lynn nolan ryan (born january 31, 1947) is a former major league baseball pitcher. he played in the major leagues from 1966 to 1993. he played for the new york mets, california angels, houston astros, and texas rangers.. as a pitcher, ryan struck out 5,714 batters. this is the most all-time. ryan is the only pitcher in the mlb to strike out 5,000 batters. ryan has also walked more batters and thrown more no-hitters than anyone else. he is now the president and one of the owners of the texas rangers. ryan is from refugio, texas.