Today in Sports History: June 1

In 1975, California Angels pitcher, Nolan Ryan, threw his fourth Major League Baseball career no-hitter against the Baltimore Orioles. The Angels won 1-0. 

Ryan pitched for the New York Mets from 1966-71. In 1972, he was traded to the California Angels and played for them until 1979. He left the Angels in 1980 and played with the Houston Astros until 1988. Finally, he left the Astros and started playing with the Texas Rangers from 1989 until 1993. 

Throughout his 27-season career, Ryan won 324 games and lost 292. His earned run average was 3.19 through 807 games that he played. He was the starting pitcher for 773 games and had three saves as a relief pitcher. He pitched a total of 5,386 innings and pitched a total of 5,714 strikeouts. He also had an average of 1.25 Walks and Hits Per Inning Pitched. 

He led the New York Mets to a World Series Championship in 1969 and was a two-time National League (NL) Most Valuable Player. He was also a six-time AL All-Star in 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1979, and 1989 and a two-time NL All-Star in 1981 and 1985. 

Later in his career, Ryan retired in 1993 from playing baseball. He was later inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999 for his incredible accomplishments such as seven no-hitters, eight All-Star Game selections, and the lowest hits-per-nine-innings-pitched ratio of 6.56. 

He was also elected to the All-Century Team in 1999 as one of the best pitchers in all of Major League Baseball. He later bought a minor league affiliated with the Houston Astros with his son and other investors. He eventually became the president and CEO of the Texas Rangers in 2008. After the 2019 season, he stepped down and offered the position to his son Reid, who took over the position.