What do Warren Spahn, Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, Jim Bibby, Bret Saberhagen, Al Leiter, Kenny Rogers, Hideo Nomo, David Cone, Dwight Gooden have in common? They’ve all pitched for the Mets and they’ve all pitched no-hitters. How many no-hitters have these pitchers pitched? 18. How many have they pitched for the Mets? 0.
By my count, from the Wikipedia “No-Hitters” site, there have been 114 no-hitters since opening day in 1962. Any random team that has been playing since 1962 should be expected to have had 5 or 6 no-hitters since 1962 (there are 30 teams now, but there were only 20 in 1962 and the number crept up slowly). A team that has had the pitchers the Mets have had, pitching in the stadium they have had, should probably have been expected to have pitched at least 10. How many no-hitters have Mets pitchers pitched? You know the answer. John Maine is the latest to have come reasonably close.
I love freaky baseball facts like this. I wonder how long the drought can last. It will be fun, for anywhere from the next few days to the next half century, to wonder when the drought will finally end.
David Wright hit in his 25th consecutive game last night, to break the Mets team record. Hubie Brooks hit in 24 consecutive games in 1984 and Mike Piazza tied his record in 1999. Consecutive game streaks spread over two different seasons are a bit of a bummer, since this is a statistic that commemorates momentum and spreading the streak out over two seasons doesn’t give you the sense of momentum that you should have. The point is particularly lost in this case since David had a disappointing postseason. Still, he broke the record and it will really be something if he can start getting up into historic territory, which isn’t that far away. Wouldn’t it be fun if he hit in 45 straight games got ahead of Pete Rose?
Whenever somebody breaks a record, it makes you think of the guys who previously held it. We all remember Piazza, of course, but it is nice to be reminded of Hubie Brooks. Hubie was an enormously popular player for the Mets, a terrific clutch hitter, and the best third baseman we had had up to that point. He and Mookie Wilson were the home grown everyday players who started to give us some hope in the early ‘80’s. He was a classy guy, a jazz enthusiast, and a real gentleman. Ralph Kiner called him Mookie throughout an entire Kiner’s Korner and he didn’t embarrass Ralph by correcting him.
Younger fans may wonder what happened to Hubie if he was so good and if he is remembered so fondly. What happened was that he was sacrificed. He got to be on our wonderful breakout 1984 team, but then he was sent to Montreal in the trade that brought us Gary Carter. That kind of thing happens to some really good guys (think of Xavier Nady), and there really isn’t much you can say when the trade works out, or brings you the missing piece. Hubie was sacrificed so that we could have Carter. I’m glad the trade was made, but I was sad to see him go. He did come back briefly to the Mets in the early ‘90s, but who remembers the early ‘90s? Anyway, thanks to David for reminding us of Hubie.
I had forgotten all about Hubie Brooks until Wright’s streak brought it to mind. He was a very good player, but I am also glad we got Gary Carter out of that deal. I do think that in the next two years, one of the Mets will get a no hitter. I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out to be Maine. Since the Mets have had so many one hitters, are they in the record books as having the most one hitters? If not, do you know which team does?
My wife and I attended opening day in 1991, after Darryl Strawberry had signed with LA, and we planned on driving home to Virginia the following morning. Instead, we decided to go to game 2, buying tickets from a guy in the parking lot. There weren’t many people there, so we moseyed down to just behind 3rd base, pretty early on in the game. Rick Cerrone hit a monster home run to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth, and Hubie, who’d been welcomed back with great joy, homered, a rainbow shot to left center, in the 11th to win the game, sending everyone home in exceedingly high spirits. My wife, ecstatic, eyes flashing, hugged me, saying, “Darryl WHO??!” She then started chanting it, and the entire crowd where we were exiting joined in.
Good times, indeed.
No hitter: my dad and I were watching in July of 69 when Jimmy Qualls, of all people on that potent Cubs team, stroked a clean single with one out in the ninth inning to break up Seaver’s superb effort. Bob Murphy’s TV call of the rest of the inning was also superb.
Wow, Chris. I remember that “Darryl Who?” chant. Though for all of his mishigas, I’m sorry to this day that they didn’t sign Darryl and keep him on our team. It is funny how there are these Mets resurrections. Hubie came back, Rusty came back, Tom Terrific came back for one season. But of course the resurrections were pretty bittersweet, since they reminded us of all we lost.
Seaver’s “comeback” was the worst, because, as good as he still was, we’d lost all those great years. Definitely one of the worst trades of all time, up there with Lou Brock, to be sure.
I was in agony at the prospect, happily unrealized, of having to cheer against him in the 86 World Series. That would have been tough.
Hey buddy Jim bibby was signed by the mets but never pitched for the mets…..