Mets No-Hitters history at NoNoHitters.com

Sometimes a Mets hurler will keep our hopes up for four, five … or even eight innings before giving up the no-no. Other times, our starting pitcher will let us update the count early so we can relax and watch the ballgame.

This page, recently enhanced with all kinds of additional rankings, is dedicated to Mets pitchers that get the whole no-hitter burden out of the way very early … as in very first batter.



Of the Mets’ games without a no hitter through this season:

• 1,749 games began with a leadoff hit by the Mets’ opponent
• 1,302 potential no-hitters were broken up by a single
• 285 potential no-hitters were broken up by a double
• 57 potential no-hitters were broken up by a triple
• 105 potential no-hitters were broken up by a home run
• 932 of those games were played on the road
• 817 were played at home (35 at Citi Field, 746 at Shea Stadium and 36 at the Polo Grounds)

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Top all-time leadoff hitters who’ve broken up Mets no-nos

If there were a Hall of Fame for breaking up Mets no-hitters early and often, Charlie Hustle would be a first-ballot inductee. You can bet on it.

Pete Rose leads all Major Leaguers by breaking up 55 potential Mets’ no-nos from the leadoff position,

1	Pete Rose	55
2	Lou Brock	34
3	Maury Wills	33
4	Don Kessinger	31
5	Juan Pierre	30
6	Jimmy Rollins	29
7	Brett Butler	23
8	Dave Cash	22
9	Rafael Furcal	22
10 (t)	Davey Lopes	20
10 (t)	Delino DeShields	20

(Fun fact: In a three-way tie for the next position with 19 leadoff no-no kills is current Met Luis Castillo.)

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All-time leaders of Mets pitchers who’ve lost no-nos on leadoff batter

Mets’ aces Jerry Koosman and Tom Seaver are tied for the lead on our all-time roster for losing the most no-hitters on the first batter, each with 78. (That’s probably more indicative of their longevity than anything else.

1 (t)	Jerry Koosman	78
1 (t)	Tom Seaver	78
3	Dwight Gooden	62
4	Ron Darling	60
5	Bobby Jones	52
6	Jon Matlack	43
7 (t)	Sid Fernandez	41
7 (t)	David Cone	41
9 (t)	Al Leiter	39
9 (t)	Craig Swan	39

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Rank of current Mets pitchers who’ve lost no-nos on leadoff batter

If Mike Pelfrey is going to lose a no-hitter, he’s amazingly efficient at getting our hopes out of the way early. Pelfrey leads all active-roster Mets pitchers with 21 no-nos lost on the first at bat.

Of course, Pelfrey is one of the very few Mets that hasn’t spent time on the 2009 disabled list, so it’s not surprising that his count is rising while others are holding still.

1	Mike Pelfrey	22
2	John Maine	16
3	Oliver Perez	15
4	Johan Santana	11
5	Nelson Figueroa	4
6	Jonathon Niese	3
7 (t)	Tim Redding	2
7 (t)	Pat Misch	1
9 (t)	Brandon Knight	1
9 (t)	Bobby Parnell	1

* Note: Livan Hernandez, who was cut by the Mets on Aug. 20, had already accumulated 9 of these during the 2009 season.

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Franchises with most leadoff no-no break-ups

1	Philadelphia Phillies	191
2	Pittsburgh Pirates	152
3	St. Louis Cardinals	149
4	Atlanta (Milwaukee) Braves	146
5	San Francisco Giants	143
6 (t)	Chicago Cubs	143
6 (t)	Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos	143
8	Houston Astros	132
9	Cincinnati Reds	130
10	Los Angeles Dodgers	128

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2009 opening hit break-ups

• Oct. 4, 2009: At Citi Field, Nelson Figueroa gives up a leadoff single to the Houston Astros’ Michael Bourn.
• Sept. 28, 2009: In Washington, Nelson Figueroa gives up a leadoff double to the Nationals’ Justin Maxwell, though it probabaly should have been ruled an error on David Wright.
• Sept. 27, 2009: In Florida, Pat Misch gives up a leadoff single to the Marlins’ Chris Coughlan.
• Sept. 10, 2009: At Citi Field, Bobby Parnell gives up a leadoff double to the Florida Marlins Chris Coughlan.
• Sept. 6, 2009: At Citi Field, Mike Pelfrey gives up a leadoff single to the Chicago Cubs’ Sam Fuld.
• Sept. 3, 2009: In Colorado, Pat Misch gives up a leadoff single to the Rockies’ Carlos Gonzalez.
• Aug. 27, 2009: In Miami, Tim Redding gives up a leadoff homer to the Florida Marlins’ Chris Coughlan.
• Aug. 23, 2009: At Citi Field, Oliver Perez gives up a leadoff double to the Philadelphia Phillies’ Jimmy Rollins during a six-run top-of-the-first inning.
• Aug. 17, 2009: At Citi Field, Livan Hernandez gives up a leadoff single (first pitch) to the Giants’ Eugenio Velez.
• Aug. 6, 2009: In San Diego, Livan Hernandez gives up a leadoff single to the Padres’ Tony Gwynn Jr.
• July 30, 2009: At Citi Field, the Colorado Rockies Seth Smith hits a leadoff single off Jon Niese.
• July 28, 2009: At Citi Field, the Colorado Rockies Seth Smith hits a leadoff single off Mike Pelfrey.
• July 22, 2009: In Washington, Mike Pelfrey gives up a leadoff single to the Nationals’ Nyjer Morgan.
• July 9, 2009: At Citi Field, Livan Hernandez gives up a leadoff ground-rule double to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Rafael Furcal.
• July 5, 2009: In Philadelphia, Johan Santana gives up a leadoff homer to the Phillies’ Jimmy Rollins.
• July 3, 2009: In Philadelphia, Livan Hernandez gives up a leadoff double to the Phillies’ Jimmy Rollins.
• July 2, 2009: In Pittsburgh, Tim Redding gives up a leadoff double to the Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen.
• June 28, 2009: At Citi Field, Livan Hernandez gives up a leadoff double to the New York Yankees’ Derek Jeter.
• June 26, 2009: At Citi Field, Mike Pelfrey gives up a leadoff single to the New York Yankees’ Brett Gardner.
• June 21, 2009: At Citi Field, Mike Pelfrey gives up a leadoff single to the Tampa Bay Rays’ B.J. Upton.
• June 14, 2009: At Yankee Stadium, Johan Santana gives up a first-pitch single to Derek Jeter.
• June 4, 2009: In Pittsburgh Mike Pelfrey yields a leadoff single to the Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen in the rookie’s first Major League at-bat.
• June 1, 2009: In Pittsburgh, Livan Hernandez gives up a leadoff bloop single to the Pirates Nyjer Morgan.
• May 23, 2009: In Boston, Mike Pelfrey yields a leadoff single to the Red Sox’ Jacoby Ellsbury.
• May 22, 2009: In Boston, Johan Santana gives up a leadoff single to the Red Sox’ Jacoby Ellsbury.
• May 20, 2009: In Los Angeles, the Dodgers’ Juan Pierre dinks a short infield single off Livan Hernandez.
• May 16, 2009: In San Francisco, the Giants’ Emmanuel Burriss hits a leadoff single off Johan Santana.
• May 14, 2009: In San Francisco, John Maine yields an infield single to third from the Giants’ Emmanuel Burriss.
• May 10, 2009: At Citi Field, Livan Hernandez gives up a leadoff single to the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Nyjer Morgan.
• May 8, 2009: At Citi Field, Jonathon Niese gives up a line-drive, infield single to third by the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Nyjer Morgan.
• May 7, 2009: At Citi Field, Mike Pelfrey gives up a leadoff single to the Philadelphia Phillies’ Jimmy Rollins.
• May 2, 2009: In Philadelphia, Oliver Perez gives up a leadoff triple to the Philadelphia Phillies’ Shane Victorino.
• April 25, 2009: At Citi Field, Mike Pelfrey gives up a leadoff single to the Washington Nationals’ Anderson Hernandez.
• April 19, 2009: At Citi Field, Nelson Figueroa gives up a leadoff infield single to the Milwaukee Brewers’ Rickie Weeks.
• April 13, 2009: At the first-ever game at Citi Field, Mike Pelfrey gives up a leadoff home run to the San Diego Padres’ Jody Gerut.
• April 8, 2009: In Cincinnati, Mike Pelfrey gives up a leadoff line-drive single to right to the Reds’ Jerry Hairston.

Research for this page done using BaseballReference.com, with much of the data obtained free of charge from and copyrighted by Retrosheet .