May pickups

[39special]

Originally Posted by Scott Garner

May continues to be a great month for world class pickups.
Here is my latest, a game used baseball from Nolan Ryan's 2nd career no-hitter on 7/15/73 at DET.

Ryan fanned 17 in this game and, according to Nolan himself, this was his best pitched game in the big leagues.
Tigers Norm Cash pranked the futility of trying to hit off of Nolan by arriving to the plate with a table leg instead of a bat with two outs in the bottom of the 9th. Home plate umpire Ron Luciano had him get rid of the table leg and replace it with a real bat, but it got a laugh out of everyone that was in on the gag. It didn't matter because Cash immediately grounded out to end the game. The Detroit Free Press interviewed several of the hometown Tigers after the game. The consensus was that Ryan had "everything" that night, and Nolan's 2nd no-hitter in as many months in 1973 ranks right up there as arguably one of the most dominating game's ever pitched.

This ball came from the private collection of one of the most advanced Ryan collectors, and close personal friend, and hasn't entered the hobby in perhaps 15+ years. It originated directly from one of the camera men that worked Ryan's 2nd no-hitter game and saved a ball that was fouled off a Ryan pitch that ended up in the camera well. He was fortunate enough to get Nolan to sign the ball after the game.

Another great pickup Scott! How many game used Ryan balls do you have?

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by 39special

Another great pickup Scott! How many game used Ryan balls do you have?

Steve,
Thanks for asking.
I suppose that I have perhaps 16 different game balls all related to Ryan career milestones.
Currently I have game balls to:
6 of Ryan's 7 career no-hitters, balls to 2 of his 4 different 19K games, his 300th win, 4000th strikeout, 5,000th strikeout, his last win #324, a game ball from the infamous Ryan/Ventura fight game in 1993 and a game ball from the first time that Nolan and Steve Carlton ever faced off- 7/1/69. The significance of this game was that it was the first meeting of the eventual top right handed strikeout pitcher and lefty of their era. For the record, Lefty won their first hookup...

[Hammerin'Hank]

"First we'll use Spahn
then we'll use Sain
Then an off day
followed by rain
Back will come Spahn
followed by Sain
And followed
we hope
by two days of rain."

Gerald V. Hern

[parker1b2]

Pick up a JG Taylor Spink award given to Earl Weaver in 1969 by St Louis BBWAA for being the St Louis Baseball Man of The Year

image.jpg