Throwing Heat: The Autobiography of Nolan Ryan

This memoir by Ryan isn't the greatest book ever written but it is worth reading if you are a baseball fan. Baseball, more so than other sports is wrapped up in statistics which is not my thing. Ryan has plenty to back up his status as one of the greatest players ever, and maybe the games greatest pitcher. It's all positive, [as a Hall of Famer he's now a baseball ambassador] but he does get few digs into a few bad people: Buzzie Bavasi, Billy Martin, Jim Palmer, Pete Rose. Ryan loves Sandy Koufax and was influenced by his play on the field and demeanor off of it. Ryan mentions the ability of the Dodgers' Valenzuela. Tom Seaver was another good teammate who was on the Mets team which won the World Series. Ryan says that it was against show more the Dodgers that he first struck out the side on nine pitches. Ryan was a pitcher who was so dominant that people expected a new statistical category to be invented: the back-to-back No-Hitter. He came close twice. Some good Yogi-isms are included. If you didn't live during those times, the stories he tells seem made up. But the reality was that Ryan was a unique player who sacrificed much family time to perfect his athletic ability. Ryan joined the Army reserve since it was during the Vietnam era when his baseball career began. He completed his duty on weekends with the military. Ryan is Methodist. show less