August 4, 1993 is a date that Rangers fans will never forget.
On the pitcher's mound for the Rangers, 46 year old Nolan Ryan. At the plate, 26 year old Robin Ventura of the Chicago White Sox. The pitch was a little "off" and hit Ventura in the side. Ventura charged the mound in order to fight Nolan. This is when history was made my friends. Nolan Ryan put Ventura in a headlock and punched him six times before Rangers catcher Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez was able to pull him away. The joke was later told that Ventura was the only player to get 6 hits off Nolan Ryan in one game! :) For the rest of his career, Ventura was booed when he played in Texas. Before every home game at The Ballpark, they replay the video, and to this day, the crowd cheers Nolan on! We **heart** you Nolan!!
I don't know how long MLB will let this video stay up, but for now it's on YouTube. So in honor of the 17th anniversary of that event, I am posting it here. It's great!!
I had more ramblings prepared for today, but I have to cut this short. If I have time, I'll add more. Or I'll save them up for another post!! Have a great day!! We are at the half-way mark of the week!
That's awesome. I was a huge Nolan Ryan fan when I was a kid. Still packing punches at 46... Nice.
ReplyDeleteJust gotta tell you: If my mother hadn't thrown out the shoebox of baseball cards I had collected as a kid, I would be a rich woman today. One of our neighbors sold one of his (of that vintage) a couple years ago and used the proceeds to buy a new pickup truck.
ReplyDeleteWAH!!!! :-)