Rangers History Today: Nolan Ryan Resigns as CEO

On Oct. 17, 2013, Nolan Ryan resigned as the chief executive officer of the Texas Rangers. It was Ryan's second stint with the franchise.

Ryan pitched for the Rangers at the end of his career, from 1989 to 1993. With the Rangers, he won his 300th game, threw his 5,000th strikeout and threw his sixth and seventh career no-hitters, burnishing his first-ballot Baseball Hall of Fame credentials.

After retiring, Ryan served as a member of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission, owned a bank in his native Alvin, Texas, owned a restaurant in Three Rivers, Texas, and owned the Round Rock Express, which has served alternately as a minor league affiliate for the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros.

The Rangers lured Ryan to take over the franchise in February of 2008, in the hope his leadership would lead the franchise back to the postseason for the first time since 1999. When the Rangers went on the market, Ryan and Chuck Greenberg joined forces as majority partners in Rangers Express Baseball, which eventually bought the team at auction. Ryan became CEO of the Rangers in March of 2011, after Greenberg left the ownership group. Ryan and Greenberg reportedly had philosophical differences.

But, in 2013, the path toward Ryan’s exit was paved by the addition of president of baseball operations to Jon Daniels’ then-general manager title. At the same time, the Rangers also promoted Rick George to president of business operations. Ryan remained CEO, but the writing was on the wall.

Ryan walked away, and quickly found a consulting role with the Houston Astros which, at the time, were run on the business side by his son, Reid.

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