'ASTRO-NOMICAL' ERROR

Some said it was because Ryan wouldn't play in his golf tournament. Some said he refused to be McMullen's boy. He preferred to spend his time in the off-season at his ranch rather than remain at McMullen' s disposal. Most figured McMullen felt betrayed in a sense by Ryan, a man he had made a millionaire.

Only McMullen knows. He isn't talking about baseball these days after selling the Astros last year. But he gave a hint of what he thought of Ryan after the 1987 season.

The comment came when Ryan's one-year, $1.15 million contract came up for renewal. He had a good case. He finished fifth in balloting for the Cy Young award and led the league in strikeouts and earned run average.

He also finished 8-16, apparently the only important numbers to McMullen.

"Obviously, we'd like to have him back," McMullen told reporters after the 1987 season. "But is Nolan overcompensated? I think, based on his record, probably the answer is yes. I'd like to have some (contract) modifications if possible, but in the nicest sort of way."

This is how nice: a 20-percent pay cut.

McMullen actually didn't follow through with the proposal of a cut in salary until after the 1988 season. Ryan won 12 games in 1988, a season in which the Astros finished in fifth place. McMullen apparently didn't think Ryan's numbers on a fifth-place club warranted $1.15 million a year, the same salary he had since signing with the Astros before the 1980 season.

McMullen thought everyone would agree with him about Ryan's salary. He also didn't think Ryan, a free agent, would leave Houston, a half- hour from his native Alvin.

Ryan surprised McMullen, though. The rest of baseball did, too.

Several teams bid on Ryan. But only four - California, San Francisco, Texas and Houston - each had a realistic chance of signing him.

Houston remained the favorite, even going into the winter meetings in Atlanta. The speculation was that Ryan would return to the place where he repeatedly had told reporters he planned to finish his career.

They didn't take into consideration a conversation he'd had with his wife, Ruth, that fall.

"What about Texas?" she had asked.

Ruth didn't really want to leave Houston. She did not want to put the Ryans' three children through the same hassles of relocating that they had experienced when Ryan played for the California Angels from 1972 through 1979. They had too many extra-curricular activities in school to spend half of the year in California and the other half in Texas. California no longer seemed a viable alternative, either in Anaheim or San Francisco.

But Texas?

"I wanted him to go somewhere he'd really be wanted," Ruth said, "not somewhere they'd just pay him a lot of money. That's why we ruled out New York (Yankees). California really wanted him back. But it was hard for me to think about leaving Texas, what with the kids in school and all the things they had going on.

"I was the one who really narrowed it down."

Ruth pointed out to Nolan that he knew Rangers manager Bobby Valentine, who had been a teammate and friend on the Angels. She also took into consideration the reaction of fans. They might be angry at him for leaving Texas, she said. But their anger might be mitigated somewhat if he just moved up Interstate 45 a couple hundred miles.

The Ryans went to baseball's winter meetings in Atlanta with every intent of giving the Astros first priority, though.

Ryan set up a meeting at his hotel with McMullen and Bill Wood, who recently had succeeded Dick Wagner as general manager. It was the first time all year he had a face-to-face meeting with McMullen. The meeting was brief: McMullen agreed to leave Ryan's salary where it had been for nine years. Ryan told him he appreciated him coming to the room but didn't think he could accept the offer, substantially less than what was being offered by other clubs.

"He didn't think I was going to leave Houston," Ryan said. "That' s what he was counting on."

McMullen misjudged her husband, Ruth said.

"He could see McMullen wouldn't back down," Ruth said. "But Nolan wouldn't back down, either. He's stubborn.

"I respect John McMullen. I think he's very smart, and I like him. I have no hard feelings toward him whatsoever. He brought us to Houston in the first place, and that was great for us. But it wasn't very smart for him not to realize what he had with Nolan. He just wanted it his way.

"He's a real control person, and that doesn't work with Nolan."

Ryan said McMullen simply didn't understand the game. He ran it like a business. He took criticism for signing Ryan to sports' first million-dollar contract and spent years trying to make up for it. He became involved in baseball's labor negotiations. He was convinced, Ryan said, that if he could force a 20-percent pay cut on Ryan, other players would fall in line.

Ryan, instead, signed with the Rangers on Dec. 7 for a $200,000 signing bonus, $1.6 million in salary in 1989 and an option for 1990 that would pay him $1.4 million.

McMullen correctly predicted the reaction from Houston fans "will be terrible." Friends and relatives of Ryan, particularly in the Alvin area, have not lost much of their bitterness toward McMullen for letting Ryan go.

As for Ryan, the last five years have mellowed the resentment he once felt.

"I've heard he admitted he made a mistake," said Ryan, who has thrown two no-hitters, recorded his 5,000th strikeout and won his 300th game all as a Ranger.

"He just didn't understand me."