1990 Topps Minis #39: Nolan Ryan

Having broken my recent hiatus from cardblogging, I am now back and ready to resume my usual feature of blogging through the 1990 Topps Mini League Leaders set.  We last featured card #38, Rangers pitcher Jeff Russell.  That puts us at card #39 (of 88) today, Rangers pitcher Nolan Ryan.

#39, Nolan Ryan.

I've said several times on this blog that I was never a big Nolan Ryan fan.  His longevity and ability to strike batters out and throw no-hitters were of course very impressive.  But it never seemed to translate very well to winning baseball games.  Of course as far as the wins statistic goes he has a lot (324) but he also has a lot on the losing side (292).  And the Miracle Mets were ancient history to me in the 80s, so I never saw him do much in the postseason.  Anyway, he is of course a legend, even if he isn't my personal favorite.

Nolan Ryan card back.

Ryan earned his way into this league leaders set doing what he did, striking out batters, leading the AL in 1989 with 301.  He also led in batting average against, with .187. 

Thanks for reading!  We're almost done with the AL and almost halfway through the set.