No-Hitter Game Used Baseballs

[Scott Garner]

Hi Jonathan,
I think that this is a fun thing to collect. No-hitters are my main collecting theme.

Here are two of my favorite no-hitter game balls in my own personal collection:

The first is an actual no-hitter game ball from HB "Dutch" Leonard's 1st no-hitter on 8/16/16 at Fenway Park. This was only the second no-hitter ever pitched at Fenway Park. Teammate George "Rube" Foster beat him to the punch as he pitched the 1st no-hitter at Fenway two months earlier. This ball was an attic find in upstate NY. One family had owned the ball for almost 95 years before it surfaced for the first time within the hobby. The ball was gifted to the family by Red Sox player Chick Shorten as the ball states as much with the inscription "Ball given by Shorten (Red Sox)".

The second no-hitter game ball is from Nolan Ryan's 4th no-hitter on 6/1/75 at Anaheim. Nolan tied HOF great Sandy Koufax with 4 career no-hitters in this game. The "O" was drawn on the ball along with 3 other "O" balls and was used for the iconic photo of Nolan holding these 4 balls. This photo was taken by So Cal sports photographer Frank Worth. Nolan signed and inscribed the ball for Frank Worth after the photo shoot. My favorite part of the ball is his inscription on the side that reads "Glad you were here for the 4th. Hope your (sic) here for the 5th" . Pretty eerie that Nolan essentially predicted he wasn't done throwing no-hitters as he threw 3 more... On another panel, Angels battery mate Ellie Rodriguez signed the ball and wrote the inscription "4th no-hitter 6-1-75". This ball originates from the family estate of Frank Worth.