April 2022 Pickups

[GoCubsGo32]

Originally Posted by Scott Garner

+1 Definitely Nolan's most dominating game, for sure.

He struck out 17 and it would have been more except his back stiffened up late in the game.
Ryan always has said that this was his best game, where he had outstanding command of both the fastball AND the elusive curveball early in his career.

The Tigers were quoted the next day as saying "Ryan had everything" and was totally dominant.
Plus, he had Billy Martin, 1973 manager of the Tigers, working hard on the opposite side of the field, screaming at Ryan trying to rattle him, but to absolutely no avail.

One important fact to note is that in 1973, Nolan was essentially a two-pitch pitcher.
He had "The Express" his devastating fastball and a curve, when he could control it, which made him unhittable at times.

BTW, it was only much later, in the late 1980's, that Nolan added an effective third pitch, the "circle change". This pitch was taught to him by ex-Cincinnati pitcher Joe Nuxhall, who he ran into at breakfast in Cincinnati on a road trip.
This 3rd pitch extended Nolan's career and gave every hitter another wrinkle to think about every time they stepped into the batter's box.
When Nolan joined the Texas Rangers in 1989, they not only had to deal with a handful of a new pitcher in the AL that they mostly had not seen, plus his perfected circle change.

Here is Angel's catcher Art Kusnyer's glove that he used in the early portion of Nolan's 2nd career no-hitter on 7/15/73 at DET and a game ball from the same game. The snapshot of Ryan was taken as he was leaving Tiger Stadium after the 2nd no-hitter. The signed snapper of Norm Cash, who famously brought a table leg instead of a bat to the plate late in the game because he told HP umpire Ron Luciano that "he wasn't going to be able to hit him anyway", actually is from the 1974 season. All of these are part of my core Ryan and no-hit collection.

Whew!

Awesome knowledge & items!