Who doesn’t love a no hitter?. It’s the one thing that can have the home crowd suddenly cheering for the opposing pitcher. Nolan Ryan tossed his last 2 at ages 43 and 44. His 7 no hitters are 3 more than any other pitcher has managed, Sandy Koufax had 4. Justin Verlander leads all active pitchers having turned the trick 3 times.
There have been 6 no hitters this season but 3 of them were combined, meaning it took more than just one pitcher to complete the gem. The 3 individual no hitters:
Ronel Blanco of the Houston Astros vs the Toronto Blue Jays on April 1
Dylan Cease of the San Diego Padres vs the Washington Nationals July 25
And Blake Snell of the San Francisco Giants vs the Cincinnati Reds August 3
I spent an early lifetime praying to see one, I grew up in Montreal where Bill Stoneman pitched one for that expansion team inside of the first week of their existence and he would pitch another. Meanwhile the San Diego Padres who joined the league the same season as the Expos in 1969 didn’t get one of their own until 2021, tossed by Joe Musgrove, a San Diego native who knew fully well the city had waited 53 seasons.
The New York Mets were just as tortured, having started in 1962, they made fans wait until June 1st 2021. They also watched their best pitch no hitters after having left the organization, Ryan with his 7, Tom Seaver, Dwight Gooden and David Cone.
My prayers were more than answered. Working on a radio broadcast in 1991 I witnessed Tommy Greene of the Phillies do it to the Expos. Better still I was incredibly fortunate to be at the microphone for a pair of perfect games. The Expos Dennis Martinez at Dodger Stadium later that summer and then a few years later David Cone vs the Expos at Yankee Stadium. Tough to beat having them done at 2 of baseball’s most famous playgrounds. But nothing was quite like what Dock Ellis did on June 12 1970!
You’ll never see anything like this again!
As the story goes, Ellis went to visit some friends in Los Angeles on an off day and partied hard, took a nap and thought it was still the same day when he woke up. It wasn’t. He then dropped some hallucinogenic, grabbed a cab to the airport and a flight to San Dego. He arrived at the ballpark in time for the first game of a doubleheader and found out he was the starting pitcher.
“I can only remember bits and pieces of the game,” Ellis recalled in 1984. “I was psyched. I had a feeling of euphoria. I was zeroed in on the [catcher’s] glove, but I didn’t hit the glove too much. I remember hitting a couple of batters, and the bases were loaded two or three times. The ball was small sometimes, the ball was large sometimes, sometimes I saw the catcher, sometimes I didn’t. Sometimes, I tried to stare the hitter down and throw while I was looking at him. I chewed my gum until it turned to powder”
Somehow Ellis went the distance, did not allow a hit, walked 8 batters and hit another, Willie Stargell hit 2 home runs and that was enough for a 2-0 victory and one of the strangest feats ever accomplished on a major league pitcher’s mound.
