A Visit to the Nolan Ryan Center in Alvin, Texas

As most baseball fans know, Nolan Ryan had a long and successful career in the major leagues. His career spanned parts of four decades, and he is the holder of many major league records, including the single-season and career records for most strikeouts by a pitcher. He was deservingly elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1999. Ryan is well known as a Texas native, and still resides in the state.

On a recent trip to Houston, I got the opportunity to head into Ryan's hometown of Alvin, which is a short drive from Houston, and visit the Nolan Ryan Center at Alvin Community College.

A little history and general info, first…the Center was built in 1996 as the first act of the Nolan Ryan Foundation, a charitable organization whose goal is to provide "resources for youth, education, and community development".

The building was then donated to the Alvin Community College, which uses it to house their continuing education program. They also lease a section of the building back to the foundation for use as a museum honoring Ryan. The museum opened in 1999.

Admission to the museum is $5 for adults, and $2.50 for students and seniors. Children under 6 get in for free. The museum is open Mon-Saturday 9 am - 4 pm.

So, is the museum worth the trip? If you're a fan of baseball in general or Ryan specifically, it certainly is! I have to admit, I was expecting a very small, static exhibit, but what I found was that while the museum is not very large, it houses a large number of interesting artifacts and is very interactive.

Our trip started with a short video about Ryan, focusing on not just his career but also family values. It was a nice little tribute to Ryan as a man, not just as an athlete, which was nice to see. From there, we were free to wander the museum looking at the different exhibits.

Mixed in with an impressive array of baseball memorabilia, including uniforms, baseballs, awards, baseball cards, photos, and scorecards were an interesting mix of personal items concerning Ryan, such as an invitation and pictures from his wedding, and some nice pictures from his childhood. I was also impressed that the museum had some very interesting items from early in Ryan's career, such as a scout's info card filled out while Ryan was still in high school. Another display broke down each of Ryan's record 5,714 career strikeouts by player. The size of the display really helped it hit home just how impressive a record it was.

The most surprising part of the museum was it's great array of video and interactive exhibits. This was unexpected from such a small museum. Spaced among the displays in the museums hall are a number of video monitors, each of which shows a short film with highlights from Ryan's career, broken up by his time with each of the four teams he played for during his long career.

An interactive "pitch-catch exhibit" was really impressive, as well. The exhibit existed of a wall where that showed a catchers mask and glove. By placing your face into the "mask" and putting your hand over the "glove", you were transported into the position of a catcher with Ryan on the mound. A video screen within the mask showed you what a pitch from Ryan looked like from the catcher's standpoint. Thanks to the "glove", you could also feel the pitch as if you'd caught it. The display allowed you to experience a variety of different types of pitches as thrown by Ryan, plus an "average major league" fastball. It goes without saying that the incredible speed and force with which Ryan threw his fastball was something very interesting to experience. I have a newfound respect for anyone brave (or crazy) enough to get behind the plate when Ryan was pitching.

The museum also had a small gift shop, selling an impressive variety of items, from inexpensive items like magnets, baseballs, and photos, to t-shirts and sweatshirts, to items autographed by Nolan Ryan himself. These ranged from photos, books, and posters (about $50), to uniform jerseys ($275+), to limited edition lithographs ($500). All proceeds from the gift shop go back to into the foundation, which has used the money to help support the building of a new YMCA in Alvin, in addition to supporting teaching conferences and other local community projects. Apparently, Ryan himself stops in periodically to sign a new batch of items. You can also arrange with the museum to have your own items signed for a fee.

Overall, I would say my trip to the Nolan Ryan Museum at Alvin Community College was well worth the time and very reasonable price of admission. I would highly recommend it for any fan of Nolan Ryan specifically, or of baseball in general.