ARLINGTON, Texas — As WFAA turns 75--reflection is in full swing regarding the best moments the station has been part of in North Texas over seven-plus decades.
One of those moments? Nolan Ryan's 7th and final no-hitter in Arlington against the Toronto Blue Jays on May 1, 1991.
It's an iconic moment, not just for the Texas Rangers but for Major League Baseball. Ryan holds a slew of records in the MLB, but two will never be broken: no one will strike out as many batters in baseball, and no one will ever walk as many batters in baseball.
A third is debatable--will anyone ever throw as many no-hitters as Ryan did? Right now, he leads the record books with 7.
Sandy Koufax is behind Ryan with 4, followed by current Astros pitcher Justin Verlander.
Bruce LeVine doesn't think anyone will catch 'The Express'—and he told WFAA he wished he'd known that the night he went to cover Ryan's final no-no for the station almost 24 years ago.
"There are moments that are just in time forever, and this is one of them," LeVine said. "This is one of them."
LeVine is now the radio play-by-play man for the Dallas Stars, but in 1991, his nose was to the grindstone within the walls of WFAA, where he was working to make a name for himself as a reporter.
He had started as an intern for the station in 1982, joined as an employee in '83, and then put his career on hold in '89 due to a sudden diagnosis of cancer. After doing chemotherapy and putting stage 4 Hodgkins Lymphoma in a vice, LeVine started again.
"This was the story that, after I had cancer, made me think that I can get my career back," LeVine said.
But LeVine told WFAA that he wouldn't have made it to the ballpark if he weren't hungry.
"I had nothing to eat at my apartment. So, instead of going home, I went out to dinner with a couple of people from the station and came back, and Jose Gant, the legend around here, said, Ryan's throwing a no-hitter; why don't you stick around?" LeVine said.
If you're a baseball fan, you've probably watched a no-hitter 'in progress.' All it takes is one hit to spoil the moment.
But as LeVine and photojournalists Arnold Payne and Paul Parisot watched the game--it became clear that they should get to Arlington Stadium.
The moment that got them in the car? Gary Pettis chasing down a blooper into the outfield to save Ryan's big night.
"When Pettis made that catch--we got into the car and headed to Arlington with the radio on, just hoping that this would happen," LeVine said.
"We're listening intently because at any moment you're going to turn around--but we kept going, and it kept building," Levine said.
LeVine said he got to the stadium around the top of the 8th inning and saw Ryan record his 14th and 15th strikeouts of the night.
"When Nolan lost no-hitters in the past, it was always with one out in the ninth," LeVine said. "When he got that second out, you knew it would happen."
When it did, WFAA captured the chaos and jubilation that ensued. The on-field reaction from Ryan and his teammates, filmed through the station's lenses, would never be allowed to happen in today's MLB.
That video was seen worldwide: A 44-year-old pitcher no-hit a team once again.
"Everyone just charged the field," LeVine said. As Ryan expressed his gratitude in the clubhouse for getting a no-no in Arlington, scores of microphones were in his face like flies on manure.
"I also guarantee you that 90% of those mics were not there when the game started," LeVine said with a laugh. "Including ours!"
LeVine looks back on the moment fondly--if it weren't for his appetite, he might have missed it. It underscores how moments in history, whether sports or news, don't wait for anyone--and it's up to journalists to remain prepared to react.
"That guy! I'd like to have a word with him- he has no idea what he doesn't know," LeVine said while watching himself report in 1991.
"No one's going to throw seven no-hitters. You saw the last bit of history that will never be stopped in baseball. I often tell the students I speak in front of to be ready for a moment when history will happen. You never know when it's going to happen--but be ready," he said. "That was always the great thing about being at WFAA--this station would do the big story and do it right. Sometimes, we forget stories. But they mean something to those you do them for and those who watch and remember that moment."