Nolan Ryan Museum
Alvin, TX
February 28, 2004
By
Ken Schlapp
 The
good thing about the crazy travel schedule I have for my job is that
I do get opportunities to see sporting events and other places along
the way. During my big baseball journey in 2003, I was not able to
truly visit the Nolan Ryan Center (Museum) in Alvin, Texas because
it was closed on the day I tried to see it. Luckily, I only had to
wait until the following February to get my next opportunity, when I
had to come to Houston for work. I had to be in the office on
Friday, but decided to stay in Houston until Sunday in order to
visit the museum on Saturday.
This time, I made sure that it would
be open, so my 45-minute drive down to Alvin, Texas to would not be
a wasted drive and I could see more than just the outside. The
Nolan Ryan Center exists on the campus of Alvin Community College
and is an educational center that was donated by the Nolan Ryan
Foundation in 1996. The Nolan Ryan Exhibits opened to the public in
1999. About 1/3 of the center is dedicated as a Nolan Ryan Museum,
with, history, statistics, photos, and videos documenting Nolan
Ryan’s Hall of Fame career and life.
 Inside
was a small theatre that displays highlights of his playing career
and life, videos and photos of his career with the Mets, Angels,
Astros, Rangers and even the minor leagues. I especially liked the
part of the display that showed the New York Daily News with the
headline f Mets as World Champs from 1969. Being the stat geek that
I am, I loved the hall of records, which catalogues all of Nolan
Ryan’s 5,714 strikeouts in a display highlighting things such as the
father/son combinations and brothers that he struck out during his
career. There are also displays, video and broadcast audio for each
of the amazing 7 no-hitters he pitched during his career, but
clearly the most interesting and exciting exhibit in the museum is
the interactive pitch-catch exhibit in which you can put your hand
in the catcher’s mitt and actually feel what it is like to catch a
Nolan Ryan fastball! I have caught in a baseball game many times,
but nobody threw nearly as hard as Ryan did, so this was an
impressive and intimidating experience.
On the outside of the museum in the
parking lot, there is a statue of Nolan Ryan surrounded by seven
flags. The three in the middle are the flags of the United States,
 Texas,
and Alvin. To the right are flags for The Baseball Hall of Fame and
the Rangers, while on the left are flags for the Angels and the
Astros, but the big omission that I only noticed years later while
writing this article is that there is no flag for the Mets! I have
no idea why, but this has certainly piqued my interest as to why my
Mets were left out.
The beautiful thing for me on this
visit was that I noticed the college baseball field while I was
there and decided to head over there to watch the game. As I was
sitting there, I realized just how great it was to be watching a
baseball game in February. That is something I never got to do in
New York because it is just too cold, but down in Texas they can
play baseball all year round, which is great. Unfortunately, I did
not take notes or photos of the game, so I do not remember whom
Alvin Community College was playing or if they won, but I am pretty
sure it was a double header. I have emailed their current sports
department to see if I can find a box score of those games, but have
not heard back yet. Regardless, I still watched a baseball game in
February!
Bottom line – If you are in Houston,
it is worth the drive to see this great baseball museum of one of
the greatest players ever…and if you are lucky, you can catch a game
too.
Basic trip facts:
-Stadium - NA
-Old Stadium Sites visited – None (Total – 21)
-Under construction Stadium Sites visited – None (Total – 2)
-Miles traveled – 3,272 via Air and 76 via Car (Totals: Driving –
18,353, Subway - 20, Air - 6,468, Total – 21,569)
-States, provinces, Districts and/or commonwealths passed through –
Texas (Totals: States – 48, Provinces – 2, Districts – 1,
Commonwealths - 1)
-Seats – Behind the backstop
-Prices: Parking – free, Beer – None, Hot Dogs – Not Sure, Program
(including pencil) - None, Souvenir Soda Cup – none
-Credit Card giveaway – None
-First Pitch - 1:06 PM
-Attendance – 100
-Results – Cardinals 8, Mets 2, W – Steve Kline, L – Dan Wheeler, S
– None
-Home team record to date – 20 wins, 15 losses
-Record of “team I was routing for” to date – 15 wins, 20 losses
-Lodging – Houston, Texas
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