then he had fulfilled his military obligation and no longer had to commute to Houston every other week.

[1] He also set a still-standing Major League record by allowing only 5.26 hits per nine innings, breaking Luis Tiant's 5.30 in 1968, as well as posting a 2.28 earned run average that year,[1] to date the second-lowest in franchise history, trailing only Dean Chance's 1.65 in 1964.

"[26] In 1973, Ryan set his first major record when he struck out 383 batters in one season, beating Sandy Koufax's old mark by one.

In 1974 he twice struck out 19 batters, tying Tom Seaver and Steve Carlton for the single-game record for a nine-inning game.

[34] In a nationally televised game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 12, 1980, Ryan hit a three-run home run off Don Sutton.

[1] On July 4 at Riverfront Stadium, Ryan recorded his 3,000th career strikeout, the victim being César Gerónimo of the Cincinnati Reds.

The Houston bullpen allowed the Phillies to take a 7–5 lead, and only a game-tying Astro rally permitted Ryan to escape the loss.

By the end of the 1982 season, both Ryan and Steve Carlton were approaching Walter Johnson's all-time strikeout record, sometimes passing one another's career totals in successive starts.

In nine seasons as a pitcher with the Astros (his longest tenure with any team), Ryan compiled a 106–94 record in 282 starts, a 3.13 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, with 796 walks and 1,866 strikeouts in 1,854 innings.

He became the first player to play for all four MLB original expansion teams: the Mets, Angels, Houston Colt .45s/ Astros and Washington Senators/Texas Rangers.

On August 6, 1992, Ryan had the only ejection of his career after engaging in a shouting match with Oakland Athletics outfielder Willie Wilson with two outs in the eighth inning.

Ryan has co-written six books: autobiographies Miracle Man (with Jerry Jenkins, 1992), Throwing Heat (with Harvey Frommer, 1988) and The Road to Cooperstown (with Mickey Herskowitz and T.R.

In addition to his baseball activities, Ryan was majority owner and chairman of Express Bank of Alvin but sold his interest in 2005.

Ryan's title was changed simply to CEO, but he remained operating head of the franchise; both Daniels and George reported to him.

[66] Ryan also played during the administrations of seven U.S. Presidents—Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton—equaling a 20th-century record that had been set by Jim Kaat.

Ryan's log of spectacular accomplishments is as thick as Bill Clinton's little black book; his list of flaws and failures is lengthy but dry, and will never make for good reading.

ESPN writer Rob Neyer stated in a 2003 column that while Ryan was among the 20 best pitchers since World War II, he "often had trouble throwing strikes, [and] he wasn't any good at fielding his position".

"[91] He also crossed party lines in 2002 to headline a group of Republicans and Independents supporting a Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Texas.