Mets catchers behind the plate for no-nos

The person throwing a no-no makes up only half the battery, so this page honors Josh Thole and other New York Mets catchers who – either before they played for the Mets or afterward – were behind the plate for no-hitters.

Josh Thole of course rules this page, catching Johan Santana’s historic no-no on June 1, 2012 during an 8-0 win over the st. Louis Cardinals.

Though only one catcher wearing a New York Mets uniform has ever caught a no-hitter, 12 catchers who wore a Mets uniform at one time during their careers were behind the plate for 15 no-nos.

Ramon Castro, who caught Mark Buehrle’s perfect game on July 23, 2009, and Yogi Berra are the only players to wear a Mets uniform and catch perfect games. We’ve also had four all-Mets batteries: Dock Ellis-Jerry May, John Candelaria-Duffy Dyer, Bret Saberhagen-Brent Mayne and Hideo Nomo-Mike Piazza.

Berra and Jeff Torborg are the only Mets managers to catch no-nos, and Tim McCarver (2) and Fran Healy (1) are the only ex-Mets broadcasters behind the plate for hitless games.

Here’s the full list:

Yogi Berra, 3

Allie Reynolds July 12, 1951 AL New York Yankees 1 Cleveland Indians 0
Allie Reynolds Sept. 28, 1951 (1) AL New York Yankees 8 Boston Red Sox 0
Don Larsen Oct. 8, 1956 WS New York Yankees 2 Brooklyn Dodgers 0 Perfect game in World Series Game 5

Joe Ginsberg

Virgil Trucks May 15, 1952 AL Detroit Tigers 1 Washington Senators 0

Jerry Grote

Ken Johnson April 23, 1964 NL Houston Colt .45s 0 Cincinnati Reds 1 Johnson becomes the only pitcher to lose a complete-game no hitter in nine innings.

J.C. Martin

Joel Horlen Sept. 10, 1967 (1) AL Chicago White Sox 6 Detroit Tigers 0

Jerry May

Dock Ellis June 12, 1970 (1) NL Pittsburgh Pirates 2 San Diego Padres 0 All-Mets battery. Ellis was tripping on LSD when he pitched this no hitter.

Duffy Dyer

John Candelaria Aug. 9, 1976 NL Pittsburgh Pirates 2 Los Angeles Dodgers 0 All-Mets battery.

Gary Carter

Charlie Lea May 10, 1981 (2) NL Montreal Expos 4 San Francisco Giants 0

Brent Mayne

Bret Saberhagen Aug. 26, 1991 AL Kansas City Royals 7 Chicago White Sox 0 All-Mets battery

Mike Piazza, 2

Ramon Martinez July 14, 1995 NL Los Angeles Dodgers 7 Florida Marlins 0
Hideo Nomo Sept. 17, 1996 NL Los Angeles Dodgers 9 Colorado Rockies 0 All-Mets battery

Alberto Castillo

Jose Jimenez June 25, 1999 NL St. Louis Cardinals 1 Arizona Diamondbacks 0

Eli Marrero

Bud Smith Sept. 3, 2001 NL St. Louis Cardinals 4 San Diego Padres 0

Ramon Castro

Mark Buehrle July 23, 2009 AL Tampa Bay Rays 0 Chicago White Sox 5 Perfect game, Buehrle’s second no-no.

Josh Thole

Johan Santana June 1, 2012 NL St. Louis Cardinals 0 New York Mets 8

By the way, Boston Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek holds the record for catching the most no-nos with four (Hideo Nomo in 2001, Derek Lowe in 2002 and Clay Buchholz in 2007 and Jon Lester in 2008).

Thanks to Mets Walk-Offs and Minutiae and the Web site Encyclopedia of Baseball Catchers for research help with this page.

One Response to Mets catchers behind the plate for no-nos

  1. Pingback: Some NoNoHitters.com site additions | Mets No-Hitters history at NoNoHitters.com

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