Is Last Stop for Express the Series?

Nolan Ryan has announced his retirement, effective October, 1993. By then, he will have outlasted every man who ever played major league baseball, plus every man who ever played professional football and professional basketball, plus his own jersey number--beating it by a good 16 months.

The Angels, ahead of the game for very possibly the first time, retired Ryan’s old No. 30 last June. It is now painted, large enough for low-flying aircraft to see, on the right-field fence, the best bit of home improvement the Angels did all year.

Cast your binoculars toward right field in Anaheim Stadium last summer, and which sight conjured the more pleasing mental image?

Von?

Or Ryan’s Express?

With time, we can only hope, memories of Von Hayes will fade. But No. 30 will be there forever, and for that, the Angels can be excused for jumping the gun and manufacturing a happy event so that their 1992 season would be guaranteed having at least one.

Better yet, the Angels can hawk a few more tickets for their piece of the Ryan Farewell Tour. (Those Anaheim dates again: June 14, 15, 16 and 17; Sept. 17, 18 and 19).

Finally, a reason to see an Angel game in 1993.

Across the American League, a dozen other teams will soon be falling into the same line. This could get sloppy. There will be Nolan Ryan Nights, Nolan Ryan Days, Nolan Ryan Weekends, Nolan Ryan Home Stands. Last year, the Angels gave Ryan a red truck and a leather saddle. Now, the Red Sox will have to top that, and the Royals will have to top that, and the Twins will have to top that.

In Detroit, Norm Cash can present Ryan with the heavy table leg he dragged to home plate in 1973, his vain attempt to break up the second of Ryan’s seven no-hitters.

In New York, the Yankees can present Ryan with Claudell Washington. Ryan all but owns him already, having struck out Washington on 39 occasions.

But, really, what do you give a man who has nearly 5,700 strikeouts and three more no-hitters than Sandy Koufax and a dozen one-hitters and 319 big-league victories and more than 50 big-league records?

I can think of one.

Only the Texas Rangers can provide it.

It is called a World Series.

Ryan hasn’t played in one in 23 years.

It is, at once, a laughable statement and a sad one. Nolan Ryan, active baseball player, last participated in a World Series 23 years ago . He pitched in his first major league game three years before that. Debuted in ‘66, threw 2 1/3 World Series innings in ’69 and hasn’t been back since.

The odds are astronomical: Play 27 seasons, play for four teams, play in both leagues--and make the World Series just once, as a lanky kid reliever too young to appreciate the experience and too wild to make much of a difference.

But then, Ryan played for odd teams. The Mets in the ‘60s, the Angels in the ‘70s, the Astros in ‘80s, the Rangers in the ‘90s. Combined, those teams have appeared in a total of three World Series. Exclude the Mets, and the figure becomes a big red zero.

Ryan couldn’t have made worse career choices if he had tried. He opted for four expansion teams, and the first three couldn’t hit. Tommie Agee and Cleon Jones were the big boppers in Ryan’s lineup in New York. Bob Oliver and Leroy Stanton in Anaheim. Terry Puhl and Jose Cruz in Houston.

Since leaving the Mets, Ryan has reached three league championship series. In 1979, the Angels had rediscovered the home run with Bobby Grich and Don Baylor but left Ryan stranded in the rotation. Dave Frost was the No. 2 starter. In 1980, the Astros’ home run leader had 13. In 1986, the Astros lost to the Mets in the greatest National League playoff ever played--2-1 in 12 innings in Game 5, 7-6 in 16 innings in Game 6.

Then, granted free agency for the final time, after the 1988 season, Ryan has the opportunity to pick and make the choice of a lifetime.

He can sign with the Canseco-McGwire A’s.

He can sign with the one-piece-away Blue Jays.

He can sign with the young and rising Braves.

He signs with the Rangers, because they are close to home.

The Rangers haven’t been close to the World Series in their 33-year existence, including their first incarnation as the Washington Senators. Their best finish is second place in the AL West, five games back, accomplished in 1986. With Ryan, they have finished fourth, third, third and fourth.

This season, Ryan breaks in a rookie manager, one Kevin Kennedy, who is given to such declarations as “I feel we’ve addressed all our needs” and “I think we’re in a good position to win this thing.”

It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature, and it’s even worse to taunt Father Ryan. The Rangers win the pennant? Somewhere on a ranch in Alvin, Ryan is reaching for the bifocals and muttering, “Wull, let’s look at this here thing a little closer.”

The Rangers have Jose Canseco. The Rangers have Julio Franco, the 1991 AL batting champion, and Rafael Palmiero, the 1988 NL runner-up. The Rangers have Juan Gonzalez and Ivan Rodriguez, two of the brightest new names in the game.

Over the winter, the Rangers raided the world champions, bringing in ex-Toronto shortstop Manny Lee and ex-Toronto closer Tom Henke. Charlie Leibrandt and Bob Patterson, last seen in the 1992 postseason, have signed on to pitch for Texas. Likewise, 13-game winner Craig Lefferts and steady-in-the-field Billy Ripken have enlisted. Kennedy might have a point.

Ryan has his hopes up. His career is the only one to have spanned both the Johnson and Kennedy administrations--Lyndon to Kevin--and that ought to be worth more than the one diamond he has called his workplace for the past 27 years.