NOOOOOOOlan Ryan's No-Hitters

       No-Hitters Ended In The Ninth
  Date      Opponent    Place       Batter       Hit
Aug07, 74 Chicago AL   Chicago   Dick Allen     Single
Jul13, 79 New York AL  Anaheim   Reggie Jackson Single
Apr27, 88 Philidelphia Houston   Mike Schmidt   Single
Apr23, 89 Toronto      Toronto   Nelson Lirano  Triple
Aug10, 89 Detroit      Arlington Dave Bergman   Single
          (all no-hitters ended with 1 out)

Nolan Ryan has pitched seven no-hitters. Twenty-seven outs without letting a single hit. It's the best way to illustrate domination over an opponent. And Nolan did it seven times. Of course, if he had continued throwing them at the pace he did with the Angels, he would have a heck of a lot more. Four of his seven no-hitters came between May 15, 1973, and June 1, 1975. Nolan has also lost five no-hitters in the 9th inning. He has 27 four-hitters, 31 three-hitters, 19 two-hitters, and 12 one-hitters. In fact, Nolan is the hardest pitcher to hit in all of baseball, with a 6.55 hits allowed per nine innings ratio.

"You never anticipate these things," Ryan said after his 7th no-hitter, "I've had a lot of good things happen in my career, but most of them you could know with a fair amount of accuracy as to when they were going to occur. Things like my 5,000th strikeout were special, but everyone knew that it was coming."

"What makes [no-hitters] so special is that only those who wanted to be here saw it. Look around, these are the [media] I see every day in here. There's not that big buildup when something like this happens."

"He's spectacular. What people don't relize is that he has a great curve. All the great fastball pitchers did," says former Indians pitching great Herb Score. "With someone like Ryan, there is always the possibility of a [single-game] strikeout record or a no-hitter."

     California 3, Kansas City 0
     California            Kansas City
            ab r h bi              ab h r bi
Pinson lf    5 1 2 0  Patek ss      4 0 0 0
Alomar 2b    4 0 0 0  Hovley rf     3 0 0 0
Valentine cf 4 0 1 0  Otis cf       4 0 0 0
Robinson dh  3 1 1 0  Mayberry 1b   3 0 0 0
Oliver rf    4 1 2 2  Rojas 2b      3 0 0 0
Berry rf     0 0 0 0  Kirkparick dh 3 0 0 0
Gallagher 3b 4 0 2 1  Pinella lf    3 0 0 0
Spencer 1b   4 0 1 0  Schaal 3b     2 0 0 0
Meoli ss     4 0 1 0  Taylor c      1 0 0 0
Torberg c    4 0 1 0  Hopkins ph    1 0 0 0
Totals      36 3 11 3 Totals       27 0 0 0
California ................ 200 001 000 - 3
Kansas City ............... 000 000 000 - 0
DP-Kansas City 1. LOB-California 8, Kansas
City 3. HR-Oliver (4). SB-Hovley. S-Alomar.
California          IP  H   R  ER  BB  SO
Ryan (W 5-3)        9   0   0   0   3  12
Kansas City
Dal Canton (L 2-2) 5.2  8   3   3   1   0
Garber             3.1  3   0   0   0   0
T - 2:54. A - 9,265.

No-Hitter #1 vs. Kansas City - May 15, 1973

Nolan Ryan enjoyed a 2-run lead throught the beginning of the game. His fastball was awesome and gave him 12 strikeouts through the 8th inning. A spectacular over-the-shoulders catch by shortstop Rudy Meoli saved the no-hitter. The last out was a fly ball to right field hit by Amos Otis. It was Nolan's 53rd victory. He was 26 years old.

"From the sixth inning on, I was given a lot of space in the dugout," Ryan says. "The Angels believed in the old saying: `Don't bother a pitcher who's got the no-hitter going. Don't even talk to him.'"

        California 6, Detroit 0
     California              Detroit
            ab r h bi             ab r h bi
Alomar 2b    5 0 2 0  Northrup     4 0 0 0
Pinson rf    4 0 0 1  Stanley cf   3 0 0 0
McCraw lf    2 0 0 0  Brown dh     2 0 0 0
Llenas ph    1 0 1 2  Cash 1b      4 0 0 0
Stanton lf   0 1 0 0  Sims c       3 0 0 0
Epstein 1b   3 1 1 0  McAuliffe 2b 3 0 0 0
Oliver dh    3 1 1 1  Sharon rf    2 0 0 0
Verry cf     3 0 0 0  Rodriguez 3b 3 0 0 0
Gallagher 3b 4 0 2 2  Brinkman ss  3 0 0 0
Meoli ss     4 1 1 0
Kusnyer c    3 2 1 0
Totals      32 6 9 6  Totals      27 0 0 0
California ............... 001 000 050 - 6
Detroit .................. 000 000 000 - 0
DP-Detroit 2. LOB-California 5, Detroit 4.
2B-Epstein, Meoli. SF-Pinson.
California        IP  H   R  ER  BB  SO
Ryan (W 11-11)    9   0   0   0   4  17
Detroit          
J. Perry (L 9-9) 7.1  5   3   3   3   2
Scherman          .1  0   0   0   0   0
Miller           0    2   3   3   1   0
Farmer           1.1  2   0   0   1   0
T - 2:21. A - 41,411.

No-Hitter #2 vs. Detroit - July 15, 1973

"I knew I had good stuff," Nolan says about his second no-hitter, "I was throwing a hard curve and had good velocity on my fastball. I felt that if I ever was to have another chance to pitch another no-hitter it was that game."

His second was the most dominating of his seven no-hitters, he struck out seventeen batters. As a joke, the last batter, Norm Cash, brought a table leg up to the plate instead of a bat (which the umpire made him switch). "I wasn't going to get a hit against him anyhow," Cash said later, "so I figured, what the heck, a table leg was as good as a bat."

The Angels had only a one run lead through most of the game before exploding for five runs in the eighth. His arm stiffened a little during the long wait between the seventh and eighth innings, and had only 1 strikeout in the last two innings.

Nolan came within two innings of pitching back-to-back no-hitters when Mark Belanger hit a bloop single into center field in the eight inning of his next start. Johnny Vander Meer is the only pitcher to accomplish such a feat.

     California 4, Minnesota 0
      Minnesota            California
            ab r h bi           ab r h bi
Vrye cf      2 0 0 0  Nettles cf 4 1 2 3
Carew 2b     2 0 0 0  Doyle 2b   4 0 1 0
Braun 3b     3 0 0 0  Bochte 1b  3 0 0 1
Darwin rf    4 0 0 0  Lahoud dh  4 0 1 0
Oliva dh     3 0 0 0  Stanton rf 4 0 1 0
Hisle lf     3 0 0 0  Chalk 3b   2 1 0 0
Bourque 1b   3 0 0 0  Balaz lf   2 1 1 0
Killebrew ph 0 0 0 0  Meoli ss   2 1 1 0
Terreli pr   0 0 0 0  Egan c     2 0 0 0
Gomez ss     2 0 0 0
Soderholm ss 2 0 0 0
Borgmann c   3 0 0 0
Totals      27 0 0 0  Totals    27 4 7 4
Minnesota .............. 000 000 000 - 0
California ............. 002 200 00x - 4
E-Braun. LOB-Minnesota 8, California 4.
2B-Moeli, Balaz. SB-Nettles. S-Egan.
SF-Bochte.
Minnesota         IP  H   R  ER  BB  SO
Decker (L 16-14) 2.2  4   2   1   0   1
Butler           5.1  3   2   2   3   8
California
Ryan (W 22-16)    9   0   0   0   8  15
T - 2:22. A - 10,872.

No-Hitter #3 vs. Minnesota - September 28, 1974

Nolan Ryan finished off the 1974 season with a bang. In his last start, he no-hit Minnesota in front of the home crowd at Anaheim Stadium. Although he walked 8 batters, he struck out 15, including the first 6 he faced.

Nolan fanned Eric Soderholm for the last out to achieve his 22nd victory of the year. Despite having at 22-16 record, 2.89 ERA, and leading the league in innings (333), and strikeouts (367), he was passed over for the Cy Young award, which went to Catfish Hunter. Nolan never won a single Cy Young award.

        California 1, Baltimore 0
     Baltimore             California
            ab r h bi            ab r h bi
Singleton rf 4 0 0 0  Remy 2b     3 0 1 0
Shopay cf    3 0 0 0  Rivers cf   4 1 1 0
Bumbry lf    4 0 0 0  Harper dh   4 0 1 0
Baylor dh    2 0 0 0  Chalk 3b    3 0 2 1
Davis dh     2 0 0 0  Llenas lf   3 0 1 0
Grich 2b     2 0 0 0  Nettles lf  0 0 0 0
May 1b       4 0 0 0  Stanton rf  2 0 1 0
Robinson 3b  4 0 0 0  Bochte 1b   3 0 1 0
Hendricks c  4 0 0 0  Rodriguez c 3 0 0 0
Belanger ss  2 0 0 0  Smith ss    2 0 1 0
Totals      28 0 0 0  Totals     27 1 9 1
Baltimore ............... 000 000 000 - 0
California .............. 001 000 000 - 1
E-Smith. DP-Baltimore 2. LOB-Baltimore 5,
California 5. SB-Belanger. S-Stanton, Remy.
Baltimore         IP  H   R  ER  BB  SO
Grimsley (L 1-7) 3.1  8   1   1   0   1
Garland          4.2  1   0   0   1   1
California
Ryan (W 9-3)      9   0   0   0   4   9
T - 2:01. A - 18,492.

No-Hitter #4 vs. Baltimore - June 1, 1975

"Of all my no-hitters, the fourth was satisfying because it was a pure pitching performance," says Ryan. It was his final no-hitter in an Angels uniform. Not only did this no-hitter tie him for the record of four no-hitters with Sandy Koufax, but it was his 100th career victory. It was also the first no-hitter his wife, Ruth, watched in person.

He had a no-hitter low nine strikeouts, and walked four. Dave Chalk drove in Mickey Rivers for the game's only run.

     Houston 5, Los Angeles 0
      Los Angeles            Houston
            ab r h bi            ab r h bi
Lopes 2b     3 0 0 0  Puhl rf     4 1 1 0
Smith ph     1 0 0 0  Garver 2b   4 0 2 1
Landreax cf  3 0 0 0  Scott cf    5 1 0 0
Baker lf     4 0 0 0  Cruz lf     4 1 3 1
Garvey 1b    2 0 0 0  Ashby c     4 0 1 2
Guerrero 3b  3 0 0 0  Howe 3b     4 0 0 0
Scioscia c   3 0 0 0  pilman 1b   2 0 0 0
Roenicke rf  3 0 0 0  Pittman ph  1 0 1 0
Thomas ss    2 0 0 0  Welling 1b  0 1 0 0
Power p      1 0 0 0  Reynolds ss 4 1 2 1
Goltz p      0 0 0 0  Ryan p      2 0 1 0
Perconte ph  1 0 0 0
Foster p     0 0 0 0
Johnstone ph 1 0 0 0
Stewart p    0 0 0 0
Howe p       0 0 0 0
Totals      27 0 0 0  Totals     34 5 11 5
Los Angeles ............. 000 000 000 - 0
Houston ................. 002 000 03x - 5
E-Thomas. LOB-Los Angeles 3, Houston 12.
2B-Cruz, Reynolds. 3B-Reynolds. SB-Garner,
Garvey, Thomas, Cruz. S-Ryan.
Los Angeles    IP  H   R  ER  BB  SO
Power (L 1-3) 3.1  6   2   1   3   1
Goltz          .2  0   0   0   0   0
Foster        3    2   0   0   1   2
Stewart        .1  2   3   3   2   0
Howe           .2  1   0   0   0   0
Houston
Ryan (W 10-5)  9   0   0   0   3  11
T - 2:01. A - 18,492.

No-Hitter #5 vs. Los Angeles - September 26, 1981

Since the game was scheduled for a Saturday and held great importance in the pennant race, it was televised nationally on NBC. Ruth and many of Ryans' friends and family were in attendance. It was the no-hitter that broke Koufax's record.

Alan Ashby drove in two runs in the third to provide some run support. Terry Puhl saved the no-hitter in the seventh by snagging a line drive in the alley hit by Mike Scioscia. Dusty Baker grounded out to third for the final out. He struck out 11 batters, making it the 135th time in his career he had struck out 10 or more.

"It was a long time coming, but it was satisfyling because it was so close to home and my family got to see it," says Ryan, who received congratulatory phone calls from Gene Autry and former President Richard Nixon shortly after the game.

     Texas 5, Oakland 0
        Texas                   Oakland
             ab r h bi               ab h r bi
Pettis cf     5 1 2 0  R.Henderson lf 4 0 0 0
Palmeiro 1b   4 1 0 0  Randolph 2b    4 0 0 0
Franco 2b     4 2 2 4  Jennings 1b    3 0 0 0
Sierra rf     3 0 1 0  Hassey dh      3 0 0 0
Baines dh     4 0 1 0  Jose rf        3 0 0 0
Incaviglia lf 4 0 1 0  D.Henderson cf 3 0 0 0
Russell c     3 1 1 1  Quirk c        2 0 0 0
Buechele 3b   4 0 0 0  Lansford ph    1 0 0 0
Huson ss      3 0 1 0  Stienbach c    0 0 0 0
                       Weiss ss       2 0 0 0
                       Gallego 3b     1 0 0 0
                       Phelps ph      1 0 0 0
Totals       34 5 9 5  Totals        27 0 0 0
Texas ....................... 210 020 000 - 5
Oakland ..................... 000 000 000 - 0
LOB-Texas 6, Oakland 2. HR-France 2 (6),
Russell (2). SB-Pettis, Sierra, Weiss.
Texas            IP   H   R  ER  BB  SO
Ryan (W 5-3)      9   0   0   0   2  14
Oakland
Sanderson (L 7-3) 6   8   5   5   2   3
Norris            2   1   0   0   2   3
Nelson            1   0   0   0   0   0
T - 2:49. A - 33,436.

No-Hitter #6 vs. Oakland - June 11, 1990

With this no-hitter Nolan Ryan became the oldest person to throw a no-hitter (43), the first pitcher to throw a no-hitter in three different decades, and the first pitcher to throw a no-hitter for three different teams.

Nolan struck out 14 and only walked 2, although the "Bash Brothers," Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco, were both out of the lineup. Julio Franco blasted two home runs and drove in four runs for the offensive support. Jeff Huson bare-handed a slow grounder to short and threw out speedy Rickey Henderson in the ninth to preserve the no-hitter. "Nice Play!" Nolan shouted at Huson

"What makes that one so meaningful was that it came so late in my career and so much time had elapsed between my fifth and sixth," Ryan said at the time. "That, along with all of the near-misses along the way, makes that one more meaningful to me than some of the others."

     Texas 3, Toronto 0
      Toronto               Texas
           ab r h bi             ab r h bi
White cf    4 0 0 0  Pettis cf    4 1 1 0
R.Alomar 2b 4 0 0 0  Daugherty lf 4 0 1 0
Gruber 3b   2 0 0 0  Palmeiro 1b  4 1 2 0
Carter lf   2 0 0 0  Sierra rf    4 1 1 2
Olerud 1b   3 0 0 0  Franco 2b    4 0 0 0
Whiten rf   3 0 0 0  Gonzalez dh  3 0 1 0
Hill dh     3 0 0 0  Stanley c    3 0 1 0
Myers c     3 0 0 0  Buechele 3b  4 0 1 0
Lee ss      3 0 0 0  Huson ss     2 0 0 0
E-Gruber, Myers, Lee, Palmeiro. LOB-
Toronto 2, Texas 8. 2B-Gonzalez, Stanley.
HR-Sierra(5). BRI-Sierra 2. SB-Pettis.
CS-Gonzalez. S-Huson.
Toronto     IP   H   R  ER  BB  SO
Key (L 4-1)  6   5   3   3   1   5
MacDonald    1   2   0   0   0   2
Fraser       1   1   0   0   0   0
Texas
Ryan (W 3-2) 9   0   0   0   2  16
T - 2:25. A - 33,439.

No-Hitter #7 vs. Toronto - May 1, 1991

Nolan had been bothered by a backache, a tender heel, and had split open a callus on the tip of his right middle finger prior to the game. "I was popping Advil all day," Ryan recalls, "I wasn't at all happy with my stuff."

He broke his own record of being the oldest pitcher to pitch a no-hitter, at 44 years. Ruben Sierra's 2-run homer in the third provided the run support as Nolan walked two batters and struck out sixteen. Gery Pettis saved the no-hitter in the sixth by getting a good jump on a shallow fly ball and caught it at his knees. Nolan struck out Roberto Alomar to end the game. His average fastball was 93 mph, with his fastest being 96 mph.

"This one will be especially gratifying because it was in front of the Arlington Stadium crowd," Ryan said. "I had good stuff, which was surprising since I'd had such a bad warm-up."

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