The Ryan Express

By Kim J. Harmon

 

Isn’t it nice, every once in a while, to unearth some pleasant memories of your younger days … unlike, of course, those occasional memories of acutely embarrassing moments that burst forth out of some dark recess of your mind?

I turned on ESPN Classic on Monday night and discovered a re-broadcast of Nolan Ryan’s seventh-career no-hitter, which he pitched back on May 1, 1991, against the Toronto Blue Jays. Watching that game again (I saw the fifth, sixth and seventh no-hitters of Ryan’s career) brought back the wonderful memories of Wiffle© Ball in the backyard and how I always – ALWAYS – pretended to be Nolan Ryan on the mound.

I was a huge New York Yankees fan growing up and I marveled over guys like Graig Nettles and Thurman Munson and Ron Guidry, but Nolan Ryan was my idol.

When my brother and I played Wiffle© Ball in the backyard it would almost always be the Boston Red Sox (his team) versus the California Angels (the team Nolan Ryan was on). Occasionally I would be the New York Yankees (I remember pretending to be Mickey Rivers and homering over the rightfield fence, just inside our foul pole), but not often.

When I pitched (with our friends down the street, we managed to play two or three games every day during the spring and summer), I was Nolan Ryan and I tried to be a power pitcher just like him. Anyone who has ever played Wiffle© Ball realizes how difficult it was to throw the ball straight, but I did it and while I often got tattooed (man, I gave up some tape measure home runs in my career) I also struck out a lot of people. The summer I whiffed 100 batters, I asked for the ball as a souvenir.

These days, I have a very hard time throwing a decent fastball (I think the material and construction of the basic Wiffle© Ball has been changed a little bit … which has enabled me to throw a wicked curve ball, though) and when I do get something over the plate my son is drilling that baby over the house.

Yeah, that brings back memories too.

NOLAN RYAN

 

Wins: 324

Losses: 292

Innings: 5,386.0

Hits: 3,923

Walks: 2,795*

Strikeouts: 5,714*

Earned Run Average: 3.19

Nolan Ryan was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999. He pitched seven no-hitters in his career – on May 15, 1973; July 15, 1973; September 28, 1974; June 1, 1975; September 26, 1981; June 11, 1990; and May 1, 1991. Ryan also tossed 12 one-hitters in his 27-year career.

1 1 1

djdjdjd