Nolan Ryan Had a Softer Side. He Just Hid It (Very) Well.

Even in an era full of strikeouts and no-hitters, Nolan Ryan’s legend endures. He still holds 51 records, by his count.Credit...Jonathan Daniel/Hulton Archive, via Getty ImagesLike the Beatles did shortly before him, Nolan Ryan performed at Shea Stadium and sang on the Ed Sullivan Show.

The former is a well-known and well-told part of Ryan’s life, the early days of a Hall of Fame career that eventually launched the Ryan Express as if by rocket fuel. The latter, when he and the entire 1969 Mets World Series-winning roster sang “You Gotta Have Heart” to a national television audience, is less known and one of the many surprising parts of a new documentary, “Facing Nolan,” that surely will…