September 7, 1974: Radar clocks Nolan Ryan’s fastball at 100.8 mph in Angels’ win over White Sox

Baseball has long been a numbers game. Early box scores tabulated outs, runs, hits, and errors: the outcomes of individual plays tallied by scorekeepers. More recently, technology has allowed sophisticated characterization of plays and the pitches that (usually) precede them. Today, speed, spin rate, and break (in two dimensions) define the previously immeasurable attributes of each pitch; and, to the extent that the Automated Ball-Strike System (ABS) is invoked, whether or not it was a strike.

These measurements have been made possible by a combination of radar systems, optical tracking cameras, and data processing equipment, providing near-instantaneous display of pitch characteristics on ballpark scoreboards and TV score bugs (on-screen graphics boxes).

It was in the summer of 1974 that the first real-time measurements of major-league pitch speed took place, culminating with what one spelling-challenged sportswriter dubbed “the Great Tyan [sic] Velocity Test.”1 Conceived as a promotional event at Anaheim Stadium, home of the then-California Angels, those measurements established Angels hurler Nolan Ryan as “by test the fastest pitcher in baseball history”2 and opened the door for what is commonly referred to as “the Statcast era.”

The weeks leading up to September 7 in 1974 included several prodigious strikeout efforts by Ryan, whose 383 strikeouts the year before had set a post-1901 season record.3 On August 7, Ryan came within two outs of notching his third career no-hitter in a 13-strikeout losing effort against the Chicago White Sox. Five days later, he struck out 19 Boston Red Sox batters, tying the then-major-league record for a regulation game and breaking the AL mark set in 1938 by Hall of Famer Bob Feller.4 On August 20, Ryan registered his third 19-strikeout game of the season in an 11-inning loss to the Detroit Tigers. He’d first mowed down that many in a 13-inning win over Boston on June 14.

Ryan’s overpowering fastball, christened the “Ryan Express” in 1968 by Houston Post sportswriter Joe Heiling, left both batters and batterymates awestruck.5 Three starts into Ryan’s major league career, New York Mets backstop Jerry Grote called the pitch faster than Sandy Koufax’s.6 In May 1972, Oakland A’s slugger Reggie Jackson said Ryan was “faster than instant coffee” and “much faster” than any pitcher he had ever faced.7

Early in the 1974 season, Cleveland Press sportswriter Jim Braham noted that many baseball observers felt Ryan “can throw a baseball faster than any man ever.”8 At that time, the Guinness Book of World Records listed Feller as the sport’s “Fastest Pitcher.”9 In August 1946, Feller had thrown a pre-game pitch that crossed the plate at 98.6 MPH as measured by a Lumiline chronograph, a US Army device used to measure artillery shell velocity.10

Yet nobody, even those closest to Ryan, knew for sure if he threw faster than Feller. Said Angels manager Dick Williams after Ryan’s 19-strikeout effort on August 12, “I wouldn’t say Ryan is faster than Feller, but I wouldn’t say Feller was faster than Ryan either.”11

Thanks to the efforts of the Angels’ Director of Public Relations and Promotions, George Lederer, the baseball world soon would get an answer. Sometime during the early summer, Lederer had contacted the Anaheim facility of aerospace manufacturer Rockwell International and asked if they had any equipment that could measure the speed of Ryan’s fastball. Dr. Leo Brandewie of Rockwell offered up a “coherent infra-red radar machine developed … as a general-purpose test instrument.”12 The Rockwell device measured baseball speed at roughly nine to 10 feet in front of home plate via the Doppler effect, as it blanketed an area with infra-red waves and then analyzed reflected wave characteristics.13 For this first application of radar to the national pastime, Rockwell’s equipment was configured to measure only pitched balls that passed over home plate. Those that went wide were not measured.14

A team of Rockwell scientists set to work confirming that their machine would operate as advertised. First came an abortive dry run held in a company parking lot.15 A dress rehearsal followed during Ryan’s August 20 start at Anaheim Stadium in which pitch speeds were successfully measured (but not made public) for both Ryan and Tigers starter Mickey Lolich.16

Convinced that Lederer had struck gold, the Angels announced that the Rockwell device would “clock the Ryan Express” during Ryan’s next home start, after a two-week road trip.17 The Angels rolled out a contest for fans to guess Ryan’s top speed, with the winner earning a trip to the first two games of the 1974 AL Championship Series. Close to 7,000 entries were received, with estimates ranging from 48 to 200 MPH. The median guess was 99-100 MPH.18

The Angels returned home to Southern California on September 5 in last place in the AL West Division. Their 53-84 record  was the worst in franchise history after 137 games. Williams, “lured out of baseball exile” to take over the team in early July,19 sent rookie Ed Figueroa to the mound for the homestand opener against the Chicago White Sox (a 1-0 loss) and second-year southpaw Frank Tanana for game two (a 4-2 win). Up next on Saturday night, September 7 was Ryan, 17-15 with a 3.13 ERA and 306 strikeouts. Facing Ryan was 21-year-old Chicago rookie Jack Kucek, drafted in June off the Miami University of Ohio campus and making his fourth major-league start.

Interest in the Ryan speed contest translated into a turnout of 13,510, more than double the turnout for either of the first two games of the series.

Earlier in his career, Ryan made clear that he didn’t care how fast he pitched,20 but he was intrigued with what Lederer had dreamed up. Days before this game, he met with Rockwell scientists to look over their radar equipment, set up in the grandstand.21

A team of six Rockwell officials started measuring Ryan’s pitch speed as he warmed up before the top of the first inning. Readings for his last five warmup pitches, not made public until shared with sportswriters after this game, ranged from 55 to 88.5 MPH.22

Ryan acknowledged that he didn’t throw his warmups particularly hard,23 but during a one-two-three first inning he wasn’t any faster; his fastest pitch was only 87.6 MPH.24 Ryan’s maximum velocity rose to 93.4 MPH in the second frame as he worked around a leadoff double by Jorge Orta.

The Angels staked Ryan to a one-run lead in the third on rookie shortstop Orlando Ramírez’s two-out single to center, scoring second baseman Denny Doyle from second after he’d led off the inning with a bunt single.25

Ryan came through with a shutdown fourth inning, during which he dialed his velocity up to 98.8 MPH, eclipsing Feller’s mark. His teammates responded in the bottom of the inning by scoring a second run on a Dave Chalk RBI groundout after rookie left fielder Bruce Bochte had drawn a leadoff walk.

Chicago managed its first run of the game in the fifth on three singles, the last one stroked to center field by Tony Muser, driving in rookie Bucky Dent.

In the sixth inning, California’s defense took center stage. With two out and the bases loaded, DH Pat Kelly drove a Ryan fastball to deep center field. Center fielder Morris Nettles raced over and made a leaping grab high to rob Kelly of what would have been his first career grand slam.26

Between innings four and eight, Ryan’s top speed ranged from 91.3 to 96.7. It peaked during the seventh inning, when he registered his second one-two-three inning of the game.

The Angels pushed the score to 3-1 in the seventh, with DH Frank Robinson, playing in his 19th season, scoring on a wild pitch unleashed by reliever Terry Forster after he’d replaced Kucek.

Batting first for Chicago in the ninth was number-nine batter Lee Richard. A utility player making his first start in five weeks, Richard had scored the winning run in Chicago’s August 7 triumph over Ryan. He entered the game hitting only .118 (4-for-34) but had singled in his last two at-bats. Ryan’s second pitch to Richard crossed the plate at 100.8 MPH, his fastest of the game.27 Richard drew a walk but was erased when Kelly grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. Bill Sharp, whose walk-off single drove in Richard to give Ryan the loss on August 7, popped out to catcher Tom Egan for the third out, handing the California ace his 18th win of the year. Exhausted from his 159-pitch effort, Ryan said, “I’m just glad to get it all over with.”28

Despite his record-setting performance, Ryan claimed that he had an off-night. “I’m sure I’ve thrown faster than that.”29 He was right. Just before the game, the Angels announced the results of the August 20 dry run, kept under wraps so as to not undermine interest in this day’s event. Ryan had twice reached 100.9 MPH in the earlier game, starting with the Tigers’ very first batter, Ron LeFlore.30

Three weeks later, Ryan succeeded in authoring his third career no-hitter, fanning 15 Minnesota Twins (and walking eight) in his last start of the season.

Prior to the 1975 season, the Baltimore Orioles began tracking pitch speeds with a hand-held radar gun.31 Fast forward 40 years to Opening Day of the 2015 season, every major league ballpark was equipped with a radar system for tracking balls (Trackman) and an optical tracking system for tracking players (ChyronHego).32 The Statcast era had arrived.33

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Ray Danner and copy-edited by Mike Eisenbath.

Photo credit: Nolan Ryan, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted the Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and Stathead.com websites, including box scores and play-by-play at these links:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHA/CHA197408070.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1974/B09070CAL1974.htm

Notes

1 Hugh Baker, “It’s Ryan vs. Age of the Machine,” Torrance (California) Breeze, September 7, 1974: B1.

2 Glenn Dickey, “Will Giants Get Ryan?”, San Francisco Chronicle, September 24, 1974: 44.

3 Ryan broke a record held by Sandy Koufax, who recorded 382 strikeouts in 1965. As of the end of the 2025 season, Ryan’s single-season strikeout total has not been matched.

4 As of June 2026, the major league record for most strikeouts in a regulation (nine-inning) game is 20. Five pitchers have equaled that mark, most recently Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals on May 11, 2016.

5 Joe Heiling, “Ryan Express Derails Astros, 4-0,” Houston Post, April 15, 1968: 4-1.

6 Murray Olderman, “Nolan Ryan – The Fastest Texan?” Washington Daily News, April 22, 1968: 63.

7 Jackson shared his opinions after a game in which he connected off Ryan for what he called a “lucky” home run. Jackson went on to say “I’ve never been afraid at the plate, but Mr. Ryan makes me uncomfortable. He’s the only pitcher who’s ever made me consider wearing a helmet with an ear flap.” Ross Newhan, “Homer Lucky Blow, Says Jackson as A’s Top Angels, 6-3,” Los Angeles Times, May 23, 1972: III-1.

8 Jim Braham, “Angels’ Ryan Really Fastest of ‘Em All?” Cleveland Press, April 26, 1974: C1.

9 Although Feller had thrown the pitch 28 years earlier, the 1974 edition appears to have been the first Guinness record/trivia tracker to name Feller as the sport’s fastest pitcher. Norris McWhirter and Ross McWhirter, Guinness Book of World Records (New York: Sterling Publishing, 1974), 509.

10 “Feller Sets New Speed Mark of 98.6 M.P.H.,” Washington Times Herald, August 21, 1946: 27; “Bob Feller Measures Speed Ball,” eFootage, https://www.efootage.com/videos/70573/pitcher-bob-feller-measures-speed-ball, accessed May 12, 2026; Al Crisafulli, “The fastest pitches ever thrown,” Love of the Game Auctions, https://loveofthegameauctions.com/the-fastest-pitches-ever-thrown/, accessed May 12, 2026.

11 “Records Fall as Nolan Ryan Fans 19,” Detroit Free Press, August 14, 1974: 3-D.

12 Ken Barhorst, “Sidney native involved in clocking of Nolan Ryan,” Sidney (Ohio) News, November 15, 1974: 13.

13 Tom Lederer, “Remembering the Ryan Express,” Baseball Analysts, https://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2006/09/remembering_the.php, accessed May 13, 2026.

14 For a detailed discussion on how radar systems measure the characteristics of in-flight baseballs see Jason John Martin’s December 2012 Mechanical Engineering Master’s Thesis from Washington State University, titled “Evaluation of Doppler Radar Ball Tracking and Its Experimental Uses” at https://baseball.physics.illinois.edu/trackman/JasonMartinThesisWSU.pdf, accessed June 7, 2026.

15 For that test, Lederer’s son Tom, a former college pitcher, pitched to Angels backup catcher Charlie Sands, who was on the disabled list at that time. Tom’s pitches were below the system’s threshold velocity of 85 MPH, making the test useless. Lederer, “Remembering the Ryan Express.”

16 Hugh Baker, “Ryan star of history, science,” Torrance Breeze, August 21, 1974: H1.

17 “Radar to clock Ryan Express,” Monrovia (California) News-Post, August 23, 14.

18 Asked to also guess the number of pitches that Ryan would throw in the game, entrants proposed numbers as high as 358. Other prizes included an Angels desk watch, a pen and pencil set, and Ryan-autographed baseballs. Don Merry, “Nolan Ryan duels Bob Feller tonight,” Long Beach (California) Press-Telegram, September 7, 1974: C-2; “Ryan Test Tops Halo Homestand,” San Clemente (California) Sun-Post, September 4, 1974: 7.

19 Williams had been blocked from moving to a new club by Oakland A’s owner Charley Finley after he had resigned as A’s skipper during the previous off-season. He took over the Angels’ position from interim manager and former Angels third-base coach Whitey Herzog, who briefly manned the helm after the firing of Bobby Winkles on June 27. “Dick Williams takes Angel helm tonight against A’s,” Bakersfield Californian, July 1, 1974: 19.

20 “Say Mets’ Ryan Faster Than Feller and Koufax,” Des Moines Tribune, May 22, 1971: 9.

21 Loel Schrader, “Ryan fast, but how about Dalkowski,” Long Beach Press-Telegram, September 6, 1974: C-1.

22 Dan Hafner, “Ryan Is Caught Speeding: 100.8 M.P.H.,” Los Angeles Times, September 8, 1974: III-1.

23 Don Merry, “Ryan beats the clock, 100.8 mph-and Chicago,” Long Beach Press-Telegram, September 8, 1974: S-1.

24 Hafner, “Ryan Is Caught Speeding: 100.8 M.P.H.”

25 Recently promoted from Triple-A, Ramírez earlier that season became the first Colombian-born major-leaguer since Louis Castro of the 1902 Philadelphia Athletics. Rory Costello, “Orlando Ramirez,” SABR Biography Project, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/orlando-ramirez/, accessed June 7, 2026.

26 Kelly went on to hit five grand slams in his 15-season big-league career, including one off Ryan while playing for the Baltimore Orioles in August 1977.

27 “Ryan Is Caught Speeding: 100.8 M.P.H.”

28 “Ryan Is Caught Speeding: 100.8 M.P.H.” Amidst all the post-game hoopla, a second frontier was breached as female photographer Joanna Matos of the La Habra (California) Star-Progress snapped pictures in the crowded Angels locker room. At the time, locker rooms were still considered males-only spaces. George Lederer said he would have stopped her had he noticed her come in – or “at least warned the players to grab for some towels to cover themselves.” “Woman Photographer Entered Clubhouse,” Bradenton (Florida) Herald, September 9, 1974: 7-B.

29 Merry, “Ryan beats the clock, 100.8 mph-and Chicago.”

30 “Ryan’s fastest pitch recorded at 100.9 mph,” Bakersfield Californian, September 8, 1974: 23. Lolich, the August 20 game-winner, topped out at 90.9 MPH. “Ryan Faster Than Feller,” South Bend (Indiana) Tribune, September 9, 1974: 17.

31 Gene Williams, “Radar gun reveals the pitcher’s sins,” Miami News, March 19, 1975: 2C. The JUGS speed gun prototype used by the Orioles was pioneered by Michigan State University baseball coach and former major leaguer Danny Litwhiler, and is housed at the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Bill Francis, “Museum Preserves Artifacts Designed to Test the Limits of Performance,” National Baseball Hall of Fame, https://baseballhall.org/discover/baseball-history/Measure-Up, accessed May 17, 2026.

32 Ronald Blum, “Data deluge: MLB rolls out Statcast analytics,” (Northampton, Massachusetts) Hampshire Gazette, April 21, 2015: D2.

33 For an in-depth analysis of the origins of Statcast, see Stephen J. Nesbitt, Rustin Dodd and Eno Sarris, “Statcast at 10: From MLB’s secret project to inescapable part of modern baseball,” The Athletic, July 10, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5627303/2024/07/10/mlb-statcast-10-year-anniversary/?unlocked_article_code=1.jFA.qAH-.DiuDlxBvFnjO&smid=ta-android-share.