No-Hit Curse No Joke to Mets

Back when he was on the other side of the great divide between New York’s baseball teams, David Cone identified the Mets’ inability to pitch a no-hit game as the result of a curse. As the author of three one-hit games and a pair of two-hitters on behalf of the National League franchise, he had cause to reflect deeply on the failure. And no other explanation satisfied the man.

He referred to it as the curse of Nolan Ryan and Tom Seaver, in tribute to the two renowned right-handers whom the Mets traded at the outset and the peak of their remarkable careers, respectively. “Neither one of them pitched one when they were here,” Cone decided, “so I guess no one else can.”

Seven years later, the reasoning has been reinforced. The Mets still are seeking their first no-hitter. Meanwhile, Ryan will be honored for his record seven masterpieces in the uniforms of the California Angels, Houston Astros and Texas Rangers as well as his astounding 5,714 strikeouts with induction into the Hall of Fame today, joining Seaver, who performed his no-hit feat for the Cincinnati Reds.

It so happens that just the other day Cone enjoyed his moment of personal triumph, uncorking a perfect game for the Yankees . During his time with the Mets, prime years from the age of 24 to 29, he accounted for 34 complete games and 15 shutouts. His achievements for the Yankees include seven complete games. The perfecto against the Expos, at age 36, was also his first shutout as a member of the American League organization.

“I had a chance to be the first to throw one for the Mets,” he reflected on the day after the event. “It’s kind of ironic sitting over here as a Yankee talking about it.”

Cone does not lack for company with his current employers. Not only did the Yankees boast 10 previous no-hit games in their history but two in the previous three years. Additionally, they were the beneficiary of two previous perfect games and Don Larsen, responsible for the first one in the 1956 World Series, was in attendance last Sunday.

Furthermore, Cone became the second former Met to produce a gem for the most successful franchise in the sport. Under the circumstances, Dwight Gooden’s no-hitter against the Mariners in 1996 may have been even more improbable. The man whose 67 complete games and 23 shutouts rank him among the Mets’ all-time leaders went the distance only once during his two seasons with the Yanks, the aforementioned 2-0 victory over Seattle.

Fewer than 10 miles separate the ballparks in Flushing and the Bronx. Yet the atmosphere is totally different. Cone spoke of the “mystique and magic” of Yankee Stadium as if it were as real as Larsen and Yogi Berra, whose career the Yankees celebrated last Sunday. Generations of players have testified that putting on the pinstripes raised their level of play. It’s noteworthy that of all the Yankees’ no-hit pitchers, only Dave Righetti made his major-league debut with the organization.

Conversely, the Mets developed Ryan, Seaver, Gooden and Mike Scott, who later threw a no-hitter for the Astros, and provided Cone with his first big-league start after acquiring him from Kansas City. That fivesome has totaled 11 no-hit games since their departures from Shea Stadium. The Mets have employed eight other pitchers with a total of nine no-hitters to their credit before their debuts with the team, a group that includes current starter Al Leiter.

That makes a total of 20 no-hit games posted by onetime Met pitchers in the service of teams other than the Mets. Despite a tradition of quality pitching acknowledged by three Rookie of the Year awards and four Cy Young awards and the forthcoming enshrinement of a second homegrown talent at Cooperstown, the Mets remain the oldest established major-league club without a no-hitter. The game against the Orioles Tuesday night marked the 5,942nd regular-season game. Add 40 postseason games and the figure approaches 6,000.

The only other big-league franchises without claim to a no-hit performance are the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who began play last season, the Colorado Rockies, who set up shop in 1993, and the San Diego Padres, who joined the National League in 1969.

Ironically, San Diego was the hometown of both Larsen and David Wells, the first two Yankees to pitch perfect games. And the Padres’ Clay Kirby was denied the opportunity of completing a no-hitter against the Mets in the franchise’s second year when Manager Preston Gomez pulled him for a pinch hitter after eight innings with his club trailing, 1-0.

Although the Padres have had several close calls, the Mets have had more near misses than seems plausible. Seaver carried three no-hitters, including one perfect game, into the ninth inning. It happened twice to Gooden. Cone lost three no-hitters in the eighth. And Ryan surrendered a leadoff single against the Phillies in 1970, then held the opponents hitless for the rest of the game. The franchise’s quest has been bedeviled by the likes of Jimmy Qualls, Leron Lee, Joe Wallis, Doug Frobel, Damon Berryhill, Steve Jeltz, Felix Jose, Benny Distefano and Denny Doyle.

Somehow or other, the Mets have been reduced to congratulating former teammates on their no-hitters. John Franco, the injured relief ace, sent Cone champagne on this occasion. Earlier in the decade the senior Met, who tossed two no-hitters while attending St. John’s, surmised that he might be the first pitcher in the organization to throw nine consecutive hitless innings. “But,” Franco conceded, “it’d take me nine games to do it.”