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April 27
⚾ The Express passes the big train
TODAY ON THE DAILY HIGHLIGHT
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April 27 , 1983 Nolan Ryan breaks Walter Johnson’s major league record for career strikeouts, fanning Montreal’s Brad Mills for his 3,509th victim. Ironically it was a curveball, not Ryan’s famed fastball, that claims Mills. Ryan accomplishes the feat in 2,500 less innings than Johnson needed to set it. Nolan tips his cap to the applauding Canadian fans, then quickly resumes on his way to a 4-2 victory.
Ryan would then wage a back and forth war with Steve Carlton for the all time lead in strikouts.
Ryan only stayed at the top for 41 days. Steve Carlton had been on Ryan’s heels, and on June 7th he surpassed him.
The two jockeyed for position over the next season and a half. Ryan would occasionally move ahead briefly, but Carlton held the top spot for all but 13 days through the rest of 1983 and most of 1984.
On September 5, 1984, Ryan moved ahead again, 3,862 to 3,857, and at the end of the ‘84 season it was about as close as it could be:
Ryan 3,874Carlton 3,872
Carlton at age 40, could not stay with Ryan who was 5 years younger. Carlton bounced around for three more years before finally finishing with 4,136 Ks, which at the time was of course the 2nd highest total ever, and is still 4th all-time, behind only Ryan (5,714), Randy Johnson (4,875), and Roger Clemens (4,672).
Lefty still holds the National League record with exactly 4,000, far ahead of #2 Greg Maddux: 3371.
When a pitcher hurls as Ryan did for 27 years there are many factoids, “only him”, and Ryan for all his greatness was also an enigma who’s stats show all the good & bad. Here are a bunch of fun & puzzling facts:
Nolan Ryan is the only man to play for all four teams from the 1961-1962 expansion: the Mets, Angels, Astros (Colt .45s), and Rangers (Washington Senators).
No-Hit FactoidsRyan hurled a record seven no-hitters, and he is the only pitcher to hurl no-hit games for three different major league teams. However, in none of those games he did he threaten to hurl a perfect game, in fact, in four of his no-hitters, Ryan walked a batter in the first inning. In his no-hit games, Ryan struck out a total of 94 batters and walked 26.
June 1, 1975, Ryan struck out O's second baseman Bobby Grich for the final out in his fourth no-hitter. The win was the 100th of Ryan's career.
MilestonesAgainst the Oakland A's on August 22, 1989, Ryan became the first pitcher ever to record 5,000 career strikeouts. He struck out Rickey Henderson in the fifth inning to break the 5,000 barrier. In 1991 on May 2, Ryan and Henderson will tangle again. The day Henderson broke Lou Brock’s record for stole bases, Ryan tossed his 7th No hitter.
FactoidNolan Ryan is the only pitcher to strike out Roger Maris, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa.
Game of the Day
April 27, 1983 Montreal Expos vs Houston Astros
Ryan sets strikeout mark
Today’s line up: Click to Listen
Did you know?
April 27, 1947, the New York Yankees hold Babe Ruth Day at Yankee Stadium. A crowd of 58,339 attends the ceremony at “The House That Ruth Built” to honor the game’s all-time home run leader, who is dying of throat cancer. Ruth will succumb the following summer…In the game, Sid Hudson of the Washington Senators beats Spud Chandler and the Yankees, 1 - 0.
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Trivia:
Nolan Ryan hit two, career homeruns, his first came in his first game in the Astrodome as an Astro. How did he hit it off?
Hint: The answer is below
TODAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
April 27, 1926 -- 17-year-old Mel Ott makes his first major league appearance with the New York Giants pinch-hitting for Jimmy Ring. Ott strikes out as the Giants win, 9 - 8, over the Phillies. He won't play regularly until 1927.
April 27, 1944, Boston Braves knuckleballer Jim “Abba Dabba” Tobin no-hits the Brooklyn Dodgers, 2-0. Tobin hits a home run to support his own cause, becoming the first pitcher to go deep in his own no-hitter.
April 27, 1971, Willie Stargell sets a major league record by hitting his 11th home run during the month of April. Stargell’s 430-foot blast, which comes against Pete Mikkelsen of the Los Angeles Dodgers, clears the center field wall at Three Rivers Stadium.
April 27, 1968 -- At Memorial Stadium, Tom Phoebus of the Baltimore Orioles pitches a 6 - 0 no-hitter against the visiting Boston Red Sox. Future Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson preserves the no-hitter with a diving play of Petrocelli’s hard liner to the hole between third and short in the eighth inning and also drives in half of the Orioles’ runs in the 6-0 victory.
April 27, 1971, at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Atlanta Braves slugger Hank Aaron becomes the third man to reach the 600-home run milestone. Aaron hits a two-run 350-foot blast in the bottom of the 3rd off Giants' hurler (and future Hall of famer) Gaylord Perry, joining Babe Ruth and Willie Mays in the exclusive club. Aaron will eventually surpass both players, becoming the game’s all-time home run king. The Braves will lose the game 6-5 in 10 Innings
April 27, 1973 Kansas City's 22 year-old starter Steve Busby becomes the 13th rookie to throw a no-hitter, beating Detroit, 3-0, at Tiger Stadium. It is the first ever no-hit game thrown by a Royals pitcher, the first at Tiger Stadium since Virgil Trucks did it in 1952. Busby also becomes the first no-hit game pitcher not to bat after the American League's introduction of the designated hitter rule. The former UCLA hurler will pitch the second no-hitter in franchise history next season.
On April 27, 2004 -- At Dodger Stadium, Mike Piazza ties Carlton Fisk for the most career homers by a catcher as he hits Hideo Nomo's sixth-inning pitch into the stands for his 351st round-tripper as a backstop. The homer, which was his 362nd overall, moves the Mets' star past Yankees' Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio on the all-time list.
Quote of the day:
"...That kid had to be the laziest sonofagun I ever saw. He was like an old hound on the porch: Nolan Ryan wouldn't roll over to get in the shade. So how the hell could any of us realize he'd come to big league camp, see Tom Seaver's work habits, and have a conversion? Overnight, he became the hardest-working I ever saw. For a quarter century, Nolan Ryan never stopped applying himself. " - Whitey Herzog in You're missing a Great Game
MILESTONES
Birthday Boys
Highlights: Rogers Hornsby & Enos Slaughter
Debuts
Notable: Mel Ott and Herman Franks
Final Games
Highlights: Glenn Beckert
Passings
Notable: Dick Groat & Bill Skowron
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Trivia Answer:
Ryan hit the first home run of his career on April 12, 1980, off future Hall of Famer Don Sutton in the Astrodome. Ryan hit two home runs in his career.
