Feb 6, 2008 11:16 am US/Central
Nolan Ryan Named Rangers Team President
ARLINGTON (CBS 11 News / AP) ―
The Texas Rangers hired Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan as the new team president, as officially announced in a Wednesday afternoon press conference at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
"The Ryan Express has come to town," said team owner Tom Hicks.
It was not immediately clear how much control over personnel Ryan would have in his new role, but he told a Houston television station that he would be "over all of the Rangers baseball operations."
"This is something new for me," Ryan said. "It'd be different from what I've done in the past or on the playing field."
Ryan had been under contract with the Houston Astros as a special assistant to the general manager, scouting players and holding pitching camps. This was the last year of his five-year agreement with the team.
Ryan pitched for the Astros from 1980 to 1988 before finishing his career with the Rangers, pitching for them from 1989 to 1993. After his retirement, he fulfilled a 10-year personal service contract with the Rangers before returning to Houston in 2004.
In his career, Ryan had a record seven no-hitters and 5,714 strikeouts, including his last two no-hitters, his 300th victory and his 5,000th strikeout with the Rangers. Ryan won 324 games in 27 seasons.
Ryan is also part-owner of the Class Triple-A Round Rock Express and Class Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks. Both are Houston Astros farm clubs.
The Rangers presidency became vacant in November when Jeff Cogen was moved to the same position with the Dallas Stars, also owned by Hicks, during the hockey team's front office shakeup.
When the opportunity first arose, the 61-year-old Ryan said, "From a baseball perspective, I think everybody would like to be involved in putting a ballclub together and try to put a winning effort together. So, I think obviously from my perspective, there would be some attraction to that."
Ryan's return could bring a jolt to a franchise that has struggled to stay competitive in many of the seasons since he retired in 1993.
The Rangers have finished no better than third in the AL West since 2000, although the only three playoff appearances in franchise history came after he retired. Pitching has long been a frustration; the Rangers had the fewest strikeouts in the AL last season and their team ERA ranked in the bottom five.
Last month, Texas bolstered its rotation by signing free agent Jason Jennings, who grew up in Dallas watching Ryan pitch.
But bringing Ryan into the front office is likely to stir the most excitement among Rangers fans, many of whom still revere the Texas native. The image of Ryan putting Robin Ventura -- 20 years younger than the aging pitcher -- into a headlock after Ventura charged the mount in Ryan's final season remains a favorite memory for Rangers fans.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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