Remember back in 2014, when 31-year-old Justin Verlander had an earned run average north of 4.50 and people claimed he was washed up? Safe to say, they were wrong. Now 36, Verlander is still among the game’s best pitchers and is well on his way to a second Cy Young award. On Sunday he was particularly dominant, tossing his third career no-hitter, with a measly first inning walk the only thing standing in the way of a perfect game.
Since the professional game was started 150 years ago, only six pitchers ever can claim they’ve thrown at least three no-no’s. And, to no surprise, they are among the best pitchers in baseball history:
Larry Corcoran:
While the other five names on the list are all instantly recognizable, you may not have heard of the elder statesman in this group. One of the early stars of baseball, his career spanned from 1880-87, most notably with the Chicago White Stockings. Between 1880 and 1884 he won 170 games – an average of 34 per season – while becoming one of the game’s first switch pitchers.
He threw no-hitters in 1880, 1882 and 1884, and his three stood as the record for 80 years, until Sandy Koufax came along. His arm eventually deadened, though, and he was out of baseball by age 27.
Bob Feller:
The Hall of Famer and eight-time All-Star threw three no-no’s over a span of 11 years. His first came on Opening Day in 1940 at age-21 – by that point Feller was already a two-time All-Star! – followed by feats in 1946 and 1951. His 12 career one-hitters were a Major League record at the time of his retirement. There’s a reason, after all, Ted Williams considered Feller the best pitcher he ever faced.
Sandy Koufax:
One of the most dominant pitchers ever was the first to surpass Corcoran’s longstanding record of three no-hitters. He no-hit the expansion Mets in 1962, the Giants in 1963 and the Phillies in 1964 to tie Corcoran and Feller. Then in 1965 Koufax broke the record with perhaps his best performance ever: a 14-strikeout perfect game against the Cubs. In that contest, the Dodgers only mustered a single hit and scored an unearned run for the 1-0 win, the only game in baseball history to have one combined hit.
Nolan Ryan:
The supreme leader of no-hitters, the flamethrower threw two in 1973 (both on the road), one in 1974 and another in ’75 with the Angels. After a six-year hiatus the 34-year-old added a fifth in 1981 with the Astros, and it looked like he would retire with just the five. Then in 1990, at age 43, he tossed his sixth with the Rangers in a win over the Athletics, and added a seventh in 1991 for good measure. It goes without saying he’s the oldest in Major League history to throw a no-hitter, though it should be added that in 1963 a 45-year-old named Diomedes Olivo threw one in Triple-A.
Justin Verlander:
In Verlander’s first All-Star season in 2007 he no-hit the Brewers in a game where he also topped out at 102 mph with his fastball. Fast forward to his historic 2011 season, in which he won both the Cy Young and MVP awards, he no-hit the Blue Jays on May 7 in Toronto, with only an eighth inning walk separating him from a perfect game.
Then on Sunday, in the same Rogers Centre, he again no-hit Toronto with just the lone walk issued. He’s the third pitcher in the modern era to no-hit the same team twice, along with Tim Lincecum (Padres) and Addie Joss (White Sox), and the only to do it on the road both times.
Cy Young:
The namesake of the award for the best pitcher in baseball was just that at the turn of the 20th century, and he has three no-hitters to his name. The first came in 1897 when he was with the Cleveland Spiders. The opposing Reds were awarded a hit in the eighth inning, but it was later ruled an error when a teammate sent a note to the press box claiming he misplayed the ball.
He threw the first recognized perfect game of all-time in 1904 against the Athletics, part of a stretch in which he set a record that still stands by going 25.1 consecutive innings without allowing a hit. He also had 45 straight shutout innings, a record that stood until Orel Hershiser in 1988. Young’s final no-no came at age 41 in 1908, in which he allowed a single walk (and that runner was caught stealing).
