Quote:
Originally Posted by Purple Cowboy
John Tudor
Bruce Hurst
Dizzy Dean
Bob Gibson
Luis Tiant
If you're inclined to see how many pitchers had more than one no-hitter I'd be interested in that too.
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John Tudor: I thought you might ask about him
. John was drafted by Pittsburgh in 1975 and was called up by the Pirates in 1978. He could never find a groove in his first go-around with Pittsburgh, and was traded to Baltimore after his second season. He spent a poor season and a half with the Orioles before being traded to Minnesota. He turned his career around a bit there, finally having a winning season and establishing himself as a solid middle of the rotation pitcher. When his contract with the Twins ran out he signed with...Pittsburgh, only this time, he was older, wiser and better. He had his best year in 1987 when he won 17 games with the Pirates, and helped them win a World Series in 1989. It was all downhill after his 16-6 1991 season though. The Pirates left him out to dry in the expansion draft, and the Rockies took him, but he was put on waivers and claimed by the Blue Jays the same year. He somehow stuck around in Toronto until 1996, though he never won more than five games in a season. He retired after 1996 with a career mark of 203-187.
Bruce Hurst: Bruce was drafted third overall by Oakland in 1975, and spent the first seven years of his career in the minor leagues. When he finally got called up in 1982, he came out of the bullpen and pitched well. So well, in fact, that Oakland thought he should stay in the 'pen. So he did...for a good three and a half years. He finally got his chance to start in 1986 and he went 9-7 in 20 starts. From that point on, he never won fewer than 10 games, and only won fewer than 15 games once. He was a solid starter for the Athletics and had arguably his best season in his last year, winning 17 games for Oakland in 1993. After that, he decided to hang up his glove, finishing his career with a 128-124 mark and a 3.92 ERA.
Dizzy Dean: Dizzy was a pitcher who left many more questions than answers after his career. He was drafted first overall by the Yankees in 1929, and was called up in 1931, despite being nowhere close to ready. He sure showed it, too. He lost 19 games in 1931, then 14 the year after that and 17 the year after that. Somehow he put that all behind him and had one of the best pitching seasons in Yankee history in 1934, winning 25 games with a 2.57 ERA. It was good enough to win him Pitcher of the Year, but he could never find that control over the mound again in his career. In fact, he would not have another winning season until 1941, and after he proved he could win more games than he lost again, he retired at age 31 with a career record of 151-165.
Bob Gibson: I'm a big fan of Bob Gibson, so I hoped he did well in this world. While he wasn't as good as his real life counterpart, he was certainly a solid pitcher for 18 years in the majors. He debuted with the Dodgers in 1957, which just happened to be their final year in Brooklyn. He went 16-16 in his rookie season, but that number dropped to 12-17 in his first year in Los Angeles. He snapped out of his funk in 1959, going 23-11 and winning the Satchel Paige Award that year, as well as helping the Dodgers win the World Series. It would be the only time he won 20 or more games, but he was solid for years after that. He would only win less than 10 games once, and that was in the last year of his career: 1974. Ever game he pitched was in Dodger blue and he finished his career with 255 wins, compared to 242 losses, as well as exactly 3,500 strikeouts.
Luis Tiant: Tiant was drafted by the Yankees in 1961, and for a while was a prime example of someone who was called up too soon. He struggled for years under the lights of New York, not having a winning season until 1967, his sixth year in the majors. After a couple more average years with the Yanks, the released him in 1970. San Diego picked him up, and he finished the 1971 season with an 8-4 record coming out of the bullpen, and helped the Padres win the World Series in just their third season of play. That apparently wasn't good enough for the Padres and after one more year in San Diego, they traded him to the Expos in 1973, where he won another World Series. His best season came the next year, when he went 21-8. However, injuries got the better of him the next season and the Expos made no attempt to resign him when his contract expired. He signed with the Reds for a year, was released, then signed with the Tigers in 1978. He was an average pitcher there until 1981, when he won 19 games in the last year of his contract. He signed one more deal with the Reds, and retired after the 1982 season with 220 wins to his credit.
When it comes to no hitters, I had Babe Ruth throw a no-no in 1917, which I found quite impressive. Multiple no hitters belong to a select few pitchers. Dick Donovan was the first to do so, throwing one in 1957 against the White Sox while playing for the Senators, and then adding another in 1962 against Detroit while playing for the new Senators team. Dave Giusti threw two in 1967 for Baltimore, the first of them being a perfect game against the Red Sox. Dave Goltz followed in his footsteps with the Yankees, pitching his first no-no in 1972 against Cleveland, then taking almost eight years to throw his second against the Angels.
The king of no hitters though is Randy Johnson. The Big Unit has three in my world. He threw his first as a member of the Mariners in 1991 against the Chicago White Sox, then took ten years to throw his second as a member of the Padres against the Montreal Expos. Two years later, he threw his record third, still with the Padres, this one against the Colorado Rockies.