Nolan Ryan Statue

This statue commemorates Hall-of-Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan (1947-). A native of the Lone Star State, he spent twenty-seven seasons in the major leagues, five of them with the Texas Rangers. In his career, Ryan won 324 games and earned eight All-Star selections. The first million-dollar-a-year player in big league history, the flame-throwing right-hander remains the all-time strikeouts leader with 5,714 and the all-time leader in no-hitters with seven. In 1999, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America elected him to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Eight years later, the Rangers unveiled a statue of Ryan in The Ballpark in Arlington’s Vandergriff Plaza. Designed by Maryland-based artist Antonio Tobias “Toby” Mendez, the life-size bronze sculpture takes inspiration from a photograph of the right-hander taken shortly after he recorded his 5,000th strikeout in 1989. Standing atop the mound in his Rangers uniform with his glove on his left hand, he looks to the crowd and tips his cap. In early 2020, the statue moved to the new home of the Rangers, Globe Life Field. It resides in Rangers Plaza on the stadium’s north side.

Lynn Nolan Ryan was born on January 31, 1947 in the small town of Refugio, Texas. The youngest of six children of Robert and Martha Lee Hancock Ryan, he grew up in Alvin, just south of Houston. There, Ryan cultivated a love for the game with friends on a neighborhood sandlot and strengthened his throwing arm while accompanying his father on a paper route. A standout pitcher on Alvin High School’s baseball team, he began attracting major league attention in his junior year, during which he averaged two strikeouts per inning. In one nine-inning game that season, the hard-throwing right-hander fanned an astonishing twenty-one hitters. Ryan followed up his junior season with a sensational senior campaign in the spring of 1965. That season, he took the mound in twenty-seven games, earning a 19-3 record and tallying 211 strikeouts. Of his twenty starts, he completed twelve. Unfortunately for Ryan, his worst performance that season came with the scouting director for the New York Mets in attendance. As a result, his draft stock dropped. 

Despite this, the Mets selected Ryan in the twelfth round of the 1965 Major League Baseball Draft. Aside from a brief call-up in 1966, he spent the next three seasons in the organization’s farm system. Finally, during spring training in 1968, Ryan earned a spot in the Mets starting rotation. During his four years in New York, he pitched regularly and helped the club to a World Series title in 1969. Following the 1971 season, the organization traded him to the California Angels. It was while in the Golden State that Ryan built a case for being one of the best pitchers in baseball history. From 1972 to 1977, the right-hander averaged nineteen wins and 322 strikeouts per season. In 1972, he threw the first two of his seven career no-hitters. Additionally, in seven of his eight seasons with the organization, Ryan led the American League in strikeouts. After the 1979 season, he became the first million-dollar-a-year player in major league history when he signed with the Houston Astros. While with the organization, Ryan broke Walter Johnson’s record for most career strikeouts in 1983, a mark that stood for over fifty-five years. Following the 1988 season, he signed with the Texas Rangers, spending the final five years of his twenty-seven-year career with the club. After the 1993 season, at the age of forty-six, the eight-time All-Star retired, finishing his career with 324 wins, 5,714 strikeouts, and a 3.19 ERA. In 1999, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America elected him to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

Following his retirement as a player, Ryan remained involved in professional baseball. He held ownership stakes in two minor league clubs and served as a consultant to the Astros. In 2008, Ryan became president of the Rangers, and two years later purchased an interest in the team. He became CEO of the organization in 2011, but resigned two years later and sold his stake in the club. In 2013, Ryan began working for the Astros as an executive adviser, a position he held until 2019. 

In 2007, the Rangers unveiled a statue of Ryan in The Ballpark in Arlington’s Vandergriff Plaza. Designed by Maryland-based artist Antonio Tobias “Toby” Mendez, the life-size bronze sculpture takes inspiration from a photograph of the right-hander taken shortly after he recorded his 5,000th strikeout in 1989. Standing atop the mound in his Rangers uniform with his glove on his left hand, he looks to the crowd and tips his cap. In early 2020, the statue moved to the new home of the Rangers, Globe Life Field. It resides in Rangers Plaza on the stadium’s north side.

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Halicke, Chris. "Texas Rangers Unveil Pudge Rodriguez Statue at Globe Life Field." si.com. Sports Illustrated. 4 March 2020. Web. 20 July 2021 <https://www.si.com/mlb/rangers/news/texas-rangers-pudge-rodriguez-statue-globe-life-field>.

"Nolan Ryan." baseballhall.org. National Baseball Hall of Fame. Web. 20 July 2021 <https://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/ryan-nolan>.

"Nolan Ryan." Encyclopædia Britannica. Web. 20 July 2021 <https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nolan-Ryan>.