Rangers History Today: Nolan Ryan Voted Into Hall of Fame

On this date in baseball history, former Texas Rangers pitcher Nolan Ryan was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

On Jan. 5, 1999, the expected happened, as Ryan, the 26-year veteran who changed the face of the Rangers’ organization in the last five seasons of his career, earned his ticket to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

Ryan’s selection was near-unanimous by the Baseball Writers Association of America. At the time, 491 of the BBWAA’s 497 voters selected Ryan, giving him a vote percentage of 98.79. Only four players, as of 2021, had better percentages: Tom Seaver (a former Ryan teammate with the New York Mets), Ken Griffey Jr., Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, who is the only player unanimously elected to the Hall.

Despite playing just five seasons for the Rangers, Ryan selected a Rangers cap for his plaque in Cooperstown. With the Rangers, Ryan nailed down his place in Cooperstown by hurling his sixth and seventh no-hitters, notching his 5,000th strikeout, and claiming his 300th career win. Ryan’s career ended with a Major League-leading 5,714 career strikeouts and seven career no-hitters, along with the most games with 15 more strikeouts (26), and the most strikeouts in a single season (383). Ryan played 27 seasons, the most of any Major League player.

With the Rangers, Ryan went 51-39, with a 3.43 ERA, and 939 strikeouts. But, beyond the stats he put up, Ryan gave the Rangers a legitimate superstar for the first time in its history, a known baseball name and was still pitching like he was in his prime, even though he was in his 40s by that point.

The 1999 Class was stellar. It featured Ryan, George Brett, Robin Yount and Orlando Cepeda.

Also on this date …

Jan. 5, 2011: Adrián Beltré signed a free-agent contract with the Rangers. He played with the Rangers until his retirement after the end of the 2018 season, and left the game as one of handful of players to have at least 3,000 career hits.

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