Tom Seaver

April 17, 1977 – New York Mets 6, Chicago Cubs 0 – Shea Stadium
No-no killed by Steve Ontiveros’ fifth-inning single

Baseball was the last thing on New York City residents’ minds the Sunday that Tom Seaver got his fifth and final one-hitter as a New York Met.

Early in the morning of April 17, 1977, an unknown killer shot 18-year-old Valentina Suriani and her 20-year-old boyfriend, Alexander Esau in the Pelham Bay neighborhood of the Bronx, leaving a handwritten letter nearby signed “Son of Sam.” David Berkowitz would later be identified and arrested on Aug. 10, 1977.

The Yankees played in Milwaukee that day, but baseball went on in Queens as Seaver kept a no-no intact into the fifth inning. Steve Ontiveros, who had walked in the second inning, stepped up with one out and hit a soft liner that right-fielder Ed Kranepool played on one hop, advancing the Mets’ streak without a no-hitter to 2,434 games.

Fifty-nine days later, the Mets would deal Seaver to the Cincinnati Reds for Pat Zachry, Doug Flynn, Steve Henderson and Dan Norman, and another year and a day after that, Seaver would finally got his elusive no-hitter as a Cincinnati Red.

Jon Matlack

June 29, 1974 – New York Mets 4, St. Louis Cardinals 0 – Shea Stadium
No-no killed by John Curtis’ third-inning single

It was Old-Timers Day in Flushing Meadows, but it was the young southpaw Jon Matlack who stole the show this day for the Shea Stadium crowd of more than 37,000. Matlack, getting the start against the St. Louis Cardinals’ John Curtis, had already walked a couple of batters when Curtis (a .159 hitter that year) stepped up to the plate in the third inning and hit a one-out single to left, breaking up the 2,011th potential Mets’ no-hitter.

Matlack walked one more batter en route to a 4-0 win over the first-place Cards, although the defending National League champion Mets improved to just 30-42 – 8 games back in the N.L. East standings.

Here is the tenth installment of our periodic feature on the Mets’ 33 one-hitters.

Jon Matlack

July 10, 1973 – New York Mets 2, Houston Astros 0 – Shea Stadium
No-no killed by Tommy Helms’ sixth-inning double

Mets’ southpaw Jon Matlack, who won one game in the ‘73 National League Championship Series and started three games (1-2) in the World Series, retired the first 15 batters he faced at Shea this night, and the crowd of nearly 20,000 might have started thinking that it could be the night that the Mets would break the curse.

But Tommy Helms led off the sixth inning with a double, and the Mets’ dubious streak added one more game to reach 1,878. Matlack allowed two more baserunners – both walks – but Duffy Dyer threw out Jim Wynn on a steal attempt and the Mets sent Doug Rader to the bench on a double-play, so Matlack faced just 28 batters – one more than the minimum for a complete game.

Oddly, Matlack’s opponent on the mound, Jerry Reuss, faced just 29 batters during his eight innings of work (the Mets didn’t need to bat in the ninth). That’s an amazing accomplishment considering Reuss gave up six hits and five walks, as he helped turn four 1-4-3 double plays, and Astros’ catcher Skip Jutze threw out two runners at second.

Dyer scored the game’s only run with a third-inning single up the middle to score Rusty Staub.

Here is the eighth installment of our periodic feature on the Mets’ 33 one-hitters.

Tom Seaver

July 4, 1972 – New York Mets 2, San Diego Padres 0 – first game of Shea Stadium doubleheader
No-no killed by Leron Lee’s ninth-inning single

Seaver again took a no-hitter into the ninth inning this day, although he walked two batters in the fourth and two batters in the eighth so the perfect game was off the board.

Seaver took the mound in the ninth and got Dave Roberts to ground out before Leron Lee lined a ball up the middle to end the no-no bid. He then got Nate Colbert to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to end the game for a 2-0 complete-game shutout, Seaver’s fourth career one-hitter.

Seaver struck out 11 batters, and the Mets scored their only runs with two outs in the third when Jim Fregosi and Ed Kranepool drew bases-loaded walks from the Padres’ Clay Kirby.

Here is the eighth installment of our periodic feature on the Mets’ 33 one-hitters.

Tom Seaver

Sept. 26, 1971 – New York Mets 3, Pittsburgh Pirates 1 – Shea Stadium
No-no killed by Vic Davalillo’s seventh-inning single

Seaver this day was perfect through six, but he lost the perfect game in the seventh when he walked leadoff batter Dave Cash. Vic Davalillo followed up with a single to right that sent Cash to third and bumped the Mets’ dubious no no-nos streak up to 1,619 games. The shutout then disappeared when Joe Oliver hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Cash, cutting the Mets lead to 3-1. Seaver ended the inning by getting Willie Stargell to ground into a 1-6-3 double play, and then he put the next six batters down for the complete game win, his 19th victory of the season.

Seaver struck out 10, and the Mets’ scoring came courtesy of RBI singles by Donn Clendenon, Cleon Jones and Tommie Agee.

Here is the seventh installment of our periodic feature on the Mets’ 33 one-hitters.

Gary Gentry

April 18, 1971 – New York Mets 5, Pittsburgh Pirates 2 – Game 1 of Sunday doubleheader at Shea Stadium
No-no killed by Roberto Clemente’s sixth-inning triple

Gary Gentry gave up two sixth-inning runs during his second one-hitter, but he actually got into trouble an inning earlier.

Pitching in the fifth after retiring the first 13 batters he faced, Gentry walked Al Oliver, hit Bob Robertson with a pitch and watched the two runners advance into scoring position on a Manny Sanguillen ground-out. But after Gentry intentionally walked Jackie Hernandez to face pitcher Luke Walker, he ended the inning on a strikout.

In the sixth, Gentry got Dave Cash to pop out before walking Richie Hebner, but he lost both his no-hitter and shutout on a Roberto Clemente triple to center. Willie Stargell scored Clemente with a sacrifice fly to left, but Gentry settled down to retire the next 10 batters for the complete-game, one hit victory.

Cleon Jones led the Mets’ offense by going 2-for-3 with a two-run homer and 3 RBIs, and Tommie Agee (2-for-4) added a solo shot in the eighth.

Here is the sixth installment of our periodic feature on the Mets’ 33 one-hitters.

May 15, 1970 – New York Mets 4, Philadelphia Phillies 0 – Connie Mack Stadium
No-no killed by third-inning Mike Compton single

Tom Seaver’s second one-hitter marked the only time in club history that Mets pitchers threw consecutive one-hitters.

The Mets had a travel day after Gentry’s one-hitter, but Seaver took the mound the next night at Connie Mack Stadium and dominated the Phillies with a 15-strikeout performance.

The only hit yielded by Seaver was a third-inning Mike Compton single, although he walked three during the night and two batters reached base on Mets’ errors.

Thirty-three years later the Mets would throw two one-hitters in three games, but Gentry’s and Seaver’s back-to-back gems remain the team’s only consecutive one-hitters.

Here is the fifth installment of our periodic feature on the Mets’ 33 one-hitters.

Gary Gentry

May 13, 1970 – New York Mets 4, Chicago Cubs 0 – Wrigley Field
No-no killed by Ernie Banks eighth-inning single

Gary Gentry, the winning pitcher in Game 3 of the World Series, retired the first 12 batters during this Wednesday afternoon contest at Wrigley Field before issuing a leadoff walk to Ron Santo in the fifth.

Gentry got Johnny Callison to ground into a 6-3 double play and kept his no-hitter alive until the eighth inning, when the legendary Ernie Banks hit a two-out single to left and extended the Mets no no-hitters streak to 1,330 games.

Gentry hit pinch-hitter Willie Smith with a pitch in the ninth but retired the next two batters for a Mets 4-0 win and the team’s fifth one-hitter.

Gentry helped his cause with the bat in the fifth inning by singling home Wayne Garrett, who had a 2-for-3 day with a double and triple after replacing third-baseman Joe Foy, who was hit by a pitch in the second.

When would the next Mets’ one-hitter come? Two days later during the club’s very next game in Philadelphia.

Here is the fourth installment of our periodic feature on the Mets’ 33 one-hitters.

Nolan Ryan

April 18, 1970 – New York Mets 7, Philadelphia Phillies 0 – Shea Stadium
No-no killed by Denny Doyle’s first-inning single

Two future Hall-of-Famers took the Shea Stadium mound on April 18, 1970, and each has established his own place in Mets’ no no-hitters history.

Six years prior, the Phillies’ Jim Bunning threw Shea Stadium’s only perfect game, a June 21, 1964, Father’s Day contest in which he struck out 10 batters. The last "K" victim was ninth-inning pinch-hitter John Stephenson – the 27th straight batter Bunning retired.

Nolan Ryan went on to become the king of our No-hitters … after they left the Mets page, throwing all of his Major League record seven no-hitters in other uniforms.

Ryan had no real chance of throwing the first Mets no-hitter this day, as the Phillies’ Denny Doyle tagged him for a leadoff single to boost the franchise’s no no-nos count to 1,307 games. Ryan nearly lost his shutout in the first inning after loading the bases with a couple of walks, but he pitched out of the jam.

Ryan would go on to walk six batters during the game, but he also struck out 15 batters and never yielded another hit.

Bunning lasted just two innings, giving up four runs (two earned) on six hits and a walk.

Here is the third installment of our periodic feature on the Mets’ 33 one-hitters.

Tom Seaver

July 9, 1969 – New York Mets 4, Chicago Cubs 0 – Shea Stadium
No-no killed by Jimmy Qualls’ one-out single in the ninth

With Hall-of-Famer Billy Williams, near Hall-of-Famer Ron Santo and Hall-of-Famer Ernie Banks at the heart of the Chicago Cubs’ lineup, you wouldn’t think a rookie utility player named Jimmy Qualls would be the lone Cub to stand between Tom Seaver and a perfect game.

Qualls was 0-for-2 when he stepped to the plate in the ninth inning after Seaver retired the first 25 batters, and he would be the one to keep the 59,000 fans that packed Shea Stadium that night from witnessing history.

“A clean hit to left-center-field, and there goes the perfect game,” a matter-of-fact Ralph Kiner declared on-air.

The crowd gave Tom Terrific a standing ovation as Seaver put his hands on his hips and stared from the mound at the spot where the ball touched green.

Newark Star-Ledger columnist Steve Politi talked to Qualls recently for a NJ.com piece on the Mets’ no-hitter woes that also mentioned NoNoHitters.com.

“I’m glad I got the hit and everything, but it would have been a really big thing for him,” Qualls told Politi. “I don’t think I understood that at the time.”

Seaver would reach the ninth three more times with a no-hitter intact – two with the Mets and one with the Reds. Only the Reds game would end with a zero in the "H" column, cementing Seaver’s place on our No-hitters … after they left the Mets page.