With Fifth No-Hitter, Express Wasn’t Slowing

The older he got, it seemed, the harder he threw.

When 34-year-old Nolan Ryan pitched his fifth no-hitter 18 years ago today, writers called him “Ol’ Nolan.” No one could know, of course, he was barely at the halfway point of his career.

His fifth no-hitter was a day game in Houston’s Astrodome against the Dodgers. It was a 129-pitch, 11-strikeout, 5-0 victory before 32,115.

Ryan retired the final 19 in a row to break the no-hitter record of four he had shared with Sandy Koufax for six years.

And the Ryan Express, as always, closed the show.

When he struck out Reggie Smith in the ninth inning, a radar gun clocked his fastball at 97 mph.

Ryan struggled a bit early, then was unhittable in the stretch.

He made 81 pitches in the first four innings, 48 in the last five.

After seven, Ryan was skeptical. He had gone seven innings without giving up a hit about 50 times.

“In just about all those, I’d get in the late innings and not have the stamina to finish,” he said. “Today I did.”

The closest call was Mike Scioscia’s seventh-inning drive to right-center, where Terry Puhl made a running catch.

The first congratulatory phone call afterward came from Angel owner Gene Autry, who no doubt figured Ryan should still be in Anaheim.

In 1979, Angel General Manager Buzzie Bavasi refused to meet free agent Ryan’s asking price of $1 million per season. Ryan then immediately signed with Houston.

“All I have to do is find two 8-and-7 pitchers,” Bavasi said, when asked how he could make up for the loss of Ryan, 16-14 the previous season.

He didn’t. In the next two years, the Angels spent $7 million on free-agent pitchers who won a total of 19 games, while Ryan was winning 21 for Houston.

Ryan, of course, would have two more no-hitters and pitch 12 more seasons.

Also on this date: In 1961, at Yankee Stadium, Roger Maris hit a Jack Fisher pitch into the third deck in right field for his 60th home run before 19,401, including Mrs. Babe Ruth. . . . In 1988, at the Seoul Olympics, diver Greg Louganis won his second gold medal of the Games, repeating his double-gold performance of 1984.