Suit Takes Swing at Nolan Ryan

The hands of Nolan Ryan, best known for firing fastballs, have thrown the 45-year-old Texas Rangers pitcher into a court battle.

A Houston-area couple is seeking $50,000 from Ryan on grounds that baseball’s strikeout and no-hitter king breached a 1989 contract giving them the exclusive right to sell statues of his hands.

Bronze Memories Inc. of Katy, Tex., contends in the suit in Harris County District Court that Ryan granted similar rights to another company in 1985. Ryan could not be reached for comment.

About 2,000 castings of Ryan’s hands were to be made. More than 200 of the $1,000 sets were sold before the owners of Bronze Memories, Roy and Bernadette Champiomont, learned about the other deal.

The couple said sales quickly slowed when they discovered the earlier contract, which they contended ruined the exclusivity of their product.