Record Six Pitchers Combine on First No-Hitter Against New York Yankees in 45 Years

The Associated Press ^ | Jun 11, 2003 | Ronald Blum

[Pharmboy]

NEW YORK (AP) - A record six Houston Astros pitchers combined Wednesday night on the first no-hitter against the New York Yankees in 45 years. Houston was forced to use its bullpen after starter Roy Oswalt was injured. Relievers Pete Munro, Kirk Saarloos, Brad Lidge, Octavio Dotel and Billy Wagner finished to lead the Astros over the Yankees 8-0.

It was the most pitchers ever to combine on a no-hitter in major league history - four had twice done the trick. The Yankees had gone 6,980 games - the longest streak in major league history - without being no-hit, since Hoyt Wilhelm's 1-0 victory for Baltimore on Sept. 20, 1958.

The last time New York was held hitless at Yankee Stadium was on Aug. 25, 1952, by Detroit's Virgil Trucks.

The closest New York came to a hit was in the fifth inning, when Alfonso Soriano sent a fly ball into short left field. Lance Berkman ran in, stuck out his glove and made a tumbling catch.

Third baseman Geoff Blum made a barehanded pickup on Juan Rivera in the third inning and threw him out at first.

Astros pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts, including four by Dotel in the eighth - which tied the major league record for an inning.

Soriano reached during the inning when he struck out on a wild pitch.

AP-ES-06-11-03 2209EDT

[Pharmboy]

Nice pickup...now that you mention it I do remember. Most unusual; and that's one of the charms of baseball.

[mrustow]

We (the Mets) gave up Dotel a few years ago for that potbellied megalomaniac, Mike something (he's famous for hitting better than he can pitch), who after one season left us for Colorado free agent money and ... abject failure. The kid has great stuff.

[Alberta's Child]

Sorry about that -- the four-stikeout inning occurred 44 times. I have no idea how many three-assist innings there are in major league history. Now that I think about it, even a two-assist inning (for an outfielder) must be quite a rarity.

I remember Reggie Jackson doing this once in the late 1970s. Two identical plays right after each other. One guy grounded a single to right field with a runner on second, and the runner was thrown out at the plate. The batter took second base on the throw. The next batter grounds a single to left field, and the runner on second was thrown out at the plate!

[Alberta's Child]

Question for serious baseball fans:

115 1 Vander Meer Johnny 1 Lombardi Ernie 6/11/1938 Cin NL vs. Bos NL 3-0
116 2 Vander Meer Johnny 2 Lombardi Ernie 6/15/1938 Cin NL @ Bro NL 6-0

Does anyone think these two consecutive no-hitters will ever be matched? Will they ever be exceeded?

[X-FID]

You're right, I just looked it up, still very uncommon, but then again so is a six pitcher no-hitter.

[Pharmboy]

Hampton should've been a catcher.

[F16Fighter]

"First the Cubs take a series from them, and now this. This truly could be the Cubs year...strange things are happening."

The way things are going, I expect George Steinbrenner to be arrested any day for soliciting "Johns" while dressed up in a wig, leather mini, and heels...

[pupdog]

I don't know if anyone remembers this game, but it will go down as one of the most awful games in Yankee history because it was so poorly played.

Oh, I remember it. I was living with my uncle at the time, and he was a rabid anti-Yankees fan (mostly because of Steinbrenner). That was around the time that every Hawkins game was an adventure (I forget some of the other weird outings he had), and the Yankees could do no right: they lost 98 that year IIRC. That was painful.

[hellinahandcart]

Oddly enough, the Yankees once had an unusually long stretch between no-hitters of their own. I believe Dwight Gooden's no-hitter back in 1995 or so was the first no-hitter for a Yankee pitcher since Whitey Ford in the early 1960s.

No, you're forgetting what's his name. The one-armed pitcher.

[Pharmboy]

We wouldn't ever live long enough to see back-to-back no-hitters. Unbelievable.

Here's the last NH against the Yanks:

149 Wilhelm Hoyt 1 Triandos Gus 9/20/1958 Bal AL vs. NY AL 1-0

My sister lived in Baltimore back then and they used to call the catcher "Gus Tremendous."

[F16Fighter]

"Does anyone think these two consecutive no-hitters will ever be matched? Will they ever be exceeded?"

The odds of merely two consecutive complete games these days is an anomaly.

[hellinahandcart]

Jim Abbott.

[pupdog]

Does anyone think these two consecutive no-hitters will ever be matched? Will they ever be exceeded?

Whenever a discussion of records that will never be broken come up, this one is usually mentioned. I could see it being matched, but the odds of breaking it go right through the roof.

[Alberta's Child]

And I left out Righetti, too. Someone else posted the real gap that I was thinking of between Yankee no-hitters -- it was from 1951 to 1983.

[speedy]

Almost impossible. But Nolan Ryan came close at least once. One of the great historical flukes of baseball, especially since Vander Meer had a losing record for his career. Still, more likely that someone will do that -- after all, several have pitched two no-hitters in the same season -- than that someone will ever top Cy Young's 511 career wins or break DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak. In fact Young's record is not even approachable given the way the game is played, and no one has seriously approached Joe D's streak either. Even Rose at 44 was still a long way off.

[Pharmboy]

Here's some catcher death trivia:

Suicides, Murder, Untimely Deaths and Mayhem


Of the 80 ballplayers who committed suicide, 13 percent were catchers, second only to pitchers (45 percent).


Only one player, Willard Hershberger a Cincinnati Reds catcher, committed suicide during his playing season.


1891 Frank Gustav Bell shot to death in Cincinnati.
1895 William H. "Bill" Colgan killed in a train accident, while he was coupling railroad cars.
1895 Frank M. Bowes shot to death in New York City.
1900 Frederick Joseph Zahner drowned.
1900 Marty Bergen found dead by his father, Michael, nearly decapitated from a slash with a straight razor. Marty's wife and two children found dead nearby from multiple blows from an ax. Ruled a murder-suicide.
1901 Charles Snyder fractured his skull and died while he was being evicted from a hotel.
1901 James William Duncan downed.
1907 Nathaniel W. Hicks asphyxiated by gas in a hotel room.
1913 Jeremiah "Jerry" Peter Harrington stabbed to death while trying to break up a barroom brawl.
1921 Larry McLean shot dead by a Boston bartender. McLean was tallest catcher ever (6'5").
1923 Francis E. McManus shot dead in Syracuse, NY.
1927 Drummond Nicoi Brown shot dead in Parkville, MO.
1945 Harry O'Neill killed in the battle of Iwo Jima. He caught one game for Philadelphia Athletics in 1939.
1956 Tommy Gastall drowned when his plane crashed into Chesapeake Bay. He was 22 y/o and played two seasons with Baltimore.
1979 Thurman Munson died in a plane crash while practicing landings in his new jet near Canton, Ohio.
1990 Bo Diaz was crushed to death by a satellite dish, which he was adjusting on the roof of his house in Caracas, Venezuela.

[lainie]

SHHHHHHHHHHHHH

nojinx nojinx nojinx nojinx

[lainie]

snicker

[Alberta's Child]

I always thought of Vandermeer's record was one of those "unbreakable" ones, too.

What many baseball fans don't realize, though, is that someone came fairly close to accomplishing this not all that long ago!

237 Stieb Dave Borders Pat 9/2/1990 Tor AL @ Det AL 3-0

Dave Stieb's no-hitter in 1990 was part of a string of three consecutive outstanding late-season starts for him. In addition to the no-hitter, I believe he also took no-hitters into the ninth inning in the other two games.

[speedy]

Looks like a lot of people had it in for catchers. I feel this way when I listen to Tim McCarver. Interesting post, but actually 45 percent for pitchers would be just slightly above their percentage on the roster. I can think of Don Wilson and Donnie Moore in relatively recent times.