Pitching An All-Contact As Rare As No-Hitter?
Posted by Steve Lombardi on April 23, 2009
Some fun via Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Pitching Game Finder...
Since 1954, there have been 122 "official" no hitters in the big leagues. Yet, since 1954, there have only been 194 games where a major league starting pitcher has thrown at least 7 innings in a contest while not walking any batters and not registering any strikeouts. So, does this mean pitching to contact is almost just as rare as pitching a no-hitter? (Yes, I'm just kidding with this suggestion. But, it's still a fun compare...no?) Here's the list of starters since 1954 with 2 or more games with 7+ IP where BB and SO equal zero:
Games Link to Individual Games +-----------------+-----+-------------------------+ Bob Tewksbury 3 Ind. Games Bill Swift 3 Ind. Games Paul Splittorff 3 Ind. Games Lary Sorensen 3 Ind. Games Charlie Leibrandt 3 Ind. Games Bill Lee 3 Ind. Games Jim Kaat 3 Ind. Games Randy Jones 3 Ind. Games Tommy John 3 Ind. Games Ken Forsch 3 Ind. Games Mike Caldwell 3 Ind. Games Lew Burdette 3 Ind. Games Jim Barr 3 Ind. Games Warren Spahn 2 Ind. Games Scott Sanderson 2 Ind. Games Pedro Ramos 2 Ind. Games Andy Pettitte 2 Ind. Games Fritz Peterson 2 Ind. Games Joe Nuxhall 2 Ind. Games Don Newcombe 2 Ind. Games Bob Knepper 2 Ind. Games Bill Gullickson 2 Ind. Games Jeff Ballard 2 Ind. Games
April 23rd, 2009 at 11:25 pm
didn't pettite just do it this week?
April 24th, 2009 at 7:05 am
Yes, that's where the thought behind this one came from.
April 24th, 2009 at 8:39 am
You need to adjust the no-hitter search for only CG. But even then, you miss out on the rare combined no-hitters. So I guess you need to make a team search to catch them all.
I did not think there had been that many no-hitters. I thought that was about how many there had been in history, not just in the last 50 years.
In 1996 there were 3 no-hitters, all by ex- or future Mets (Leiter, Gooden, and Nomo). But of course, the Mets have still never had one of their own.
April 24th, 2009 at 9:49 am
It may be interesting that 13 of the 23 pitchers on the list are left handed.
April 24th, 2009 at 9:56 am
Fair point on the CG filter Johnny. Still, nine no-hit innings is impressive as it is.
Jack - I noticed that as well. Probably goes along with the theory that you don't have throw too hard when you're a lefty.
April 24th, 2009 at 10:35 am
54 of these games went 9 innings, making them more rare than a 9-inning no-hitter. That's an average of 1/year since 1954. But 9-inning starts are so rare these days, no matter what the performance, that only one start since 1994 has gone 9 with no walks or strikeouts. I was surprised to see that one of these 54 no-no's was thrown by Roger Clemens.
Two came close to being perfect strikeoutless games. On September 9, 1977, Rudy May faced 29 Clevelanders, giving up 2 hits, including a double, and 1 run. On August 16, 1976, Marty Pattin faced 29 Indians, giving up 3 singles and a run.
April 27th, 2009 at 8:49 am
Not quite an "all contact" game, but Ken Holtzman's no hitter in 1969 was performed without a single strikeout, making it the only one of its kind since 1954.
Jerry Reuss's no nitter in 1980 had no walks and only 2 strikeouts, making it the no-hitter with the fewest strikeouts and no walks.
Bob Keegan's no hitter in 1957 had one strikeout and 2 walks.
April 28th, 2009 at 8:30 am
Has any game ever gone nine innings without a walk or strike out issued by either or any pitcher?