January 17th, 2022
Anthony Castrovince
@castrovinceBumpus Jones threw a no-hitter. Bobo Holloman threw a no-hitter. Iron Davis threw a no-hitter. Mike Fiers has thrown two no-hitters (so far).
One of the many beauties of baseball is how, on just the right day against just the right team, any starter with just enough stuff and stamina can offer 0-fers to the opposition. No-hitters are not reserved for Hall of Fame heroes.
The corollary, of course, is that there are quite a number of pitching legends with no no-nos to their name.
Here are the five best:
1) Roger Clemens
The Rocket might have 354 wins, 4,672 strikeouts, seven Cy Youngs and an MVP. But he’s no José Jiménez.
Clemens is one of only seven pitchers to throw a complete-game one-hitter in the postseason. He took a no-hitter into the seventh inning in Game 4 of the 2000 American League Championship Series, but an Al Martin double off Tino Martinez’s glove broke it up.
Clemens also had a one-hitter against Cleveland on Sept. 10, 1988, when he was with the Red Sox. And though he never had a no-no, he led the league in hits per nine innings four times in his 24-year career.
2) Pedro Martinez
Nine innings of no-hit ball? Pedro’s done that. In fact, he was perfect through nine. It happened on June 3, 1995, when he was with the Expos and facing the Padres. It was a scoreless tie when Martinez struck out Eddie Williams for his 27th out, but all that did was send the game to the 10th. Pedro finally got a run of support in the top of the inning, but Bip Roberts’ leadoff double on his 96th pitch sent Pedro to the showers (Mel Rojas relieved him to finish off the 1-0 win).
Between 1997-2003, when hitters were putting up previously unimaginable offensive numbers, Martinez held them to an unimaginable .196 average. It was one of the most dominant stretches of pitching the sport has ever seen, but it was not accompanied by a no-no. He did throw two other one-hitters, including a 17-strikeout performance at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 10, 1999, in which Chili Davis took him deep in the second inning.
3) Greg Maddux
Maddux’s lack of a no-no is not a total shock, because his game was primarily about controlling the strike zone and inducing weak contact. The occasional single was bound to squeak through.
Still, Maddux led the league in complete games three times and in shutouts five times. That’s how he became the namesake of “The Maddux,” in which a pitcher throws a complete-game shutout in fewer than 100 pitches. It’s nowhere near as rare as a no-hitter, but it’s still pretty special.
4) Steve Carlton
Six one-hitters. Zero no-hitters. Them’s the breaks for Lefty, who will have to make do with the 329 wins (among lefties, only Warren Spahn had more), 4,136 strikeouts (fourth-most) and four Cy Youngs (tied for third-most).
Carlton’s one-hit complete game count is tied with Ed Walsh, Bobo Newsom and Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown for fourth-most all-time, behind no-no tossers Nolan Ryan and Bob Feller (12 apiece) and Walter Johnson (eight). Carlton never went deeper than the seventh inning with a no-hitter threat.
5) Grover Alexander
Plenty of old-timey pitching greats could be listed here, but there’s just something extra agonizing about Old Pete’s personal near-no-no history. He tossed four one-hitters … in 1915 alone! On June 5 of that year, he was one out away from a no-hitter when the Cardinals’ Arthur Butler swatted a single.
That’s right: The Butler did it.
Nevertheless, Alexander is second only to Walter Johnson in shutouts (90).
Others of note
Mike Mussina, Fergie Jenkins, Lefty Grove, Don Sutton, Kid Nichols, Three Finger Brown, Eddie Plank, Robin Roberts, Don Drysdale, Whitey Ford and Early Wynn are among the Hall of Fame pitchers without a no-no.
Curt Schilling also never tossed one, despite a pitching resume that many find Hall worthy. In 2001, the Padres’ Ben Davis broke up Schilling’s perfect game with a perfect bunt with one out in the eighth, and Schilling also lost a no-hit attempt against the A’s in '07 when Shannon Stewart singled with two outs in the ninth.
The best active pitcher without a no-no (and another good bet to reach the Hall) is Zack Greinke. But he doesn’t seem to mind that one bit. After he lost a no-hitter in the seventh inning of a game in 2019, Greinke said, “[Throwing a no-hitter] would probably be more of a hassle than anything. … A bunch of nonsense comes with it. I don’t think about no-hitters, ever.”
