BASEBALL'S NO-HIT WONDERS

BASEBALL'S NO-HIT WONDERS          DIRK LAMMERS

Baseball's No-Hit Wonders, with a foreword written by former Major League Baseball commissioner Fay Vincent, honors such legendary pitchers as Cy Young, Bob Feller, Nolan Ryan and Sandy Koufax, while introducing readers to other eccentrics and one-shot wonders who have thrown no-hitters. The book fleshes out the colorful characters, compelling narratives and statistical oddities from baseball's 294 no-hit efforts—as well as the many near misses that are also part of the national pastime's storied history.

Painstaking research and personal interviews have allowed the author to pack great detail into a fun, fast-paced take on the game, revealing the stories of the no-hitter thrown by a pitcher on acid, the hitters most adept at breaking up no-hitters and other gems thrown by guys with nicknames of Bumpus, Bobo, Cannonball and Nixey. Even the game's greatest slugger is credited with a partial no-hitter, and all he did was throw a punch! Chapters detailing the best no-hitters of all time are interspersed with "Did You Know?" lists that include no-hitters by team, city and day of the week, no-hitters of the Negro Leagues, catchers who caught the most no-nos and the best pitchers not to throw a no-hitter.

HUBBY'S REVIEW:
This is a book with a lot of information and goes back to the first no hitter thrown on July 15, 1876 by St. Louis Browns pitcher George Washington Bradley. This was during a time when the players did not use gloves. Including the catcher who stood behind the plate almost to the backstop in order to catch the ball on a hop. The author goes into different stories of the players with the nick names that were used backed then. I do miss those nick names. He also goes into the men who got to the final out only to lose the no-no. Feller and Ryan both have pitched the most one hitters at 12, and Feller is the only pitcher to have thrown an opening day no hitter. He goes into Toothpick Jones, who with the Cubs pitched a no hitter as the first African American. Of course there had been ones thrown in the “Negro Leagues”. Satchel Page pitched two. But they were not recognized for the longest time by Baseball. A chapter about Vander Meer’s 2 no hitters back to back. I liked the chapters about Koufax, Ryan, and the he put in about the catchers and giving them credit as well. I do remember Ryan’s no hitter against the Dodgers while he was pitching for Houston. That was a gem that day you could really see his curve ball breaking that day. The author closes the book with a list of all of the no hitters thrown, and it should be noted he speaks about the committee that was formed in 91 that came up with a definition of no hitters and took away ones that were rain shortened, called because of darkness, and really a game had to go 9 innings, so one pitcher had pitched 8 innings of no hit ball but because of an error, walks, hit batter, he had a no hitter even though he lost the game. This meeting took his game away because his team did not score in the top of the 9th so he did not pitch in 9th. A book filled with a lot of information, and has a lot of stats. A good book. I got this book from netgalley. I give this 4 stars.  Follow us at: www.1rad-readerreviews.com 

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