For Master of Mound, a New Tight Spot
Rehabilitating the Texas Rangers may be Nolan Ryan's toughest challenge yet.
April 23, 2008 -- It has been the perfect life, really, for many of his 61 years.Nolan Ryan had a Hall of Fame pitching career. He was wildly successful in every business venture he touched. He has been married 40 years to his high-school sweetheart, raising three successful kids.
"Really, I couldn't have been happier," Ryan says. "I was very comfortable, and really enjoyed what I was doing. It's just that, well, I wanted a challenge. I love a good challenge.
"And I got one right here. It's just a little more complex than I anticipated."
Ryan, one of the greatest icons in Texas, is putting his impeccable reputation on the line.
Ryan is president of the Texas Rangers, whose club again is in last place in the American League West, with a 7-13 record. The Rangers were embarrassed in a four-game sweep at Boston's Fenway Park and tied with the Detroit Tigers for the worst record in the AL entering their series there Tuesday.
"The way Nolan put it to me," says close friend and former teammate Don Baylor, "'I'm already up to my knees in alligators.'"
Ryan, the first Hall of Famer to become a club president since Christy Mathewson in 1925, inherits a team that has finished last or next to last in the AL West eight consecutive years. They've had one winning season this decade.
For a man who won 324 career games, with a record seven no-hitters and 5,714 strikeouts, it's striking that he's saddled with a franchise defined by pitching ineptitude. The Rangers didn't have a pitcher win more than 10 games or pitch more than 173 innings last year. They've had only two complete-game victories within their division since realignment in 1994.
Ryan had 222 complete games by himself. He threw at least 300 innings twice.
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