June 2, 2023

I love baseball. Although he never pitched for my favorite baseball team (that’s the Dodgers), I was always a fan of the intimidating Nolan Ryan. There was just something about the Ryan Express that was awesome. He pitched in a day where pitch count was not used. I can’t imagine how many pitches Nolan Ryan would throw in a game. But he had an attitude that if he had anything left in his arm, he wanted to go back out there.

So this Netflix documentary of Nolan’s massive 27-year baseball career, starting with the New York Mets, heading through the California Angels, Houston Astros and Texas Rangers, is a fascinating watch.

You know you are something when a former president of the United States is a talking head in your documentary. George W. Bush was a former owner of the Texas Rangers so he had several insider points of view.

Nolan Ryan struck out over 5000 batters in his career. He threw a remarkable 7 no hitters (shattering Sandy Koufax’s record of 4). He won over 300 games. He was inducted as a first ballot Hall of famer. An argument could be made that Nolan Ryan is one of the greatest pitchers in the history of the sport that thrives upon its records and history unlike any other sport.

Listening to Nolan Ryan himself speak about the highlights and challenges of his storied career was thrilling. The film spoke to his wife Ruth Ryan and to several of his children to get the inside of the pitcher.

It was also cool to see so many of Nolan’s contemporaries speak about him too. We saw George Brett, Dave Winfield, Bobby Valentine, Enos Cabell, Roger Clemens, Jose Cruz Sr., Craig Biggio, Rod Carew, Art Howe, Randy Johnson, Cal Ripken, Pete Rose, Ivan Rodriguez, Craig Reynolds, Mike Maddux, and Steve Buechele among others.

Mike MacRae was the narrator, bringing a Texas feel to the documentary. He did a nice job of setting up some of the key moments in Nolan’s career and building anticipation.

Nolan Ryan was a pitcher unlike any other that stepped on a major league mound. He was dominant, but, playing for some bad teams, really held back his overall reputation. After watching this, I appreciate Nolan Ryan all the more.