1990 Year of the No-Hitter: June 11th - Nolan Ryan Pt 4

Our 1991 Year of the No-Hitter coverage will always be a work in progress. I started the series focusing on the 1991 Score No-Hit Club subset, but it has become more interesting as I have found other cards related to that years no-hitters. 

1992 Pacific Nolan Ryan #170 Number Six

Pet peeve here as Nolan Ryan is clearly shown in a Home Rangers uni rather than a Road Texas jersey which he would have been wearing the night that he no-hit the Oakland A's. We have featured four other cards on Ryan's 6th no-hitter and all four card companies got the threads correct.

1992 Pacific Nolan Ryan is a continuation of the 1991 set that Pacific put out the previous year. Each of the two sets are similar in design and consist of 110 cards.

1992 Pacific Nolan Ryan #170 Number Six (b-side)

The flip contains the box score with a two sentence synopsis of Ryan's achievement.

Of the four previous cards we featured on Nolan Ryan's 1990 gem only one included the box score. The 1991 Score No-Hit Club Card.

1991 Score No-Hit Club #701 Nolan Ryan (b-side)

While formatted just a bit differently the two box scores cover the info at the same level of detail. The Date is given on the Pacific Card, while it is only on the front of the Score card.

Sources and Links
1991 0611 Nolan Ryan 6th No-Hitter Index
Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards (2006 ed) - Bob Lemke
sbnation

1990: Year of the No-Hitter - September 2 Dave Stieb

On September 2^nd of 1990 Dave Stieb’s quest for a no-hitter finally ended.

1990 Score #707 No-Hit Club Dave Stieb  

Stieb and his Blue Jays teammates defeated the Cleveland Indians 3-0. Stieb Struck out 9 while issuing 4 bases on balls. However he pitched to 2 over the minimum thanks to his batterymate Pat Borders throwing out a a pair of runners on attempted steals.

Box Notes

1990 Score #707 No-Hit Club Dave Stieb (b-side)

Not a lot of big names in the unit that Dave Stieb recorded his milestone game against. Two parts of the Indians lineup versus Stieb arrived from San Diego in a Trade for Joe Carter (Boo!) Carlos Baerga and Chris James. The Padres originally received James in a trade that sent John Kruk to the Phillies. 

Seifeld favorite Ken Phelps makes his 3rd appearance in our Year of the No-Hitter Series. He busted up Brian Holman's perfect game on April 20th and was struck out in a pinch hitting appearance versus Nolan Ryan on June 11th. Phelps went 0 for 2 versus Stieb but did reach base via one of the four walks.

Borders, Mookie Wilson and Fred "Crime Dog" McGriff are the Notables that backed up Dave Stieb in his outing. The Center Fielder for Toronto was future White Sox GM Ken Williams who we previously saw on the wrong side of a no-hitter pitched by Randy Johnson (June 2)

Tomorrow I'll be Perfect 
Notice above I state Stieb’s quest “Finally Ended” well I have no real way of knowing if this was really a quest for the Blue Jays Ace. But I do know that he came awful close to tossing no-hitters several times.

September 24^th 1988 - with 2 outs in the 9th inning also against the Indians Stieb gave up a bad hop single to Julio Franco

September 30^th 1988 - Versus the Orioles Pinch Hitter Jim Traber singled

August 4^th 1989 – Stieb was perfect for 8 2/3 innings versus the Yankees prior to giving up a double to Roberto Kelly 

Dave Stieb’s autobiography titled “Tomorrow I’ll be Perfect” was released in 1986, two years prior to his No-Hitter string. The reference to Tossing a Perfect Game, which never happened but hopefully the No-Hitter he got on September 2 1990 was close enough.

Like Dave Stieb finally getting his No-Hitter, we have finally finished are year of the No-Hitter series. I enjoyed writing the series and find it fitting that it occurred in another heavy no-hitter year. While our coverage of the 1990 No-Hitters has ended, I see the series continuing by checking in on a smattering of the remaining 280+ No-Hitters and related trading cards

SABR Games
The SABR Games summary of this game was authored by Adrian Fung and can be found  here.
 
Sources and Links

Year of the No-Hitter Index
LA Times
Amazon 

baseball-ref

SABR Games (added 2015 1104)

1990 Year of the No-Hitter: August 15th Terry Mulholland PT 2

This is what happens when you take those memorable Yellow 1991 Fleer Cards and lazily create a subset based off the original.

1991 Fleer Box Botton #8 Terry Mulholland

Just when you think 1991 Fleer can't look any worse, you add a quick game, date and score in the dullest font possible. The #8 refers to Mulholland's No-Hitter being the leagues eighth of the season which set the record - for purposes of the Fleer box bottom No-Hitter "subset" it is also the card number. 

The No-Hitter flair is the only thing of any interest here.

Fleer produced this card as part of a series of Box Bottom cards dedicated to the 1990 No-Hitters. Each Box Bottom contains 4 Cards, 3 No-Hitter related plus a fourth card that has a Team Logo. The Mulholland card shares a Panel with Andy Hawkins and Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan.

1991 Fleer Box Botton #3 Nolan Ryan (image swiped from Thorzul)


Speaking of the Express, I Just happened to see that Thorzul posted the Nolan Ryan Fleer Box Bottom as part of his most recent Pull the Trigger promo. This card is, of course, related to Ryan's No-Hitter which we featured two months ago.

Since these cards are Box Bottoms they are blank backed.

Sources and Links
Thorzul Will Rule
1990 0815 Terry Mulholland No-Hitter Index
1990 0611 Nolan Ryan No-Hitter Index
Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards (Bob Lemke)
Baseball Ref

1990: Year of the No-Hitter - August 15 Terry Mulholland

Terry Mulholland made year of the No-Hitter official by pitching the seasons eighth no-no en route to a 6-0 Phillies victory over his former club, the San Francisco Giants

1991 Score #706 No-Hit Club Terry Mulholland

Only one hitter reached base in Terry Mulholland's No-Hitter, Rick Parker on an Error by Phils Third Baseman Charlie Hayes. Hayes made up for his error when he speared a line drive off the bat of future Hall of Famer Gary Carter for the final out of the game.

1991 Score #706 No-Hit Club Terry Mulholland (b-side)

Terry Mulholland's pitched to the minimum in the no-hitter as Parker was erased on a double play two pitches after he reached. Notable players in the Giants lineup included Will Clark, Kevin Mitchell, and Matt Williams.

Darren Daulton caught Mulholland's No-Hitter and also hit a Home Run.

No-Hit Cards
Earlier in our no-hit series we dedicated several posting to Nolan Ryan due to his record setting prowess in pitching gems. Similarly we will be putting together a miniseries for Terry Mulholland since he is a member of the local 9. Just posting the Cards here, will have an addendum on each of these cards over the next day or two.

1991 Fleer Box Bottom #8 Terry Mulholland

1991 Donruss #BC14 Terry Mulholland



Mulholland No-Hitter Index
1991 Donruss #BC14
1991 Fleer Box Bottom #8

Sources and Links
Year of the No-Hitter Index
Baseball-ref
NY Times
Chicago Tribune
Philadelphia Inquirer

Year ot the No-Hitter: Scott Garrelts near-hitter

On July 29th 1990 Scott Garrelts could have pitched the record setting 8th no-hitter of the Major League season but he missed it by one out. He and the San Francisco Giants had to settle for a one-hit 4-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds as Paul O'Neill singled to center with 2 outs in the 9th. Garrelts subsequently retired Eric Davis to complete the shutout.

1991 Score #541 Scott Garrelts

Garrelts pitched 10 years in the Major, his entire career was spent with the Giants. The one-hitter was the last Shutout and Complete Game of his career.

1991 Score #541 Scott Garrelts (b-side)

The text on the back of Garrelts card mentions the Near-Hitter towards the bottom. It also goes on to mention his 1989 campaign when Garrelts led the NL in ERA, WHIP and W/L percentage. good enough for 6th in the Cy Young voting.

Sources and Links
Year of the No-Hitter Index
New York Times
baseball-ref

ANNIVERSARY: 1990 07 17 Bo Jackson 4 Consecutive Home Runs

25 Years ago Bo Jackson began a Home Run Streak that lasted over a month.

1991 Score #420 Bo Jackson - Highlight Four Consecutive Homers 

Of course Bo spent that entire month on the DL. During a Royals 10-7 Victory over the Yankees Jackson hit 3 Home Runs in his first 3 At Bats. But prior to getting a chance at recording a fourth he  was injured diving for a Deion Sanders line drive. Sanders ended up with an Inside-The-Park Home Run.

Bo Jackson ended up with an injured shoulder which sidelined him for 40 days.
 

1991 Score #420 Bo Jackson - Highlight Four Consecutive Homers (b-side)

The day he came back Jackson picked up right where he left off. In his first AB after coming off the DL He homered off of Future Hall of Famer and Year of the No-Hitter subject Randy Johnson.  For the Day Jackson was 3 for 4 and came a triple shy of the cycle as the Royals won 8-2.

Curiously the first 3 Homers were hit off of another Year of the No-Hitter pitcher, Andy Hawkins. This makes this our 3rd posting this month with an Andy Hawkins connection, The Hawkins non-hitter, The Melido Perez non-hitter and now Bo Jackson's 4 consecutive Homers.

Sources and Links
MLB
Baseball-ref

1990: Year of the No-Hitter - Melido Perez

The oddities of Year of the No-Hitter continued on July 12th.
.

1991 Score #705 No-Hit Club Melido Perez 

My apologies for the image, my lazy photography coupled with a shadow on the card results in Melido's face being completely dark.  Fortunately we have a profile picture on the flip of the card.

1991 Score #705 No-Hit Club Melido Perez (b-side)

In the Box on the back you will notice the short line score. The White Sox were leading the Yankees  8-0 in the top of the 7th when the game was called due to rain. This meant that the no-hitter only lasted six innings. It also meant that Perez suffered a fate similar to Andy Hawkins earlier in our No-Hit Series - the No-Hitter was rescinded.

There is one important difference between the rescinded no-hitters of Melido Perez and Andy Hawkins - Perez got to go home with a Victory.

Now look deeper into the box, check out who the losing pitcher was, yep Andy Hawkins - He might be the only pitcher to lose two shortened no-hitter. He did it in a two week period and he actually pitched one of the no-hitters.

Box Notes
The game was caught by Carlton Fisk. Due to the withdrawal of the no-hitter the Hall of Fame catcher never got credit for calling one. Other notable White Sox in the lineup include Robin Ventura, a Young Sammy Sosa (batting eighth!!) and Future ChiSox World Series Champion Manager Ozzie Guillen.

The Yankees one of their most mediocre lineups for the game. There are some semi-stars in there but the only big one is Don Mattingly and he was in the middle of a down year.

Pascual Perez
Sadly Melido's Brother Pascual was murdered in 2012. On a much happier note we must mention that Pascual has his own no-htter story that we intend to cover in a future post.

Sources and Links
1990: Year of the No-Hitter index
Retrosheet
ESPN
baseball-ref

Happy Independence Day

For our Fourth of July posting we present short Dave Stewart who briefly pitched for the Phillies in the middle 80s.

 2004 UD USA Baseball #USA-173

We recently featured Stewart as part of our 1990 No-Hitter Series. His card here is devoted to Stewart's 2003 stint as pitching coach of team USA.

 2004 UD USA Baseball #USA-173 (b-side)

The flip of the card mentions Stewart's 1989 World Series MVP award and Team USA's performance during the 2003 qualifier.

For more on Stewart's 1990 no-hitter click here.

Sources and Links
1990 Year of the No-Hitter Index

1990 Year of the No-Hitter: Andy Hawkins

On July 1st 1990 Andy Hawkins tossed the rare eight inning no-hitter

1991 Score #704 No-Hit Club Andy Hawkins

 Team Phungo just got back from vacation so we are a bit busy with returning to work and recovering from the SABR conference in Chicago.

Perhaps at some future time I will return to the rather interesting "no-hitter" tossed by Andy Hawkins.

1991 Score #704 No-Hit Club Andy Hawkins (b-side)

As noted in the box score, Hawkins had five walks in the game. A pair of those Walks, coupled with a bunch of Yankees errors led to the White Sox 4 run eighth inning

Following the 1991 Season an MLB Stats committee adopted a rule requiring a game to have at least 9 innings pitched to be considered a no-hitter. So Andy Hawkins No-Hitter in a loss, is now no longer considered a no-hitter. This is not the only 1990 Year of the No-Hitter game that the new ruling effected. In a few weeks we will get to the other 1990 game that has been rescinded.

The White Sox are not the only team to score in a no-hitter. Baseball-Ref has a list here.

Sources and Links
1990 Year of the No-Hitter Index
South Side Sox
Baseball-ref

1990: Year of the No-Hitter - June 29th Fernadomania!

If 1990 was the year of the No-Hitter, June 29th of that year was the Day of the No-Hitter.

After Dave Stewart's East Coast No-Hitter, Fernando Valenzuela followed up with one for the fans in the Pacific Time Zone. He turned the trick in a 6-0 victory over the St Louis Cardinals.

1991 Score #703 No-Hit Club Fernando Valenzuela

Fernando Valenzuela peaked early, He won Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Awards as well as a World Series ring all at the age of 20 in 1981. He made every all-star team between 1981 and 1986.

In 1990 Fernando was only 29 but his best years were behind him. He was struggling through a mediocre season when he tossed his gem on June 29th.

There were a couple of close calls in the No-Hitter which is featured here. With one out in the 9th Pedro Guerrero hit a grounder back at Valenzuela which the pitcher just got the tip of his glove on. It is hard to tell in the video, The Dodgers were playing for the double play, but had Valenzuela not tipped the ball it may have sped pass the two middle infielders. As it worked out the ball glanced off Valenzuela's glove and was fielded by second baseman Juan Samuel who started the game ending double play that was completed by future Hall of Famer Eddie Murray. 

Flip

 1991 Score #703 No-Hit Club Fernando Valenzuela (b-side)

Valenzueala pitched to three over the minimum - three walks and an error, one of the walks was erased on the game ending double play mentioned above. 

The obstacles in the Cardinals lineup included Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith (batting 8th!!!), One time MVP and Batting Champ Willie McGee and the speedy Vince Coleman. McGee worked one of the three Cardinal walks, three of Valenzuela's seven strikeouts came against Coleman.

The Dodgers defense included the aforementioned Eddie Murray and Juan Samuel as well as Future Angels Manager Mike Scioscia who made up the other half of the No-Hit Battery.

One time Philies second baseman Juan Samuel hit one of two homers for the Dodgers - the other was by Hubie Brooks.  

It was the first of two no-hitters caught by Scioscia, the latter was authored by Kevin Gross who like Samuel debuted with the Phillies.  

Within the game box on the Score Card I like how they triple-apostrophe-d Mike Sharperson's name.

Fernandomania

2001 07 29 Fernando Valenzuela Bobblehead

In 2001 The Dodgers honored Fernando Valenzuela with one of the first three Bobbleheads ever given away at Dodgers Stadium.  Unfortunately, the Dodgers lost the game 3-2 to the Rockies on a 9th inning RBI single by Alex Ochoa.

The bobblehead shown above is part of the Baseball Hall of Fame's Viva Baseball exhibit which celebrates the Heritage of Latin American players. 

Sources and Links
1990: Year of the No-Hitter index
Baseball-ref
mlb
LA Times
Dodger Bobble
Baseball Hall of Fame

1990: Year of the No-Hitter - June 29th Dave Stewart

June 29th 1990 was one of the two greatest days in No-Hitter History. It started in Toronto with the Oakland A's Dave Stewart.....

1990 Score #702 No-Hit Club Dave Stewart

On May 9th 1986 the Phillies released Dave Stewart to make room for Ron Roenicke whom they purchased from the Oakland A's. A year later the Phillies released Roenicke and Dave Stewart led the AL in Wins en route to finishing 3rd in the AL Cy Young Voting.  

1990 was the fourth consecutive year that Stewart would finish in the Cy Young top four. He was coming off a World Series MVP award in 1989 and was near the top of his game.

That was not good for the Toronto Blue Jays.

Flip

1990 Score #702 No-Hit Club Dave Stewart (b-side)

Stewart was dominant, He struck out 12 and walked 3 pitching to two over the minimum - the extra runner (Junior Felix) was eliminated via caught stealing.

Looking inside the box we find the 1990 Blue Jays to be a pretty good hitting squad, Fred McGriff would hit .300 that season and the young John Olerud would eventually win a batting title.  Stewart's final three outs were Strike Outs of Manny Lee and Mookie Wilson and a Tony Fernandez Fly Out.

Dave Stewart's battery-mate for the no-hitter was Terry Steinbach who doubled and tripled in the game. In 1999 as a member of the Twins Steinbach called a second no-hitter authored by another Phillies connected pitcher - Eric Milton.

Among the folks playing defense for Stewart's no-hitter was future Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson. Rickey pitched in with a Homer, Sac Fly, and a Put Out in left.

1990 06 29
We are only half way threw June 29th 1990. Tomorrow we will jet off to the West Coast to see what happens later that day...




Team USA

in 2003 Dave Stewart was pitching coach for Team USA for a look at his 2004 UD card check here
  Sources and Links
1990: Year of the No-Hitter
Baseball-ref

1990 Seattle Mariners host Guaranteed No-Hitter Night

On June 16th of 1990 the Seattle Mariners Guaranteed a No-Hitter

The idea of the Guarantee was conceived by the Mariners promotion department as the baseball public got caught up in the excitement of the the 1990 No-Hitter Frenzy - Mark Langston had pitched one on April 11th, The Mariners own Randy Johnson June 2nd, and Nolan Ryan earlier that week.

1994 Topps #34 Nolan Ryan

Another impetus for the M's was that they were hosting Nolan Ryan's first start after his June 11th No-Hitter.

Had Ryan actually been able to redeem the Guaranteed No-Hitter for the Mariners he would have matched a feat only otherwise done by Johnny Vander Meer - Consecutive No-Hitters.

1991 Score #126 Matt Young

For their part Seattle sent out journeyman pitcher Matt Young.

The No-Hitter didn't get very far, Matt Young retired 4 batters before giving up a hit to John Russell. Harold Reynolds got the first hit off of Ryan in the bottom of the 3rd.

Despite being the significantly less noteworthy pitcher Matt Young was the closest of the two to get a no-hitter. Young pitched the last of 5 career shutouts only allowing 3 hits (Russell, Ruben Sierra, and Rafael Palmiero) all singles.

The promotion worked for the Ms, The 37,248 fans they drew to the Kingdome may seem pedestrian now, but it was the 4th best attendance number for the 1990 Mariners. It was also the most fans that got to see a Mariners win.

Note: In a practice common in Minor League Games the Mariners Guaranteed No-Hitter Game came with the caveat that if there was not a no-hitter, fans would get a free ticked to a future game. The free ticket was a $4.50 General Admission ticket to the July 11th game versus the Angels. The Mariners won that game as well. It was a 2-1 victory by Erik Hanson over the aforementioned no-hit pitcher Mark Langston. It doesn't appear many fans took advantage of the no-hit redemption as 18,357 which was a tick below the teams 18,638 average for the season.    

1994 Topps
I like this card, it was issued the season after Ryan retired. Topps noted his career accomplishments by placing Ryan on card #34, his uniform number.

Sources & Links
1990 Year of the No-Hitter Index
LA Times
Baseball-ref
baseball-almanac
baseball cardpedia
baseball card database

Greg Harris Lo-Hitter Pt 2: 1989 Topps #627

We are milking journeyman Greg Harris' Lo-Hitter for yet another posting just to show that prior to tossing his no-Hitter he really did pitch for the Phillies.

1989 Topps #627 Greg Harris

Here we have the ubiquitous 1989 Topps. Harris is wearing the Aviator Shades similar in shape and size to the prescription lenses he has on the 1991 Score card we featured a few days back.

Greg Harris pitched a season and a half for the Phils. In 1988 his 2.8 WAR ranked #2 on the team - that tells you a lot about the team which lost 96 games.
 
Sources and Links
Baseball-Ref

1990 Year of the No-Hitter June 11th - Nolan Ryan pt 4

Thanks for indulging us with Four postings on the Ryan Express today. During a season in which we are producing a series dedicated to the Year of the No-Hitter I felt that honoring the man who authored Seven of them was warranted.

1991 Donruss Bonus Card #BC-3 Nolan Ryan No-Hits A's 

Our final card is one from a 1991 Donruss "Insert" set. The Photo here looks pretty similar to the one on the Topps Card in our previous post. Both cards have Nolan Ryan in a Rangers road grey as he would have been for the June 11 1990 game at Oakland, However I am not so sure that looks like the Colosseum. I am thinking that we are seeing Yankees stadium.

1991 Donruss Bonus Card #BC-3 Nolan Ryan No-Hits A's (b-side)

For sheer volume this is probably the strongest of the b-sides. The card name drops Fellow No-Hit artist Sandy Koufax and goes on to mention Ryan's previous No-Hit victims. Props to Donruss for running down the outs recorded in Ryan's final inning

This concludes are look at cards specific to Nolan Ryan's 6th caree no-hitter. I like the Pacific Texas Exrpess card the best, Topps the least. I am sure there are other cards specific to this game, but for purposes of today's articles I wanted to stick to those issued contemporary to the event.  I have at least one other Nolan Ryan card for the coming days but by the end of the month we will need to move on to some other events in Year of the No-Hitter. 

Sources and Links
1990 Year of the No-Hitter Index
Nolan Ryan No-Hitter #6 1990 06 11
Baseball CardPedia

1990 Year of the No-Hitter June 11th - Nolan Ryan pt 3

This is the third of four postings on cards dedicated to Nolan Ryan's 6th No-Hitter.

 

1991 Topps #6 Record Breaker - Nolan Ryan 

Topps chose to honor the fact that Ryan became the oldest pitcher to throw a No-Hitter, rather than to honor that fact that he had pitched a record 6th no-hitter - which was breaking his own record of five no-hitters. 

Of course less than a year later Ryan broke both of these records once again when he tossed his 7th No-Hitter at age 44. 

1991 Topps #6 Record Breaker - Nolan Ryan (b-side)

The flip side contains the an Oakland CA dateline and notes the record was previously held by Cy Young who pitched one at 41+ on June 30 1908

Cy Young No-Hitter #3
Boxes don't go back to 1908 in Baseball-ref but we were able to find this line score for the game

Salt Lake Tribune July 1 1908

Interesting that a No-Htter in a Red Sox vs Yankees (Highlanders) game warranted a grand total of 1 line in the article.

According to the B-R Bullpen the future Hall of Famer almost pitched a perfect game. The first batter Harry Niles walked but was subsequently erased on a caught stealing. Cy Young then retired the last 26 batters to complete the No-Hitter .

Sources and Links
1991 0611 Nolan Ryan 6th No-Hitter Index
Baseball-ref
Salt Lake Tribune (1908 07 01)

1990 Year of the No-Hitter: June 11th - Nolan Ryan Pt 2

There are at least Four Cards in the Phungo Collection dedicated to Nolan Ryan's 1990 No-Hitter against the Oakland A's. 

This 1993 Pacific Card is my favorite of the lot.


1993 Pacific Texas Express #63 Last Pitch No-Hitter #6

This is a great baseball card. I would have elected to crop out the Jack in the Box/Michelin ads at the top, but otherwise this is pure beauty.

We can see Ryan on the follow through and Willie Randolph mid swing for the final out.

In an MLB Network interview Randolph mentioned hitting into the last out of the No-Hitter as one of his biggest career disappointments. Go to the 3:20 mark in the interview here.

Flip

1993 Pacific Texas Express #63 Last Pitch No-Hitter #6 (b-side)

The fireball is part of the design on the flip side of the Texas Express series - A set dedicated exclusively to Nolan Ryan.

Good synopsis of the game including nods to former Phils Julio Franco and John Russell.

To Look at our master posting on Nolan Ryan's sixth no-hitter click here. 

Sources and Links
1990: Year of the No-Hitter Index
1990 0611 Nolan Ryan 6th No-Hitter Index 
MLB Network Willie Randolf Discusses WBC 
Baseball-ref
Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards

1990 Year of the No-Hitter: June 11 - NOLAN RYAN

As noted earlier in this series there are some great names and stories among the pitchers who were involved in the year of the No-Hitter, none of those pitchers was bigger than Nolan Ryan.

1991 Score No-Hit Club #701 Nolan Ryan

Nolan Ryan only had 7 spring training innings in prior to his Opening Day start which he had to leave despite having not given up a hit over 5 innings.

By June 11th he had nine starts under his belt including a 1-hitter versus the White Sox on April 26th.  Ryan now had built up plenty of arm strength to finish his record setting sixth career no-hitter.

Box Notes

1991 Score No-Hit Club (b-side)

First off that is a scuff on the card, that is not bird droppings on Nolan's cap!

For the second time in the series we have the Oakland A's making a guest appearance. Back in mid-April we discussed Brian Holman's near perfect game which was spoiled by a Ken Phelps Home Run.  

Ken Phelps made a 9th inning pinch hit appearance in this game as well. Nolan Ryan won this battle as he did something he did 5713 other times in his career. He Struck Out Phelps. That was the first out of the 9th which left Future Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson and Willie Randolph as the last two outs Ryan needed to complete his record extending 6th no-hitter. Henderson Grounded  Out and Randolph Fouled out to right.

More Cards
There are three other Cards in the Phungo Collection dedicated to this game. We will be taking a closer look at each of the other cards tomorrow. For now we will just post the cards. 

1993 Pacific Texas Express #63 Last Pitch No-Hitter #6

1991 Donruss #BC-3 Nolan Ryan 6th No-Hitter

1991 Topps #6 Record Break Nolan Ryan

You cannot tell from the front but this card honors Nolan Ryan breaking his own record of five no-hitters.

1992 Pacific Nolan Ryan #170

Added this card to the listing in November of 2015. Found it in a card show dime box.

Nolan Ryan
The name most associated with No-Hitter is likely Nolan Ryan, to recognize this we will be dedicating several postings to this no-hitter and the Ryan Express over the next few days. Below is an Index to these No-Hitter related Postings - a couple related to the cards above.

1993 Pacific Texas Express #63
1991 Donruss #BC-3
1991 Topps #6
1992 Pacific Nolan Ryan #170
Guaranteed No-Hitter Night

Sources and Links
1990 Year of the No-Hitter Index
Nolan Ryan HoF Index 
baseball-ref
MLB Network Willie Randolph Discusses WBC

1990: Year of the No-Hitter - June 2 Randy Johnson

A star is Born.

On June 2nd Randy Johnson authored the second no-hitter of the 1990 Season.

1991 Score #700 No-Hit Club Randy Johnson

Back in April Johnson's teammate Brian Holman had come within an out of a perfect game, but he lost it on a Ken Phelps Home Run.

Randy Johnson's start would end up differently. He retired the last five batters he faced, his 9th inning went Strikeout, Pop Out, Strike Out. The final batter was journeyman catcher Mike Heath who went down swinging on an 0-2 pitch.

While it was a No-Hittter, Johnson was far from perfect. He allowed six walks, and Mariners Shortstop Mike Brumley committed an error.

Box Notes

1991 Score #700 No-Hit Club Randy Johnson (b-side)

Couple of good hitters that Johnson had to sit down, including Cecil Fielder and perennial Hall of Fame snub Alan Trammell. The "Williams" in the 9 spot of the Tigers Order is Ken Williams, the current GM of the Chicago White Sox.

The defense behind Randy Johnson included Ken Griffey Jr, Pre-DH Edgar Martinez, and MLB Network analyst Harold Reynolds. The right fielder for the Mariners was Jay Buhner who was traded for the aforementioned Ken Phelps, the man who spoiled Brian Holman's no-hit bid. 

The No-Hitter was the first of two for Randy Johnson, 14 years later he threw a Perfect Game versus the Atlanta Braves as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Relics

1990 0602 Cap Worn by Randy Johnson when he pitched the No-Hitter

Team Phungo made a brief stop at the Hall of Fame recently and we spotted this item in the Randy Johnson HoF display.  Pretty cool item here with the Classic Seattle Logo, which probably most synonymous with the career of Young Ken Griffey Jr.

The HoF visit was quick but fun. While I dedicated most of the day to the Cooperstown Classic, I did manage a quick HoF tour and we will show of some items/displays over the next couple of weeks.


1990 Seattle Mariners
There Mariners were 51 games into the 1990 season and had been involved in two no-hitters Plus Brian Holman's near perfect game. The teams promotions department would attempt to capitalize on the events by sponsoring a Guaranteed No-Hitter Night. We will cover that game in a a future post, I will just let you know that one of the starting pitchers that evening was Nolan Ryan.

2015 Randy Johnson
Part of the reason I wanted to do a series on Year of the No-Hitter is with so many pitchers involved there are just tons of great stories. We have already had the Mariners involved in 2 no-hitters (one on each side) and a near perfect game. We have had Mike Witt who completed a no-hitter after years earlier pitching his own perfect game.

And now we see a future Hall of Famer just as he emerges into greatness.

I am a fan of Twitter and one of the more interesting follows has been Randy Johnson. He dedicates a lot of time to his photography, and due to his resources he has premium access for great places and events which makes for some great shots. Right now his account appears dormant but his website is still operational - @rj51photos

Sources & Links
1990 Year of the No-Hitter Index
Phungo Randy Johnson HoF Index
Baseball Hall of Fame
LA Times
baseball-ref
Chicago White Sox

1990 Topps #515 Len Dykstra

Yesterday we featured a card for a no-hitter that almost happened. Today we have a card of the player that foiled the John Smoltz Attempt.

1990 Topps #515 Len Dykstra

Lenny Dykstra broke up the No-Hitter by pulling a double down the right field line. Dykstra would eventually even score to end the shutout as well, but Smoltz held on for the 6-1 victory.

1990 Topps
This is the first Topps Base card to feature Lenny Dykstra in a Phillies uniform. Biggest oddity here is that he is Len rather than Lenny. He is almost always Lenny to me. If I am running off stats in a formal way I may say something like "In 1993 Len Dykstra led the league in both Hits AND Walks, That's tough to do".  More typically I would say, "Man I would love to party with Lenny Dykstra sometime, but I fear it would kill me"

According to the Baseball Card Database Topps issued a dozen base cards of Dykstra. He is not referred to as Lenny on any of them. 

Sources and Links
1990: Year of the No-Hitter
baseball card database
Baseball-ref

1990: Year of the No-Hitter - May 27th Near-Hitter John Smoltz

Today we have another Year of the No-Hitter posting which is only a Lo-Hitter or Near-Hitter. On May 27th a then 24 Year Old John Smoltz was facing the Phillies at the Vet on Beach Towel Day and he took a No-Hitter into the 9th inning.

1991 Score #208 John Smoltz

Unfortunately for Smoltz it was not to be, One of the three remaining outs he needed was Lenny Dykstra who was batting .408 going into play that day.  With a 6-0 lead Smoltz decided to challenge the hottest hitter in baseball and Lenny doubled down the right field line.

Box Notes
The man that broke up Smoltz's No-Hitter was Lenny Dykstra, who was batting .408 going into the gaem. The Phillies staring pitcher that day was Terry Mulholland, whom we will hear from a bit later in our Year of the No-Hitter series.

Smoltz's Reaction
When asked about the Near Miss post game Smoltz referred to Dave Stieb who had lost not one but two no-hitters in the ninth inning:

 "I never knew what Dave Steib went through. Now I do - even though mine was one out earlier." 

Like the aforementioned Terry Mulholland we will here from Dave Stieb later in this series as well....

Flip

1991 Score #208 John Smoltz

The documented in the first paragraph of text on Smoltz's 1991 Score Card. I had several options of cards to post noting the near-hitter and Score's recognition of Smoltz's big day made the choice easy.

It's in the Cards
A lot of reasons are given for Topps relegation to the second tier of trading cards in the 90s - Holograms, Photography, Relics, Autos etc. One I rarely see mentioned is the difference in copy. Check the text on the back of the 1991 Topps Smoltz Card.

1991 Topps #157 John Smoltz (b-side)

One line on John Smoltz's 1988 Season at Richmond. The A-Side is fine enough though.

1991 Topps #157 John Smoltz

Nice early card of Smoltz pre-mustache. There is a lot to like about 1991 Topps, nice design lots of great shots throughout the set. I have always been fond of cards where an element of the photo pops out beyond the border a bit, On the Smoltz card his pitching hand extends just beyond the edge as if he is going to throw a fastball through the frame.

Sources & Links
1990 Year of the No-Hitter Index

John Smoltz HOF Index

Baseball-ref
Philadelphia Inquirer
LA Times