[Scott Garner]

After Nolan Ryan's 4th no-hitter, So Cal photographer Frank Worth snapped the iconic shot of Nolan holding up 4 balls with "zeros" drawn on them in Flair pen ala Sandy Koufax after his 4th no-hitter.

Ryan signed one of the balls for Frank Worth and added the following inscription that I always thought was pretty cool:

"To Frank,
Best Wishes,
Nolan Ryan"

On the side panel he wrote:
"Glad you were here for the 4th.
Hope you're here for the 5th"

While he didn't ever get his 5th no-hitter on the Angels, he was close several times. In 1979 he took the Yankees into the 9th inning before Reggie Jackson broke it up. He did, of course, eventually live up to his prophecy delivering a record breaking 5th no-hitter in 1981 with the Houston Astros and a 6th and 7th no-hitter with the Texas Rangers in 1990 and 1991, respectively.

This is one of my favorite Ryan items in my collection.