Background: Ryan was born in Refugio, south of Victoria in south Texas, the youngest of six children, to Lynn Nolan Ryan Sr. (1907-1970), and the former Martha Lee Hancock (1913-1990). The senior Ryan operated a newspaper delivery service for the Houston Post that required him to rise in the early morning hours to prepare 1,500 newspapers for delivery over a 55-mile route. The children were expected to help with the daily tasks.
Context: In 1965, after graduating from Alvin High School, Ryan was drafted by the New York Mets in the 12th round of the 1965 Major League Baseball draft. He was assigned the minor league Marion Mets in the Appalachian League. When Ryan was called up to the New York club the following year, he was the second-youngest player in the league. His first strikeout was Pat Jarvis, and he gave up his first major league home run to Joe Torre, a future NL MVP and Hall of Fame big-league manager.  Ryan missed much of the 1967 season due to illness, an arm injury, and service with the Army Reserve; he pitched only 7 innings for the Mets' minor league affiliate in Jacksonville. Ryan returned to the major leagues to stay starting with the 1968 season. Ryan was unable to crack the Mets' pitching rotation, led by Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman. Ryan was used more as a reliever and spot starter by the 1969 Mets. To deal with frequent blisters on his throwing hand he often soaked his fingers in pickle brine, although the technique's effectiveness was questioned by Ryan's teammates and coaches.  Ryan pitched well for the Miracle Mets in the 1969 postseason. Against the Braves in the NLCS, Ryan completed a Mets sweep by throwing seven innings of relief in Game 3, getting his first playoff win (it would take him 12 years to get another). Then in the 1969 World Series, Ryan saved Game 3, pitching 2 1/3  shutout innings against the Baltimore Orioles. The Game 3 victory gave the Mets a 2-1 lead in the Series, which they went on to win in five games. It would be Ryan's only World Series appearance in his career.  On April 18, 1970, Ryan tied a Mets record by striking out 15 batters in one game. Four days later, Ryan's teammate, Tom Seaver, topped it with a then MLB record 19 against the San Diego Padres (though Ryan would tie this record four years later). Ryan has credited his time with Seaver and the Mets with turning him from just a flamethrower to a pitcher. Contrary to popular belief, Ryan never wanted to be traded from the Mets and felt betrayed by the team that drafted him. His views on this only calmed once he started running the Rangers and gained a better understanding of the business side of baseball.
Question: Did he face other challenges?
Answer: an arm injury,

Background: Pavement was an American indie rock band that formed in Stockton, California in 1989. The group mainly consisted of Stephen Malkmus (vocals and guitar), Scott Kannberg (guitar and vocals), Mark Ibold (bass), Steve West (drums) and Bob Nastanovich (percussion and vocals). Initially conceived as a recording project, the band at first avoided press or live performances, while attracting considerable underground attention with their early releases. Gradually evolving into a more polished band, Pavement recorded five full-length albums and nine EPs over the course of their decade-long career, though they disbanded with some acrimony in 1999 as the members moved on to other projects.
Context: During the Slanted & Enchanted tour, Gary Young's eccentric behavior increased, and he would stage incidents such as handing out cabbage and mashed potatoes to fans at the door of the venue, doing handstands, drunkenly falling off his drum stool, and running around the venue while the rest of the band was playing. The band only understood how severe Young's drinking problem was after Pavement's first few tours. Malkmus later told Tape Op, "We knew that he was like a hippie and kinda flaky, but we didn't know he had such a bad drinking problem. We found out on that tour, because he really got sick from being nervous... That's why I let Bob be in the band...'Keep the beat going if Gary passes out.'" In 1993, Malkmus attempted to record some new songs at Young's studio with unsuccessful results. The singer later said, "We kind of wanted to not record with him anymore, but we were too nice to fire people or even really talk about it... We tried to record there, but it wasn't sounding good and he didn't have his studio ready and he was also in a drinking funk."  At the conclusion of a 1993 tour of Australia, Japan, and Europe, the group held a meeting in a hotel room in Copenhagen during which Malkmus, Kannberg and Ibold remained silent while Nastanovich (Young's best friend at the time) argued with the drummer and informed him that his antics were unnecessary. Young ultimately agreed to leave the band. He was replaced by Steve West, who had been a fellow museum security guard at the Whitney Museum of American Art along with Malkmus and David Berman. West's debut performance was in 1993 at a Drag City festival in Chicago. Also that same year, the band contributed to the AIDS-Benefit Album No Alternative produced by the Red Hot Organization with their song "Unseen Power of the Picket Fence".  Pavement's second album Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain was released in 1994. The record was more indebted to the classic rock tradition than their debut. The single "Cut Your Hair" was the band's closest brush with the mainstream, and briefly enjoyed airplay on alternative rock radio and MTV. Pavement performed the song on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The video also aired on "Career Day", a season five episode of Beavis and Butt-head, who termed it "buttwipe music" and also wanted the band to "try harder."  The lyrics from another single from the album, "Range Life", criticized alternative rock stars The Smashing Pumpkins and the Stone Temple Pilots. Malkmus has insisted over the years that the line is meant to be light-hearted and is sung from the point of view of the aging hippie character in the song. Later live versions of the track had the singer substituting "The Spice Girls", "Counting Crows", or others for "Stone Temple Pilots". In response Smashing Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan threatened to drop his band from their slot headlining the 1994 Lollapalooza Festival if Pavement was allowed to play. Corgan and Malkmus would trade barbs through the press for several years afterwards.
Question: Were there any other great singles?
Answer:
"Range Life",