The Only Pro Baseball Game My Grandma Ever Saw

My grandma, Lola Wirtz (my dad's mom), enjoyed watching baseball. She wasn't the biggest fan, but she enjoyed watching the Tigers on TV, watching her kids and grand kids play as well. I remember growing up she would even go out and pitch wiffle balls to my brother and I. What I didn't know, until a phone conversation with my dad, Mike, today, was that she only went to one Tigers game in her lifetime that we know of. Oh what a game it was.

It was Sunday, July 15, 1973 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The California Angels were in town to play the Detroit Tigers. It was the fourth and final game of the series. The Tigers had won the previous three games and had a five game winning streak going. The pitching match up for that day was Jim Perry (brother of Hall-of-Famer Gaylord Perry) versus the great Hall-of-Famer, Nolan Ryan. In 1973, Ryan set the Major League record for most strikeouts in a season with 383. It was his second season with the Angels after coming over from the New York Mets after the 1971 campaign. Up to that point in the season, he had pitched his first career no-hitter against the Kansas City Royals in May, and was off to a great start with a ton of strikeouts. That day, my mom, dad, grandma, and a couple of other family members went down to see the game. As my dad recalls, they sat down the first base line near the bullpen (I have the ticket stub from the game somewhere). The game was one for the ages.

Ryan dominated the Tigers that day. He walked four and struck out 17. He also happened to pitch the second no-hitter of his career. He dominated the Tigers so much that in the bottom of the 9th inning, with two outs, Norm Cash came to the plate. As the story goes, home plate umpire Ron Luciano, who along with Cash, had a great sense of humor, noticed Cash with something other than a bat in his hand. Luciano told Cash he couldn't hit with that and asked what it was. Cash replied that it was a table leg and what was the difference? He wasn't going to hit Ryan anyway. Cash went on to get a regular bat and hit popped out to the shortstop. Ironically, in the 9th, that was the only inning Ryan didn't strike anyone out.

Ryan's performance that day was just one of many outstanding pitching performances that he'd have over his 27 year Hall of Fame career. That game, however, was the only game my Grandma ever went to see in person. I think she made a great choice. I just wish she was still around so I could ask her how much she remembered from it. Miss you Grandma...