On June 1, 2012, when New York Mets pitcher Johan Santana threw the team’s first ever no-hitter after a 50+ season drought, the San Diego Padres took on the role as being the only Major League team with no no-hitter.
For four-and-a-half seasons (2008-2012), NoNoHitters.com dutifully logged the climbing count of Mets games without a no-hitter, which finally ended at 8,019. We even watched two of baseball’s newer franchises – the Colorado Rockies and the Tampa Bay Rays – exit the club in 2010. So that left the circa-1969 San Diego Padres as the sole member, and we decided to devote part of this website to the Friars in the hope that every team finally gets its due.
A San Diego Padres pitcher has never hurled a no-hitter?
That’s correct … well, a major league Padres pitcher has never hurled a no-hitter. Before the 1969 expansion the Padres were a minor league team in the Pacific Coast League, and the squad recorded three no-hitters. On May 7, 1959, when the Padres were an Indians AAA affiliate, Russ Heman no-hit the Vancouver Mounties en route to a 2-0 win. Al Worthington, a AAA White Sox affiliate pitcher, no-hit Hawaii 5-0 on Aug. 26, 1961, and Sammy Ellis got one against Tacoma when the Padres were a Reds affiliate on Aug. 14, 1962, 4-0.
So even with great pitchers like Randy Jones, Jake Peavy and Clay Kirby, the MLB club couldn’t break through?
None of them could do it, although Kirby came close … several times. And perhaps Kirby’s start on July 21, 1970 reveals the origin of The Curse.
In that game, the New York Mets were beating the Padres 1-0 but Kirby still had a no-hitter going through eight innings. With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, San Diego skipper Preston Gomez decided to pull Kirby for a pinch hitter, Cito Gaston. Gaston struck out, reliever Jack Baldschun gave up a ninth-inning lead-off single to Bud Harrelson and the Mets rallied to pad their lead to 3-0, which would be the final score.
Would Kirby have reached base and started a rally that would have given them a 2-1 lead and an eventual no-no win? Would Kirby have struck out, yet kept the no-hitter alive through the top of the ninth to set up a ninth-inning Padres walk-off victory? We’ll never know, and the club still has no no-no.
So the Padres are cursed?
I have no idea, but perhaps a blessing from The Swinging Friar could help break it. Not sure if there’s a Franciscan prayer for no-hitters, but the gesture certainly couldn’t hurt.
And it’s a much better option than pulling a Pedro Cerrano to try to sacrifice a chicken – certainly not The San Diego Chicken. Or … maybe we could ask the San Diego Chicken to sacrifice a VHS copy of “Major League: Back to the Minors.” That would do future moviegoers a ton of good.
Great site! I’m a Pads fan and would love to see them break this streak. Perhaps a move back to their classic brown & yellow unis would help. Oh yeah, a World Series title would be nice too!
Yes. Their current uniforms look bland, uninteresting, uninspired. A return to the brown and yellow would be awesome.
It WILL happen someday. Keep the faith, Friar fans!
https://www.facebook.com/SDPadresBrown/
#bringbackthebrown