Pitching a no-hitter is a dream for every major-league pitcher — once they have realized their dream of making it to the big leagues in the first place. Fewer than half the pitchers in the National Baseball Hall of Fame have thrown a no-hitter. Many of the biggest names in pitching have never done it.
This book focuses on pitchers who threw no-hitters and the no-hitters they threw. Naturally, we couldn't present biographies of everyone who ever threw a no-hitter nor could we present Games Project accounts of all of them. From around 300 no-hitters thrown in the majors (out of over 213,000 games), we have selected 59 no-hitters to include, along with the biographies of the men who threw them.
We wanted the book to touch on a variety of matters, and to span the decades so that there was some representation from the earlier eras of baseball right up to more recent years. We tried to hit certain themes — first no-hitter in each league; first no-hitter thrown at 60 feet 6 inches; first in which the losing team scored a run; first pitcher to debut with a no-hitter; first extra-inning no-hitter; etc. You'll find those all in here and maybe a surprise or two as well.
This book represents the collective work of 56 different SABR members as authors and editors.
