Nolan Ryan

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 2 in · 170 lb

BornJanuary 31, 1947 · Refugio, TX, USA

MLB debutSeptember 11, 1966

Final gameSeptember 22, 1993

Seasons27 (1966–1993)

New York Mets 1966; New York Mets 1968–1971; California Angels 1972–1979; Houston Astros 1980–1988; Texas Rangers 1989–1993

Percentile snapshot

1991 season — qualified pitchers

1.3

7.7

29.5

98.7

21.8

SHO

67.9

102

100

98.7

34.6

203

96.2

84.6

173.0

6.4

ERA

2.91

85.9

WHIP

1.006

100

K/9

10.56

100

FIP

2.80

96.2

FIP-

69.1

96.2

ERA+

139.1

89.7

sWAR

4.0

73.1

of 79 qualified 1991 pitchers (min 162 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

112.2

76.8

sWAR

75.9

99.8

ERA+ measured against qualified careers (1,000+ IP), 1,334 of them; sWAR measured against every career in history, 24,011 of them. Only era-adjusted career stats carry a percentile — a raw career total gets a rank instead, because pooling the 1890s with the 2020s is a choice, not a measurement.

Season by season

Batting

Season	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1966	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-0.4
1968	21	47	44	2	5	0	0	0	2	2	29	0	0	.114	.152	.114	.266	-34.0	-18.9	.135	1.0
1969	25	32	29	3	3	0	0	0	2	0	14	0	0	.103	.103	.103	.207	-61.8	-41.8	.097	0.8
1970	27	47	45	2	8	0	0	0	0	0	21	1	0	.178	.178	.178	.356	-13.4	-3.5	.164	2.1
1971	30	53	47	4	6	0	1	0	1	3	21	0	0	.128	.180	.170	.350	-7.2	1.1	.173	0.4
1972	39	99	96	4	13	5	1	0	3	2	48	1	0	.135	.153	.208	.361	-6.6	9.9	.170	5.2
1973	41	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	5.9
1974	42	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	5.5
1975	28	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.3
1976	39	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.8
1977	37	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	6.9
1978	31	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.1
1979	34	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	3.5
1980	35	83	70	5	6	0	0	1	6	7	29	0	1	.086	.167	.129	.295	-14.7	-13.0	.155	2.2
1981	21	60	51	3	11	1	0	0	1	5	18	0	0	.216	.286	.235	.521	55.8	53.0	.260	4.8
1982	35	94	83	5	10	0	0	0	3	5	37	0	0	.120	.170	.120	.291	-17.3	-14.2	.149	2.9
1983	29	75	69	3	5	0	0	0	2	2	29	0	0	.072	.099	.072	.171	-62.3	-50.3	.087	2.6
1984	30	68	61	3	6	2	0	0	1	2	26	1	0	.098	.127	.131	.258	-34.1	-24.8	.125	2.4
1985	35	82	63	2	7	2	0	0	4	4	21	0	1	.111	.162	.143	.305	-19.5	-12.4	.151	1.3
1986	30	63	59	1	6	0	0	0	5	1	22	0	1	.102	.117	.102	.218	-52.2	-38.0	.105	2.1
1987	34	73	65	2	4	0	0	1	4	1	22	0	0	.062	.076	.108	.183	-64.5	-50.9	.084	4.6
1988	33	81	70	1	4	0	0	0	2	4	34	0	0	.057	.108	.057	.165	-60.0	-50.1	.091	1.3
1989	32	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	4.5
1990	30	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	3.2
1991	27	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	4.0
1992	27	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.8
1993	13	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.2

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1966	2	1	0	1	0	0	0	5	5	3	6	1	3.0	15.00	2.667	18.00	6.01	167.4	23.9	-0.4
1968	21	18	6	9	0	3	0	93	46	75	133	12	134.0	3.09	1.254	8.93	3.49	117.3	96.4	1.0
1969	25	10	6	3	1	2	0	60	35	53	92	3	89.3	3.53	1.265	9.27	2.85	78.8	102.4	0.8
1970	27	19	7	11	1	5	2	86	50	97	125	10	131.7	3.42	1.390	8.54	4.24	105.8	117.2	2.1
1971	30	26	10	14	0	3	0	125	67	116	137	8	152.0	3.97	1.586	8.11	4.01	118.1	85.6	0.4
1972	39	39	19	16	0	20	9	166	72	157	329	14	284.0	2.28	1.137	10.43	2.36	80.8	127.9	5.2
1973	41	39	21	16	1	26	4	238	104	162	383	18	326.0	2.87	1.227	10.57	2.50	69.9	124.7	5.9
1974	42	41	22	16	0	26	3	221	107	202	367	18	332.7	2.89	1.272	9.93	2.97	85.9	119.5	5.5
1975	28	28	14	12	0	10	5	152	76	132	186	13	198.0	3.45	1.434	8.45	3.64	101.6	103.7	2.3
1976	39	39	17	18	0	21	7	193	106	183	327	13	284.3	3.36	1.322	10.35	2.90	86.5	99.8	2.8
1977	37	37	19	16	0	22	4	198	92	204	341	12	299.0	2.77	1.344	10.26	3.12	79.4	141.9	6.9
1978	31	31	10	13	0	14	3	183	97	148	260	12	234.7	3.72	1.411	9.97	2.93	80.4	98.0	2.1
1979	34	34	16	14	0	17	5	169	89	114	223	15	222.7	3.60	1.271	9.01	3.26	79.2	114.3	3.5
1980	35	35	11	10	0	4	2	205	87	98	200	10	233.7	3.35	1.297	7.70	2.89	86.0	100.1	2.2
1981	21	21	11	5	0	5	3	99	28	68	140	2	149.0	1.69	1.121	8.46	2.35	70.4	197.8	4.8
1982	35	35	16	12	0	10	3	196	88	109	245	20	250.3	3.16	1.218	8.81	3.23	95.6	106.9	2.9
1983	29	29	14	9	0	5	2	134	65	101	183	9	196.3	2.98	1.197	8.39	3.01	87.6	115.2	2.6
1984	30	30	12	11	0	5	2	143	62	69	197	12	183.7	3.04	1.154	9.65	2.69	79.6	111.3	2.4
1985	35	35	10	12	0	4	0	205	98	95	209	12	232.0	3.80	1.293	8.11	2.83	81.3	91.7	1.3
1986	30	30	12	8	0	1	0	119	66	82	194	14	178.0	3.34	1.129	9.81	3.04	84.2	108.2	2.1
1987	34	34	8	16	0	0	0	154	65	87	270	14	211.7	2.76	1.139	11.48	2.47	62.9	141.9	4.6
1988	33	33	12	11	0	4	1	186	86	87	228	18	220.0	3.52	1.241	9.33	2.98	89.4	94.8	1.3
1989	32	32	16	10	0	6	2	162	85	98	301	17	239.3	3.20	1.086	11.32	2.60	65.9	123.5	4.5
1990	30	30	13	9	0	5	2	137	78	74	232	18	204.0	3.44	1.034	10.24	2.87	73.1	114.1	3.2
1991	27	27	12	6	0	2	2	102	56	72	203	12	173.0	2.91	1.006	10.56	2.80	69.1	139.1	4.0
1992	27	27	5	9	0	2	0	138	65	69	157	9	157.3	3.72	1.316	8.98	3.08	80.1	103.5	1.8
1993	13	13	5	5	0	0	0	54	36	40	46	5	66.3	4.88	1.417	6.24	4.45	105.9	86.0	0.2

sWAR is the season TOTAL for a player who both hit and pitched: the record book carries one figure per season, not a split, so the same number appears on both lines rather than being counted twice.

Career totals

Batting

807

957

852

RBI

371

.1103

OBP

.1480

SLG

.1338

OPS

.2818

Pitching

G (P)

807

54th-most career G (P)

773

2nd-most career GS

324

14th-most career W

292

3rd-most career L

222

113th-most career CG

SHO

7th-most career SHO

5,386

5th-most career IP

SO (P)

5,714

Most career SO (P) of all time

BB allowed

2,795

Most career BB allowed of all time

ERA

3.193

255th-lowest career ERA

WHIP

1.2473

330th-lowest career WHIP

K/9

9.55

19th-highest career K/9

A total is called out only where it ranks in the all-time top 500; hover a figure for its rank and the size of the field it was ranked in. Ranks are absolute facts and carry no percentile — the population for "career home runs" would be an editorial choice, and the rank is not.

Best games

Batting

Date	Game	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	TB
1980-04-12	LAD @ HOU Gameday	2	1	1	0	1	3	4
1987-05-01	HOU @ ATL Gameday	4	2	1	0	1	3	4
1972-05-22	LAA @ ATH Gameday	3	0	2	1	0	0	3
1981-10-01	HOU @ CIN Gameday	5	1	2	1	0	0	3
1984-05-06	HOU @ NYM Gameday	5	2	2	1	0	0	3

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1974-06-14	BOS @ LAA Gameday	13.0	8	3	3	10	19	1
1974-08-20	DET @ LAA Gameday	11.0	4	1	1	5	19	0
1977-06-08	TOR @ LAA Gameday	10.0	6	1	0	5	19	0
1974-08-12	BOS @ LAA Gameday	9.0	7	2	2	2	19	0
1976-09-10	LAA @ CWS Gameday	9.0	3	2	2	9	18	0

Ranked from our own play-by-play game log, which begins in 1901 — not from the record book, so a career played outside it shows nothing here rather than a short list.

Honors

Hall of Fame, 1999 (BBWAA)

8× All-Star

Major awards only — the awards table also records Player of the Week, and forty of those would bury seven MVPs. Hover for the years.