There are several ways to get a player out in baseball. Only one always pits one player against another. Some pitches are as fast as 100 MPG. These are thrown over a distance of 60 feet, 6 inches from a pitcher’s mound that is 10 inches higher than the field. The pitch reaches the plate in about .4 seconds.

The greatest pitchers almost always have more than one pitch in their arsenals, which is a means of challenging the batter’s reaction.

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There are several ways a pitcher’s skill is measured. One is strikeouts in a game. At 21 strikeouts, this record is held by Tom Cheney of the Washington Senators and was set in a game against the Baltimore Orioles on September 12, 1982. The game was 16 innings long.

Another yardstick of skill is the “perfect game.” In these, no batter from the opposing team reaches base over the course of 9 innings, or more. The term was first used in 1908. These are rare and happen only every few years.

Yet another measure used is games won per season. The last man to win over 30 of these was Denny McClain in 1968. His record was 31-6. The last time this feat had been accomplished was 34 years before.

One gold standard of pitching is career strikeouts by a single pitcher. This record is held by Nolan Ryan at 5,714. He set the record over 5,383 innings pitched, His career lasted 27 years from 1966 until 1993,

Nolan Ryan was born on January 31, 1947, he is currently 75 years old. He played for four teams. In 1979, he was the first million player when he signed a four year deal with the Houston Astros in 1979.

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