Greatest Pitchers Who Never Threw a No-Hitter

No-hitters may be rare in the big leagues, but they don’t discriminate. Dock Ellis claimed to pitch one while on lysergic acid diethylamide. That’s LSD, kids. Some Bobo name Holloman had one in his first major league start. He was out of the bigs three months later. Heck, Mike Fiers owns not one but two of them, the second of which left him with a career 57-58 record and 4.11 ERA.

That’s the beauty of the no-hitter — it’s unpredictable. The odds are roughly 1,500-to-1 that you’ll witness one, but even the most ordinary Joe can be that good and that lucky on a given day. Crazier yet, many of the best pitchers have tried hundreds and hundreds of times and still don’t have one. In fact, a bunch haven’t come close. 

Based on career dominance (measured by hits allowed per inning) and number of opportunities (games started), here are the greatest pitchers in baseball history without an official no-hitter.

Career: 14 seasons (1903-16)

Teams: St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Terriers, Brooklyn Tip-Tops, Chicago Whales

Career statistics: 332 games started, 239-130 record, 7.7 hits per nine innings, 2.06 earned run average

World Series titles: 2 (1907, 1908)

Bottom line: Three-Finger (closer to Four-and-a-half Finger) Brown is famous for perhaps the most gnarly right hand in pro baseball history.

Lesser known is that his career adjusted ERA (139) and hits per innings rate (7.68) are among the best ever.

He pitched five one-hitters in his career, the last as a 38-year-old in the Federal League.

Career: 24 seasons (1984-2007)

Teams: Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees, Houston Astros

Career statistics: 707 GS, 354-184, 7.7 H/9, 3.12 ERA

World Series titles: 2 (1999, 2000)

Bottom line: How could a guy this dominant who played for this long and cheated this much not pitch nine hitless innings in one game even by accident?

The Yankees’ right-hander came thisclose in Game 4 of the 2000 ALCS against the Seattle Mariners. Al Martin opened the seventh inning with a double off the glove of first baseman Tino Martinez for the only hit.

“I’ve always felt that I throw too many strikes to throw a no-hitter because I’m going to give a guy a pretty hittable ball, especially in a game like this with something on it,” the “Rocket” tried to explain after the 5-0 victory.

Me? I can sum it up in one word — youneverknow.

Career: 24 seasons (1965-88)

Teams: St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Minnesota Twins

Career statistics: 709 GS, 329-244, 8.1 H/9, 3.22 ERA

World Series titles: 2 (1967, 1980)

Bottom line: “Lefty” crafted a National League record six one-hitters in his Hall of Fame career. Only Bob Feller and Nolan Ryan (a dozen each) had more.

So the question wasn’t whether “Silent Steve” had no-hit stuff. It was whether he would agree to speak afterward. And if so, how many media would bother to show up?

In the 1979 season, the Phillies’ ace took no-hitters into the seventh inning twice in a span of 30 days. Jeffrey Leonard (Houston Astros) led off with a single to break up the first, and Elliott Maddox (New York Mets) hit a one-out double to ruin the second.

Steve Carlton went on to complete 8-0 and 1-0 shutouts and keep his thoughts to himself.

Career: 13 seasons (1983-95)

Teams: Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, Montreal Expos

Career statistics: 274 GS, 186-119, 7.4 H/9, 3.76 ERA

World Series titles: None

Bottom line: Only 30 pitchers own a better hits-per-inning rate in major league history, although his crummy won-loss record doesn’t suggest as much. The luckless right-hander pitched two one-hitters of at least nine innings and didn’t win either one.

In 1984, the Pirate was perfect for six innings against the Cincinnati Reds before a walk, an error, a Dave Parker single and another error beat him.

As a Cardinal five years later, he pitched one of the most underrated games ever — 34 batters up, 33 down. Luis Quinones singled in the fourth inning, then was erased on a double play.

Thankfully, the poor guy was lifted for a pinch hitter after the 11th inning before he could take another loss.