Age 43 ... Who wore it better? Tom Brady or Nolan Ryan?
As Tom Brady continues to make us feel bad about our respective diets, and every fall reminds us of our daily failures, do not let a millennial convince you that he is the first, or the best.
In 1990, when Tom Brady was 13, Nolan Ryan set the standard for 43-year-olds when he was pitching for the Texas Rangers.
Nolan didn’t need a sugarless diet, or a world supermodel at his side, to dominate the kids, and make 43 the new 23.
“Nolan was so different in everything he ever did in baseball. Everything he did stuck out,” former Rangers manager Bobby Valentine said in a phone interview this week. “He was an outlier and everything he did was an outlier.
“What he was doing, no one had really seen that before. And it’s important to remember this was the first time something like this was happening with ESPN around. All of the attention he generated with every start. The anticipation of him coming out of the dugout. You could hear the crowd hum.”
In leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to Super Bowl LV, what the 43-year-old Tom Brady is doing is inspiring to anyone over the age of 40.
The only person who did 43 any better is Nolan.
Tom Brady at 43 vs. Nolan Ryan at 43
Regarding Tommy, no need to belabor this point.
In his first season with the Bucs, Brady started all 16 games, threw for 4,633 yards, 40 touchdowns, went 11-5, and won all three playoff games on the road, including the NFC Championship against the favored Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field.
Everyone else grows older but Tom Brady.
In 1990, Ryan was in the second year of his two-year, $1.8 million contract with the Rangers.
“It was said that it was a PR move but you gotta remember back then we didn’t have $1.8 million for PR moves. We needed results,” said former Texas Rangers GM Tom Grieve, who signed Ryan.
Ryan to the Rangers made them relevant in a way the franchise hadn’t been previously.
“Just having Nolan Ryan wear a Texas Rangers jersey gave us a huge boost,” Grieve said. “I’d think Brady had the same impact [with Tampa].”
In Ryan’s first year with the Rangers, he finished 16-10 with a 3.20 ERA in 32 starts and a league-best 301 strikeouts. That season, he struck out fellow future Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson for career strikeout No. 5,000. Not 3,000, but 5,000.
In 1990, at the age of 43, Ryan was 13-9 with a 3.44 ERA in 30 starts. He led the American League in strikeouts (232), WHIP (1.034), hits per innings (6.0), and strikeouts per nine innings (10.2).
On June 11, 1990, Ryan threw his sixth career no-hitter, a 5-0 win at Oakland. That night, he allowed two walks and struck out 14 on 130 pitches.
The highlight made the NBC Evening News with Tom Brokaw.
On Sept. 8, in the second inning Ryan was facing the most amazing athlete in pro sports, Kansas City Royals outfielder Bo Jackson. Jackson’s hit a one-hop comebacker that deflected off Ryan’s face.
Ryan grabbed it, and tossed it to first base to beat Jackson for the out.
It left Ryan’s face a bloody mess, and created the second-most famous picture of Ryan’s 27-year career. (No. 1 was his beat down of Chicago White Sox third baseman Robin Ventura.)
Ryan stayed in the game, and struck out eight in seven innings in a 2-1 win.
Tom Brady and Nolan Ryan, one in the same
Brady is from California with the supermodel wife while Ryan is from Texas who married his high school sweetheart named Ruth.
They could not be more different, and yet they are undeniably the same.
Watch Brady and Ryan when they throw a ball, and the resemblance is not a coincidence. Even at 43, both still had the pop of a ball thrown by a man in his late 20s.
“With us, he could still throw it 96 or 97 mph,” Grieve said. “Even to the end, he was a power pitcher.”
Both use classic, over-the-top throwing motions.
They both worked with Tom House. House, who was the Rangers pitching coach when Ryan was with the club, has since become one of the most respected teachers of proper throwing mechanics.
Ryan actually famously would throw footballs on off days in between starts.
Both Ryan and Brady treated their bodies as temples and were fitness freaks.
“I tried to work out with [Ryan] one day after one of his starts,” Valentine said. “I got 90 minutes into the workout and I was done.”
At 43, neither one was just another guy hanging on.
Ryan famously once said the game will tell you when it’s time to retire.
In 1990, Ryan had three more years left before the game told him it was time. On Sept. 22, 1993, after a pitch in Seattle, Ryan suffered a career-ending ulnar collateral ligament tear in his right elbow.
Don’t be surprised if Brady is still Tom Brady for another year or two.
Brady may be The GOAT, but no one did 40, and specifically 43, any better than The Express.
