Nolan Ryan is considered one of the greatest pitchers of all time and his baseball cards are some of the most sought after in the hobby. Ryan spent parts of four seasons with the New York Mets from 1966-1971 before going on to pitching glory with later organizations. His early Mets cards provide a unique window into the budding career of the flamethrower from Alvin, Texas.
Ryan was drafted out of high school by the Mets in the 12th round of the 1965 amateur draft. He steadily climbed the minor league ranks, impressing scouts with his blazing fastball that was clocked as high as 100 mph. Ryan made his MLB debut for the Mets in September 1966, appearing in 4 games in relief. His rookie card came in 1967 from Topps, showing a clean-cut 21-year-old with a beard-free face. While not extraordinarily valuable today, it was Ryan’s first trading card appearance and the start of his iconic card collection.
In 1967, Ryan began to work his way into the Mets starting rotation on a more permanent basis. He showed glimpses of the strikeout pitcher he would become, fanning 89 batters over 165 innings. His 1968 Topps card featured an action photo of him winding up to deliver a pitch in his fourth season with the team. However, Ryan was still developing consistency and posted a mediocre 13-10 record for a Mets squad that finished seventh in the NL.
The 1969 season would be a memorable one in Mets history as the “Amazin’s” won the franchise’s first World Series title. Ryan contributed to the championship season by earning a 15-11 record and striking out 173 hitters, which led the NL. His ’69 Topps card highlighted these breakout numbers and really captured attention from card collectors coast-to-coast. Though Ryan did not appear in the postseason, the Mets title validated his development into a frontline starter at just 24 years old.
Following a solid 1970 campaign where he won 15 games again, the 1971 season marked Ryan’s statistical peak with the Mets. He recorded career-highs of 21 wins, 329 strikeouts, and a 2.88 ERA. The freakish season cemented his status as an ace and earned him the first of what would be seven career All-Star selections. His ’71 Topps card showcased these eye-popping stats that placed Ryan firmly among baseball’s elite hurlers. Contract disputes and bumping elbows in the Mets rotation clouded Ryan’s long-term future with the franchise.
After the ’71 season concluded, the Mets shockingly traded the 29-year-old Ryan to the California Angels in a blockbuster deal. He had accumulated a 61-62 record and 1,234 strikeouts over his six seasons in New York. Ryan’s final two seasons with the Mets were clearly his best and capturing him at the height of his early prime made his 1970-71 Topps cards very collectible. While his time on the diamond with the Mets was productive, it was just the launching pad for Ryan’s iconic career that included a record 7 no-hitters and 5,714 strikeouts spanning 27 seasons in the majors.
In the years since his trade from the Mets, Ryan has cemented himself as arguably the greatest power pitcher in baseball history. The velocity and devastating slider he exhibited provided a thrilling glimpse of what was to come. His rookie card and those from his peak Mets seasons in the late 1960s and early 1970s retain significance in the world of baseball memorabilia. With a Hall of Fame career and some of the most impressive pitching records in the books, cards showing Ryan during those formative Mets years remain highly desirable for collectors. Though he went on to even greater fame with later franchises, Ryan’s connection to the Mets through his early baseball cards ensure he will forever be linked to that original organization.
In summary, Nolan Ryan’s playing career with the New York Mets from 1966-1971 established him as a promising flamethrowing starter who was just starting to fulfill his full potential. His baseball cards from that first half-decade in the majors serve as an important historical record of Ryan’s emergence and development into one of the all-time greats. Even after being traded away before his true prime, Ryan’s years pitched for the Mets are still commemorated within the rich hobby of collecting his iconic cardboard representations from that formative period. Any serious student of baseball history or card collection would find value in studying the progression shown on Nolan Ryan’s early 1970s cards featuring his years as a pivotal member of the Mets pitching staff and franchise.
