May 1 is the 33rd anniversary of a Major League Baseball record that will surely never be broken. On that day in 1991, Nolan Ryan no-hit the Toronto Blue Jays. It was his seventh no-hitter.
He was 44 years old. He was in the 25th season of a career that ended at 27, more than any baseball player since the 19th century.
Think about that: seven no-hitters. Not “shared” no-hitters…but complete-game, one-pitcher, no-hitters.
How do you put Ryan’s remarkable achievement in perspective? Only one other pitcher in history has more than three no-hitters: Sandy Koufax, with four. Only one active pitcher has three: Justin Verlander, who’s 41 and hasn’t thrown a complete game — let alone a no-hitter — in five years.
Ah yes, about complete games.
In this era of 100-pitch limits, high-powered relievers, and fears of wearing out pitchers’ arms, complete games are almost obsolete. When Ryan “arrived” in the 1970s, every year’s major-league leader had at least 18 complete games. In the 21st century, only one pitcher has more than 10. Last season’s leaders had three.
And all one-pitcher no-hitters are, of course, complete games.
Pitchers are probably more likely to have Tommy John surgery than to have complete games…or no-hitters…or both. Nolan Ryan, who threw baseballs so hard that hitters were scared, never had Tommy John surgery. He never had Nolan Ryan surgery. If ever a pitcher was at risk of “throwing out his arm” it was Ryan. Nobody counted the pitches in his first five no-hitters. In the last two, after his 40th birthday, Ryan threw 122 and 130 pitches. Twice, he had 26 complete games in one season. That’s how many Verlander, the leader among active pitchers, has — in his career!
Ryan’s no-hitters spanned 19 seasons (1973 to 1991) with three teams: Anaheim, Houston, Texas. There were seven different catchers, seven different home-plate umpires, seven different opponents in six different stadiums. The record shows 181,970 people saw Ryan pitch a no-hitter, assuming they all stayed for his 27th out. That’s almost 26,000 fans per no-hitter, including 41,411 at Kansas City’s then-new Kaufman Stadium, site of the 1973 All-Star Game nine days later.
While I spent a decade covering baseball during the Ryan years, that was the only time I saw him pitch. He pitched two innings. He was unspectacular, pitching two innings with his team (American League) losing 5-1. Willie Davis of Los Angeles hit one of Ryan’s fastballs for a two-run homer. The next year, Davis was the centre fielder at Jarry Park in Montreal, playing for the team I covered. He was the Expos’ player of the year.
So Nolan Ryan wasn’t the greatest pitcher I ever saw. In fact, he wasn’t baseball’s greatest pitcher. Despite the no-hitters. Despite the 5,714 career strikeouts, another untouchable record. Despite being elected to the Hall of Fame the first year he was eligible. He was as wild as he was good, walking 962 more batters than anybody else, ever.
By my count, Houston’s Ronel Blanco became the 325th pitcher to pitch — in whole or in part — a no-hitter. Of the 325, the one with seven no-hitters (plus a dozen one-hitters), Nolan Ryan, is the undisputed king of the hill.
