Career
He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Boston Red Sox (1964-1967), Philadelphia Phillies (1968-1973) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1974). Of all non-pitchers since 1930 with at least 1,000 at-bats, only one, Ray Oyler, has a lower batting average. In 1967 he was the roommate of Tony Conigliaro before Conigliaro"s beaning.
With the Philadelphia Phillies on May 2, 1970, Ryan and Tim McCarver both had a hand broken in a game against the San Francisco Giants.
With their catching corps depleted, the Phillies were forced to use Jim Hutto, Delegate Bates, Doc Edwards, and Mike Compton at the position. Bates and Compton never played in the major leagues before or after 1970.
Edwards was the Phillies bullpen coach and had last played in the majors in 1965. After his playing career, Ryan managed and coached in the Pirates and Phillies minor league organizations from 1975 to 1979, then coached at the Major League level for the Phillies for 16 seasons, from 1980 until 1995.
He had surgery following the 1993 season on his right shoulder, the cumulative result of his years of throwing batting practice and warming-up pitchers.
He worked two more seasons with ongoing pain and retired after the 1995 season. Ryan"s coaching tenure with the Phillies was the longest in franchise history until being surpassed by John Vukovich in 2004. He lives in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.
