Ryan Saves Big Numbers for Rangers : Baseball: The 44-year-old’s past two no-hitters, 5,000th strikeout and 300th victory have come in a Texas uniform.

The lasting images of Nolan Ryan, more and more, are going to be in a Texas uniform.

Those who watched Ryan as an Angel, when he evolved from an intriguing young fastballer into an overpowering pitcher, might not rest easy with the thought. But the man from Alvin, Tex., who accommodates unending requests for his time in the same measured drawl, looks right with Texas across his chest.

He has pitched more of his record seven no-hitters in an Angel uniform than in any other, throwing four for the Angels, including two by mid-July during the 1973 season. As an Angel, he struck out 383 batters in 1973, a major league record that still stands.

He was a Houston Astro when he pitched his fifth no-hitter in 1981, against the Dodgers, breaking Sandy Koufax’s record of four, and when he broke Walter Johnson’s career strikeout record and dueled Steve Carlton.

But the crowning achievements of Ryan’s career, the ones that have given him legendary status even while he continues to pitch, have come in a Ranger uniform.

He is only in his third season with the Rangers, after the Angels failed in Gene Autry’s bid to bring Ryan back to Anaheim after the 1988 season, with money no object.

“I really thought I’d end up there (in Anaheim),” said Ryan, who left the Astros when they asked him to take a 20% pay cut, gambling that he wouldn’t leave Houston, so close to his home in Alvin. “I didn’t anticipate the Rangers getting involved.”

Since then, Ryan has solidified his place in baseball history. In 1989, his first season with the Rangers, he became the first man to reach 5,000 strikeouts.

He tipped a Texas cap when he reached his 300th victory last July 31, quieting some of those who said he never won enough games.

With his sixth no-hitter last June 11, against Oakland, he became the oldest pitcher to throw one, at 43 years, four months, 12 days.

With his seventh, against Toronto this May 1, at the age of 44, he probably became a folk hero.

“I think because of some of the things that have happened, and the fact that I did it in a Ranger uniform, a lot of people view me as a Ranger,” said Ryan, who did not accompany the team to Anaheim because he was not scheduled to pitch. He skipped a start Thursday in Oakland because of shoulder soreness.

“I attained some milestones, and the younger fans probably view me as a Ranger. There will be some older fans who may remember me as an Astro or an Angel.”

Texas General Manager Tom Grieve says the monumental achievements of Ryan’s past two seasons have etched him into people’s minds as a Ranger forever. When film clips of Ryan are shown on television, they will probably be of the seventh no-hitter--unless he pitches another.

When he goes into the Hall of Fame, it is more and more likely that he will choose to be inducted as a Ranger, although Ryan says he has not decided.

“The things he’s accomplished with us, people don’t identify him with the Astros or the Angels anymore,” Grieve said. “When we got him, he was still a great pitcher in Houston, but it was almost like he was taken for granted. People didn’t come out to see him like they do now, and he didn’t have the advertisers seeking him.

“I don’t think the Nolan Ryan legend really started until he got here. He got his 5,000th strikeout, the two no-hitters, his 300th victory. All those things were really big. He’s also been one of the most dominating pitchers since he’s been here. The change of scenery for Nolan, along with his competitive nature, may have allowed him to reach back and find something he didn’t know was there.”

In a further effort to cultivate Ryan’s legend into Rangers’ lore, Grieve is working to signing Ryan to a contract that includes club options for each of the next two seasons, plus an agreement that Ryan will be paid for making appearances for the Rangers for a number of years after his retirement. Ryan would not have to buy out his playing contract if he chooses to retire from baseball.

Ryan’s current contract, which pays him $3.3 million for this season, expires after the season. The Rangers and Ryan’s agent, Dick Moss, who says Ryan “is probably happier than he’s ever been anywhere in his life,” are making plans that will virtually assure that he not only retires as a Ranger, but that he goes down in history as a Ranger.

“There’s no need for a lifetime contract,” Grieve said. “As long as Nolan pitches, we want him here as long as he wants to be. He doesn’t want to leave.”

Angel fans, who were able to rejoice in their fading claim on Ryan the past two seasons when he made his first appearances at Anaheim Stadium since leaving the team after the ’79 season, will not get to see him pitch this time.

Ryan, who missed two starts in May while on the disabled list with a sore shoulder, took himself out of a game June 21 against Chicago after five innings because of shoulder discomfort, hoping to avert a flare-up.

He would have started Monday in Anaheim, until the Rangers took advantage of an off-day to move the rotation back.

“I like to pitch (in Anaheim) when the opportunity arises,” Ryan said. “The problems I’m having, I’d just like to get completely healthy and finish the season.”

He was scheduled to start Thursday in Oakland, but Manager Bobby Valentine chose to skip Ryan’s turn in the rotation as a precautionary measure. It was a decision Ryan argued against strongly, but finally deferred to.

“I feel like I can pitch,” Ryan said. “The only thing I don’t know is if I can go five innings or nine innings. There’s no way of testing it to have a feel for it. What I expressed is that with the problems I have, I feel improved. I feel confident I can pitch.

“I think my inclination is to go ahead and pitch and deal with the situation as it is. But the overall picture is what is in my best interests for the remainder of the season, and how I can contribute to the ballclub the most. That’s what it comes down to, for me to pitch the most innings.”

Grieve, the Ranger general manager, knows that Ryan’s age-defying accomplishments have begun to make some people see Ryan as invincible, but the Rangers react cautiously in the face of any injury to Ryan.

“Any time you’re 44 and have thrown as many baseballs as he has, there is going to come a time when you can’t continue to pitch, probably because of an injury,” Grieve said. “His body’s strong, his mind’s strong, his competitive instincts are there.

“There is more of a threat when Nolan has to miss a game, that this could be the injury that ends his career. You hope not. He pitched well (after coming back from the stint on the disabled list in May). But realistically, he’s not going to pitch forever.”

Ryan clearly found missing the start distressing, as well as its possible impact on the rest of his season.

“It’s aggravating, but you deal with it,” he said. “It’s frustrating when you feel good physically but have to contend with that.”

Ryan’s diligent conditioning and weightlifting routines have been credited for his longevity. He also has the ability to continue throwing the fastball long after other power pitchers have resorted to other pitches to stay in the game.

But even though he has had surgery only once during his more than 23 years in the major leagues, to remove bone chips from his right elbow in 1975, Ryan has had injuries.

Years ago, he suffered from blisters on his fingers so severe that some people wondered if he would be able to have a career in baseball. The solution offered by a trainer was to soak his fingers in pickle brine. It worked.

“Really, (injuries are) part of the game,” Ryan said, reflecting on this season and last season, during which he was on the disabled list with back pain later determined to be associated with a healing stress fracture in his back. He also was troubled by a sore Achilles’ tendon.

The trouble this season has been diagnosed as tendinitis in the back of his right shoulder, resulting in tightness and soreness.

“I’ve had worse seasons physically, the ’75 season, the ’86 season,” Ryan said. “Maybe this is the ‘90s.”

In 1975, he injured his right elbow in August and then missed the rest of the season before undergoing surgery to remove bone chips. In 1986, he was bothered all season by a sore right elbow, and was disabled for a total of about five weeks with a sprained medial collateral ligament.

Whether an injury, either a debilitating one or a nagging one, will be what puts an end to Ryan’s career, no one can say.

“There’s no way of making a prediction,” Ryan said. “I don’t have any clue what will end up ending my career, whether it will be lack of ability, injury or waning interest. I don’t know.”

One of the few certainties about the legacy of Ryan’s career is that the error of former Angel general manager Buzzie Bavasi has grown with Ryan’s legend.

Bavasi, who has admitted his failure to re-sign Ryan in 1979 was “a mistake,” was reluctant in 1979 to sign a man he called a .500 pitcher to a contract that could pay him a million dollars.

The quote that has haunted Bavasi to this day came when he said that Ryan, 16-14 in 1979, could be replaced by “two 8-7 pitchers.”

“It was my decision, not Gene Autry’s,” said Bavasi, who is retired and living in La Jolla. “The contract was one we could not live with. It wasn’t the numbers, it was the incentives. Things like innings pitched, games started, games finished, they were such that most any pitcher on the staff could have met them. A rookie could have met them. It was such that I couldn’t live with myself. It wouldn’t have been fair to the other boys.”

Moss, Ryan’s agent, recalls that there were proposals that did not include incentives as well.

“The most memorable thing about it was that at one point we made a proposal to Buzzie for three years, with the third year salary ($1 million). Buzzie immediately called every reporter he knew and said, ‘They asked for a million dollars, can you believe that?’ He took a hard stance and sort of ridiculed what we were proposing.

“I think Nolan really wanted to sign back with the Angels. He was very happy with the team and the community. Buzzie went a little crazy when he saw a million dollars.”

Bavasi admits he couldn’t fathom the high salary.

“It was hard for any old-timer to justify the present-day salary scale,” he said. “I just can’t see anybody 60 times better than Jackie Robinson or name a pitcher 30 times better than Sandy Koufax.

“One good thing about it, I know I can’t make another mistake like that.”

The difference between Ryan remaining an Angel, and Ryan living out his career elsewhere, might have come down to a few miffed feelings.

“If Dick Moss had forced me into it a little harder than he did, I might have given in,” said Bavasi, who after Ryan’s sixth no-hitter sent a telegram of congratulations.

It read: “Nolan, some time ago, I made it public that I made a mistake. You don’t have to rub it in.”

Moss thinks back on the negotiations, too.

“It all could have been patched up,” he said.

In 1988, trying to right a past mistake, former Angel general manager Mike Port recalls that Autry told him to “do whatever it takes to bring Nolan back to Orange County. Mr. Autry mentioned money not to be an object.”

But it proved to be too late. Even though the Angels believe their offer may have been higher than the Rangers’, Ryan was ready to stay in Texas.

“The only thing we were not able to do, and we respected Nolan in this regard, was move Alvin, Tex., to Orange County,” Port said.

Ryan has a career record of 306-276, and a 1991 record of 4-4--.500 again, for the moment.

What Bavasi never expected was that Ryan would get better, and pitch into his 40s. The past four seasons, he has led his league in strikeouts. The past two with the Rangers, his records have been 16-10 and 13-9.

“I look at wins and losses, and whether we win pennants,” Bavasi said. “No doubt he’s a Hall of Famer. He won so many by the no-hit route, but he did not do it for me. Nolan was .500 for me.”

But how might Angel history have been different if not for Bavasi’s botched negotiations?

“Look at it this way,” Bavasi said. “How many pennants have Texas and Houston won? I don’t know if we would have won any more pennants. You don’t know either. Neither does Nolan. You can’t say. But it would have been interesting to watch.”

Nolan Ryan, By the Numbers

Year Team W-L ERA G GS IP H R 1966 New York (NL) 0-1 15.00 2 1 3 5 5 1968 New York (NL) 6-9 3.09 21 18 134 93 50 1969 New York (NL) 6-3 3.54 25 10 89 60 38 1970 New York (NL) 7-11 3.41 27 19 132 86 59 1971 New York (NL) 10-14 3.97 30 26 152 125 78 1972 Angels 19-16 2.28 39 39 284 166 80 1973 Angels 21-16 2.87 41 39 326 238 113 1974 Angels 22-16 2.89 42 41 333 221 127 1975 Angels 14-12 3.45 28 28 198 152 90 1976 Angels 17-18 3.36 39 39 284 193 117 1977 Angels 19-16 2.77 37 37 299 198 110 1978 Angels 10-13 3.71 31 31 235 183 106 1979 Angels 16-14 3.59 34 34 223 169 104 1980 Houston 11-10 3.35 35 35 234 205 100 1981 Houston 11-5 1.69 21 21 149 99 34 1982 Houston 16-12 3.16 35 35 250 1/3 196 100 1983 Houston 14-9 2.98 29 29 196 1/3 134 74 1984 Houston 12-11 3.04 30 30 183 2/3 143 78 1985 Houston 10-12 3.80 35 35 232 205 108 1986 Houston 12-8 3.34 30 30 178 119 72 1987 Houston 8-16 2.76 34 34 211 2/3 154 75 1988 Houston 12-11 3.52 33 33 220 186 98 1989 Texas 16-10 3.20 32 32 239 1/3 162 96 1990 Texas 13-9 3.44 30 30 204 137 86 1991 Texas 4-4 2.71 12 12 83 48 26 Totals 25 seasons 306-276 3.15 752 718 5,073 1/3 3677 2024

Year ER BB SO 1966 5 3 6 1968 46 75 133 1969 35 53 92 1970 50 97 125 1971 67 116 137 1972 72 157 329 1973 104 162 383 1974 107 202 367 1975 76 132 186 1976 106 183 327 1977 92 204 341 1978 97 148 260 1979 89 114 223 1980 87 98 200 1981 28 68 140 1982 88 109 245 1983 65 101 183 1984 62 69 197 1985 98 95 209 1986 66 82 194 1987 65 87 270 1988 86 87 228 1989 85 98 301 1990 78 74 232 1991 25 27 97 Totals 1779 2641 5405

Career no-hitters: 7, latest on May 1, 1991, vs. Toronto Blue Jays.

Career one-hitters: 12, latest on April 26, 1990, vs. Chicago White Sox.

Career two-hitters: 19, latest on Aug. 31, 1982, at New York Mets.

Career three-hitters: 30, latest on Aug. 28, 1990, at Angels.