Houston Astros of the ‘80s, Part five: Nolan’s No No

Houston Astros pitcher Nolan Ryan celebrates after pitching
his fifth career no-hitter on September 26, 1981.

Source: https://www.astrosdaily.com/history/19810926/
(c) Houston Astros

(may be subject to copyright)

Although baseball is a team game, one player can take over and completely dominate a game.

Nolan Ryan was just such a player, and he provided me with my best memory of the Houston Astros of the 1980s, when he pitched his fifth career no-hitter on Saturday, Sept. 26, 1981 against the Dodgers on national television.

Free agent frenzy

Nolan Ryan was the first big free agent I had heard about when I started watching baseball. When the feeding frenzy finished, the Astros had landed the fastball throwing Texan who had notched four no-hitters as the ace of the California Angels pitching staff. That tied him with Sandy Koufax for most career no-hitters.

Ace of the staff

Ryan won 11 games in 1980, and would go 11-5 in 1981, a season interrupted by a players’ strike. He also led the major leagues with a 1.69 earned run average.

However, his best outing took place against a familiar foe as the world watched.

More history

On Saturday, September 26, 1981, I was shopping with my parents in Lethbridge, when they decided to drop in on my Aunt Johanna and Uncle Ed. I always loved going there because they had cable and, much to my delight, the Astros were on.

Nolan Ryan was pitching and every time he went out, there was a chance he could pitch a no-hitter. I had seen him pitch before, against the Montreal Expos, on CBC and he held the Expos hitless for three or four innings and looked just unbeatable. That seemed to be every start for him. He always started out so strong.

It was the same against he Dodgers, who went down one-two-three in the first, as Davey Lopes grounded out to shortstop Craig Reynolds, Ken Landreaux was caught looking, and Dusty Baker grounded out to Phil Garner at second base.

In the second, Ryan walked Steve Garvey who then stole second. He followed that with a wild pitch to Pedro Guerrero, sending Garvey to third, and it looked like a no-hitter would be gone that fast. Then Ryan struck out Guerrero, and Mike Sciosia, then induced Ron Roenicke to pop out to Art Howe at third and the threat was over.

Ryan started the third inning with a walk again, this time to Derrel Thomas, who then stole second. Ryan struck out Ted Power then Lopes. He walked Landreaux then induced Baker to ground out to Phil Garner at second. The threat had once again been extinguished.

The Astros then helped Ryan’s cause, scoring two runs in the bottom of the third.

The Dodgers went in order in the fourth as Garvey struck out, Guerrero flied out to Terry Puhl in rightfield, and Sciosia struck out.

It was more of the same in the fifth, as Roenicke flied out to Puhl in rightfield and Thomas grounded out to Howe at third base. Jack Perconte came in to pinch hit for pitcher Dave Goltz, and Ryan struck him out.

Ryan struck out Lopes to start the sixth, then Landreaux grounded out to Garner, and Baker struck out to end the inning.

Then the inevitable happened.

My mom came downstairs and said we were going home. I was used to it, just getting into a show when my parents decided to leave. It was part of living in the country and having to drive a distance to get anywhere.

I turned off the TV and hoped Nolan would get the job done.

The nightly news

The game was on cable, so I had no idea how it ended until the news came on at 6 p.m.

Of course, the sports was always last, and baseball was not always a big part of the sportscast. I figured if Nolan pitched a no-hitter, they would tell me – after they told me how Toronto and Montreal did.

Finally, it was on.

He did. Nolan Ryan had pitched his fifth no-hitter.

The end

This is how he did it.

Ryan induced Garvey to ground out to Garner, Guerrero to ground out to Reynolds at short and Sciosia flied out to Puhl in rightfield to end the inning.

Roenicke flied out to Jose Cruz in leftfield to start the eighth, followed by ground outs by Thomas and Jay Johnstone, both to Garner at second base.

The Astros added some insurance, scoring three runs in their half of the eighth inning.

Many a no-hitter is wrecked in the ninth inning, as fatigue finally catches up to a pitcher who has been throwing for almost three hours by this point.

Not Nolan Ryan.

He struck out Reggie Smith to start the ninth, then got Landreaux to ground out at first base to Denny Walling, and Baker ended the game by grounding out to Howe.

Ryan went nine innings for the complete game no-hitter, striking out 11 and walking three, to move his record to 10-5.

Parting thoughts

It should be noted a no-hitter means no hits are given up, but runners can reach base and even score, preserving the no-hitter. In fact, there have been games where pitchers threw no-hitters and lost. That means batters reached base by walking, an error, a dropped third strike, a hit batsman, fielder’s choice, or catcher interference.

A perfect game is when a pitcher does not allow a batter to reach base. Ironically, Ryan would pitch seven career no hitters, the most ever by any pitcher, and never notch a perfect a game.

I was glad I saw this one because it was the perfect convergence – one of my favourite pitchers on one of my favourite teams.