USC No-Hitters: A History Like No Other
8/24/2021
LOS ANGELES – USC baseball alum Tyler Gilbert provided the story of the year in Major League Baseball earlier this month, when he threw a no-hitter for the Arizona Diamondbacks in his first-ever MLB start.
The remarkable accomplishment (which came 11 days after Gilbert made his MLB debut out of the bullpen for Arizona) marked only the 4th time in Major League history that a player has recorded a no-hitter in his first career start. The last time that happened, was when Bobo Holloman did it in 1953. Before that, it was Bumpus Jones in 1892 and Ted Breitenstein in 1891.
An historic accomplishment that has happened only four times in 147 MLB seasons and just twice since the turn of the 20th century, is bound to be full of mind-blowing superlatives. One such superlative, which is sure to be of special interest to Trojan baseball fans, is that Gilbert’s no-no extended USC’s record of having the most MLB no-hitters tossed by program alums of any NCAA school.
Trojans in the MLB have thrown a total of six no-hitters, with Gilbert joining Steve Busby (2), Randy Johnson (2) and Tom Seaver on the USC no-no list. No other NCAA program can claim more than four no-hitters thrown by its alums, and the Trojans have twice the number of no-hitters tossed by the next closest Pac-12 program (Cal). Gilbert’s accomplishment is yet another feather in the cap of a program that has produced more MLB players than any other school.
Here’s a look at all six no-hitters tossed by Trojan alums…
April 27, 1973 – Steve Busby (Kansas City Royals)
Final Line: 9.0 IP, 0H, 0R, 6BB, 4K (Box Score)
Score: Royals 3, Tigers 0 (Recap)
Location: Tiger Stadium (Detroit, Mich.)
Busby was the first Trojan to ever toss an MLB no-hitter and was the first Major Leaguer to do so under the American League’s new designated hitter rule when he shut down the Tigers on the road early in the 1973 season. Busby’s no-no came during his rookie campaign, occurring in his 10th career start, and was a sign of things to come as he would make the all-star team the next two seasons. It was also the first ever no-hitter thrown by a Royals player after the team was added in the 1969 season.
Busby would go on to win 16 games in 1973 and was voted the American League Rookie Pitcher of the Year that season.
June 19, 1974 – Steve Busby (Kansas City Royals)
Final Line: 9.0 IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 3K (Box Score)
Score: Royals 2, Brewers 0 (Recap)
Location: Milwaukee County Stadium (Milwaukee, Wisc.)
Busby made more history with his second no-hitter, becoming the first and still only pitcher in MLB history to have thrown a no-no in each of their first two seasons. He was one walk away from a perfect game in 1974, retiring 28 of the 27 batters he faced that day, issuing his only free pass in the second inning before setting the Brewers down in order the rest of the way. Busby made further history when he took a no-hitter into the sixth inning of his very next start, retiring a then-AL record 33 straight batters in the process. That record would stand until 1998.
The Trojan alum won 56 games in his first three full MLB seasons, earning All-Star nods in 1974 and 75, before a rotator cuff injury in 1976 derailed his promising career. Prior to that time, rotator cuff tears ended a pitcher’s career, but Busby was the first pitcher to undergo rotator cuff surgery, and would come back to pitch in parts of the 1978, 79 and 80 seasons.
June 16, 1978 – Tom Seaver (Cincinnati Reds)
Final Line: 9.0 IP, 0H, 0R, 3BB, 3K (Box Score)
Score: Reds 4, Cardinals 0 (Recap)
Location: Riverfront Stadium (Cincinnati, Ohio)
Already over 10 seasons into his hall of fame career, Tom Seaver’s resume was missing just one thing, a no-hitter. In 10+ seasons with the New York Mets, Seaver had come close, tossing five one-hitters and taking no-hit bids into the ninth inning on three separate occasions (including a perfect game bid in 1969), only to see them broken up. After being traded to the Reds during the 1977 season, a transaction dubbed the “Midnight Massacre” by Mets fans, Seaver broke through with a no-no the very next year.
Seaver worked around three walks to hold the Cardinals hitless and pick up the shutout victory on June 16, including stranding a runner on first to end the game after issuing a leadoff walk in the ninth. The first and only no-hitter of Seaver’s legendary career was also the first ever pitched in Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium.
Seaver went on to return to the Mets for a season in 1983 before heading to the Chicago White Sox for a few seasons and then finishing his career with the Boston Red Sox in 1986. After 12 All-Star nods, three Cy Youngs, 311 wins and 3,640 strikeouts, “Tom Terrific” was elected to the MLB Hall of Fame in 1992, garnering the then-highest percentage of votes with 98.84% of the ballots.
June 2, 1990 – Randy Johnson (Seattle Mariners)
Final Line: 9.0 IP, 0H, 0R, 6BB, 8K, 139 pitches/88 strikes (Box Score)
Score: Mariners 2, Tigers 0 (Recap)
Location: Kingdome (Seattle, Wash.)
12 years after one Trojan legend and arguably the greatest right-handed pitcher in baseball history tossed a no-hitter (Seaver), another USC legend and arguably the greatest left-handed pitcher in baseball history, Randy Johnson, did the same. Johnson’s no-no in that June game in Seattle was the first of two for the “Big Unit” and was the first ever thrown by a Mariners player.
Johnson got a first-inning run from his offense and then proceeded to strand six baserunners the rest of the way to pick up the shutout victory. He pumped 88 strikes across the plate in the game, striking out eight batters, including the final one of the game, to complete the no-hitter in his second full MLB season. Johnson was named to the AL All-Star team in 1990 and would pitch 10 seasons in Seattle before ending up with the Arizona Diamonbacks for the majority of the second act of his hall of fame career.
May 18, 2004 – Randy Johnson (Arizona Diamondbacks) – Perfect Game
Final Line: 9.0 IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 13K, 117 pitches/87 strikes (Box Score)
Score: Diamondbacks 2, Braves 0 (Recap)
Location: Turner Field (Atlanta, Ga.)
In a career filled with spectacular highlights, the pièce de résistance came in 2004, when Johnson tossed a perfect game for the Diamondbacks on the road in Atlanta. Retiring all 27 batters he faced in order, the big lefty showed none of the effective wildness he exhibited in his 1990 no-hitter, throwing nearly 75% of his pitches for strikes. His team needed every bit of the effort, with Arizona managing just two runs against Atlanta starter Mike Hampton, who also threw a complete-game in the loss.
The 13-strikeout perfect game was the 17th ever thrown in MLB history, and, at 40 years old, Johnson was the oldest pitcher ever to do it. Furthermore, Johnson’s performance in 2004 was rated one of the 13 greatest games ever pitched, earning a Game Score of 100, which is tied for the fifth best total in baseball history. At the time, he was the fifth pitcher in Major League history to pitch a no-hitter in both leagues and the fifth pitcher to throw both a no-hitter and a perfect game in his career.
Johnson earned his 10th All-Star nod in 2004 and finished second in the AL Cy Young Award voting, reaching the 4,000 strikeout plateau during the season. He would go on to pitch five more seasons after the ’04 campaign, finishing his 22 year career with five Cy Young Awards, 10 All-Star appearances, one World Series MVP, 303 wins and 4,875 strikeouts.
August 14, 2021 – Tyler Gilbert (Arizona Diamondbacks)
Final Line: 9.0 IP, 0H, 0R, 3BB, 5K, 102 pitches/64 strikes (Box Score)
Score: Diamondbacks 7, Padres 0 (Recap)
Location: Chase Field (Phoenix, Ariz.)
The most recent no-hitter tossed by a Trojan alum, was also the most improbable. As mentioned before, Gilbert’s no-no earlier this August marked only the fourth time a pitcher has tossed a no-hitter in his first career start. The historic performance by the 27 year old rookie came less than two weeks after he was called up to the Big Leagues for the first time in his six professional seasons and was thrown for the third different MLB organization he has been a part of. It was also the first no-hitter ever thrown at home by a Diamondbacks hurler, giving Gilbert an achievement even the great Randy Johnson never accomplished.
After making three relief appearances for Arizona without giving up a run, Gilbert was given the ball to start against the San Diego Padres, one of baseball’s best offenses this season, on Aug. 14. The lefty worked around a leadoff walk with a double-play to toss a scoreless first, and then got a huge boost from his offense when Arizona scored five runs in the bottom of the first. From there on out, it was all Gilbert. He allowed only two more walks the rest of the way, both to Tommy Pham, who had also worked the leadoff free pass in the first. It would be Pham who came up for the final out of the game, lining out to centerfield to set off the celebration in Phoenix and give Gilbert a starting debut unlike any other in recent memory.
