The Sporting News recently came out with their Top 10 “Great Records” written by Steve Greenberg. In an 11 part series, I will breakdown each record, why the record is impressive (or not), and if the record could ever be broken.
# 5 Nolan Ryan’s Major League Baseball’s 7 Career No Hitters
The hardest thing to do in sports, as they say, is hit a baseball. Nolan Ryan proved he’s the best at making batters look silly throwing 7 no-hitters over the course of his 27 year playing career. To do something 7 times over 27 years (1966, 1968-1993) seems like a really bad percentage of success, well it’s not. Consider the fact that Ryan’s closest competition in this department is former Dodger great, Sandy Koufax, with 4 career no-hitters.
Just to remind you a little bit about Nolan Ryan. Ryan began his career with the New York Mets as a wild armed kid with a 100 plus mph fastball. The Mets primarily used him out of the bullpen as Ryan struggled to keep control of his pitches. Ryan requested a trade from the Mets in 1970 and they sent him to the California Angels. While playing for the Angels in 1973 he began to flourish getting to pitch on a regular basis as a starting pitcher. Ryan threw his first two no-hitters at the age of 26. He threw his 3rd in 1974 and 4th in 1975 while playing for the Angels. Ryan would not record another no-hitter until 1990 while playing for the Texas Rangers. On May 1, 1991, Ryan would throw his 7th and final no-hitter against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Just to clarify, could Ryan’s 7 career no-hitters be broken? No and if it were to happen it wouldn’t happen anytime soon. Like all records, a lot of luck has to be on your side and that includes how the official scorer calls the game and the type of defense playing behind you. How the official scorer calls a game is important as well; was that a hit or an error? If ruled an error, your no-hitter is still in play. Throwing the hardest or having the best stuff does not correlate to pitching victories. Our guy would have to have luck, throw hard, and get the “benefit of the doubt” calls from the ump. Having a great second and third pitch to keep hitters off balance is another key to success. It wouldn’t hurt if he pitched in a weak division.
Sounds like our guy needs a lot of help… that’s why the record will be safe for a really long time.
NR was a great pitcher - simply great. I loved watching him pitch. He never rattled...
ReplyDeleteI like that he rattled Robyn Ventura when he stormed the mound after Ryan plunked him. He also upstaged Ricky Henderson when Ricky broke the stolen base record and claimed he was the greatest player all-time. Ryan threw his 7th no-hitter and went about his business. Too bad he couldn't have played for better teams. No telling what his stats would've been.
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