As I was grazing on a few baseball games over the past few days following Johan Santana’s 134-pitch no-hitter against St. Louis, the first in the 51-year history of the New York Mets, I can’t tell you how often I came upon one home team announcer or color man who, after noting Santana's historic achievement, started to tick off some of the iconic names the Mets have had in their rotation over the years.
No announcer, however, went that deep.
Given that, I made a brief trip into the Mets media guide this morning and came up with these 40 names, all of whom pitched at least two years in Queens (at least part of the time as a starter), all of whom had at least one great season in the big leagues, and all of whom had ample opportunity to toss a no-no as a Metropolitan, but failed to do so.
And honesty compels me to admit it’s one impressive list; one that includes maybe 25 All Stars, at half dozen or so guys who’ve at least been in discussion for the Hall of Fame, and seven guys who threw at least one no-hitter before or after they played in New York.
So here they are; one man's opinion of the 40 best starting pitchers who, from April of 1962 through May of 2012, colletively failed to throw even a single no-hitter while hurling for the New York Mets.
Top 40 Starters in N.Y. Met History
Rick Aguilera
Kris Benson
Buzz Capra
David Cone
Ron Darling
R.A. Dickey
Sid Fernandez
Danny Frisella
Gary Gentry
Tom Glavine
Dwight Gooden
Pete Harnisch
Orlando Hernandez
Philip Humber
Jason Isringhausen
Al Jackson
Bobby J. Jones
Randy Jones
Jerry Koosman
Tim Leary
Al Leiter
Pedro Martinez
Jon Matlack
Jim McAndrew
Hideo Nomo
Bob Ojeda
Oliver Perez
Robert Person
Nolan Ryan
Bret Saberhagen
Ray Sadeki
Pete Schourek
Tom Seaver
Mike Scott
Craig Swan
Frank Tanana
Walt Terrell
Frank Viola
Anthony Young
Pat Zachary
And this list, mind you, doesn’t include pitchers like Pedro Astacio, Paul Byrd, Mark Clark, Roger Craig, Nino Espinoza, Nelson Figueroa, Ed Lynch, Pat Mahomes, Dick Selma or any of the dozens of workman-like but entirely capable Met starters over the years who could have gone out any given night and – their stuff and the baseball gods willing – reasonably tossed a no-hitter.
Nor does it include such all-time greats and near-legends as Dean Chance, Orel Hershiser, Mickey Lolich, Kenny Rogers and Warren Spahn, each of whom pitched for the Mets for a season at the tail end of their careers.
I gave your list two seconds. Very sloppy.
Where is Mike Hampton? Rick Reed?
I stand corrected. They both belong in there. And while I did the list in a hurry over breakfast, I do think that Mike Hampton deserves something of an asterisk for how much he got paid for doing so little for so darn long in his career. Reed was sneaky good though, and deserves a place on the list.
[...] M.C. Antil listed the 40 best pitchers never to throw a no-hitter for the Mets. [...]
Philip Humber a Top 40 all time Mets Starter?
Paul Wilson had a better Mets career. Whatevs....
Like I responded to another comment, a man later throws a perfect game just a couple years removed from being a Met starter, I get the sense he at least merits consideration. Especially in an article about failing to throw a no-hitter for the Mets. Either way, I appreciate the input.
Did you seriously put Phil Humber as one of the Mets top 40 starters ever? Geez.
Joe: I'll admit that Humber was not a great Met starter. But since he had it in him to become one of -- what, 18 men -- to pitch a perfect game, since this was a story about being on the Mets and not throwing a no-hitter, I figured I'd include him.
But youre right, he's certainly not one of the great Mets' starters.
i saw oliver perez...was there another oliver perez in the 70s?
Yeah, Mike, I know. Perez was pretty awful for the Mets. But what he had with Pittsburgh, and what he showed every so often for the Mets (albeit rarely), was the ability to show some amazing stuff. But you're right, he was pretty much a nightmare while a Met. Thanks for the input.
I grew up in NYC and can remember seeing the MET back in ' 62. On my list of great baseball nicknames was "vinegar bend mizell" not one of the top 40 picthers in MET history, but for my money one of the top 5 MET pitcher nicknames.
Some of the pitchers on the list make me realize just how painful being a Mets fan has been at times. My first memories have Craig Swan as the staff ace, and he was hardly dominating. Oliver Perez, though he had one good year, seems as cursed in Mets' lore as Macbeth, and deservedly so. In a list of 40, I may have gone with Pelfrey instead, although he would have developed innumerable twitches by the 9th. This leaves me wondering about the top 10 because some great names would have to be left off.
Great point. A real interesting list would have been the ten best pitchers in Met history to never throw a no-hitter. That list would trigger all kinds of debate. And I love the Macbeth parallel. Seems painfully apt.