My First Cards

Just 32 days before the Los Angeles Dodgers won the 1981 World Series, Nolan Ryan dominated them for his 5th career no-hitter.

He struck out 11 Dodgers, walking just 3, and posting a game score of 95. At the end of the game, he also had a 17 1/3 inning scoreless streak running due to blanking the Giants for the final 8 innings of his previous start. He’d run that up to 24 innings before allowing a run in the 7th inning of his next start, which was his last appearance of the season. The Ryan Express was rolling at the end of ’81!

In that 24 inning scoreless streak, Nolan Ryan only gave up 9 hits, 2 walks, and struck out 14 batters. The teams he beat in this stretch were some of the best. The Giants were the worst, having a 48-49 record. The Dodgers had gone 60-41 ’til he no hit them. The Reds, 65-39. Ryan didn’t just beat weak teams, he was killing the best the National League had to offer him.

The next game he pitched, was game 1 of the NLDS against — The Dodgers. Unfortunately for Dodger fans, Nolan was still steaming along, as he held Los Angeles scoreless into the 7th inning, beating them 3-1. This time he struck out 7, allowed just 2 hits, with Steve Garvey drawing the only walk. Garvey also smacked a solo shot off him, for the Dodgers only run. Still, the Dodgers had no answer to the Ryan Express ’til the deciding game 5 of that series.

Going back to the no-hitter though, ’cause that’s what this card is all about, Nolan is still the only pitcher to have thrown at least 5 of them. Nobody since ’81 has thrown more than 2. What’s funny is that Nolan is also one of those pitchers who’s thrown 2 no-no’s since then. In fact, here’s each of Nolan Ryan’s 7 career no hitters—

1. May 15, 1973: @ Royals (12 K, 3 BB)
2. Jul 15, 1973: @ Tigers (17 K, 4 BB)
3. Sep 28, 1974: vs Twins (15 K, 8 BB)
4. Jun 1, 1975: vs Orioles (9 K, 4 BB)
5. Sep 26, 1981: vs Dodgers (11 K, 3 BB)
6. Jun 11, 1990: @ A’s (14 K, 2 BB)
7. May 1, 1991: vs Blue Jays (16 K, 2 BB)

To put this in perspective, besides Ryan, only 4 pitchers have ever thrown more than 2 no-hitters and none of them have thrown more than 4. Koufax threw 4, while Cy Young, Bob Feller, and Larry Corcoran threw 3 each. That’s a small list, and none of them are close to 7. That’s incredible.

Note: This is one of the few cards in the set that doesn’t seem randomly ordered, as it is card #5 & it’s about a 5th career no-hitter.