John Means was one wild pitch (or a blocked ball but we’ll take the official score) away from a perfect game when he took the mound agains the Mariners. He made up for it the rest of the way to complete his no-hitter. To get the first no-hitter for the Orioles in 30 years (4 players combined for a no-hitter in 1991) and it’s been over 50 years since a single pitcher has done it for the O’s. I’m sure we all remember that gem of a game by Jim Palmer in 1969. It’s a short list of players to achieve this feat, only 308 times has a no-hitter been thrown. To compare, there have been 289 players to have 2,000 career hits. There’s been only 232 other players to do what Means did and throw a complete game no-hitter.
The no hitter is a fascinating thing in baseball, it doesn’t come around very often – only a couple times a season if that. This year we’re lucky enough to have already had 3 (and a half), and we’ve just passed the one month mark of the season. It is about the only thing in any sport that can draw in a bigger audience in a blowout. Means’s no-hitter was anything but close, a 9-0 blowout. But it’s also a game that I normally wouldn’t watch, but yet I tuned in to catch the final couple innings to see the exciting feat. Even the Baltimore commentators were mentioning how many of the fans seemed to stay at the park to watch the lopsided affair.
Somehow over the nearly 150 years since the first no hitter the likelihood of any season producing more no-hitters than another has remained steady, even with batting averages dropping in recent years. The past 5 seasons there’s only been an average of 2 no hitters a season. The chance a no-hitter will happen in any given day is 0.08% chance so it’s definitely something special, even if it feels like it’s happening more often. Right now we’re in the midst of a long stream of seasons with at least one no-hitter – 16 consecutive seasons with one. The last time there wasn’t one was 2005. The only longer streak was between 1960-1981(two others are tied with 16 seasons).
The timing of a no-hitter is always intriguing, sometimes it’s the exclamation point to a career ace. Other times it’s a signal to the rest of the league that an up-and-coming pitcher has arrived. For John Means it’s likely the later. Means is in his 3rd full year as a regular on an MLB lineup. He achieved some recognition his rookie year but missed on some of the accolades last season. This result is has just put his name on the map for the rest of the league and is a future star to keep an eye out for.