Nolan Ryan: Thoughts About His Career & Rangers Baseball in 2010

As the keynote speaker at a TCU Business Network of Dallas luncheon, Rangers Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan, along with Chuck Morgan, the longtime in-stadium voice of the team, answered questions and reflected on Ryan’s time in baseball Thursday at the Intercontinental in Addison.

Ryan is the President of the Rangers and a member of Chuck Greenberg’s new ownership group.

Nolan Ryan’s 2 sons attended TCU, and he was once a volunteer coach for the baseball team.

Here are some highlights of what Ryan shared:

• He and the Rangers organization expect to win the AL West in 2010
• Things were brewing between the Rangers and the White Sox before the Robin Ventura incident. Steve Buechele had been hit with a pitch. In the offseason, Buechele was promoted to manager of the Frisco Rough Riders, the Rangers’ Double-A affiliate.
• Ryan said he learned early in his career that you have to be aggressive to be effective. With 5,714 strikeouts, there’s no doubt he accomplished that.
• He doesn’t think that Major League Baseball will implement a strict salary cap system any time soon, and he’s fine with the Yankees having to pay $26.9 million in luxury taxes for last season.
• After spending 2 years in Japan, Colby Lewis has really matured as a pitcher. Lewis pitched in the Majors from 2002 to 2007 before heading overseas. He was a Ranger for 3 seasons before spending one season with the Tigers and one with the A’s. On January 19, he signed a 1-year contract to return to Arlington with a club option for a second.
• Ryan said the Rangers would have signed first-round pick Matt Purke if they weren’t so financially strapped. Purke was asking for a lot of money, and Ryan said MLB, because of the team’s financial situation, had to approve spending more than the budgeted amount. The team could not get approval from the Commissioner’s office. Purke will play NCAA baseball for TCU.
• Ryan laughed and said TCU was a good place for Purke to go if he had to go somewhere. Go Frogs!!!
• Years ago, the Rangers had an opportunity to move to the Central Division. Ryan would entertain that idea because it would prevent the team from losing fans and viewership for their late-night divisional games. (I guess most fans are not diehard like me!)
• Randy Johnson (a.k.a “The Big Unit”) gives Nolan Ryan a lot of credit for helping him figure out his career. Jokingly, Ryan said he never should have talked to him because the next time their teams faced each other, Johnson struck out 18.
• As a sophomore in high school, Ryan was 6’2” and weighed 150 pounds.

Watch for a special message for Nolan Ryan on Sunday.

"I wanted to play as long as I could. I was blessed."
-Nolan Ryan