Nolan Ryan he ever win a Cy Young Award. Ryan is one of only 29 players in baseball history to have appeared in Major League baseball games in four decades and the only MLB pitcher to strike out seven pairs of fathers and sons. Ryan was born in Refugio, south of Victoria in south Texas, the youngest of six children, to Lynn Nolan Ryan Sr. (1907–1970), and the former Martha Lee Hancock (1913–1990). The senior Ryan operated a newspaper delivery service for the "Houston Post" that required him to rise in the early morning hours to prepare 1,500 newspapers for delivery over
Nolan Ryan 1973 and 22–16 in 1974 (the 22 wins tied what remains the Angels franchise record, set by Clyde Wright in 1970). He finished 2nd in the Cy Young balloting (losing to Jim Palmer 88 to 62) in 1973. It was the closest he ever came in the Cy Young balloting. Ryan also led the league in losses in 1976 with a 17–18 record (one short of the franchise record for losses). In the early 1970s, many teams used a four-man rotation and expected the starter to complete the game; thus most games Ryan started ended in a decision. On July