Day 23: May 1, 1991

Arlington, TX

Park # 22

What I Remember

Thirty years is a long time; it is often tough to remember the details of our stops on the Excellent Adventure. Watching the video we shot and looking back at the programs usually loosens a few cobwebs and some memories return but some things I wrote notes about, during the trip or shortly afterward, I simply have no recollection of today.

But May 1, 1991 is not like that. I remember multiple things about the day as clearly as if they took place last week. I remember doing the first of a couple of interviews about our trip with the late Bill Koenig for a story that appeared later that month in USA Today Baseball Weekly. I remember chatting with Koenig from a payphone near Abilene and then changing into one of the few dressier outfits we had with us since he told us there would be a photographer meeting us in the parking lot at Arlington Stadium.

But mostly I remember the game. With the possible exception of the 7th game of the World Series that year, it was the most exciting game I have ever been to. The scorecard below says it all…the visiting Toronto Blue Jays had no hits that night. Nolan Ryan pitched to just two batters over the minimum and the 44-year-old was so dominant in throwing his seventh, and final, career no-hitter that it was already obvious by the 5th inning that we might be in for something special. If you get a chance next Friday watch the video, we are sitting in the upper deck but even from far away the excitement of the crowd is obvious.