Near No-Hitters For Wakefield and The Unit: Just How Rare Is a No-No?

Remember me? I’m the guy who sits in a dark room in downtown San Francisco on weekend nights, talking on the radio and fielding phone calls from sports fans all over the world.

Over the years, I have been lucky enough to attend many, many baseball games. I estimate I’ve gone to over 700 games (from classic locales like Wrigley and Fenway, to structures no longer standing including the Kingdome and Fulton County Stadium), but I have never caught (or mauled my way to) a foul ball, and I have never seen a no-hitter. The "not witnessing a no-no" thing nearly changed last week, twice.

I should mention, I did possess tickets to a June 1990 game in Oakland between the A's and the Rangers with Nolan Ryan on the hill, but had plans with what turned out to be a forgettable female. I'll always remember what I didn't see - Ryan's sixth no-hitter. He'd throw one more the following year in Toronto and seven stands as the record.

It’s awesome to go out to a game anytime, but especially to one during the day in the middle of the week when normal people are working. Risked life and limb and went to Oakland to see the Red Sox play the A's and on an annoyingly windy Wednesday I watched 42-year-old Tim Wakefield and his freaky knuckle-ball take a no-hitter into the eighth inning. He settled for a complete game win.

That was the closest I've ever been.

Then on a scorching Sunday four days later, thanks to Hannah Montana, I was in San Francisco (where the majority of the crowd seems to care more about their garlic fries and micro brew than baseball) to witness the Giants' Randy Johnson take a bid for his third career no-hitter into the seventh versus the Padres. Okay, losing the no-hit bid after six is not that rare, but for the sake of the story, work with me.

I hadn't seen the man with the mullet that fired up since he knocked the camera out of that guys hands in New York just after signing with the Yankees.

By the way, the D-back version of 'The Unit' tossed a perfect game versus the Braves in 2004, 14 years after his first no-hitter (in 1990 as a Mariner versus the Tigers), the longest stretch between no-no's for any pitcher.

I had the chance to go to the phone yard (I refuse to call a stadium something just because some company has paid for people to do so - I break my rule with Wrigley) even though I was supposed to take my daughter to a birthday party, but the party was attending the Hannah Montana movie, so my wife subbed for me, and I was able to see the Unit's 296th career win.

Maybe I should be thanking my wife instead of the offspring of a guy who once had Randy Johnson-like hair. I'll catch the movie another time.

Last year we had two no-hitters: In May, Boston’s Jon Lester achieved the feat, shutting down the Royals in what was his first career complete game, and then in September as Hurricane Ike was poised to hit Houston, Chicago’s Carlos Zambrano no-hit the Astros in Milwaukee. Afterwards he commended the Miller Field Mound and called for a new Wrigley.

Statistically speaking, we see slightly less than two no-hitters per season. 257 total no-no’s over the course of 134 years. 1.9179104 per year to be exact.

In the early 1990’s there was a flurry of no-hit games. Over the course of the 1990 and the 1991 seasons, 14 no-hitters occurred, with a record eight in 1990 - the "year of the no-hitter" - including Dave Stewart of the A's and Fernando Valenzuela of the Dodgers, doing the deed on the same day (June 29th).

A couple days later, the Yankees’ Andy Hawkins no-hit the White Sox in Old Comiskey for eight innings, except he walked a couple dudes, his team committed a couple errors and Chicago scored four runs, without a hit, in the eighth. The Chisox didn't bat in the bottom of the ninth, and prior to '90 this would count as a no-no, but that year, the rule was changed so that a no-hitter had to be at least nine innings, so Hawkins was out of luck and a long list of pitchers lost their spot in the record books.

The Mets, Padres, Rockies, and the Rays are the only teams to have never had a pitcher throw a no-hitter. Houston's Mike Scott no-hit the Giants in the Astrodome to clinch the 1986 N.L. West title. 53 years ago, Don Larson threw the only one in the postseason.

Throwing a no-no makes you great for a day, but it hardly ensures HOF induction. Chris Bosio, Juan Nieves, and Scott Erickson all threw one, while Roger Clemens, Greg Maddux, and Tom Glavine never did.

In perhaps one of the greatest single day accomplishments in baseball history, Hideo Nomo of the Dodgers no-hit the Rockies in 1996 during the pre-humidor days at Coors Field.

Pedro Martinez (he's available) as an Expo threw a perfect game through nine innings, before losing his bid for history, and the game itself in the tenth in 1995.

The most dominating performance I ever witnessed was in the Bronx on September 11 of 1999 when Pedro owned the Yankees, walking Chuck Knoblauch in the first, giving up a line drive home run to Chili Davis in the second, and then nothing the rest of the way. He faced 28 batters (one over the minimum) and struck out 17 including seven of the last eight to finish the game. He made great hitters look foolish.

I will keep going to games in hopes of one day experiencing history and you should consider the dangers of what you might miss when giving up seats with a HOFer on the hill. I'll address my quest for a foul ball in a future posting.


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